Offroad Coupling or Offroad Hitch, which one do you choose for your camper trailer? Well basically they are the same thing and the two names would most likely depend on where you come from. USA tend to use the word offroad coupling more and Australia uses offroad hitch more. Of coarse as usual anything America does seems to be copied in Australia. The best thing to do here is to simplify this down to features and what you will need out of your offroad coupling or offroad hitch.

Point form advantages

• Easy connection and disconnection (should be seconds)
• Absolutely must be ADR Accredited And Tested To suit your tow capacities
• Ideally very low profile to avoiding barn door, tailgate damage when door swings over the offroad hitch
• Simple strong connecting pin. Much better and more secure than clips and locking mechanisms
• Very positive connection, no mistakes
• Pin needs to be lockable for security when standing and connected to car.
• Full bushing in all moving areas to prevent rattles and damage.
• Good offroad angles at minimum 70Deg
• Great line of vision for lining the two halves
• Ideally one hand operation so leaving other hand free to operate jockey wheel
• Bolt facing up so thread cannot get damaged going of barge ramps and over rocks
• Side fitting connecting pin for line of sight and also if pin isn’t poking down it cannot get damaged
• Double locking mechanism on the pin for security and safety
• Cast steel one piece construction so no joints or weld and much stronger
• Choice of bolt on or weld straight on.
• Galvanised body for maximum rust prevention.
• Can be used with a weight distribution hitch
• Easy retro fit-able to all offroad coupling patterns.
• Spare parts available through trailer parts and caravan parts distributors

Galvanised Offroad Hitch

Most hitches would be lucky to have even half of these features. If you are wanting all of these features then the only choice is the OzHitch Offroad hitch. If I had my choice I would choose and OzHitch as my choice of offroad coupling every time. So when looking for camper trailer parts look out for your OzHitch dealer.

Lets start with Weight Distribution Hitches. These are designed not only to level the load, but load leveler riders as they are also know are also designed to redistribute weight that would normally be bearing down on your towbar. When you lift the leveler arms and attach on a Hayman Reese or similar and your vehicle lifts up, there is something else happening at the same time other than just lifting the back. What you are also doing in lifting the Weight Distribution Hitch, is transferring the weight you had baring down on the rear wheels of the vehicle back to the front wheels. So why do we need to do this. Using a weight distribution hitch does exactly that, redistributes weight from rear to front putting the vehicles front wheels back  more firmly on the ground. This in turn makes braking much safer as the front wheels of the vehicle do around 60-70 of the braking. If the weight distribution hitch was not in play then the front would be lighter, which means less weight down on the front wheels, which means less traction on the tyres, which could mean bad steering response, bad ability to pull up and a crash.  Take a look at some more safety stuff. So what else does a weight distribution hitch do. It allows the trailer or caravan to have the correct amount of drawbar weight making it a lot safer as we have probably all seen the result of what happens when you get a swaying van at high speed with the load weight badly distributed. This usually lands up in a crash.

So what about Poly air bags. These can aid in correcting the ride of a vehicle that is to low on the back due to a heavy load, but DOES NOT replace the weight distribution hitch. Please remember this it could be your life. In conjunction Poly air bags help lift the vehicle to the correct ride height but do not remove any of the weight barring down on those wheels the gear is packed over. They simply lift and level the vehicle and do not redistribute weight. In comparison the weight distribution hitch or level rider lifts and redistributes.

Using them both can be of advantage depending on the load, but for my money the weight distribution hitch is a better choice. The only down side of the weight distribution hitch is it needs to be disconnected for offroad use (not corrugated roads) where the poly air bags are fine for any type of terrain.

Offroad hitches have been around for many years. The very first mass produced offroad hitches  in Australia were the current Treg hitch. These go way back around 30 to 35 years and remain the same mostly unchanged product since the beginning. Today there are many new brands and designs on the market including the Hitchmaster DO35, AT35, Alco, Hyland, Hitch-ezy, Wesco, McHitch, Treg, Trigg, Orac, O’brien, Couplemate, Rapid hitch and the OzHitch.

