Husky 16K hitch in New RAM

[seahunter]

Good to hear they took care of you. That clunking would have driven me crazy too. I'm new to fifth wheels, and have only been driving around a little bit with my new hitch, but in about six weeks it has only clunked a couple of times, and not very loud. Have heard good things about the B&W too.

[steelpony5555]

The new hitch may not make noise but the reason the other made noise was it rocks side to side to help when on uneven ground so you don't bind the hitch and trailer. Does your new hitch have that side to side play? I too just keep a bungee in the bed and when I unhitch just hook it to the head to stop it from rocking.

[bighornram]

quote:Originally posted by steelpony5555

The new hitch may not make noise but the reason the other made noise was it rocks side to side to help when on uneven ground so you don't bind the hitch and trailer. Does your new hitch have that side to side play? I too just keep a bungee in the bed and when I unhitch just hook it to the head to stop it from rocking.

Online description at Tweety's says "Fully articulating head allowing front to back and side to side pivoting"

[Art-n-Marge]

Good job, bighornram! B&W hitch owners are very happy people when it comes to their hitches. Having to use a bungee would add another thing to forget to do until you're reminded about it at the first clunk.

My hitch is in two pieces and each part is light enough to remove and place onto a dolly I created for it since I use my truck bed for so many other things. I can also do this because we are not frequent RVers.

If you have good bed rail clearance (6" is the recommend minimum) then you are still good. Most fiver hitches have articulating heads. I would NOT get one that didn't have some amount of this or something (the trailer or truck with driver and passengers) would have to "take the hit". That can't be good over time.

[helmick]

Not saving anything bad about a B&W hitch , they might be great. I love my Husky hitch, I'm retired and always have an extra 10-15 seconds to put the bungee on. My Husky comes apart in about 30 second by pulling one pin out. I leave it in the truck alot now, but when I do remove it I leave that pin in an just pull out the rail pins, pick it up and set it on the floor in my garage. Everbody like different things so I won' t bad mouth your hitchs and I hope some of you will stop bad mouthing mine.
Thank You

[bighornram]

helmick I don't think anyone is bad mouthing your hitch. I struggled a lot with this issue. The one thing about the Husky that sounds awsome is the single latch. I can see where that might be more secure than the double arm latch technique. The one big thing I noticed in trying to research this is that hitches are a lot like trucks. There is incredible brand loyalty. I really couldn't find anything online indicating one type or brand is an obvious better choice than others. Most feel like their hitch does what they want it to and will recommend it to others. I based my decision on the overall package and for my situation. I felt that because most of my driving is without the trailer connected and not having anyone to help me get it in and out of the bed I would risk injury muscling it around. I tried the bungie technique and it helped quite a bit but still the rattling still annoyed me. The articulation on the Husky is really loose. For me, it's too bad they didn't incorporate stops under the head.

I'm certainly appreciative of all the input from everyone here at MOC.

[helmick]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I think they did you an injustice by installing this noisy hitch but I'm sure they are in the mindset, "What do you want for free"?

Bighornram
I was not reffering to you, I was reffing to quotes like this by people who have never even used the hitch. Hitchs our like trucks, but I'm not going to bad mouth someones truck when I have never saw one or drove one. All I can say is if I took it wrong OK, but I have towed with my hitch over 34,000 miles and like it and wish I would have got it for free. I would be a very happy man.

[Wheelhouse]

Thanks Bighornram, thats where that dog-gone clunk is coming from, lol. Been listening to it forever,and never realized it was the bed hitch, lol. Yes, it is in the 20k hitch too.

[bighornram]

quote:Originally posted by Wheelhouse

Thanks Bighornram, thats where that dog-gone clunk is coming from, lol. Been listening to it forever,and never realized it was the bed hitch, lol. Yes, it is in the 20k hitch too.

Wheelhouse I'd forgotten about this thread. Here's what I walked away from this discussion with: There are 2 issues in question. First is what kind of truck owner are you? A TRUCK DRIVER or A Truck Driver and the second question being how, in each category above agressively do you drive your truck.

In my case I'm the guy who drives like the old lady going to the grecery store with occassional "spurts" of accelleration because it CAN DO IT. I pull the Monty maybe 5 or 6 times a year. Minimal pulls being 200 miles (each way) to 400 - 500 miles each way. But I've heard the RAM's like a nice long pull sometimes. I think mine does. It drives nicer after a pull. Sorry got off topic "Oh look at the ball". OK, being the kind of Truck Driver I was incredibly bothered by the clunk. I believed at the time that my old Reese hitch didn't klunk so "I know it is or WAS done before. Went back researched other brands in the stores. The B&W seemed to be a better choice. So then I knew what I "wanted" and what I "had". Whether it was free or a too loosely defined promise, I don't know. I felt that in the deal of my truck purchase I was up front and told them I will pull my hitch out and put it into the new truck. They suggested to me that rather than leaving the old truck full of holes from the old Reese hitch, Leave the hitch in the old truck and the new truck will come with a "new fifth wheel hitch". Here is where I learned a valuable lesson. This modification to the contract should have been more specific and stated new truck with "XXXXXXXX" hitch installed. Would have better protected both myself and the dealer's interest. So my decision was I wanted the B&W. When the third party involved RV dealer (in case you missed it earlier, who I bought my Monty from) agreed to swap me the B&W for the Husky, that made the solution easy. I was prepared to put the "free" Husky in my shed and buy the B&W to replace it.

