Pintle vs Ball vs Pintle/Ball combination hitches

[AFBronco235]

I'm planning a trailer build soon, and wanted to pick over the brains of the experienced builders/campers here about which hitch setup is better.

I currently have a 2" ball set up on my Bronco. I've always used ball hitches and have very little experience with pintle hitches except for some easy going stuff at work. (By easy going, I mean towing a 100+ ton aircraft with a 40 ton tow tractor on slopped concrete.) My biggest question is, how does the articulation of each hitch compare to the others? Which one articulates more or which one will be more likely to fail if the twist between trainer and truck becomes too much?

The trailer I'm planning on is more than likely going to be a bed trailer with plenty of clearance underneath, and I only plan on towing no more than 1000 lbs. max on it, not including the trailer. 500 lbs if going off road.


I'm very familiar with all type of ball hitches, from the collar lock design to more modern catch systems. The older collar lock is tougher, but IMO, doesn't allow for enough flex, especially on trails. The newer latch lock style seems to be more flexible, but not nearly as strong.

Anyways, obviously pintles are stronger, but do they offer enough flexibility, especially when twisting, to be worth it on a trail? And am I likely to damage the thing if the trailer twists too much?

There's also the combination pintle and ball hitch setup I've seen, but I can't help but think that its not very good as a pintle hitch. It looks to me as if the ball could snap off too easily. I know how unpredictable load forces can be on a rough trail and don't need to be stranded with a broken trailer hitch.

 

[100acrehuphalump]

I had a 1986 CUCV M1008 truck and a M101A2 trailer. The truck had the spinning pintle hitch and the trailer had the lunette ring. Off roading they couldn't be beat. Trouble is finding the spinning pintle and a way to mount it. I saw once that Grainger Supply offered a spinning pintle bumper mount, although it wasn't exactly cheap. Sometimes on CL one can find CUCV parts or whole vehicles. The spinning pintle only came on the M1008 full size pickup and not the M1009 Blazer. I am currently running a static pintle hitch and an extended lunette ring on my M416 trailer. My two cents..
. PS even though it was a bit of a money pit due to fighting age, I wish I never sold that truck and trailer. Geared to .456 that thing could climb a tree and to all the liberals out there it was GREEN and burned waste motor oil for fuel. Can your Prius do that?
Rant over, sorry Bronco.

 

[AFBronco235]

I had a 1986 CUCV M1008 truck and a M101A2 trailer. The truck had the spinning pintle hitch and the trailer had the lunette ring. Off roading they couldn't be beat. Trouble is finding the spinning pintle and a way to mount it. I saw once that Grainger Supply offered a spinning pintle bumper mount, although it wasn't exactly cheap. Sometimes on CL one can find CUCV parts or whole vehicles. The spinning pintle only came on the M1008 full size pickup and not the M1009 Blazer. I am currently running a static pintle hitch and an extended lunette ring on my M416 trailer. My two cents..
. PS even though it was a bit of a money pit due to fighting age, I wish I never sold that truck and trailer. Geared to .456 that thing could climb a tree and to all the liberals out there it was GREEN and burned waste motor oil for fuel. Can your Prius do that?
Rant over, sorry Bronco.

I'll keep an eye out for one of those spinning pintles. Hopefully I can find one for cheap. Not too worried about mounting it. I'm a "where there's a will, there's a way" type of person.

Don't worry about the rant. I feel the same way about modern flex fuel vehicles. I should point out that Henry Ford designed the first truly "flex fuel" engine 80 years ago. He just put it in his Fordson N series tractors instead of his cars. They could run on propane/NG, alcohol, gasoline or kerosene. You just needed to swap out the carburetor to match the fuel. (He also made a V8 version, but he didn't market it.)

 

[Ilikemtb999]

I had a 1986 CUCV M1008 truck and a M101A2 trailer. The truck had the spinning pintle hitch and the trailer had the lunette ring. Off roading they couldn't be beat. Trouble is finding the spinning pintle and a way to mount it. I saw once that Grainger Supply offered a spinning pintle bumper mount, although it wasn't exactly cheap. Sometimes on CL one can find CUCV parts or whole vehicles. The spinning pintle only came on the M1008 full size pickup and not the M1009 Blazer. I am currently running a static pintle hitch and an extended lunette ring on my M416 trailer. My two cents..
. PS even though it was a bit of a money pit due to fighting age, I wish I never sold that truck and trailer. Geared to .456 that thing could climb a tree and to all the liberals out there it was GREEN and burned waste motor oil for fuel. Can your Prius do that?
Rant over, sorry Bronco.

My m1009 has a spinning pintle......

 

[E Dr. P]

My m1009 has a spinning pintle......

Yep, m1009s use the same rotating pintle as the pickups. The 4 bolt pattern is the same as regular pintle hooks so with a little work you could modify a riser plate for it.

 

[RagnarD]

I am a fan of the pintle set up. Good articulation, robust, and I have never seen one come uncoupled without permission.

You can alway try different mounting systems by welding a piece of channel on the trailer or on a piece of 2" tubing if you already have a 2.5" receiver on your trailer.

Only complaints is that it can be a bit noisy for spectators.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Only if you are going to rock crawl with a trailer would you need a spinning pintle. For mild and even pretty severe trail running a system like this is what I decided on:
It's all bolt-on (notice it's all bolted together with grade 8, smooth shaft 9/16's, double nutted, NBW's- no pins) with an 8 ton Pintle and a 16 ton capacity lunette; way over kill for a 350 pound trailer built in 1955. But, when unloaded it is noisy. It is so bumbling old tech that all hell will freeze over before anything bad happens. Speaking of bad, I saw a spinning pintel arrangement roll over, because it can. With my non-spinning type it will get to about a 45 degree angle and then just lift a wheel on the trailer if it goes too far, kind of like a stop, but it won't roll over. But it's the pitch that i wanted to get more of as i use a 20 inch extension which puts the pivot about 7 feet behind the rear axle on the truck giving some way severe up and down angles when off-road.



I also use the pintle behind my Jeeps for wood gathering:

The receiver has a 12" drop before I can line it up with the pintle:

 

[AFBronco235]

The trailer I'm planning on is gonna be a bit bigger than 350 lbs. I think it would weigh that much empty, if not more. It will be a straight Ford bed trailer to match the body style on my Bronco with the matching axle out of the truck. The size of the bed will depend on what available when I get around to it. That's why I'm concerned about breaking the pintle. I'm not too worried about the lunette. Fully loaded, I'm looking at maybe 900 - 1000 lbs. Plenty of ground clearance with the rear springs and shocks installed. I'm also going to add water and fuel storage in the frame rails. I'm a bit of a minimalist so I'm not sure what else I may end up doing yet as far as features go. Definitely getting a camper shell. CAnvas tent out the back and use the trailer bed as, well, a bed. Maybe as a hammock like design? That way I can pitch a camp and still have a trail vehicle ready to go. Roof rack on the camper shell, storage boxes, etc.

The point being, the weight will add up quickly and I need to make sure its plenty strong. I believe in over doing things when possible.