No Options Apply Pajero, Jayco Starcraft 17.58-3 OB Hayman reese WDH MK1 | spring bars to low to ground

[Jared01]

Hello,

I tried to install my dad's old Hayman Reese MK1 WDH but the spring bars are so low to the ground. I only put on one wide but could only manage to get the second chain link on.

I took a pic and will see if I can upload it from my phone without resizing but wondering what my options are.

Should I have connected one side the connected the third chain link on the other side if possible and then go back to the first and change from second to third.

I had the jockey wheel hiding up the caravan taking the load but looks like bars are so close to the ground.

I tried different positions on the shank and also adjusted the towball so it was as flat or tilting towards the front of the car.

Maybe I need a different wdh that has bent bars not straight like these?

 

[Jared01]

I thought if I move the hitch up the shank it might help but then I could not open the door :-(

 

[Crusty181]

The gold coloured hex plate on the side of the hitch itself is the adjustment to change the angle of the hitch, and therefor the angle of the torsion bars. In your pic the bars are way to low because the hitch angle is wrong for your set up. By the look of it that hitch is set up for top of chassis mount van hitch. The hitch needs to be rolled back on the drop shank, top towards the car, to angle the torsion bars up to where they should be. Idealy you when you have the correct tension on the torsion bars, you want the bars to pass under the chassis and loaded up the bars at the chain end around 100mm below the bottom of the chassis.

The adjustment is all in the hitch height and more importantly the hitch angel. Its very trial and error to get it perfect. What your after a beautiful balanced partnership of tension, clearance, angle and height .... and that takes a bit of fluffing about to get right

Start with the hitch height measurement of your level van, and adjust the cars Hayman Reece hitch vertical height to suit you van hitch height ie when they are connected and van leveled, but still with the van weight on the jockey wheel, both van and car are level (although Ive set my van at 30mm nose down). Now load up the van weight onto the car and check how much it drops, and then adjust torsion bar tension with the chains to raise the van and car back to level. Once you have the right tension you need to adjust the hitch angle to get the right torsion bar clearance both above the ground and below the chassis.

The hex plate you see on the side of the Hayman Reece hitch itself is the angle adjuster, it has an offset axis which will allow you to rotate the plate, adjust the hitch angle on the drop shank. You need to undo the bolt through the hex plate, remove the bolt turn the hex plate to the desired angle (match both plates on each side) and then bolt it all up again. (you dont have the van attached when your adjusting the hex plate for obvious reasons)

The drop shank can be turned up or down to help with adjustments if required. The 4th chain link on my V5 hitch is perfect for chassis and ground clearance on my Expanda OB, so I suspect it will much the same for yours

An important tip, remove the WDH when towing offroad (not dirt roads or corrugations), anywhere that articulation will place too much pressure on the bars like steep sharp dips etc

 

[Jared01]

As always that very much for the advice.

I have the hitch tilting as much towards the front of the car as possible. There is a clip that is blocking me from adjusting it any further forward.

Not sure what the purpose of the clip is but if I remove the towball I can remove the clip and tilt it further forward.

Would it be ok to remove the clip as shown in the bottom picture?

Photo was taken before I turned the shank around.

I thought it was a lost cause but now I have hope I can use this WDH if I can tilt it forward to raise the bars up.

 

[Jared01]

I will need to buy a larger spanner as none I have will fit the towball nut :-(

 

[Crusty181]

As always that very much for the advice.

I have the hitch tilting as much towards the front of the car as possible. There is a clip that is blocking me from adjusting it any further forward.

Not sure what the purpose of the clip is but if I remove the towball I can remove the clip and tilt it further forward.

Would it be ok to remove the clip as shown in the bottom picture?

Photo was taken before I turned the shank around.

I thought it was a lost cause but now I have hope I can use this WDH if I can tilt it forward to raise the bars up.

That metal "thing" is the remnants of a stone protector, bike rack, hitch centre'er, .... point being its nothing to do with the hitch so ditch it. Just ensure the right ball is attached and a well meaning previous owner hasnt used the "thing" as some kind of shim for the wrong ball

The hex plate in the position in the pic has the hitch tilted about as far downwards as it will go.

 

[Crusty181]

I will need to buy a larger spanner as none I have will fit the towball nut :-(

Good idea to always have one, if your ball comes loose and you dont have one ..... interesting

 

[Jared01]

Okay,

I spoke to my Dad (he kindly gave me the WDH, which I have now cleaned up and given a spray) and he said the metal thing was some sort of clip that he used to attach some sort of pole to help with backing up the car to the caravan.

