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Preferred Hitch


GrantCarol

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Once again seeking your advice; the hitch on our ATV, I believe, needs replacing, it's as old as the 'van and I'd be far more comfortable with a new one.  It now comes down to choice, the DO-35 or the McHitch, is one 'better' than the other, what's the preferred choice among KOG owners?  

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Hi Grant & Carol

 

I think you will find that most have and will stay with the McHitch and if changing would be installing the new auto coupler by McHitch.  It works extremely well as a marriage saver.  Don't forget that the DO35 has only a 3.5t rating and I think without knowing the length of your van that minimum you need is the 4.5t mchitch, that way you have little wiggle room with weight.

 

 

Cheers

 

Merv

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G`Day Grant & Carol

As Merv said ,the McHitch auto coupler is the way to go. Ours is the 6 tonne hitch as that is all they had, other than the 3.5 at the time of changeover from the old Hyland hitch.They are definitely a "marriage saver." I give the hitch post and hole a clean out now and again and a little bit of silicone spray.

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Hi Grant and Carol

I can only speak about the DO35, and have found it to be very good.

Vehicle Components which designed and manufacture it (as well as Kedron suspensions) fitted it as a replacement for the Hyland which was originally fitted by Kedron. 

It has my vote.

Regards

Barry 

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I can't talk about the new McHitch coupling but on our 2011 20'6"" Topender we  had to replace the original 6 tonn McHitch in 2013 (because of excess wearing in the body bushes after less than 3 years) with a DO 45. The difference in the case of smoothness of towing was amazing. The new hitch was more expensive and didn't, look as impressive ,but  preferred by the Brisbane engineer over other available hitches at the time. While towing our loaded 3.5tonn van with out Toyota 100series we needed all the controllability we could muster. Only my opinion but our van was much better towing , especially when coming down a long ,curving decline . The van went from being a Rockwheeler to a Dashound.

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I can't speak for the McHitch as I have never owned one, although I have heard others speak both good and bad about it.  I guess that is the same with every product. Some love it, and others not so much. 

 

We have a DO-35 and are very happy with it.  We would not hesitate to continue using it on future vans. We have an ATV2 and find it very easy to hitch and unhitch.  Later models have a dust cap which would be great if you are doing a lot of dirt roads. 

 

 

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If you have the DO35coupling without the dust cap and use a reversing camera to back onto the coupling, try placing a golf ball on top of the hole where the pin comes through. This will alow you to see exactly where the hole is. In my case the camera is mounted low enough to see the top of the pin when reversing and can back on to the coupling at any angle and be spot on with the coupling. Love the coupling.

Den n Col

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On 31 May 2016 at 10:05 AM, GrantCarol said:

Once again seeking your advice; the hitch on our ATV, I believe, needs replacing, it's as old as the 'van and I'd be far more comfortable with a new one.  It now comes down to choice, the DO-35 or the McHitch, is one 'better' than the other, what's the preferred choice among KOG owners?  

 

 

It certainly sounds like you two are going to have a hard time deciding which way to go in answer to your question if any of the above posts are any indication.

 

Good luck with your choice

 

Merv

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Hi all

 

McHitch Auto Coupler has just won the top hitch award in the testing done by Caravan & Motorhome Mag.   Some interesting reading in relation to the testing and the other hitches involved.

 

 

Cheers

 

Merv

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On 3 June 2016 at 0:42 PM, Merv and Di said:

Hi all

 

McHitch Auto Coupler has just won the top hitch award in the testing done by Caravan & Motorhome Mag.   Some interesting reading in relation to the testing and the other hitches involved.

 

 

Cheers

 

Merv

Yes, I saw that story, and it won it quite easily.  Whilst, above, 'The Road Runner' makes some interesting comments, it looks like a McHitch will be the ATV before much longer.

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On 31 May 2016 at 10:05 AM, GrantCarol said:

Once again seeking your advice; the hitch on our ATV, I believe, needs replacing, it's as old as the 'van and I'd be far more comfortable with a new one.  It now comes down to choice, the DO-35 or the McHitch, is one 'better' than the other, what's the preferred choice among KOG owners?  

