Getting a tow bar and trailer lined up can be one of the most frustrating aspects of towing with a van, estate car or 4×4 – but Spaldings has a solution in a range of Quick Hitch couplings that make it much less of a hit-and-miss affair.
The Quick Hitch bolts to the back of the vehicle as usual but has a flared steel back plate that positions the trailer coupling directly over the towing ball.
The vehicle can be reversed up to a trailer until the drawbar is caught by the hitch and nudged into position over the last few centimetres; it’s then just a matter of lowering the drawbar, connecting the lighting cable and the job’s done!
Anglesey farmer Ivor Williams designed the Quick Hitch when people he knew kept failing their trailer towing test on the hitching process.
“I made the first hitch, checked with the authorities that it could be used for the test, and once people heard how successful it is, I refined the design and started making them in the farm workshop,” he says.
Mr Williams now has a range of five models with bolt-on or pin balls of different sizes, and with fixed, slot-in or fold-down guide plates.
“The folding version allows you to open van doors or a pick-up tailgate on vehicles where there is little clearance above the hitch,” explains Paul Denton, Spaldings product development manager. “When folded down, the guide plate also provides a more secure footing for climbing into the vehicle – certainly better than standing on a ball hitch or a slippery plastic step.”
All Quick Hitch variants, which cost from £90, save having to man-handle the trailer or lever the drawbar into position using a fence post to get the ball and coupling lined up.
They also reduce the likelihood of damaging vehicle bodywork against the drawbar and, when reversing with the trailer attached, the guide plates stop damage by preventing the vehicle and trailer drawbar going beyond a 90degree jacknife position.
