I have a 2003 Nissan Patrol, towing a 22ft Jayco Westport. My problem is that when the caravan is hooked up, I can't open the RH door on the back of the car wide enough to get into the slide out draws. Does anyone know of a different type of hitch besides the old screw nut type that I could use. I,ve looked at the re-setting the Hayman Rees hitch, or putting the towing hitch on the van underneath the chassis, but it all involves a lot of changes and currently the van tows very well so I don't want to change too much. Any ideas would be appreciated Jock
I also have a Patrol (1995) & Jayco Westport (2000). The Patrol's general suspension etc is similar to yours. Although it is a close thing my rear doors can open fully. I assume that you door fouls either the coupling release handle or the handbreak lever. I use the standard van ball coupling (on top of the 'A' frame) and a Hayman Reece weight distribution hitch.
I would suggest a visit to either your Jajco distributor or a Hayman Reece specialist. I'm sure that they cope with this problem frequently ... there are a lot of this sort of combination on the road.
Jock - suggest that you go to an ARB outlet and have a look at their Hayman Reece towing tongues - they generally stock ones of differing length and height - I had a similar issue with the tailgate on my 100 series cruiser fowling the towball - solved by ARB Melbourne - cost $35.00 - cheers Noel
