 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.
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 couplings 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.
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, 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).
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, with all units being proudly cast and assembled in Australia by White Industries Dalby Qld. Please keep checking back on the website closer to the release date, where we will have even more pictures, videos, testimonials and predicted pricing updates soon.
-Joe
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