Andersen Weight Distributing Hitch: Full Product Review and Exclusive Sales

More Andersen Products Info and Order Below: FREE SHIPPING

I found these all new weight distributing hitches at SEMA a couple years ago. They are like nothing I’ve seen before. I’m in the horse industry and WDH isn’t used much in the horse industry because of the time and hassle of hooking up the hitch head and lifting up the spring arms. Not any more… Order Below…

Andersen, famous for their Rapid Hitch adjustable aluminum drawbars, have changed the industry. This new system has the best in sway control for bumper pull trailers, does distribute weight to all axles and is quiet. Oh yeah, and they are fast to hook and unhook. Watch my two YouTube video’s below of what I’ve discovered.

WDH Video, Watch my video’s and see what everyone’s talking about with this revolutionary hitch for quiet sway control and trailer safety…. 

Click: Read my original review and Install article

• Unparalleled Sway Control that self-adjusts according to load
• So quiet you won’t even know it’s there!
• Drastically reduces BOUNCE using our patented Motion-Dampening™ system!
• 2″ or 2-5/16″ ball included –no extras to buy
• Fits all standard 2″ receivers.
• One-pin removal from tow vehicle
• Grease-free system –ball and coupler move as one
• Easy install –no spring bars needed!
• Available for 3″, 4″, 4-3/8, 5″, 6″and 8″ trailer frames
• 4″ or 8″ drop/rise adjustable shank available
• Doubles as standard ball mount for towing without weight distribution
• The smoothest ride around – owners are saying they can’t believe it!
• No problem backing up –unlike many other weight distribution hitches
• Weighs under 60lbs!
• Lifetime Warranty (limited)
• 14,000 lbs GTWR 2-5/16″ ball, 10,000 lbs GTWR 2″ ball • 1,400 lbs tongue weight
• New Andersen 6 inch shank drop/rise: Weight distributing and sway control at its best. Model #3303, 2 inch shank, quick attach, quiet and works. 2 5/16 in. ball 6″ drop/rise (3″, 4″, 5″, 6″ or Under Slung) FREE SHIPPING. Add to Shopping Cart $560. The Andersen 3303 is rated at 14,000 lbs GTWR when using a 2″ shank. 1,400 lbs tongue weight. Lifetime limited Warranty

Order here: Free shipping,  Installation manual

4″ Drop/Rise Shank order below	8″ Drop/Rise Shank order below
2″ Ball 10,000 lb Trailer	2″ Ball 10,000 lb Trailer
(4-3/8″ frame size brackets) 2 in ball Add to Shopping Cart $539.99 WDH 3343.  2 in. shank	(4-3/8″ frame size brackets) 2 in ball 8 in drop Add to Shopping Cart $569.99 WDH 3347.   2 in. shank

(3″, 4″, 5″, 6″ frame size brackets) 2 5/16 ball Add to Shopping Cart $539.99 WDH 3350.  2 in. shank	(3″, 4″, 5″, 6″ frame size brackets) 8 in drop 2 5/16 ball Add to Shopping Cart $569.99 WDH 3380.  2 in. shank
(8″ frame size brackets) 2 5/16 ball Add to Shopping Cart $539.99WDH 3385,  2 in. shank	(8″ frame size brackets) 8 in drop 2 5/16 ball Add to Shopping Cart $629.99 WDH 3386.  2 in. shank
(4-3/8″ frame size brackets)	(3″, 4″, 5″, 6″ frame size brackets)

New Andersen #3372 Weight Distributing trailer kit for extra trailer when you don’t need the whole WDH kit. If you already have the Andersen Weight Distributing hitch and don’t need another hitch head, just buy the parts you need for the trailer. Trailer tongue brackets 3″/4″/5″/6″ in brackets and spring chains. Works with all Andersen Weight Distributing Hitches.

#3372 sale price $391.99 with free shipping

NOTE: Currently the Andersen WD Hitch is not compatible with Atwood 88xxx series couplers (all other Atwood couplers are fine).

