Sooooo long

1DayIll

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Apr 26, 2016
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South Morang, Victoria
I'm back in the game picked this up last weekend I had a 17 then a 20 now I have in between 1858-2 I'm pretty happy so far time will tell tows a lot better than the 20 a heap less weight especially on the ball let the mods begin
looks good. I would like to upgrade to an ensuite van if I could.
 
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Drover

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The Footscray hub caps look good on the Tojo as well...................... ;);):becky::becky::behindsofa:
 

Drover

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When I was based/living in melbourne the Footscray Valiants and Cortinas had black rims ................... they said they looked cool we thought because their hub caps would get knocked off...................
 
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millers

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Mar 25, 2011
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Adelaide
Some good mods there @Bluey, I will need to look at mine and see what I can do. I definitely want to change the water attachment to under the van and also sort the waste water outlets.
 
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jazzeddie1234

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May 19, 2016
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Mandurah
The fridge drain is a useful mod. The standard drip tray on mine overflowed several times before I got fed up and ran a pipe outside
 
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Drover

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Why doesn't the fridge drain go thru the floor like all the others, have they changed the design nowadays ????

I had to paint the end of my hitch red so I can see where the damn thing is when hooking up...

My 14.44 had that stupid split drain set up, what a pain, didn't take long and I plumbed mine into a single outlet, they have 2 because the water can/will back up into the shower, a simple dip in the pipe sorted that out but I fitted a decent grey tank so it all flowed into that then drained out....................
 

Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Must be the season for van work...I finally fitted the Sirocco fan I bought ages ago in to the Jayco today, Handy that the standard BMS has a handful of spare 12v terminals on it, so just ran the power supply straight to that. Have also removed the top external fridge vent and am adding a fan to that with a thermostat to help the fridge stay cool.
Just need to replace the standard ball coupling as Bluey has, not sure whether to go with a McHitch or a DO35 Cruisemaster. What are the opinions here?
 

Drover

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Ive got the same hitch as @Bluey , great articulation, just as good as the others, cost less and if you need a tow it fits, the rescue tug may not have the right fitting..... Tested that one.
 

Johnanbev

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Jul 7, 2013
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Sunbury VIC.
Ive got the same hitch as @Bluey , great articulation, just as good as the others, cost less and if you need a tow it fits, the rescue tug may not have the right fitting..... Tested that one.
tested thaT ONE RECENTLY, JUST REMOVED HITCH FROM THE TRUCK AND SLOTTED IT INTO THE RESCUE TOW VEHICLE TOW BAR RECIEVER.
 
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Drover

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tested thaT ONE RECENTLY, JUST REMOVED HITCH FROM THE TRUCK AND SLOTTED IT INTO THE RESCUE TOW VEHICLE TOW BAR RECIEVER.

Towie that rescued me was glad I had a 50mm ball and not one of the other variations as he didn't carry all of them and no 50mm receiver ..... and I have found some receivers will only accept a shank of certain length as they are blocked at the end.
 
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Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Many thanks for the responses...I had seen the Alko unit a while back, but dismissed it and forgot about it. I always had in the back of my mind the situation of needing a tow for some reason and I had read of the dramas some people encountered when the Towie didn't have the right hitch for the van. Though i always thought I could just pull the hitch off my tug and slip it in to the trucks receiver...I am sure most would have the regular square "Hayman Reece" hitch arrangement.

I see that this mob; https://trailercamperaustralia.com....l-electric-brake-offroad-trailer-caravan.html have them for $264.00 atm.
Bluey you say that you were able to use the handbrake setup off the standard ball hitch? How'd you do that?
 

Drover

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The bolt size depends on the size of the mounting plate on your draw bar, mine needed 100mm bolts and I knocked up a bracket for my hand brake to swing off, handbrakes on all hitch changes require some sort of modification......... I always wanted to go to a McHitch, had a good look at these ones and thought why spend the extra $$, happy I did actually.
 

Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Brisbane
The bolt size depends on the size of the mounting plate on your draw bar, mine needed 100mm bolts and I knocked up a bracket for my hand brake to swing off, handbrakes on all hitch changes require some sort of modification......... I always wanted to go to a McHitch, had a good look at these ones and thought why spend the extra $$, happy I did actually.
I have ordered the 3.5T coupling from Alko...they look fine to me as well. As you write, why spend the extra money on a fancy hitch arrangement. The original 50mm ball set up is fine in reality, just falls short with articulation.
Once I get it I'll know what I have to do to the handbrake lever / baseplate to fit it I guess...
 
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Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Brisbane
Fitted the new Alko off road coupling today, ended up buying the handbrake base plate as well being the original handbrake lever was a part of the standard coupling so there was no way to modify or remove.

Heading away in a couple of weeks, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully it loosens up a tad as right now the latch assembly is awkward to release and then pull up to allow the hitch to drop on to the ball. Should be fun hitching as the reverse camera in the tug seems to only work when i don't really need it, and then doesn't work when I need it!