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John, thanks for replying to my post. With my camera, I can back the bar right into the HA receiver without a hitch (pun intended)--so no problems there. I also managed to survive the learning curve for adjusting the angle of the receiver by using the torque bars. One thing though, when you release the receiver with the latch you mentioned, and then slide the hitch to either side, it also changes the angle of the receiver. To see this, I removed the bar from my TV, and manually inserted it in the hitch receiver, then I slid the hitch back and forth. This makes it easy to see what's happening. In my case, this was forcing the receiver to no longer be parallel with the bar from my truck, and the end of the bar would catch on the inside of the receiver.
When my TV and trailer are on a flat surface, I manage the hitching process fairly well, now that I understand how it works. But I inadvertently unhitched one time in an awkward location on my driveway. My driveway has a slight high spot, and the front wheels of my TV were just in front of the apex. As the bar entered the hitch during hookup, the front of my vehicle was high, so the bar angled down slightly. As I eased into the receiver, my front wheels came down, and changed the angle of the bar so that it was no longer parallel to the receiver. Essentially, I had to adjust the angle of the receiver at the same time I was backing into the hitch. It took me two hours to figure out how to work around the changes, because I didn't understand how it worked at the time.
My fear is that I don't have an opportunity to cherry pick camp sites before I get there, and I know they won't all be flat. I'm worried that I'll unhitch somewhere, and then have to agonize over reconnecting. I haven't pulled a big trailer with a standard hitch, but my experience with ball/hitches on boats and utility trailers has been infinitely simpler than hitching up with the Hensley.
I wish I had more experience towing travel trailers, because I'd really like to resolve if this is the right hitch for me. I certainly haven't had sway issues, so that's great. But hitching up, so far, has been somewhat stressful, as has braking (I'm using Hensley's brake controller, and I have it's setting maxed out). But there are times when the trailer inches forward and slides to one side when I have to brake moderately aggressive, and this pulls the vehicle to the right or left. I'm really uncomfortable with that.
Now that I've aired my concerns, I have to admit that HA owners seems to be delighted with the hitch, so my problems appear to be personal incompetence.
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