Pintle hitch trailer

[61uni]

What are the advantages of a pintle hitch? Isn't a gooseneck easier on the truck?

[FTG-05]

Range of motion between the tow vehicle and trailer. Mostly used by the military and construction vehicles.

[Believer45]

Gooseneck / fifth wheel have very similar towing characteristics. Both attach to the tow vehicle at the same point, only difference is kingpin or gooseneck ball.

Ball hitch bumper pull and pintle hook have very similar towing characteristics. Both hook to the bumper / hitch on the back of the frame of the towing vehicle. The pintle hook style has more play in it and can be a rougher ride but can be had with much higher weight carrying and trailer weight capabilities. As an example, THIS ONE is rated for a 90,000 lb trailer (not a typo - 45 tons) Pintle hooks and lunette eyes (the ring on the trailer that goes into the pintle hook) are used in double/triple trailer setups on semi-trucks.

What is it you are looking at?

Dave / Believer45

[Dualie]

to answer your question gooseneck is easier on the truck. but the two types of hitch really are not compareable.

[jwplunkett]

Hello all --- follow-up to this POST
My inquiry is as follows:
1) Desiring to change out all of my existing trailers & tow vehicle to Pintle
2) Been searching the web
3) As you can imagine numerous choices
4) So my Questions:
-Is the Spring Cushion Style of Pintle Hitch worth the extra expense ?
Parts Page
-Does the spring cushion help prevent ( Wear & Tear ) on TOW vehicle Transmission ?
-Should I incorporate height adjustment into pending installation ?
-Plan to purchase a 20 to 25 Ton Pintle trailer within next month or sooner so truly looking for any and all suggestions / alternative ideas etc
-Any other comments / suggestions are most appreciated & Valued
-Being I am starting from ground level so to speak totally desire to do it Right FIRST go
-Many thanks in advance

[NickKent]

Originally Posted by jwplunkett

Hello all --- follow-up to this POST
My inquiry is as follows:
1) Desiring to change out all of my existing trailers & tow vehicle to Pintle
2) Been searching the web
3) As you can imagine numerous choices
4) So my Questions:
-Is the Spring Cushion Style of Pintle Hitch worth the extra expense ?
Parts Page
-Does the spring cushion help prevent ( Wear & Tear ) on TOW vehicle Transmission ?
-Should I incorporate height adjustment into pending installation ?
-Plan to purchase a 20 to 25 Ton Pintle trailer within next month or sooner so truly looking for any and all suggestions / alternative ideas etc
-Any other comments / suggestions are most appreciated & Valued
-Being I am starting from ground level so to speak totally desire to do it Right FIRST go
-Many thanks in advance

What are you towing for trailers? And what is your tow vehicle(s)?

[SmokeyWren]

Pintle hook trailers are almost always "wagon" style trailers with very little hitch weight. The front axle on the wagon pivots during turns. Look at the rear trailers on double and tripple longhaul rigs and you'll see a big difference in the way they're made compared to the fifth-wheel first trailer.

Also the space between the pintle hook on the tow vehicle and the lunette ring on the trailer of those "pro" trailers is tiny - so almost no play in the hitch. The pintal hook and the lunette ring must be made for each other so there's almost no play between the hook and the ring. So if you have more than one lunette hitch trailer, they all must have a lunette ring that perfectly matches the hook on the tow vehicle.

I grew up as a farm boy, dragging wagon-style cotton trailers and grain trailers. Not fun. Very low safe speed limits. Fine for pulling across a sandy or muddy field at low speeds, or a couple of miles to the gin or grain elevator at maybe 45 MPH on paved roads, but I'd hate to have to drag one hundeds of miles.

If you want a trailer for hauling heavy weights on the highway, then stick with the proven gooseneck or fifth-wheel hitch. The pintle hook hitch is a "bumper-pull" hitch, which is never as good as a hitch mounted over the rear axle unless you can include a Hensley Arrow hitch in the setup. And you can't add any sort of weight-distributing hitch, Hensley Arrow or any other kind, to a wagon-style trailer.

