Coupling up: the hitch-up checklist that stops driveway disasters

Three years ago, in a caravan park driveway at Hawks Nest, I watched a bloke reverse his van about four metres before it dropped off the tow ball and dug the jockey wheel into the gravel. Nobody was hurt. But his awning bag went through the back window of his own ute, and the whole park heard about it over breakfast. He'd unhitched to check something, got distracted by his kids, and hooked back up without dropping the coupling all the way onto the ball. It happens more than anyone admits.

After nine-ish years of towing our family van up and down the coast with two kids and a dog underfoot at exactly the wrong moment, I've settled on a hitch-up routine I do the same way every single time, in the same order, out loud if I have to. Not because I don't trust myself. Because I do trust myself right up until the day I'm tired, it's raining, and a seven-year-old is asking for a snack while I'm reversing. That's the day the checklist earns its keep.

Why the order actually matters

Most hitch-up checklists read like a random list. Mine doesn't, because I've built it around the order things actually fail in. You check the coupling first because if that's wrong, nothing else matters. You check the safety chains before you check the lights, because chains are a mechanical backup and lights are just information. Get the sequence backwards and you can tick every box and still tow away with the van barely attached.

I also do the same lap around the van every time, starting at the coupling and finishing at the tail lights, walking clockwise. Same direction, same starting point. It sounds fussy. It's the only reason I've never had a hitch-up mistake in nine years of near-daily towing.

The coupling: down, locked, and pinned

This is where that Hawks Nest disaster started, so it's where we start too. Reverse the tow vehicle until the ball is roughly under the coupling, then wind the jockey wheel down until the coupling drops fully over the ball. You need to see and feel the coupling seat all the way down. Half-seated is the dangerous one, because it can look closed from a metre away.

Close the coupling handle and check the mechanical indicator if your hitch has one; most off-road couplings (the DO35-style pintle-and-ball combinations common on off-road vans, or a standard ball coupling) have a visual tell showing locked versus unlocked. Then insert the safety pin or clip through the handle so it physically can't flip open on corrugations. I've seen couplings vibrate open on rough forestry roads when the pin was left out "just for the short drive to the servo." There's no such thing as a short drive that doesn't count.

Give the van a shove, side to side and up and down, with the jockey wheel still down for support. It shouldn't lift or clunk. If it does, you're not locked on. Go back and do it again.

Safety chains: crossed, not coiled

Cross the chains under the coupling in an X pattern before attaching them to the tow vehicle. This isn't tradition, it's function: if the coupling ever does fail, crossed chains cradle the drawbar and stop it ploughing into the road, rather than letting the van's nose drop straight down. Leave enough slack for full lock turns but not so much that the chains drag on tight corners.

I check the shackles or hooks are rated for the van's weight, not just whatever came in the box. This is a five-second check that people skip because the chains "came with the van," as if that settles it.

Electrics and brakes: don't just plug and hope

Plug in the 7 or 12-pin plug and physically test every function rather than assuming. Indicators, brake lights, tail lights, reverse lights if fitted. I get one of the kids to stand behind the van and call out what's lit up while I work the pedals and indicator stalk from the driver's seat. It's become a bit of a job for our eldest, and she takes it seriously, which is more than I can say for some adults I've watched wave a hand vaguely and drive off.

Then there's the electric brake controller itself. A plugged-in trailer plug tells you the wiring works. It tells you nothing about whether your brake magnets are actually engaging with the right amount of force, or whether they've worn unevenly from months of corrugations. If you haven't had a proper look at the magnets and controller settings in a while, it's worth reading our piece on caravan brake magnets and controllers before your next big trip, not during it.

Jockey wheel and legs: fully retracted, not just up

Wind the jockey wheel all the way up and lock the clamp, then physically check it's not going to drop under vibration. I've had a jockey wheel wind itself down on a corrugated section of the Cape Leveque Road years ago and scrape along for a good kilometre before we heard the noise over the kids' iPad. Retract the corner stabiliser legs fully too. Sounds obvious, but a stabiliser leg dragging is a slow, expensive way to find out you forgot one.

Tow ball weight and load, checked before you hitch, not after

This one's less about the physical hitching motion and more about what happens before you even reverse up to the van. Tow ball weight changes every time you load or unload gear, water, or the fridge, and getting it wrong is one of the biggest contributors to sway on the highway. Bathroom scales genuinely won't give you an honest number here; we've written a full method in how to actually measure tow-ball weight, and it's worth doing properly rather than guessing.

I'd argue most weekend tourers never check this at all and just tow around on whatever weight distribution happened by accident, which is a bit like driving with your tyre pressures set by vibes. It usually works out fine, until the one trip it doesn't, usually in a crosswind on the Newell or coming down a long grade with a loaded van.

The final walk-around

Before you release the handbrake and roll out, do one more full lap. Check the coupling is still locked and pinned, chains are crossed and attached, jockey wheel is up and clamped, corner stabilisers are retracted, and the number plate light works if you're towing after dark. I also physically check the van's wheels are chocked-free and there's nothing left sitting on the drawbar or under a wheel, which happens more than you'd think when there are kids and a dog "helping."

Our youngest has a rule now: nobody gets back in the car until Mum says "clear." It started as a safety habit and it's become the thing that stops us driving off with an annexe peg bag still hanging off the A-frame.

Reversing back onto the van solo

If you're hitching up without a second person to guide you, and plenty of us are on any given morning, mirrors alone won't cut it for the final few centimetres. A reversing camera helps enormously here, and if you tow regularly it's worth reading through our guide on mirrors, cameras and blind spots, because the same setup that keeps you safe on the road also makes solo hitching far less of a guessing game.

Get out and physically check your position every metre or so rather than creeping the whole way on camera alone. It takes an extra thirty seconds and it's the difference between a clean hitch-up and clipping the jockey wheel wheel into the tow bar, which I've done exactly once and never want to repeat.

Make it boring on purpose

The whole point of a checklist like this is to make hitching up boring. Not exciting, not stressful, not something you rush because the kids are hungry or the tide's coming in at the boat ramp. Boring and repetitive is what keeps you safe on this job. The Hawks Nest bloke with the awning bag through his back window would probably agree, if you asked him now. He's fine, by the way. Just a lot more careful about that pin.