Mitchell Bros. Hitch

[Burmo]

Need some information regarding Mitchell Bros. Hitch on our recent holidays we were towing our off road caravan with our Discovery 4 which had been fiited with a mitchell bros. hitch our caravan weigh is 3200kg and the mitchell bros hitch is rated at 3500kg as we were towing our van the bolt in the hitch snap in half the hitch fell down off the vehicle and the caravan was on the ground. has anyone had any problem with these hitches.

[mowog]

Was it the bolt that goes through the recovery point?

[AnD3rew]

That's a worry?

[oldsalt]

Certainly is a worry which bolt gave way ? I thought these things were pretty well bulletproof...do you have any pictures ?
This will be an interesting thread to follow.

[discotwinturbo]

That's a worry?

Me x 2

I tow a very heavy trailer and on offroad caravan. I also use it to snatch.....this is a big worry.

Brett....

[Tombie]

Seeing as the Mitch has 3 bolts holding it up...
What happened to the other 2?

Are you (OP) the 1st owner of vehicle & hitch?
Was the bolt done tight?

Sounds like something was incorrect to begin with.

[101RRS]

The early versions of Mitch Hitch had a cross bolt that I believe could bend after repeated use at max or excessive heavy loads so the hitch tended to point down just a little. I do not believe any actually broke. This was certainly corrected with a heavier duty bolt before I bought mine a couple of years ago and up to now have not heard of any issues.

If purchased new for the D4 this is certainly a worry.

Garry

[murray073]

I recently purchased a second hand hitch from Ken on the sunshine coast. He told me that it was one of the early hitches (No, 13) & it came originaly with a 12 mm bolt through the recovery lug at the top. He also had problems with the bolt bending. He said he contacted Mitchel Bros. & they said there was an upgrade kit available for the earlier models at a cost of $100. He did buy this kit which now uses a 16mm bolt & has had no problems since. The bolt is as straight a die. Apparently Mitchel bros have a record of everyone who purchased the hitches when new becuase when Ken contacted them & he told them the hitch No. they had all his details. You would think if this is the case they would contact all the owners with the smaller bolts and provide them with an upgrade as the hitch doesn't appear to be capable of supporting the rated capacity with the 12mm bolt. What size bolt is yours fitted with?

Cheers

Murray

[Steve223]

that is a concern indeed as I use the MH to tow my CT which is much lighter though, but also use it for recoveries. will give Mitch brothers s call

[Calis]

I had a Mitchell Bros (in Sydney) hitch installed on my D4 about 1 month ago and they told me two changes made from the previous version which is the safety chain mount points have been moved slightly and the bolts used are stronger then the previous version.

If you have an earlier version and are concerned or had bolts brake I'd give them a call for sure.