Popularity in doing an outback tour of Australia has grown, as access to amazing places has opened up. This access together with very capable and comfortable four wheel drives, has helped to create a huge demand for offroad caravans and camper trailers. These make travel and setup on long holidays easy and comfortable. All these comfortable vehicles and new super comfy caravans and camper trailers, have created a greater need for offroad hitches. The offroad hitches of today have much better features and security for your Australia tour. In the last few years a whole variety of new generation offroad hitches have emerged that have superior design features to the originals and make connecting up much easier. Offroad Hitches after 35 years of change now have new features like, low profile units with ADR approvals. Much larger capacity ratings with increased offroad angles. Galvanising for corrosion protection, locking mechanisms for safety, security and anti rattle bushing etc.

Would you like to have all these features and more at the same price? Of coarse you would. The OzHitch is the best of the “New” generation offroad hitches available that has all the above features and more and is the only one of the offroad hitches available in galvanised. OzHitch is also the only hitch with a self aligning cradle that makes it really easy to use. See my “Must Haves” and “What to Avoid” on hitches and make the right decision first time with the OzHitch and tour Australia in confidence..

There has been a lot written on how to tour Australia and I would imagine you could be a little confused if you haven’t done it before. What do I take, what vehicle should I use, etc when touring Australia. Let me start by saying I was a little unsure the first time I did an around Australia trip, the key is “just do it” learn as you go, don’t take crazy risks like travelling some of the long stretches between outback towns with little fuel, water, and no spare wheels etc. What I’m saying is just be sensible. Learn some of the basics of what to take, best times for touring Australia depending of the region and take your time if you can. Outside of this  ill try to simplify some stuff for you if you intend to in particular tour the outback Australia.

Lets start with some truths that are not meant to frighten you off but make you aware so you can keep safe and have a great time. Travel distances can be huge, very hot, very dry and dusty, there are a few nasty creepies and snakes, little water and the flies can do your head in. Outside of being aware of these the most important thing is to make sure your vehicle is up to it and has had a full mechanical check over. Breakdowns in isolated areas have been the cause for many people perishing in the outback Australia.

So what vehicle do I use on my “tour Australia”. Doesn’t really mater so long as it is roadworthy and had a good check over before you set sail and travel Australia. Depending on your budget no matter what you choose, consider these points before you buy. Are there ample spares available, which would usually mean its a popular vehicle. This can save you heaps or money and time on your tour Australia. You see if it “popular’ its usually because its good, robust, lots of spares and maintenance can be cheap because of availability of second hand parts. Worth spending a little more to get a popular model for your Australia travel to the outback.

Equipment for your Tour Australia travel, besides the tent, chairs, cooker etc I suggest always taking some recovery essentials like a snatch strap, max trax, shovel, axe, tyre repair kit, wire, sealant, at least a hand winch, basic tools, spare parts, good first aid kit, UHF radio and the simplest way in a real emergency is to have with you an EPIRB.

Have a look and bookmark some of these links I have here including roadside help, road conditions, emergency help and some great tourism travel links, I have prepared for you as a one stop info source for Australia and travel.

My first tip is so important I’m going to make it a bit of a story. As my first towing tip is one of the most important that very few people ever consider, I’ll post this in questions.

How much does your trailer/caravan weigh unloaded?

How much is the maximum weight including your gear not supposed to exceed?

Do you know how much gear you have packed in weight in your trailer or van?

Towing accident picture

So here is my first tip. When you pack a trailer or van for the first time outing always go over a weighbridge and find out if you are within the trailers maximum load capacity. Why because a huge amount of accidents happen from overloading. You also need to check the vehicle manufacturers maximum allowable towing capacity. Every vehicle is different. What about the weight range of the tyres on the trailer/van? Are they a light truck tyre? Can they carry the load?

