Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 12:00
Hi guys, first let me introduce myself, my name is Joe McGinnes and I am the inventor of the McHitch Uniglide Trailer coupling. I’m no stranger to towing and couplings as I myself have a 27ft Matilda motor
home which I use to tow either of my two race cars, the first being a silver fox XW Falcon and the other being a Wild Violet XY GT.
After numerous trips to
Perth and back(from N.S.W.) and wearing out traditional tow balls and couplings in a single return trip, I started to search for something better. I was surprised not only by the amount of alternate couplings on the market but the fact that ALL of them both lock to the tow vehicle and pivot on the one point! Out of necessity, the McHitch Uniglide coupling was born.
I’ve decided to sign up to the
forum and give a brief rundown of the McHitch coupling as I’ve had quite a bit of interest from some of the members on your boards asking about availability, pricing etc and also quite alot of misinformation and speculation regarding the couplings durability and effectiveness.
The McHitch Uniglide Trailer Coupling has been developed to be an all purpose coupler for all types of trailers including ,off road campers, car trailers, caravans, horse trailers, tipping trailers and every type of tow situation out there. At the moment we have two models being manufactured here in Australia, the 3.5 tonne and 6 tonne models with a 10 tonne version under development. The most important feature of our coupling is the use of a universal joint to handle all of the horizontal/vertical movements,
well past 90 degrees horizontally AND vertically (nothing else on the market comes close) with the twisting being handled in the rear body by shock absorbing urethane bushes. The universal joint itself is the same found in all 4wd Landcruisers (industry part no RUJ-2041 made by Toyo Japan). The joint itself is held in place by registers and opposite threaded plugs/end caps which removes any end play. The universal and the rear body are both fully greaseable.
With regards to the universal joint, please allow me to clear up some concerns many of you obviously have.
Some question the strength of the universal, whether it can handle the weight it's required to pull, if it can handle the 'push/pull' momentum etc.To those who doubt, I ask them-how often do you change the universal on your Cruiser? Your Patrol? Pajero? How often do you grease them? For those not in the know it's hard to explain fully the tremendous amount of punishment a typical universal joint goes through on the driveshaft of a 4wd in an offroad, low range setting or a universal fitted to a dragcar.The universal fitted to the McHitch has an easy life compared to the stresses of those fitted to V8 supercars for example, which actually have smaller universals fitted. Others may then question the fact the uni 'pulls' the load on the McHitch while a typical universal 'spins' or undergoes cyclic stress.These stresses are one and the same, whether pushing/pulling/rotating the universal joint has a breaking strain of over 50 tonne, far exceeding any stress even the largest trailer may put it through. The comment about PTO joints flogging out fifty years ago is a red herring- how many PTO joints do you see today on modern machinery installed ,maintained and operated in the conditions which were common at that time, sort of comparing a FJ to a VE (Most uni joints at that time were as small as your little finger an did not even incorporate roller bearings).
To understand the breakthrough of the McHitch is to understand a fundamental shift in towing technology. I put this to you, that every other type of coupling on the market, whether it be a 50mm ball coupling, a Trigg, Tregg, Hyland, AT35 or even the newly announced DO25 and DO35, all pivot AND connect to the towing vehicle at the same point.This introduces wear, which creates further wear, which introduces play and hammer which creates noise and the potential for the coupling to 'jump' off the point of attachment due to the excessive wear and hammer with catastrophic consequences. Some couplings have articulation angles as low as 18 - 28 degrees which can cause huge stress and breakage in some instances.
The McHitch Uniglide Trailer Coupling goes back to the drawing board and alleviates this problem by separating the point of attachment and the point of wear (the tapered pin is the point of attachment, the universal is the point of articulation). This is not a 'New Coke' invention as a vocal minority have implied, but rather a revolution.
The main body is clamped over the stainless steel tapered pin by a triple locking mechanism with NO movement between pin and the body. With the tapered pin, the McHitch is easily connected to the tow vehicle by dropping it onto the pin, with the taper allowing it to centre itself. Once the coupling is lowered onto the tapered pin, the handwheel is then tightened down into the female thread on top of the pin, creating a tight contoured fit onto the pin which cannot vibrate loose due to a locking ratchet mechanism ; with no movement what-so-ever. After which, a hitch receiver pin is inserted through the coupling as a secondary locking measure.
We hope to have final production models available for sale in the early new year, so it is a little disheartening to read such negative comments from people who could not yet have had experience using my product. When we get to closer to the date, you’ll be sure to see me join ExplorOz as a Business Member and we can discuss it better then.
(older prototype, mainly provided to show the tapered pin.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: ModSquad - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 16:51
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 16:51
Joe,
We look forward to hearing more from you in the near future.
Regards
The Modsquad
FollowupID:
656706
Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 18:10
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 18:10
Forget all that other palaver Joe, tell me more about the Wild Violet XY GT!
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656716