off-road couplings

      The majority of members in the Australian CamperTrailers Group own an off-road vehicle together with a purpose built off-road camper trailer & prefer to venture off the beaten track into the more remote parts of Australia. For this reason they have an off-road tow coupling which suits the capabilities of both vehicle & camper. Let's look at what off-road hitches are on the market & what sort of job they do.

      An on-road BALL COUPLING has limited movement & therefore is not generally suited to off-road use. This diagram on left shows the limited vertical movement. Major trouble can develop with this type of coupling off-road if the tongue bottoms out into the hitches casting & breaks a piece out of the coupling, rendering it useless.  Ball couplings as shown right with hydraulic over-rider brakes have a 360 degree swivel sideways.

    The PINTLE HOOK has its origins in agriculture & then developed for military purposes in the 1940's. The pintle coupling is not as popular as it once was.  It does have limited movement from side to side & can be noisy at times over rough terrain.

    An improvement on the Pintle Hook is Vehicle Components VC COUPLING which represents a major breakthrough in the performance of ring type couplings. The key to its ingenious design is separating the ball movement from the clamp.

    The coupling locks a conventional ring into place so there is no play in-between the towing vehicle and the trailer. The base of the coupling incorporates a sealed ball joint which provides the articulation between the two vehicles.

    As the movement is fully sealed the coupling can be used in arduous conditions needing no maintenance. It does not experience the excessive wear that a pintle hook and ring gets in such conditions.

    The lack of play in the coupling eliminates noise and damage between the vehicle and trailer and does not snag when reversing around tight situations.

     Next comes the TREG type coupling which also includes the similar TRIGG hitch.  It does have a pin that stops full up & down movement, but this does not seem to worry it. It has full 360 degree movement from side to side. This type of hitch with its poly block is the most popular of the modern hitches today.

      The polyurethane block gives some shock absorbing properties, stops noise & vibration from                                                    the trailer to the vehicle. Over 50 percent of members of the CamperTrailers Group own a Treg coupling. 

     The ORAC type coupling has full vertical  movement, ( shown on left) & full 360 degrees sideways movement as well. It is of similar design to the HOLLAND hitch. (At time of writing it can not be verified if Holland hitches are still made.)

      Another off-road hitch is the HYLAND, pictured left,  which uses a ball coupling with a difference. The hitch is manufactured to give the ball full articulation. It also has full 360 degree sideways swivel & is far superior to the old ball hitch in off-road situations.

     The Hyland hitch must be used in conjunction with a 3.5 tonne ball which has a higher stem than the standard 2.5 tonne ball. This allows for proper fitment of the Hyland hitch over the ball allowing clearance without fowling the tow tongue. 
 

     The AT35 COUPLING  (pictured right) has a secondary means of automatically locking the primary locking mechanism in place. It is rated at 3.5 tonnes capacity.

      This coupling incorporates variable rate polyurethane bushes which absorb shock yet allow the structure to take the maximum loading condition. Articulation is high (70 deg min) in all combinations of movement.

      The low profile design allows maximum clearance for rear opening doors and can be fitted with most stabilizer systems. The Vehicle Components standard handbrake is designed to fit to the rear mounting bolts of the coupling.

      An over-ride version of this coupling has been discontinued because the volume of sales was not viable. There had not been one single warranty claim.

information by Rob

NATHAN HITCH

HYLAND HITCH

Thanks to Kate for these photos

HYLAND HITCH

thanks to Neil for the photos

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