Recovery Brand Hi Lift Hitch Discovery 4

[elkorn]

I have seen these Recovery branded substitutes for the Mitch Hitch advertised. They appear to be a copy. Does anybody have experience with these, and are they properly certified (ADR etc).

[Tombie]

Why would you even consider purchasing a knock off?

[RoverLander]

I had a Mitch hitch on my 2010 D4. I couldnt get one when i purchased the MY15 D4 and so i purchased the recovery hitch. I have regretted it ever since and am seriously considering replacing it with the Mitch Hitch. Reasons:

It hangs out further than the MH,
There are side flanges on the hitch that get in the way of connecting the caravan plugs.
There is slopiness in the pin causing a rattle that i never had with the MH,
The hitch doesnt slide into the receiver as far as the MH which meant i had to use another hitch.
They claimed it is was made by Haymen Reece. A claim i have never been able to validte and i am suspicious of.

The recovery hitch does have a compliance plate on it so I believe it to be ok legally.

By the MH if you can.

[LRD414]

There's some useful information posted by Aaron Mitchell in these threads:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/213040-mitch-hitch-7.html
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/226668-mitch-hitch-4.html

I have copied below from one of those threads his summary of the situation (Oct 2015).

Regards,
Scott

We have had issues with manufacturing process. We are onto our third manufacturer because we couldn't get a product delivered to you that we're happy with, the second manufacturer screwed us around for 18 months, took our money and refused to re manufacture the hitch to rectify the issues they created. This took us 12 months to recover from, we're now back on our feet, we actually have stock on the shelf and will continue to have for the foreseeable future.

The Mitch Hitch has been copied, by the very people that we trusted with our intellectual property to distribute the product nationally, we trusted them implicitly and they took advantage of us and our trusting nature. I'm yet to see the engineering certification on the copied hitch but I dare say it'll be the same document that we supplied them to substantiate our claims that our hitch is compliant with the relevant ADRs.

This company is even selling their product using our name, customers that ring up asking for a Mitch Hitch are being sold the alternate product, unknowingly. We have sent legal letters to companies who are selling the hitch knock off using our name, the name you guys have called it, "the Mitch Hitch". It costs $550 for us to send a cease and desist letter, we've send out 10 of them in the last 9 months, an easy calculation, even for a Toyota driver.

[Milton477]

I have one fitted to my new D4. I needed a hitch in a hurry & the supplier is 30min up the road from me so I had no option really.
3000km later, most of which has been towing 2.7t, I can't see any issues. Without the tongue, the reverse sensors work fine. As for the hitch rattle, I haven't experienced it yet. I use a round to flat converter cable into the standard plug with no issues.
I suppose the ultimate test was being an anchor for a fully loaded cruiser ute to winch itself out of the Bowen River.

[elkorn]

Thanks for the useful feedback. I was considering the substitute as I could not find stock of the genuine product.

[elkorn]

Availability issue

[elkorn]

After reading and talking to various people, I have ordered a Mitch Hitch. Delivery in about 1 week. They still seem to be in short supply, but I have decided to wait as my standard hitch is usable while I wait. I have a short run to do for a couple of days, short distance, so the Mitch Hitch is not essential.

[hpal]

Just bought a recovery brand hitch to tow an off-road camper trailer (when I buy one) and will fit it this weekend. It looks pretty solid, the only issue I see is that the hitch that slides in appears to hang very low, I'd say the ball would not be much high than the standard D3 hitch and could cause similar issues off-road. The standard LR one even bottomed out on the tar the other day! I've seen photos on the net of people who appear to have used the standard LR hitch/ball in the new hi-rise receiver and I think I might have to go that way. Towing a 6x4 box trailer on the weekend saw the trailer nose down, standard is way too low. Here is an internet photo of what I've bought.
151819

[Aussie Jeepster]

I got mine from 4WD industries as the mitch hitch was not available at the time. It was on ebay, and there was a 20% discount.
I've had it for 18 months, and now towing a 2T van, and absolutely no issues with it.
Fitting was easy, and after putting plastic covers on the reverse sensors, all works as it should.

[rocket rod]

It looks pretty solid, the only issue I see is that the hitch that slides in appears to hang very low, I'd say the ball would not be much high than the standard D3 hitch and could cause similar issues off-road.
You can buy a different size tow hitch from towing shops. Get one that doesn't droop down as much as you've got and problem solved.

[hpal]

Cheers, I’ll use my original land rover one, I just wanted to confirm first. Thank you.