Also note that the receiver on your truck is limited to maybe 12,000 or 15,000 pounds max trailer weight. So if you want to tow a heavier trailer than your receiver is rated for, you'll need a much-beefier receiver rated for the max weight of your trailer.

[olddieseldude]

Originally Posted by NickKent

...And what is your tow vehicle(s)?

To me this is the most important question of all. The tow vehicle has to be able to support the hitch loads. If you notice most pintle set-ups are on trucks with little or no overhang behind the tow vehicle axle.

[jwplunkett]

First & foremost many thanks to all who responded

-F450 XL Super Duty
-7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
-Dually
-Automatic Transmission
-225/70R 19.5 all steel 14PR Radial Tires
-2WD
-Currently has a Millennium Truck BOX
14 Feet x 8 Feet
That is main reason considering Pintle Hitch
-I currently have a Gooseneck Trailer and its Great, use with my F250 FX4 Model 2006 but due to economic reasons need to sell low mileage F250 and purchase high mileage F450 Yr2001 -- I pulled all F450 critical fluids and sent them off to BlackStoneLabs.com -- receive all positive results back -- plan to make purchase end of this month
-HOPE above info provides enough detail so you all may submit additional comments / Suggestions / ideas etc
-Many thanks - NC

[jwplunkett]

UPDATE -- Sorry my TYPO error
Blackstone Labs

[Believer45]

Pintle hitch is a rougher ride than a standard ball hitch. I bought an equipment trailer with a lunette eye (the ring that goes in the pintle hook) and have had a pintle hook on my truck since I bought it in 2000 (link in signature to picture of the bumper). The hitch assembly has an inch or so of forward and back travel as well as an inch or so of vertical travel so it bounces around when empty. When loaded with a fair amount of tongue weight the up and down bouncing is reduced but the fore and aft is not. I am looking into a heavy duty 2 5/16 standard hitch that I can have welded on the front of the trailer to make the ride a bit smoother and quieter, the hitch bangs a lot when pulling the trailer empty.

Just my experience, having pulled both.

Dave / Believer45

[LMJD]

The hitch assembly has an inch or so of forward and back travel as well as an inch or so of vertical travel so it bounces around when empty

Right, there IS a LOT of play any any pintle hitch setup, how much the spring type helps dapen it is open for debate. I drove a set of these for 3 years and all 3 trucks and trailers, plus pintle equiped pickups I've seen have plenty of

play. (There better be play, when hooking up the tlr you leave the spring brakes off, truck in reverse, hit a starter button under the tailgate to back the truck while with the other hand you lift the tongue and line up the tlr ring to the hook.) With that said, the play's not that big a deal even in a pickup. For a very heavy "pull type" tlr, not a gooseneck, a pintle hitch is the most popular and safest. Most all highway dept, utility company, gov't agencies use them behind pickups for their wide assortment of trailers.

The pintal hook and the lunette ring must be made for each other so there's almost no play between the hook and the ring.

No they're not, our shop had a bin of both plus the parts dept could order either one or the other separately from small pickup size to the air cushioned dump truck type. I've installed plenty of both.

[NickKent]

I'd stick with your gooseneck and put a gooseneck on the F450. The only real benefit I see to a pintle hitch is construction vehicles having to pull a varying size of trailers. wheeled compressors to larger dual tandem trailers. Too much of a pain to change out balls back and forth. One size fits all with the pintle. Also you can't use Weight distribution with pintle. Not that you would necessarily need it with the F450 anyway. But you already have a goose which is the best pulling and safest handling trailer out there. Why downgrade.

[LMJD]

JW, can't you install a B&W in your new pickup and keep the gooseneck like Nick says? I think they're about $300 and now are rated for 30,000.

[Believer45]

I looked into adding air and a pintle hook with an anti-slack chamber like on semi trucks to stop the banging and such, there is more involved than I am willing to do. With an anit-slack shoe built into the pintle hook (or into the lunette eye if you have a setup like Roadway from Jifflox) most if not all the play is eliminated.

Just to add my bona fides: I have supervised and managed truck repair shops for 14 of the last 23 years and have been around trucks since Dec of 1974.

Dave / Believer45