Now remember, just because its under weight this time doesn’t mean its going to be under weight next time. Different trip types require different gear hence the change in overall weight. Believe me its very easy to get caught out. Offroad towing can make things even more dangerous especially with driving on corrugations.

I once had a customer who was complaining that the springs on his camper trailer were rubbish and not of a good quality. So I suggested he bring it round fully loaded so I could see the problem they were experiencing. I asked Tony what he thought the trailer weighed as I knew it had a max capacity of around the 900kg. He suggested quite firmly that the things they had packed were mostly light things and there was no way they were anywhere near the max capacity of 900kg. The trained eye could see it was way over so without arguing I suggested we go for a drive to the local weigh bridge. We did and this is where his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the weigh bridge meter hit 1350kg and he didn’t even have the tinny on the top he usually carried. That’s 450kg over weight. The only problem he had was to much gear. So I reckon you can imagine what a surprise he had. Its easier than you think.

If your trailer is overloaded and or your cars towing capacity exceeded what chance have you got in an emergency stop. NONE.

Have a look at the safe towing information booklet.

These letters might be written on the side of your trailer or van:

(ATM) Aggregate Trailer Mass is the total mass of the laden trailer when carrying the maximum load recommended by the manufacturer. This includes any mass imposed onto the drawing vehicle when the combination vehicle is resting on a horizontal supporting plane.

(GTM) Gross Trailer Mass is the mass transmitted to the ground by the axle or axles of the trailer when coupled to a drawing vehicle and carrying its maximum load approximately uniformly distributed over the load bearing area.

Travelling outback Australia with unprepared vehicles, not enough spares, spare tyres, travelling in outback Australia alone, Running out of fuel or water, No radio or communication,  Camping trailer not good enough. Are you setting up your own demise? Well these are some of the dangers of being unprepared travelling outback Australia. There are also unseen, unknown dangers that cannot be prepared for directly. Cautious driving, staying alert and always being prepared for unexpected happenings can save your life. Driving slowly or at a pace you have time to react if something happens can most definitely save your life. like an animal walks out in front of you and you do an emergency stop or you are driving into a sunset can’t see to clearly and a washout appears, What about this surprise below, an unseen gate.

Most of us have to drive through access gates at some point in our driving careers. Sometimes they are a bit hidden as in this experience. Which also brings up many more offroad safety and outback travel dangers, and the amount of things that could go wrong. Even worse if you are towing, because pulling up takes longer if you are towing an offroad trailer, caravan or Camper trailer, this could push you around under heavy breaking and will also make the stopping distance a lot greater. There are so many things to be aware of all the time. including towing safety.

We have had numerous incidents with gates swinging in the wind and hitting vehicles. This guy caught a gate that was probably hidden by the tree line as he rounded the corner. Look at the pictures to see how lucky this guy really was travelling outback Australia.

I bet the first thing the driver checked was to see if Mr. Wiggles and his two neighbours were still in town…

Offroad hitches can be a bit confusing as to what to get value for money and the best features for your needs. This is all fine and there are some things you must avoid if your budget allows. Below are some important pointers.

Offroad hitches that don’t have some type of nylon or urethane bushing (not another metal) in all major joints (especially the main rotational body on the trailer side) are best left alone, as these tow hitches may seem nice and firm now but a few thousand kilometres of offroad and you will need a set of earmuffs so you don’t go crazy. Grease in these joints only lasts a few seconds on corrugations and it all gets pumped out. If you buy one without bushing you “WILL” experience rattling and clanking.