In your vehicles owners manual and on a tag on the front of your receiver hitch is the tongue weight and trailer capacities. If you tow a trailer 5000#’s or more, they usually insist on a “weight distributing hitch.” With lower trailer weights, you can just use a “weight carrying hitch.” No weight distributing hitch will increase the total trailer capacity set by the vehicle manufacture, it just transfers the weight to all the axles including the front axle of your tow vehicle. This gives you better steering control, better braking and a level rig.  add to cart

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Equal-i-zer trailer sway control, giving you a second choice for a WDH hitch I’m recommending for heavier trailers.

Click here for Reliable Equal-i-zer Weight Distributing Hitch

On your receiver hitch or hitch receiver, you will usually see the tag with classifications for maximum tongue weight and maximum trailer weight. The lower weight is for WC which is “Weight Carrying” hitch or drawbar/stinger. In this situation all the tongue weight is on the WC hitch, draw bar.

To explain what a WD hitch does, think of it as a bridge between the towing vehicle and your trailer.  This bridge comes complete with an adjustable under truss called spring bar/arm trunnion bars or sway control chains from Andersen which join the trailer “V” tongue of the trailer to the hitch head and receiver hitch that arches the bridge upward to spread out the weight.. The head with the trailer ball attached to the trailer coupler/hitch, bolts to the shank which is “L” shaped with adjustment holes for proper hitch height. The shank slides in to your receiver hitch which is bolted to the towing vehicle’s frame or sub-frame. This union allows you to distribute the trailer weight evenly to all axles of the truck/SUV and trailer. Thus the name “weight distributing” hitch.

A common correction for leveling a trailer, is a weight distributing hitch. Which is good for leveling a rig and transferring weight to all the axles. But taking weight off the rear axle of your truck can cause traction problems when you need traction to get your truck back in line during an evasive maneuver. Roadmaster with a good WDH with built in sway control is the best combination for towing, especially with a 1/2 truck or SUV Road Roadmaster review..

The other classification on the tag found on your towing vehicle’s receiver hitch is the higher weight carrying capacity for WD which is the “Weight Distributing” hitch that spreads out the tongue weight of the trailer. An important note here is that most vehicle manufactures will only allow a maximum trailer capacity of 5000#’s and 500#’s of tongue weight without using a weight distributing hitch. Read your owners manual, bet your salesperson didn’t tell you!

Click to enlarge picture. This WD hitch has a friction type anti-sway bar. But instructions may tell you to loosen sway bar during rain or snow on some brands. That’s when I want anti-sway the most. And more bolts to drill into the trailer hitch. But this is the cheapest system of the three types of sway control.The 3 types of WDH anti-sway systems: #1 Friction #2 Dual Cam #3 Spring bar
The first place I remember seeing the WD hitch is with folks pulling RV travel trailers. Which used to be the gray haired, retired, fixed income conservative types. (Always watch this group, they seem to know something.) These big square travel trailers catch a lot of side wind and do the Elvis hip action when semi trucks pass them. A good properly adjusted WDH can take the sway, pitch and dip away from your trailer trying to react to wind, semi suction, pot holes and my favorite “swerving to miss the Angus cow crossing the road at midnight.” Your can’t control the other drivers or debris in the road. So when you need to do those quick lane changes to avoid an accident, be sure your trailer will recover from that quick movement without taking you down the ditch and over.

