OzHitch Testing Procedures
Testing an off road hitch in general
Testing a new trailer off road hitch in Australia is quite a big deal. You can do it in a couple of ways, which I will explain in a minute. Firstly the test is done by a recognised accredited test facility and has a fairly hefty price tag. All tests are documented and photographed so we can see the item being tested at its different stages of stress.
Once the test on the tow hitch has been completed and passed, the engineer then sends away the application to DOTARS for the final compliance and manufacturers compliance number you will see stamped on the coupling or hitch.
Our hitch testing story
We wanted a 3.5 ton rating so the test facility required that it is tested to 1.5 times the max load we are aiming to achieve, or 2 million repetitions on a hydraulic machine. So in this case it was 3.5 ton – so we test for 5.25 ton. They test the coupling to 5.25 ton in a pull or stretch, and then the same 5.25 ton in a compression. Have a look at the pics and you will see how its set up in a large hydraulic machine.
We tested it longitudinally to 9 Ton, and it still held up without even a crack. If you look at the dead weight on the tow ball, usually around 10% of overall trailer weight, so a 2 ton trailer only has a 200kg draw-bar weight – but in this case has a 3.5 tonne ton allowable towing weight and a huge safety margin. That’s quite high. Needless to say the OzHitch off road tow hitch passed with flying colours the first time around in all areas. I then instructed the test facility to push to destruction, so they pushed it and got to 9 tonne, and still no breakage. At this point I suggested no real need to go on as that sort of safety margin was huge and I was very happy with the results.