Sometimes is helps just to write out your thoughts, to re-read them so you can hear them to appreciate it's true meaning.

I did just that and now I'm happy with my truck... including the fifth wheel hitch.

[RJI47]

For some reason, I couldn't get the 3 videos, but nevertheless, I'm happy for you that they solved the problem. I to would never have been able to deal with the banging. Good luck.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I think they did you an injustice by installing this noisy hitch but I'm sure they are in the mindset, "What do you want for free"?

I think calling it a noisy hitch is also an incorrect statement. At least no more noisy than many other hitches. Before the superglide I ran a Reese hitch for years. I used a bungee for the same noise abatement that others mentioned. Before that I had a B&W. Same thing. Used a bungee. My superglide after several years doesn't yet need the bungee but I won't be surprised if someday I'll need a bungee to keep it quiet.

[Art-n-Marge]

My free hitch was a Valley (now owned by husky) and it did not have all the extra metal and loose movement to make clunky sounds. I have not had to use any bungees ever to keep it from knocking around which would drive me nuts. There are hitches of all kinds and this might include their tendency to bounce around and make noise and thereby I would call it a noisy hitch. When not towing, my hitch head slants slightly to the left (the handle side) and the hitch head does not move around when driving, making turns, or if the wind is blowing. Luck of the draw on my dealer-provided free hitch.

My comment about "what do you want for free", was because when I got my free hitch sight unseen (probably means I paid too much for my rig) and was lucky enough to get one that doesn't clunk around. They just took my truck into the back service area and put it in. In fact, I really have to move the hitch head around using the handle or grabbing hold of other areas to get it to move around enough to make significant noise. The one from the OP has so much movement and extra metal that it would be noisier than other hitches and others have resorted to bungee cords to quiet them (personally, I prefer strap/buckle since bungees stretch over time.

I have since learned there are so many other options, even better than my quiet hitch that all provide the same thing and if I were getting anything free, I'd still like to take a look at it beforehand.

[triplehorn]

I have reposted the links to the videos. Google apparently did some account manipulation and all old accounts were made private. They are now fixed and should work again.

[Art-n-Marge]

The video links work now. Even after a year the noise of the hitch head would still be very annoying. I see swim noodles in the truck bed. Are these what you use to prevent movement?

[triplehorn]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

The video links work now. Even after a year the noise of the hitch head would still be very annoying. I see swim noodles in the truck bed. Are these what you use to prevent movement?

LOL. Yea I tried in a last ditch effort to slice one side of the noodle open to slip under the pivot arm. It worked until I hit a large bump when they would fall out and blow around the bed.

Thankfully the dealer where I purchased my Montana about a year earlier was who the auto dealer purchased the hitch from. They did a fine job in the customer service department and exchanged me out of that hitch. I set the trailer on it to adjust the height of the hitch install but had not pulled with it yet so it was still in new condition. Art-n-Marge I would have had to suck it up and take it out.

[jlb27537]

I just bought a new truck and 5th. In the past I had a 20K Reese and had to use 2 rubber straps stretched over the head assembly to keep it quite. I hated the rails in the bed when I removed the hitch for hauling stuff.

This time I went with the B&W Companion hitch. While I will never use the 2 5/8" ball part, I love the flat floor when I remove the hitch.

The head has a "shock" looking thing to keep the head level side to side and a spring to keep it tilted slightly rearward. No noise.

A bit pricy, but I like the flat bed when it comes out.

Jim

[triplehorn]

quote:Originally posted by jlb27537

I just bought a new truck and 5th. In the past I had a 20K Reese and had to use 2 rubber straps stretched over the head assembly to keep it quite. I hated the rails in the bed when I removed the hitch for hauling stuff.

This time I went with the B&W Companion hitch. While I will never use the 2 5/8" ball part, I love the flat floor when I remove the hitch.

The head has a "shock" looking thing to keep the head level side to side and a spring to keep it tilted slightly rearward. No noise.

A bit pricy, but I like the flat bed when it comes out.

Jim

That was my choice also but I already had the holes in the bed with rails. Thankfully they are universal rails and B&W now has the same hitch that utilizes rails.