Popup Hitch, gooseneck extensions       Road Roadmaster review..        Centramatic, automatic tire balancers

“You’ll want to read your owners manual and the tag on your receiver. As an example if your truck or SUV came with a Class III receiver and your tongue weight is 500#’s or over and or your trailer is 5000# or over, the truck manufacture and receiver hitch manufacture require a weight distributing hitch for those higher trailer ratings. This means is could cause warranty issues and insurance issues. The RV world has embraced using wdh for decades for the safety and handling reasons. Horse trailers are the final frontier for broad use wdh. And hauling live tall animals need wdh the most. I know it’s one more thing to do when you hook up and you may have to cut a slit in the nice tongue cover for the spring bar brackets, but it is an important safety measure. I applaud the horse trailer manufactures who already have a boxed cutout in their tongues for a wdh.” MrTruck

Adjusting the WDH

Your WD hitch will come with instructions and to gain the full benefit from a WDH, you need to transfer the weight to all axles of the tow vehicle and trailer. Too much lift from a over tightened spring bars will cause a rear wheel vehicle to loose traction on say a slippery boat ramp or mud and snow. Ideally you want the tongue weight carrying 10 to 15% of the trailer weight. Weight Distributing hitches are rated to carry more tongue weight than a Weight Carrying hitch or drawbar.

In an interview with one of the Reese Hitch engineers at SEMA I was told that ideally when loaded the rear of your towing vehicle should only be one inch lower than the front measured inside the wheel well, that is before and after measurements of front fender and rear. On a front wheel drive SUV, you want to reverse that where the front will be an inch lower.

 To be precise you may want to weigh your towing vehicle and trailer by axle to get your Gross Axle Weight Rating for the front and rear axles on both tow vehicle and trailer  to see how well distributed the weight is.

In your tow vehicle if you look in the right side of the driver’s door frame you’ll see the Truck Safety Compliance Certification Label. On that label is your (GAWR) Gross Axle Weight Rating for you vehicle. A level load will allow all of your brakes, wheel bearings, springs and tires to help with the load. Also get your loaded tongue weight to complete the equation. This can be done by weighing your tow vehicle with the loaded trailer attached but only the tow vehicle on the scale. Then weigh your truck without the trailer. With these numbers you can see how much you need to adjust your spring bars of the WDH as well with the real world driving to tell you how well balanced your rig is and if the trailer pulls will little sway. Order Now…   Call 303-883-1300

Hummer H2 proved to be a great trailer tower. Equalizer wdh made it a easy pulling a 34′ travel trailer from Nevada to Colorado in December threw mountain passes and snow storms. Read the story from Ultimate Hummers Magazine.

The GAWR can’t be changed as with all the capacity maximum ratings. They are set by the manufacture and is considered the rule. If the rig pulls well, you are close to balanced. Since the GAWR can’t be changed, use the spring bars to move weight between the tow vehicles axles. You can lift the spring bars on your WDH a notch before you weigh it again. Lifting the spring bar (trunion bar) will transfer some weight to the front axle. But if you move to much weight forward you can loose traction on the rear axle. So that’s the adjustment you have to fine tune. You can add air shocks, or overload springs etc. if you want more support on the rear axle. None of that will though increase the capacity. But the WDH adjustment is the best thing to do for supporting the weight. Adding springs, shocks, air bags etc. doesn’t change the GAWR or any of the weight ratings. Which is why I believe the WDH is the best trailer tool. The axle ratings on the door tag is the maximum for each axle that you want to be under.

Using the trailer jack to lift up the trailer tongue can help when attaching the spring bars to the trailer tongue chains or brackets. The same thing can help take the pressure off the spring bars when un-hooking.  Order Above…

Independent rear suspension on SUV’s need WDH

Ford Excursion, 2500 Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon 2500 XL, older Dodge Dakota and older Ford Explorer’s have rear leaf springs like a full size truck. But the trend is the independent rear suspensions coming to SUV’s such as late models of Ford Explorers, Expeditions, Mercedes ML320 and above, Lexus etc. They ride great but all that extra movement for the soft ride, will let a trailer move more. The coil spring suspensions found on most SUV’s also allow more trailer sway.  So I highly recommend using a WDH. The better ones are easy and fast to hook up. Watch the retired gray hairs pulling RV travel trailers. 80% of them will have a WDH. And their cargo doesn’t shift weight from one hoof to the other while swatting flies with it’s tail. Also another SUV that needs unique attention and a well tuned WDH is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I see this vehicle towing a lot of trailers. It has the power with the V-8 but the short wheelbase and unibody construction makes this tow vehicle need proper setup for safe towing.  I was driving next to one on I-70 last winter in a blizzard over Vail pass. It has pulling a 16 ‘ flat bed trailer with crate loaded too far forward. The trailer had a weight distributing hitch, as Cherokee’s need and was still squatting which was partly due to the load being too far forward and partly due to the bridging effect of the WD hitch putting leverage on the unibody of the Cherokee is not as effective as the leverage on a, (body on frame) system from what I see.