Fiddly Bits

Avoid hitches that have small fiddly parts and too many moving bits. KISS (Keep It Simple Silly). The more functions your tow hitch has, other than being a simple hitching devise the less reliable it will be. Complicated offroad hitches cost more, complicate hitching up, have potential for problems and easy damage, loosing bits and do they do the job better? do some homework and make up your own mind. Make sure anything you do complied with Vehicle standards and safety

Angle restrictions

Be careful of buying an offroad hitch that doesn’t have enough offroad angle ability. There are a couple tow hitches out there that just don’t have enough ability of road. To start with the standard tow ball hitch.If you are going to do any outback adventure chuck out the tow ball and get a proper offroad coupling. A couple others have limited off-road ability as I have experienced. During a trip in the Bungle Bungles I crossed a simple small washout that most anyone on a trip would encounter and I bent the connecting pin so badly I couldn’t get it out of the hitch. I suggest making sure the off-road hitch you choose gets to at lease 45 degrees minimum and don’t be to adamant of getting over 70 degrees you most likely will never use it.

Difficult Pin location

The last one is I recommend offroad hitches that have the pin load from the side not the top, as hitches that have connecting pins that load from the top have a handle sticking up that can limit offroad angles, prevent easy hitch up due to overhanging ute trays and spare wheels being in the way, they will also fowl with barn doors and tail-gates. Just one misjudgement with one of these offroad hitches will cost you way more in repairs to your car, than the cost of the right hitch. Have a look at the “Must Haves”

The ozhitch was designed to overcome all of these above problems, so try one and see how much you love it.

N.B. Whatever you do and whichever offroad coupling you choose, please only use brand name offroad hitches by the original manufacturers. Some poly block couplings amongst others are being copied and are NOT as good in quality. Original manufacturers have a whole lot of experience and time invested in giving you a better safer product. The copies may be cheap to buy but what is the real cost if it breaks and leaves you stranded or even hurts someone. I can assure you from being in the industry since 1979 and having seen a whole lot of broken ones. Also always choose a hitch that has Australian ADR approval.

Stick to these simple rules and you will have a great offroad hitch experience.

When choosing offroad hitches, there are many variables to consider. What angles will I encounter?, what towing capacity does your tow hitch have?, is your tow hitch certified with Australian ADR’s?, type of connecting mechanisms?, is your hitch easy to use?, is your hitch simple or fiddly?, Can I put a handbrake on it?

What are your needs?

Well, let me start with a couple of the things I think are an absolute must have with any of the offroad hitches.

Hitch Must Haves

ADR approval
Your hitch must have an ADR Australian design rule stamp of approval. If you buy a trailer hitch without one in my opinion you have rocks in your head. Let me ask you a question. Would you drive a car without Australian standards approval? Same thing…you are towing a lethal weapon that if it comes off or breaks can do some serious damage.

Hitch Connecting methods… What to look for.
I suggest using the old KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) method when it comes to offroad hitches. Simply the greatest complaint of hitches Overall is its hard to connect..!!!! We all know our intention is to do some off-roading. Be aware of small tolerances and fiddly parts that have a potential to jam or create difficulties when coated with mud or bull-dust. Small parts also damage much easier. Do you ever remember rolling your camper trailer or your old box trailer forward to hitch it up to the tow ball and it kind of got the better of you, was heavier than you thought and slammed into the bumper, number plate or tow ball. What if it slammed into your new offroad hitch? is there anything that could easily get damaged? How are you going to connect up now? Worth thinking about, it’s happened to all of us. Keep it simple and robust with large parts supported by quality bushing. Making sense?
Look for an offroad hitches that Ideally has 2 safely methods securing the connecting pin in place. A lot of  offroad hitches just use a lynch pin holding in the connecting pin. I don’t believe this is enough, (besides its a legality thing) they really needs to be some sort of backup safety device for securing the connecting pin in place and ensuring everyone’s safety.

Easy to use
Easy to use is probably next for me after safety. If you have ever disconnected your offroad coupling in a sandy or muddy situation, so you can get yourself unbogged, you will realise the need for it to be easy to reconnect. Some offroad hitches available give absolutely no room for error of any amount in misalignment while connecting, in fact most of them. Best get a trailer hitch that has an aligning tool on the body that helps guide all the holes into alignment.

