Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch Problems, Sorted By Cause

The Andersen No-Sway is built on a different principle from every steel-bar hitch, which is why the complaints about it are different too. Instead of spring bars clamped into brackets, it uses two chains under tension pulling down on the trailer tongue, with sway resistance coming from a urethane friction cone squeezed between the ball mount and the coupler. That buys roughly half the weight of a conventional kit and near silence. It also means the wear items and the setup errors are not the ones owners of other hitches are used to.

Urethane cone: the tapered polymer bushing that sits between the Andersen ball platform and the trailer coupler. Tightening the hitch squeezes it, and the friction it generates is where all of the sway resistance comes from. It is a wear part by design, not a structural one.

Problem: the chains are loose after a few miles

This is the single most common report and it is normal. On the first tow, the chain links seat into the brackets, the cone compresses slightly, and the whole assembly takes up its working clearance. Tension that was correct in the driveway reads low after twenty miles.

The fix is procedure, not parts: set the tension, drive a few miles, stop and retension. Then check it again at the next fuel stop on the first long trip. After the assembly has bedded in, tension holds for a season.

Problem: the cone is worn, cracked or flattened

The cone is a consumable. It takes every bit of the friction that would otherwise be taken by steel bracket faces on a conventional hitch, and the trade for silence is that a polymer part absorbs the wear instead of a steel one. Owners typically report replacing it every few seasons, sooner with heavy mileage or a tongue weight at the top of the hitch’s range.

Signs it is due: sway resistance noticeably worse than it was, a visible lip or flat spot where the coupler sits, cracking at the taper, or the hitch needing more tension than it used to for the same tongue rise. Replacement cones are a stocked spare, and swapping one is a driveway job.

Budget for it. A hitch with a consumable in the load path is not worse than one without, but it is a different ownership cost, and it belongs in the comparison when you are deciding between this and a steel-bar kit.

Problem: clunking or rattling at low speed

Three causes, in the order worth checking:

1. 1

   Check chain tension first

   Slack chains let the tongue move against the cone and knock. Retension to the specified tongue rise, not to feel.
2. 2

   Check the cone is seated and lubricated per the maker's instructions

   A dry or misseated cone can chatter against the coupler. Follow Andersen's own guidance here rather than general hitch advice — this design does not want grease in the places a steel hitch does.
3. 3

   Check the ball and coupler, not the hitch

   A worn coupler latch or a ball one size down from the coupler produces exactly this noise on any hitch. Confirm the ball matches your coupler before blaming the weight distribution.

That last one catches a surprising number of people. The ball size chart covers which ball your coupler actually needs; a 2-5/16 in coupler sitting on a 2 in ball rattles, then eventually comes off.

Problem: the brackets will not fit the A-frame

Not a fault — a measurement that should have happened before the order. The chain brackets clamp to the A-frame rails and need clear, straight, unobstructed rail at the right distance from the coupler. Trailers with a shallow A-frame angle, a front generator tray, a battery box mounted forward, or a propane cover that overhangs the rails can all block the position the brackets need.

Measure before buying: the clear straight run on each rail, the rail height, and whether anything bolted to the frame sits in the first 30 in behind the coupler. If it does not fit, the hitch is not defective and it is not the one for your trailer.

When the Andersen is simply the wrong hitch for you

Three situations where owners reasonably move on, and what they move to:

You need maximum sway resistance. A single friction cone does less than four separate steel friction points. If you tow a long, tall trailer in crosswinds and want the most aggressive sway control available in this class, the Equal-i-zer is the honest answer, and you accept its groan as the price. The head-to-head comparison lays out both.

You want quiet without a consumable. The Blue Ox SwayPro runs steel bars under the A-frame on chains with no clamped bracket faces, so it is nearly as quiet as the Andersen without a urethane wear part in the load path.

Your tongue weight is at the edge of the range. Any hitch run at the top of its rating wears faster and is less forgiving of setup error. Confirm your measured figure against the selection chart before concluding the hitch is at fault.

How we assembled this

We do not own an Andersen hitch and have not towed with one. What is above is a reading of Andersen’s own published documentation and specifications, cross-checked against what owners consistently report, and it is stated as reporting rather than as experience. Where our sources disagreed with a popular forum claim, we kept the manufacturer’s position and said so. Our method is on how we pick.