AUH Collapsed

[LV Naturist]

I don't know if those of you not on FB can access this link, but this doesn't look good.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576...3636666064067/

I have my own opinion but I'd be curious on what others think caused this event.

John

I'll add that I have no skin in this game because although I did consider the AUH, I went with the B&W Companion for the GM puck.

[Dropyerjaws]

We can see it, and that must have been one wild ride. I will stick with my B&W companion as well...

[SouthTX]

Those photos generate more questions than they answer. It looks like the AUH was installed on top of pucks and so was not properly secured in the bed. Why did the poster circle the bolt rather than the supposedly sheared ball neck? Wonder what kind of brakes are on the RV and how were they adjusted? Obviously, even the truck brakes were inadequate to stop in time. Why would anyone think that in an impact like this nothing was going to fail. Hitch, pinbox, frame of fiver, something is going to break if you hit it hard enough.

The haters are going to blame the AUH rather than the driver who was following to closely to stop or the RV brakes that were inadequate and pushed the truck in to the vehicle ahead.

[backtrack2015]

Their story... failed during emergency braking but prior to impact... provokes a lot of questions that could only be answered by the owners (e.g., prior damage to leg, age of unit, miles driven, type of use). I'm glad nobody was hurt.

[JKellerJr]

I may be mistaken but with that safety chain adapter in the puck in the bed will the AUH sit squarely in the bed?

[SouthTX]

I may be mistaken but with that safety chain adapter in the puck in the bed will the AUH sit squarely in the bed?

I don't think so. It looks like the pucks would interfere with the base. The safety chain (?) doesn't appear to be attached to anything.

Also, I just noticed that the pinbox has a Trailsaver Rotohitch installed. It has the Andersen lockout installed so there may not be any connection, but those pinboxes are known for shearing the AUH balls.

Notice, too, the pins on the ball shaft and that lock over the gooseball are not the stock pins.

I still wonder if disk brakes would have been enough to stop the unit from hitting anything. Since installing disk brakes, I have had exactly one emergency stop where the truck ABS kicked in. I didn't know that truck and fiver could stop that quickly.

[J&G garage]

Now compare that with the strength of a fifth wheel hitch. Notice the truck never becomes disconnected from the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcPddOHrRSQ

[SouthTX]

Now compare that with the strength of a fifth wheel hitch. Notice the truck never becomes disconnected from the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcPddOHrRSQ

I'll bet he wishes he had the AUH safety ball system. [g]

[Chiefblueman]

I don't know if those of you not on FB can access this link, but this doesn't look good.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576...3636666064067/

I have my own opinion but I'd be curious on what others think caused this event.

John

I'll add that I have no skin in this game because although I did consider the AUH, I went with the B&W Companion for the GM puck.

Since you're curious what others think caused this, I'll bite. I tow a travel trailer so also have no skin in the game.

I think not keeping a safe following distance is what caused this accident. It's up to the driver to know the capabilities of the rig and not rear end other vehicles. This especially applies when there is a truck in front of you and you can't see the vehicles ahead.
The story given sounds fishy to me. The truck and trailer tires were sliding, indicating trailer braking was taking place. Then the hitch broke and the momentum of the trailer falling pushed them into the vehicle ahead. Did the trailer stop braking at that point? Possibly.

I'm a bit suspicious by nature. I consider the likelihood that the ball sheared upon impact with the car hauler and the damage ensued at that time. I also consider the 1 million dollar policy/guarantee Andersen has to cover damage caused by failure of their hitch. If the damage occurred as a result of impact with another vehicle it becomes a simple rear end collision. Hmmmm….

[backtrack2015]

A couple more thoughts:

(1) I thought I remembered that the AUH didn't cover the pucks in the Dodge. I don't have one, but maybe somebody can confirm.

(2) I too am a bit skeptical that the AUH collapsed/ball-broke prior to impact. HOWEVER, I will say that the damage to the front of the Ram looks pretty minor and the rear of the car-hauler appears to have been a rather soft item to hit. The fifth-wheel/truck impact damage looks far more energetic than the truck/car-hauler impact. Thus, the AUH may have actually failed during the braking stage of this accident as claimed. I'm suspicious that this was a failure of the ball, previously weakened by cyclic fatigue, precipitated by the loads associated with hard unbalanced braking.