Take a look at  part 2 : What to avoid

So my question is WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??? Let’s face it small engines are economical and it might be nice to have good economy, but are these cars for towing big caravans? let’s also look at some home truths here. A lot of small engine vehicles have the same tow capacity as the larger ones. So one of the questions you would ask yourself is, is it going to last long under the strain of a 2.5ton caravan or even a large camper trailer. Nissan have tried this for years in the Patrol with a 3LT turbo charged engine in a 2.8ton vehicle and now the vehicle has a bad name in the 4 Cylinder market because they blow up at 100K. Must say the new ones are a lot better.

In my opinion Nissan have made a huge mistake with this small engine. Many other manufactures are doing similar with 2.5LT and up to 3.2LT engines in there ute’s and wagons most a lot more successful than Nissan’s blunder mainly because of the vehicle weights being around a ton lighter than the mighty Nissan to start and let’s face it most of these vehicles never see the dirt or a decent load in the back or being towed anyway. I have a 4.2LT Patrol and it’s the bomb when it comes to towing and I only tow a 1.2ton camper and sometimes I wish I still had a bit more grunt with that on but I definitely won’t be going harder on the turbo as I want my engine to last.

Amarok In Dakar Rally

Let’s look at the classic case of the new 4×4 ute the VW Amarok on the market, it has a 2LT twin turbo engine developing more NM of torque than an engine 2 and a bit times bigger. WHAT THE HELL is going on there? Do you reckon towing a 2 ton van with that and all the pressure it’s going to have to deal with is going give it a long life?

I think it’s time for a vehicle that bridges the gap between the small 2 – 3.2LT engines and the likes of the bigger V8′s like Landcruiser and soon to be released Nissan’s 5.6 LT V8. What about a decent real 4×4 built to the quality of the mighty Nissan Patrol 4.2LT but in the size of a Pajero with a 3.5- 4.2 LT V6 diesel, now that would get me excited. Towing with something like this would be a pleasure and if you are going to do offroad towing and make sure you get a decent offroad hitch or you will be again taking a short cut that will cost you some way at some time.

Cheers

Australia certainly seems to be the country where the offroad hitch are most popular not to mention we have the highest RV ownership per capita in the world and thousands of outlets for caravan spare parts.

So why Australia?

Is it that rough out here that we need them more than others? Well if you are a genuine off-roader that gets out there in the deserts and harsh outback I think it’s certainly worth the investment. Let’s look at it this way…  I guess we do need them if you see the size of our back yard and how much offroad terrain there is, then have a look at your odds when it comes to being rescued and you are 400KM from the nearest bush town that doesn’t have a tow truck. You want to make sure you don’t have a busted trailer hitch when you are that far out in no man’s land. I guess that’s why Aussies love offroad couplings is because the added security of knowing the major connecting device between the car and your precious camper is a good one.

It seems that most offroad camper trailer companies these days fit offroad hitches of some variety to their trailers as standard.

So do we need more?

Well it’s the old story of its no good only having one store selling Nike shoes because that doesn’t create the desire and acceptance of the product. If we have a few people out there making different varieties it sets up healthy competition, plenty of discussion forums, lots of energy and desires around them and so a great market for them and the RV market. We currently have the OzHitch, Hitchmaster DO35, AT35, Hyland hitch, Treg, Trigg, Orac, O’brien, McHitch, Alko, Hitch-ezy, Wesco and probably a few others. The Treg hitch has probably been around the longest, however this by no means it’s the best.

But do we need even more?

Well one would think not but then I said that back in the 90′s about camper trailers when there were probably only 40-50 manufacturers Australia wide and now 20 years later the market has never been stronger and there are near enough to 200 different camper trailer companies from the back yarder to the professional outfit in Australia. I’m really surprised someone like Hayman Reese hasn’t designed one. So the truth is who know let’s see what happens. My best advise to you is find a large reputable camper trailer parts reseller and get there advise for your specific needs.