RV FEATURE
TOWING MISHAP
I was leading a group of 4WD
novices through the Victorian
High Country, with one
towing a camper trailer in
these conditions for the very
first time. We’d visited Craig’s
Hut before unhitching the
camper trailer and heading
up to Mount Stirling via the
challenging Clear Hills Track.
It was going well until……
On reaching the summit, everyone was
excited to have reached this point without any
real troubles.
Having backtracked to pick up the camper
trailer, the group headed down Monument
Track, another one of those tracks that can be
extreme at times. We were halfway through a
steep and twisty section when the radio
crackled. There was an issue with the camper
trailer. The tone of the driver over the radio
wasn’t good and so we expected the worst.
At first glance, it appeared that the trailer had
unhitched and jammed itself under the rear
bar of the 4WD. On such a steep slope, this
was not a good thing. On closer inspection, we
discovered that the mounting adaptor for this
Trigg polyblock hitch had slipped and twisted
on the towbar hitch, jackknifing the connection
between the camper trailer and the vehicle.
The Trigg mounting adaptor twisted severely.
Thankfully, there was a relatively flat spot on
a corner 100m down the track, so I instructed
the driver to engage first gear 4WD low, use
the manual switch on his brake controller for
braking and not to touch the vehicle’s brakes
as he slowly made his way to the flat spot.
The issue was solved quickly and
easily and the trip continued on.
Once there, we could more accurately work
out what the issue was as the camper trailer
was now sitting straight behind the vehicle.
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