Show me what a multi axis hitch ca do.

[LandCruiserPhil]

So far I have been impressed on where my standard ball hitch can go. I tested several types of ball hitches combos and found the 1 7/8" with a lever clamp design to have the best articulation. With the high tongue design (28") I find my trailer going places that a lower tongue could not even with a multi axis hitch.

I watch a couple multi axis video from the Overland Expo and thought I can do that.

Post up some pictures showing what your multi axis hitch can do.

 

[cnynrat]

These were taken when I was using the Lock-n-Roll. I now use the Max Coupler, but don't have any good shots with lots of articulation of the trailer relative to the FJ.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

These were taken when I was using the Lock-n-Roll. I now use the Max Coupler, but don't have any good shots with lots of articulation of the trailer relative to the FJ.

Nice!
Do you use the Max Coupler 100% or just when off road?
Would you recomend it to a friend?
Pics of your hook would be nice if available.

 

[cnynrat]

Nice!
Do you use the Max Coupler 100% or just when off road?
Would you recomend it to a friend?
Pics of your hook would be nice if available.

I use the Max Coupler all the time. I don't see any reason to bother swapping couplers for on/off road. The Max Coupler seems to behave fine on the highway for me.

I would recommend the Max Coupler to a friend. I haven't had any problems with mine. It can be a little fussy to connect as you need pretty much perfect alignment between the two halves of the coupler to get the hitch pin inserted, but with a little practice it's not too bad.

The Lock-n-Roll is a little easier to hook up, but I wouldn't recommend that coupler. The original LNR has a known weakness which becomes apparent if you back up the trailer with the trailer at an acute angle to the tow vehicle, particularly if you are backing uphill. I find myself doing this quite often, for example if I need to back up a bit to take a tighter line around a very sharp turn. Under these conditions you can tweak the original LNR pretty good.

They have redesigned the LNR supposedly to fix that issue, but I don't know whether or not it's really been resolved.

Sorry, I don't think I have any shots of the coupler itself. Pretty sure there are some on the Adventure Trailers web site.

 

[elcoyote]

I haven't had any problems with mine. It can be a little fussy to connect as you need pretty much perfect alignment between the two halves of the coupler to get the hitch pin inserted, but with a little practice it's not too bad.

Generally with the Max Coupler what we do is to leave the coupler connected to the draw bar and slide the draw bar into the vehicle receiver. We found this to be more forgiving of alignment. The rotational and vertical axis range prevents any binding whatsoever and allows excellent articulation at extreme angles.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

I'd like to see a picture of the hitch on this one... I really find it hard to believe that it's not binding...




I use a ball hitch for now on mine and it does alright where I take it, but there is no question that the ball hitch will find it's limits much quicker than the max or Lock-n-Roll. I will switch at some point down the road to one of the multi-axis types.

Don

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[cnynrat]

Generally with the Max Coupler what we do is to leave the coupler connected to the draw bar and slide the draw bar into the vehicle receiver. We found this to be more forgiving of alignment. The rotational and vertical axis range prevents any binding whatsoever and allows excellent articulation at extreme angles.

Thanks for that suggestion Mario, I'll try that next time.

 

[jeeepguy]

Lunette/pintle combo...

Strongest and most reliable system ever.

 

[GI Grandpa]

I love my Max Coupler, other than hooking the trailer up as already mentioned...on road and off there is no noise like with a ball or pintle set up and dragging my trailer over the Rubicon Trail last August it worked great.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I'd like to see a picture of the hitch on this one... I really find it hard to believe that it's not binding...

Don

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:lurk:

The trailer was built to accept a multi axis hitch but so far I have not had the need to build one. My plan was to only use it when wheeling. I wanted to know what the 17/8" was capable of prior.

 

[wingysataday]

IMO-Standard ball and hitch is just fine for about 95% of us out there. Unless you are going on some extreme stuff there is no need. It is overkill. I took my trailer everywhere and never had a problem.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

I wanted to know what the 17/8" was capable of prior.

Mine has a 2", and after 'putting it through it's paces' to see what it could handle, I found that the coupler stretched, and did not fit the ball as tightly.

It never popped off, but it was close enough to doing so, that I replaced it.

Mine was welded on by a PO, and it uses the main part of the lunette, so it does rotate. It was the 'up and down' action (like the pic in question) that stretched it.


I haven't switched over yet to any style of multi axis hitch, since my trailer is primarily used as base camp, and doesn't see anything extreme.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

:lurk:

The trailer was built to accept a multi axis hitch but so far I have not had the need to build one. My plan was to only use it when wheeling. I wanted to know what the 17/8" was capable of prior.

No offense was meant, and it actually is a lot more of an angle that I thought you would get, but you can certainly see it is binding in the 1st pic, and there is not much still holding it on the ball. It would just scare me that I might bend or break the coupler and not be able to get out of a rough area. Having the 2" receiver is great to be able to have a replaceable unit, but if I was going to go through the trails you do, it might just bite the bullet and buy a multi-axis type hitch.

Don

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[jomobco]

They can do this

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

No offense was meant, and it actually is a lot more of an angle that I thought you would get, but you can certainly see it is binding in the 1st pic, and there is not much still holding it on the ball. It would just scare me that I might bend or break the coupler and not be able to get out of a rough area. Having the 2" receiver is great to be able to have a replaceable unit, but if I was going to go through the trails you do, it might just bite the bullet and buy a multi-axis type hitch.

Don

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No worries...I needed to push the ball set up and see what it could do. Yes I agree 100% :Wow1:its binding but now I know when to worry. My plan has always been to build a multi axis coupler (see tongue design above) for the ruff trails.

After seeing a couple AT trailers resting like the trailer picture above I always had plans to use the standard setup most of the time to help avoid that. Having pulled an AT in some ruff stuff I can pat myself on the back because my design keeps the wheels on the ground and I dont worry any about flipping it.

Thanks for the feedback