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| need4speed Member Since: 23 Nov 2012 Location: Kilmarnock Posts: 746  |
Never seen one of those before but it looks fairly substantial..
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12th Dec 2015 6:54pm |
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| JR Member Since: 07 Dec 2012 Location: Auchtermuchty Posts: 532  
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The one in the pic is the latest version, I have had one since 2000, brilliant hitch especially for ring hitches and when using strops.
My older version has a bolt through the 'hinge' of the hook. I tried to remove this in order to strip, clean and rebuild the hitch but it wouldn't budge. However slackening the bolt a tad has meant that I no longer have to live with WD40 permanently dripping off the hitch! I still have to use a hammer a bit but nowhere near as much as before. I don't know if this helps you but it certainly worked wonders on the best hitch I've ever had, oh and a few friends have bought them since seeing mine too. |
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12th Dec 2015 10:33pm |
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| discomog Member Since: 09 May 2015 Location: Notts/Lincs Border Posts: 2539  
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Hi JR thanks for that. I'm going to order one tomorrow.
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13th Dec 2015 10:11am |
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| Romadog Member Since: 07 Jul 2011 Location: Powys Posts: 1750 |
Really good hitch
but for those that read this and dont know already make sure you only use correct size ring hitch and also that it doesn't swivel like a NATO hitch for off road use. |
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13th Dec 2015 10:53am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727 
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I have the version without the ball. It's a good hitch, but to be honest I find it has no real advantages over a conventional jaw and pjn, and have more-or-less completely stopped using it.
Romadog, I don't understand your comment about swivelling! You need the eye to be able to rotate with this coupling since the coupling is fixed. |
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14th Dec 2015 1:13am |
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| camelman Member Since: 27 Feb 2013 Location: Peak District Posts: 3396
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With the nato hitch both the eye and the jaw can swivel freely thru 360 degrees
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14th Dec 2015 11:20am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727
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Yes, either the pintle or the lunette must rotate, but not both.both, one (and only one) must be fixed. Since the hitch under discussion is fixed, the ring must be capable of rotating.
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14th Dec 2015 7:54pm |
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| keith Member Since: 15 Aug 2012 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 2237
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If it doesn't swivel i wouldn't be going near it .
Personally I wouldn't tow a trailer with it, if the trailer flips it will cause the towing vehicle to do the same. Only trailer I'd tow is one with a rotating eye. The "Bradley Doublelock" towing hitch is one hell of a hitch, there is no doubt about that, used by the Allied forces for years. The trailers towed at that time had rotating "eyes", which needed servicing, i.e. greasing and oiling. There were many instances were the servicing of trailers trailers were neglected, hence the rotating function failed and many incidents of trailers flipping over and the towing vehicles going over with them. The Dixon Bate rotating Nato towing hitch was introduced and used by the Nato alliance countries. Dixon Bate is actually a subsidary company of Bradley. |
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14th Dec 2015 8:39pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727
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For clarity, the hitch being questioned in this thread cannot be used to tow a trailer fitted with a NATO 76mm lunette, it will only fit a standard 40mm civilian-pattern ring coupling. As far as I know, all such couplings for braked trailers have 360 degree rotation of the ring and will be fine with the coupling.
As noted above, the early military trailers had rotating lunette and had to be towed with a fixed (non-rotating) pintle. These rotating lunettes have been phased out because a fundamental problem with this design means that if the trailer approaches 90 degrees to the towing vehicle (for example if nearly jack-knifing whilst reversing) the lunette will twist on its axis into a vertical position. When drawn forward again the lunette cannot correct its attitude and either the shaft of the lunette, or the rear crossmember of the vehicle, or both, will bend. To avoid this all recent British military trailers have a non-rotating lunette and must be towed on a rotating pintle. All of which is fascinating but utterly irrelevant to the OP's question! |
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14th Dec 2015 11:49pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727
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Incidentally, returning to the OP's question, the biggest problem I found with these couplings is that when using the pin, the vehicle has to be reversed onto the trailer's eye with absolute precision or else the coupling won't engage. This is difficult if you are on you own unless you can actually see the coupling and trailer (eg with a mirror).
With a conventional jaw and pin you can almost always wiggle things so the pin will drop, but you can't with one of these. In the end I gave up using mine under normal circumstances. It's one of those clever designs that sounds like a great idea but actually isn't as useful as you'd hope. |
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14th Dec 2015 11:58pm |
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| apt100 Member Since: 05 Mar 2015 Location: Derbyshire Posts: 1547 
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I found this demo video...
also, OP asked about reliability etc. They have a fatigue test video. It doesn't answer the question of real world use when caked in mud etc ... but could be useful at this time if anyone has trouble sleeping  (it is 9 mins of your life you will never get back )
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15th Dec 2015 12:18am |
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| Rsmont92 Member Since: 27 Sep 2015 Location: Bristol Posts: 65 |
I don't see any real benefit with using this type, you will still need to get out to check it is secure and to plug the lights in. plus if you cant reverse up to a trailer close enough to drop a pin in then you shouldn't really be towing
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15th Dec 2015 3:09pm |
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