There are several good WD hitches available. I like Andersen because their hitch works as a Weight Distributing Hitch and Anti-sway bar all in one and they are one of the only ones that don’t require holes drilled into the trailer hitch. The Anti-sway system is incorporated into the friction head under the ball. This causes friction and slows down the reaction at the hitch. They hook up easy and fast  without holes in the trailer hitch. The friction anti-sway bars that are an option on some WD hitches apply pressure with a sliding plate clamp system that aren’t to be used in the rain or snow. During rain and snow  you need anti-sway the most.  I use mine on all the different trucks I test from Quadrasteer Suburban to Hummer H2. I’d be in trouble if I had to drill holes in all the trailers I borrow. A lot of bumper pull horse trailers have sheet metal across the V-hitch so you have to cut a small slit in the sheet metal for the brackets. Which is better than most WD hitches that have a wide clamp that is bolted or welded to the trailer frame for the spring bars to attach to with chains.   Order Above…

You don’t need to weld or bolt ugly brackets to your trailer V-neck as seen below.

A close up of the clamp. This one welded and a slit is cut in the sheet metal covering the gap in the V-neck

This trailer V-neck hitch has the clamps welded on the hitch for the chain brackets that connect the spring arms to the trailer V-neck tongue. The Equal-i-zer trailer spring bar bracket on the trailer hitch V-neck, only needs a slit cut into the cosmetic  deck plate of 1 1/2″ by 1/8″ which can be done with a hand drill or drill and jig saw.

The sheet metal or aluminum that covers the V-neck is usually cosmetic, but ask your trailer dealer or manufacture if you can cut a small rectangle hole in it for the WDH spring bar bracket..

Maximum tongue weight 10% of trailer weight rating. Average trailer tongue height from the ground up is 14 inches

I know that most folks who don’t use a Weight Distributing Hitch, and that know about the benefits of them, is the hassle of hooking them up. Well I’m against hassles myself and that’s why I can recommend Andersen hitches. It might, if you are as slow as me add 2 minutes to you hitching up time. And being able to adjust your towing rig to be level with even braking and bearing support along with losing the wag from your tail is sure worth 2 minutes.  Order Above…   Email questions…  Call for other countries 303-883-1300

Email me Questions or call 303-883-1300       Safe Secure ordering website

The total weight of your truck and trailer loaded at maximum capacity is called the Gross Combination Weight Rating, (GCWR), which is the sum of the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, (GVWR) for truck and the GVWR of the trailer. But that’s just the total numbers. Then you have to stay within the maximum tongue weight of the hitch and receiver on the truck in the proper distribution percentage and the truck and trailer’s Gross Axle Weight Rating, (GAWR). And then of course it has something to do with, pie R squared, yuk, yuk. It is very confusing.

When using a weight distributing hitch with a bumper pull trailer, the weight distributing hitch head or shank on the A-frame tongue of the trailer slides into the trucks receiver hitch, (the 2” square tube attached to the truck frame.)  Usually class 3, 4 and 5 receiver hitches are 2” square, some of the heavy duty class 5’s are a 2 ½” tube.

“Andersen No-Sway Anti-Bounce Cushion Weight Distribution Hitch, new never been seen design.”

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Kent

First 32 years on the farm, moved to the big city to sell trucks to save the farm AD (after the divorce) sold pickup trucks for 10 years in Denver. Last 12 years I review trucks, trailers and towing accessories in horse magazines, Farm Journal, Fence Post and on RFD TV

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