Relieved that I can now remove it and tilt the hitch and get the bars off the ground and use the WDH. I thought I would have to buy a different type.

Thanks Crusty for your advice!

 

[Jared01]

I removed the metal bracket and tilted the towball as far towards the front of the car as possible.

It didn't go as far forward as I would have thought and didn't make too much difference.

I have not tried connecting it to the caravan but the clearance from the bars to the ground is only about 23cm which seems too low still.


Don't think there is anything else I can try with this WDH and maybe I should be using the round type bars like the Hayman Reese Standard Series.


I don't have very good photos to show this time as I was at work.

Anyone here have a Pajero and Jayco offroad model with WDH and care to share which model WDH you have and any possible photos?

 

[Crusty181]

Bit odd, at the angle it doesnt seem to suit any car really. The other model with the bent bars should end up at the same height in theory. Ill check the height of my bars tomorrow before you commit to a new one ... mine may well be 23cm

The bars arent quite at 90deg to the end "knuckle" that insets into the hitch, maybe if you flip the bars and fit the chain to the other side. Should gain a little bit and seems that it wouldnt affect the function.

 

[WHHEMI]

Do you actualy need a WDH or are you just trying to use it because it's there, what is your measured loaded ball weight, how much does the back of tow vehicle drop and front lift when you hook up, how does it tow without the WDH, not everyvan needs one.

 

[Bushman]

Didn't have that issue with mine when we had the Panda, however mine was set in the lower holes on the shank at sat nice and level and no issues with the back door, on the current van (non Jayco) the shank is on the same settings as the picture and bars don't hang that low I have a modified handle on the hitch to clear the door as my hitch is top mounted

 

[WHHEMI]

Are you sure the bars have been asembled the correct way, when supplied they don't have the chains fitted.

 

[Jared01]

Unfortunately I cannot flip the spring bars, they only fit in one way.

I believe I will need a WDH for this trip.

For a little over 1 year I have not had or used one. This trip we will be taking 4 x 20l diesel jerry cans and 2 x 20l water jerry cans, which we may not need to fill all the time though.

So the past year, I have gotten by without issue towing with the Pajero with Old Man Emu suspension 2" lift with airbags in the rear coils.

When I have loaded it up in the past (firewood, 2 x 20L jerry cans) the front of the car lifts up too far (53cm measured from middle of alloy to wheel arch) which I believe the most it can be is 55cm otherwise
I may run out of suspension travel (guessing when it extends).

It seems to tow pretty well without WDH but I don't have anything to compare it to.


The bars are assembled the correct way as my Dad used to use it towing his van and now passed it onto me.


I think the WDH is good to use when the caravan hitch is on top of the A-Frame, not the bottom like with the Jayco offroad models.



Will give it a trial on Saturday/Sunday for a pre-trip test and see how things go.

If anyone has photos of WDH's on their Jayco offroad, can you please post so I can get some ideas of what yours looks like.



Thanks for the support!

 

[megcam]

Hi Jared I don't have many photos showing the Pajero and the van hitched up but this is the best I could achieve. Somewhat obscured by the Stonestomper

Try again with full size pics. Last pic is just to show how much tilt is achievable on the ball by moving the washer around per Crustys instructions.

 

[Jared01]

Thanks very Megcam.

Do you have larger photos?

As a side note, did you add on a facing down or sideways exhaust tip so the StoneStomper flap on the car was not damaged/dirtied by the exhaust?

 

[Jared01]

Looking at your photos, if the red line I have drawn is your bars, then perhaps your WDH is a newer version and it can tilt further forward toward the front of the car, therefore making the end of the spring bars higher off the ground.

Was this the exact same model you had?

https://www.caravansplus.com.au/hay...ic-series-30inch-bars-with-shank-p-11682.html

 

[megcam]

Updated with larger pics. Never bothered with changing the exhaust. Stomper got a bit black from diesel soot but no heat issues.

 

[megcam]

Yes redline is the bar. I've since passed the bar on to my father in law but I reckon it was the same vintage as yours.

 

[Jared01]

Thanks for adding the larger pics. Appreciate it

Also good to know only a bit of soot from exhaust and not heat issues

I just took some more photos of my hitch and it is tilted as far forwards as possible. If it could go further forward I would be happy. Looks like you version can tilt further forward