# Hensley Arrow Spring Bar Tension



## Rip (Jul 13, 2006)

How tight do you tight them??????????? I think I had mine to tight and could feel the rear end of my truck moving around!!! Like the rear end was up in the air moving the truck side to side!!! Had them on 3 with 14000 pound bars and a tongue weight of 950 pounds!!! back them to 1 and this stopped!!!! My truck is a 2006 2500 Dodge Ram Quad cab short bed TCD with the heavy duty springs in front for the snow plow!!! I think when the bars were on 3 It was putting more weight on the trailer axles and on the front truck axles and lifting the rear axle up a little to make this side to side movement that you woud feel in the steering wheel???? Any one ever had this feeling before????????????


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## Morgueman (Dec 3, 2006)

Rip said:


> How tight do you tight them??????????? I think I had mine to tight and could feel the rear end of my truck moving around!!! Like the rear end was up in the air moving the truck side to side!!! Had them on 3 with 14000 pound bars and a tongue weight of 950 pounds!!! back them to 1 and this stopped!!!! My truck is a 2006 2500 Dodge Ram Quad cab short bed TCD with the heavy duty springs in front for the snow plow!!! I think when the bars were on 3 It was putting more weight on the trailer axles and on the front truck axles and lifting the rear axle up a little to make this side to side movement that you woud feel in the steering wheel???? Any one ever had this feeling before????????????


I can't believe it...For the longest time, I was the only person I've ever heard of to report fishtailing with a Hensley Arrow. After alot of thinking and wondering and posting, I THINK I found the problem (though I haven't tested it out yet). In my case, one of the square nuts on a strut was loose and this permitted the orange part of the Hensley to move side to side.

Thanks for making me feel better about my problems...


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## Calvin&Hobbes (May 24, 2006)

When I first got my Hensley, I was a bit confused about how much tension to crank up as well. So, I took about 2 hrs one afternoon, and brought the rig (with a full tank of gas on the TV and most of the supplies in the storage) to a large empty parking lot- flat as Kansas. I disconnected the trailer and pulled away. I then measured from the ground to the inside fender skirt on all four corners of the TV, and wrote those numbers down.

I then hooked up, no tension on the bars, and measured again.

Tensioned to the first line, measured again. And so on, until I noted that the numbers on the rear fenders started going up, and the front numbers were going down. I tried to keep the distance the truck came down, even on all four corners. I finally got to a point where all four corners were down 3/4" from the original numbers- and marked that on the tension struts.

Now I know that the weights will be different with people on board, food, bikes, kids etc... but this at least gives me a starting point. Hope this helps


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## bweiler (Sep 20, 2005)

I notice a big difference loaded and unloaded too. When I brought back the camper from winter storage it and the TV were completely empty - The normal middle setting was definitely too much. Backed it off to the 1st setting and it rode like usual. They mentioned this to me when they (Hensley) installed it. Guess it is the same concept as raising or lowering a link on the trunnion style hitches....

It does make a big difference!


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## bentpixel (Sep 2, 2006)

Calvin&Hobbes said:


> When I first got my Hensley, I was a bit confused about how much tension to crank up as well. So, I took about 2 hrs one afternoon, and brought the rig (with a full tank of gas on the TV and most of the supplies in the storage) to a large empty parking lot- flat as Kansas. I disconnected the trailer and pulled away. I then measured from the ground to the inside fender skirt on all four corners of the TV, and wrote those numbers down.
> 
> I then hooked up, no tension on the bars, and measured again.
> 
> ...


Excellent method!

I bought a Sherline tongue scale to find a good starting point for the jack screw setting. I used the distance from ground to TT hitch height a a guide. With the TT/TV hitched but not spring loaded I put the scale under the tongue jack raise the TT hitch to exactly the same as the unhitched point. (It is important to be very accurate here. To raise it higher will give a false reading on the scale!)

Next, read the scale and divide it by 3. (Rule of third: one third front axle, one rear axle(hitch), and one third trailer axle.) Then I tighten each jack screw the same number of turns to get the scale to read that number. I noted that the TT sat down 2" before running the jack screws. The TT raised 1" from the low point for a net of 1" lower than unloaded.

Our 23RS measured 880lbs, dialed in to 290lbs on the scale. Later, on the road, I noticed a little porpoising. I pulled off the road and added a turn to each jack, the OB felt real solid. Now when I hitch up I can tight to the match mark. It is about halfway. One of the tick marks lines up with a strut pin.

Morgueman, glad you posted. I was feeling a little uneasy but I would concur that a loose strut can/will allow swaying (yaw). My first strut setting was over tight and could not tilt up to meet the stinger.














my bad. Good luck on your next trip. Please post again: good or bad.

Scott


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