Is A Hensley Hitch Worth The Money?

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The Hensley Hitch was invented by a guy named Jim Hensley. It is essentially a trailer hitch that eliminates sway from towing RV’s. If you are into RV camping, you may or may not know that the number one cause of RV accidents comes from trailer sway. The Hensley Hitch does away with sway.

Hensley began to market his hitch design in the mid-nineties, and it is one of the safest, and well known and respected, anti-sway hitches that you can buy. Granted, it can cost more than 10 times the money than a regular ball and tongue hitch, so before you lay out that kind of dough, you should at least know the pros, cons and value before plunking down your hard-earned cash for a hitch that may be just overpriced hype.

Let’s take a look at some reasons to invest in, or not to invest in, a Hensley Hitch.

Cons

Since this is not an infomercial, and no one is writing this to sell or not sell a product, either way, let’s start with the cons first. And yes, as good as a Hensley Hitch might be, there are definitely some cons to be aware of.

Price

First and foremost, the price is at the top of the list. Brand new these hitches cost thousands of dollars, and yes you read that right, thousands of dollars. A good ball and tongue hook-up will be substantially less than that, and remember, people have been towing RV’s and other trailers with tongue and balls, and there has been no mass accident rate because of it.

Competitor Pricing

There are other anti-sway hitches out there that are far less expensive than a Hensley. Although a Hensley Hitch is very good, they haven’t cornered the market on anti-sway.

Husky, Shocker, Fastway, Camco and others, all make anti-sway hitches for large and smaller trailers alike. Many of these are only in the hundreds of dollar range, and they are given high ratings by the people that use them. Depending on what you want to spend, and what you intend to pull, a lesser priced, but just as capable anti-sway hitch, may be just right for your needs.

The Hensley Bump

The Hensley bump has been reported to happen when you come to a quick stop, hit the brakes hard, and your trailer brakes don’t react as fast as you do. Many people report that the Hensley Hitch allows the RV, or other trailers, to transfer its kinetic energy through the hitch and into the chassis of your truck.

In other words, it feels as if you have just been bumped from behind. No damage has been reported, but it is an unsettling experience to feel as if you have just been run into by your own trailer.

Oversteer

Oversteer is when you want to turn a certain way, but the vehicle reacts very slowly to your steering input. Whether it’s because of worn front tires, limited grip on the road due to rain, snow, gravel, or if you are going too fast, oversteer can happen to anyone driving any type of vehicle.

Essentially while turning the steering wheel, the vehicle won’t immediately go in the direction you want to. Several complaints have been lodged about making a hard turn with your vehicle, while the Hensley Hitch keeps pushing you straight.

This issue is amplified greatly if the road is slippery, you are going much too fast, and/or you make a hard turn. Granted, this situation can happen at any time with any vehicle hitch you are using under those same conditions, but from reports, it appears that the Hensley Hitch may exacerbate the problem

Pros

Here is where we find out whether the pros outweigh the cons.

No Sway

When the Hensley Hitch Company says there is no sway, they mean it. They even have a $25,000 dollar prize if anyone can get a trailer or RV to sway when a Hensley Hitch is properly installed. After nearly 30 years, no one has come forward to claim the money.

This means as far as trailer sway goes, no, nada, nope, none, forget about it, no way! When you have a Hensley Hitch installed, you’ll be saying the same thing.

Not affected by turbulence

Sometimes passing or being passed by 18 wheelers, or other large-sized trucks will cause trailers and their vehicles to bounce around in the airflow turbulence. Although not immune, a Hensley Hitch greatly inhibits unstable airflow from having any severe road-going effect on either the towing vehicle or the RV/trailer being towed.

60 Day Money Back Guarantee

This is one of the best ways to try out a Hensley and see if it does everything you want or need it to do. Buy a Hensley Hitch, hook it up, and go. Let’s face it, if you do a lot of RV pulling, in 60 days time, you’ll know if the Hensley is right for you or not.

Find One Used

As expensive as they are, and as good as the reviews are, sometimes you can find a Hensley Hitch used. Commonly, you may find one for less than one thousand dollars, which is 3 times less than you would pay new.

You can even pay an extra fee to Hensley and get an extended warranty for anything that might break. If you can find a deal like this, it may be hard to pass it up.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of any other trailer hitch, when your trailer doesn’t sway, that means safety first. Since there is no sway with a Hensley Hitch, you are absolutely making sure that you, your family, and everyone riding down the road that passes you by, will all be safe from a swaying trailer. This isn’t conjecture, it is one of the constants that virtually everyone, who has ever owned a Hensley, agrees upon.

There are other anti-sway hitches that claim they eliminate the problem. Some may cost less and some may cost more. But it is probably safe to say that none are more highly regarded than the Hensley. Review after review confirms that the driver would never even consider towing a trailer, of any kind, without a Hensley Hitch installed. Those are powerful words for a trailer hitch.

While no one can tell you that a Hensley Hitch is worth the money, you yourself will have to look at the facts, look at the reviews, maybe even have a new one installed, and test pull with it for 60 days.

But at the very least, once you are towing with a Hensley Hitch, and knowing that trailer sway is a thing of the past, you’ll always have peace of mind each and every time you are going down the road. And those are some powerful words too.

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