McHITCH has a hitch on my 200 Series

Willie

Contemplating doing the swap over. Did you have to go to longer drop leg (200mm) to keep drwabar horizontal? I have a 150mm drop now with the AT35.

The AT35 clears the tailgate and I thought the DO35 would be lower?????

You can get longer jockey wheels. (Probar at Caboolture)

I was also contemplating that with a DO35 I would go for a simple jackstand rather than the jockey wheel as I will be able to just back under the hitch and drop it on.

Alan

Allan,

"The AT35 clears the tailgate and I thought the DO35 would be lower????? " WRONG

If I drop the height of the hitch, the van would be nose down. I had the air bags put in because it was nose down when I used the same set-up as I had on the old 100 Series.

What are the advantages of a jack stand over a jockey wheel ?

Thanks,

Willie.

Willie

I thought if the DO35 is bolted in the same place as the AT35 there would be negligible change to height.

I am hoping that alignment is not as critical with a DO35 so i wont have to move van with handle to hitch up. Just back up under it and drop onto pin.

The jack stand is lighter (and a cheaper replacement) and has no jockey wheel to perish. Mine has cracks and splits and is only 2 years old. Trusting I can reverse under the hitch - have camera in tailgate.

The stand may also make the van a little more stable as it will be sitting on a solid base rather than a piece of rubber. (no big issue just another plus)

Alan

Hi Willie

I can't help about 200 series or McHitch, but can show you our fixed jack in place of a jockey wheel. Ours had been added by the previous owner and is a very heavy duty jack. The caravan is certainly more stable than when using a jockey wheel. It will even lift the back of the F250.

Picture not very clear, but this shows our jack - covered in cobwebs :(

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Motherhen

I found that the bolt hole (the bolt that holds the jocky wheel in the stowed position) was rounding out with travel.

So I took it off and put two brackets on the left chassis rail (no wiring in that one) and installed a Trail-a-Mate.

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When travelling I take it off completely and stow it in my Long Items storage box in the boot.

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Works well.

I'm sure this whole exercise has had a positive effect on my hitch weight. The BT jockey wheel is really heavy and the Trail-a-Mate sits further back when stowed thus reducing its weight on the hitch.

Hi everybody,
Joe McGinnes from McHitch here.
We have fitted quite a few McHitch 6 tonners to Bushtrackers this year. This is because many of these vans are over the legal load limit of the existing coupling when they are loaded and ready to go.
Most of the fitments are in the original position, although we have fitted some on top of the drawbar mounting plate at the request of the owners.
The owners of these Bushtrackers are delighted with the perfomance of the McHitch.
If Willie contacts me then I will be able to suggest so minor changes to clear the tailgate clearance problem by mounting the coupling lower in the drawbar enclosure and the adjusting the height on his WDH setup. I would be able to do this for Willie free of charge if he can drop in to our factory.
There is also the reported problem of having to raise the van the extra distance over the AT35. The Do35 requires an extra lift and the McHitch pin is only about 20mm higher than the Do35 pin. A good jack, preferably a heavy duty wind up is the solution.
We have had no reports of the front body flopping down or acting like spaghetti from any of our customers. This is after well over 30,000 klms of heavy use in the outback.The hitch has adjustable screwed plugs to maintain the front body in the horizontal position for hitching.
If any of you who have a MCHITCH with this problem , please ring me on 0402 863 867 and I will arrange to have it rectified free of charge.

Joe from McHitch contacted me and all problems are now solved. I had a McHitch coupled to an AT35 and this caused it to flop down . I upgraded to a complete 3.5 tonne McHitch system which sits up nicely and Joe tells me it will not hit the taigate because the complete McHitch set-up sits lower( although I have not checked as yet).

Cheers all,

Willie.