There is absolutely no comparison in the two, Grant n Carol preffered should not even come into it.

if you go with anything but the McHitch you are not making a sensible decision or choice.

It is the only truly safe dependable hitch to connect both your prized possessions together and know you have peace of mind.

Edited by HAVAGO
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  • 1 month later...

I have just replaced my hitch on the Kedron with the new McHitch Uniglide, the question is has anyone coupled this hitch up with a Pro Series RB2 Weight Distribution system, and did you have to use the McHitch WDH pack with adaptor and roller kit.

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Hi Garry,

Welcome to this forum.

I personally can't answer your question, but a quick phone call to Joe @ McHitch is the easiest way to go. He is a very easy guy to talk to and freely gives out as much info as you require.

Mc Hitch's number is 02 63512533

 

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On ‎1‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 11:09 AM, Webby said:

I can't speak for the McHitch as I have never owned one, although I have heard others speak both good and bad about it.  I guess that is the same with every product. Some love it, and others not so much. 

 

We have a DO-35 and are very happy with it.  We would not hesitate to continue using it on future vans. We have an ATV2 and find it very easy to hitch and unhitch.  Later models have a dust cap which would be great if you are doing a lot of dirt roads. 

 

 

We've recently replaced our D0-35 with the newer mark2 model (with the dust cap). The original model was great and served us well . We decided to stay with the Hitchmaster as it was an easy swapover using the same footprint and hole pattern. The new model is greatly improved in addition to the dust cap. It has a bush that bears the downweight around the pin rather than just the greased metal on metal system of the older model. It also has an improved latching arrangement that a is easier and simpler to use. The service from Vehicle Components was great when we had to replace the hitch while on the road. The VC agent at Winton took my call on ANZAC Day and had the new hitch delivered to meet us at Mt Isa a few days later. Note: VC technician confirmed to me that the old D0-35 requires good greasing on the weight bearing surfaces  whereas the Mark2 only needs a smear due to the new design with the bush bearing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We like the Mchitch auto, it works really well. Very easy to hitch and unhitch. Joe at Lithgow is very approachable and helpful with any questions. A good Australian made product that works well.

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Gday all..

we have had the DO 35 & 45 on our ATV.... On our Spinifex we have the auto coupler and like it.. Only negative is that when you are hooking up you should chock the wheels .. You will (after a while) give it a fair old shove and ifn the height is not right the van can roll away ????.....

overall very happy,..

Danny 

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11 hours ago, Danny and Sue said:

Gday all..

we have had the DO 35 & 45 on our ATV.... On our Spinifex we have the auto coupler and like it.. Only negative is that when you are hooking up you should chock the wheels .. You will (after a while) give it a fair old shove and ifn the height is not right the van can roll away ????.....

overall very happy,..

Danny 

I am very surprised that any one would even think of hitching or unhitching any van with any hitch without handbrake on and front and back chocks in place.

:( Natural selection in action.

 

It is important to get the height right with the Mchitch auto, if tight to undo pin height between van and tow is almost certainly not correct. Similarly if a lot of force needed to hitch the Mchitch, the tow is usually too high and you are lifting the van. This is easily visually checked by looking at last stage of hitching up and height adjusted with jocky wheel or trail mate jack or just tilting the hitch coupling.

If height ok, hitching and unhitching is very smooth, if height not ok more force is needed and it not surprising chocks and handbrake come into play. It also pays to wipe the coupling pin and inside hitch with a paper towel in dusty confitions, Mchitch also suggest PTFE lubricant if needed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our van came standard with the DO35, I have recently purchased the 4500 Mc Hitch Auto Coupler, I should have gone the DO45 just for ease of fitting as the front mounting holes are different PCD's. No problem if you have the tools just a piece of advice. I was very happy with the DO35 and the only reason I changed is that I am going to increase the GVM of the van up to the chassis rating of 4000kg, I can't seem to keep it under 3500kg and have full water tanks.

 

Happy hunting.

Laurie

Edited by Laurie and Helen
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