New McHitch coupling

[Tolley]

Hello Koggers,

Last week I took my TE to Brendale to have a service, some niggles fixed and a 6 tonne Mc Hitch and new WDH fitted. As usual I received great service, thank you Tom, and it was good to have a poke around the new vans.

I am now back in Cairns having completed just over 2000 km on the return trip. The McHitch is just great! Easy to use, quiet, well designed and comforting knowing it is there. I found no trouble with the WDH on normal turns including 90 degrees and some fairly tight U turns. I am very conscious of this issue and will slowly learn what I can and cannot do. We are planning a long trip next year and I am pleased that I made the decision to switch.

Lastly, let me add to the many comments about the excellent service that Kedron provides. It was just great. Many thanks Tom, Ashley and the Kedron staff.

It is nearly December so let me wish all Koggers a Merry Christmas and a great caravaning New Year!

Regards

Colin & Gayleen

[morribm]

Hi All,

Just returned from our 1800 Km shakedown with the new van and newish (2009) LC200. Had the 6T McHitch and was eager to assess performance considering our experience with our previous Keddie and 'the other' hitch which let us down badly by unexpectedly unhitching (see a previous post).

The McH is substantial, extremely easy to unhitch (intentionally ;-)) but a trifle tricky to hitch up. It is rock solid once attached and I can't see it ever separating unexpectedly. The 1200 lb HR WDH is an equally impressive lump of steel and handling the bars themselves rapidly produces enlarged biceps.

The bars sit lower than the ones we had on our previous van and after unintentionally creating a drainage ditch in the blacktop when manoeuvring into a park somewhere, I thereafter removed the bars whenever I could anticipate any situation that could require tricky turns or present a sharply undulating surface. No further problems. I had no movement of the chain hangers.

I also travelled substantial distances without the bars attached and found that although the attitude of the vehicle was slightly nose up, I was confident with the steering and the braking but hasten to add that my cruise speed was modest (no more than 70 Km/hr) at the time. My 200 series has no suspension modifications at this stage, nor did it have a bullbar to add weight to the nose.

There was no clatter, squeak and bang from the hitch which was a feature with our previous arrangement but this was in part due, I believe, to the bars fouling the A frame. The new cutaway A frame profile eliminates this.

All in all, first impressions are very positive - pity about the need for a 1200 lb WDH.

Cheers

Brian