Hi all , thinking about changing the Std quick release plunger coupling to a McHitch . I've seen a few on vans and those I've spoken to have been fairly positive in their praise . Anyone on the forum retro fitted the McHitch on their vans and care to comment . I'm fishing for possible negatives that I haven't thought about.
I do not have a McHitch but from some research I did I found the main negative was that the hitch moved the trailer coupling pivot point further from the C/L of the rear axle which in some circumstances may increase instability in the combination of trailer and tow vehicle.
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Just fitted one to my rig and was very straight forward . as dickodownunder says it does move the pivot back about 110mm but i think if this introduces instability than your setup was borderline unstable to start with. overall i see only positive
I had the older style McHitch. Tapered pin type. My only problem was lining up the Tug and tow.
My neighbour here in the Caravan Park has the new self locking McHitch on his Mazda BT50. I had a good look as I was thinking of converting to the same model. He said it was the best move he ever made, and had even mounted a wired camera to see the hitch when he reversed back to hitch up. I believe he has a screen in the cab which accepts a rear view camera. Said it was simple to use and a one person hitch up.
The system seems secure and is mounted on a standard Hayman Reece style tongue. Looks to me that the pivot point is the same as a towball.
I stand corrected. I was not thinking about the pivot point being at the universal joint.
-- Edited by Yuglamron on Tuesday 5th of December 2017 12:11:38 PM
We were looking at one of them , but now prefer the DO 35 ....... apparently easier to unhook etc
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Guru the mchitch auto definitely pushes the pivot point back about 110 mm as it pivots at the universal joint not were the 50mm ball would be ( have a close look at att photo. mine is on a 2016 bt50 coupled to a 20ft concept 600r and no problems at all . very happy
Hi, I retro fitted a Mchitch auto to our old ( dirt road) van. Our van was ball heavy and we put up with the Mchitch for 2 years but finally removed it and put the standard coupling back on. It would be ok on a camper( I think ) but on a van only good for caravan park use, Unless the van and tug are on the same plane the hitch is very hard to uncouple read off road situations. Wasn't just me by the way I know of 2 others that also had the same problems off road as I did. you can get special WDH for it. I used it with D max and 200 series pulling same van. My new van has DO35 hitch to soon yet but so far no probs.
I had a Mchitch auto but Found that backing back into the coupling often caused the van to move backwards. Our van is heavy and we use a stand not a jockey wheel so not able to roll when necessary.
With the Easy Hitch hooking up and of is now a whole lot easier.
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I use the early style McHitch, the one with the vertical pin. Reversing camera on the Jeep makes coupling a one person job. I had the HR tongue re-drilled by an engineer to get the coupling as close as possible to the rear of the Jeep. Removed that 100mm of extra length people complain about, but really didn't make any difference to the way the unit handles. The WDH still fits, (can't comment on the new style McHitch though) but I always take the bars off while my wife is checking in at the CP office, just to make reversing in tight spaces easier.
I looked at the new style McHitch but didn't get one because I couldn't see any improvement over what I had. The air suspension on the Jeep gives a much greater range of vertical movement for coupling than fixed suspension does.
I put 1 on my semi of road yes the van does move if not at same level when hooking up . Buuutttttt if you pull out the breakaway when your backing onto it does wonders . Its a bit like wheetbix and vita brits each to there own . The bigest thing I didnt like is there anti theft lock . I emailed them asking about one . There reply was you you the secondary lock pin . So after muck alcoholed thinking I came up with what I call a good one . Well as good as the ball locks out there . I should have made a few because nearly everyone that have seen it want one .
I love mine
I found the Mc Hitch Ezyglide great to use and line up, I needed to move the brackets for the Hayman Reece WDH (classic square bars) forward by about 150mm I needed to adjust and tweek the hitch due to the 6 inch A frame, something that Joe needs to ask and point out at Mchitch as its not IDEAL, and then tries to push his weight distribution bars after the fact. The messing around welding the plate on the Hayman Reece Hitch was also a pain and extra cost so be aware when buying one of these they don't ideally suit every application. I found the unit and lock gave me confidence to tow and store
I do not have a McHitch but from some research I did I found the main negative was that the hitch moved the trailer coupling pivot point further from the C/L of the rear axle which in some circumstances may increase instability in the combination of trailer and tow vehicle.
AND likely to overload your cars rear axle to the point of stupidity. DO35 is miles better.Just saying.Cheers
I do not have a McHitch but from some research I did I found the main negative was that the hitch moved the trailer coupling pivot point further from the C/L of the rear axle which in some circumstances may increase instability in the combination of trailer and tow vehicle.
AND likely to overload your cars rear axle to the point of stupidity. DO35 is miles better.Just saying.Cheers
That post was nearly a year ago but things dont really change.
My current choice of off road hitch is a DO35. Not saying they are the best but with none of the hassles of a McHitch.
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I fitted a Mc Hitch in September, one trip to Darwin & back and I now have returned back to the original AKO hitch.
It will fit with Hayman Reece load levellers with the adaptors supplied though.
Main reasons for removing the above is:-
[1] Definitely moves the pivot point back way to much and as said it did make the tow car drop,[even with airbags fitted] I feel that is why two bolts under the towbar broke away from the chassis.
[2] I found that if your car or van is not 100% level with each other it made hitching up very awkward, and would most times move the van backwards
[3] The receiver would not always accept the swivel pin on the van to lock in
[4] It always needed two people to hitch up [with the AKO i can hitch without help]
[5] I feel that eventually the Uni joint swivel would wear out and become loose, it would then drop down and someone would need to keep it directly straight by hand to back onto the receiver on the car.
In theory it looked a very good product, possible with a smaller van / camper it would work well. [ I understand it was engineered by a man that worked for the Lithgow Small Arms factory some years ago, not to sure if that is correct though.]
I have been using the McHitch Autoloader now for nearly 10 years and 100,000ks along with a standard Mr Hitches WDH.
Brilliant hitch, best I have ever used and I have tried most of them at one time or another.
The comments about moving the van back is because you haven't got the van and vehicle heights matched. It will hitch at pretty much any angle horizontally provided the height is aligned.
If you have that correct it is the easiest hitch to hook up pretty much ever.
Unhitching it is just a matter of removing the safety pin, lifting the lever and drive off the van, of course once you have disconnected the wiring, safety chains etc.
There is no added instability in the van. The claims to that are an absolute crock.
You can argue the theory to the cows come home but I think now with the amount of physical testing I have done with this hitch, the results speak for themselves.
You do not need special WDH setups, just set up the standard type to match the hitch.
