Standard ball-and-hitch design limits

[swashbuckler]

My google-**** has failed me. I'm curious about at exactly what point the standard ball and hitch becomes a liability. Obviously it can pivot side to side as much as the truck and trailer will let it, but what about rolling and vertical motion? I've had a trailer on a standard ball and hitch through some pretty rough roads, I measured prox 45 and -45 degrees of articulation up and down and roughly 30 degrees of twist with no sign of separation or stress. Anybody know where the limits are? How far can you push a standard ball and hitch before it's time to invest in an off road coupler?

If I have to I'll go down to Harbor Freight and buy a loose hitch and make some exact measurements, but I'm hoping somebody already knows.

 

[rnArmy]

I'm running a lunette ring and pintle hitch on my Jeep and trailer. One day just for fun, I went out with my Harbor Freight magnetic angle finder thingy I went and got some measurements.

With the lunette ring and pintle hitch:

Side-to-side flexibility (twist): 28-30 degrees
Up-and-down flexibility: 90 degrees (180 degrees total).
Swing left to right: 180 degrees

So if I'm going up-and-down hills I really don't have to worry about damaging the pintle hitch. And I've got some pretty good twisting ability.

Then I went and got the 1 7/8" ball coupler, and slid the ball hitch mount into the receiver, and took measurements.

Side-to-side (twist): 18-20 degrees
Downward motion: 10 degrees (not much at all)
Upward motion: 15 degrees (again, not much)
Swing left to right: 180 degrees

So the ball hitch and coupler are fine for level highway traveling, but for any type of off-road travel I'm using the pintle hitch and lunette ring set-up.

 

[swashbuckler]

Thanks. Those numbers are surprising, I didn't think my eyeballometer calibration was that off.

Do you use the pintle on the highway, or do you use the ball hitch and swap out when you hit dirt?

 

[RagnarD]

Pintle set ups are not bad on the highway. Its all I use. I get more clank when empty but with a load I don't even notice it. Never understood then need for a ball mount coupler, sort of like a phillips head screw.

 

[rnArmy]

Thanks. Those numbers are surprising, I didn't think my eyeballometer calibration was that off.

Do you use the pintle on the highway, or do you use the ball hitch and swap out when you hit dirt?

Depending on the particular ball mount/coupler thingy you have, you might get slightly different numbers.

When I'm using the trailer with the Jeep anywhere I use the pintle hitch/lunette ring. When another of my vehicles is using the trailer (like my minivan) I use the ball hitch (mainly because I need to raise the ball due to the low mount of the van's hitch - I use an adjustable hitch). But only the Jeep takes the trailer off-road.

I've got a pintle hitch attached to a 2" receiver bracket that I slide into the receiver hitch on the Jeep (picture is a post or two above). On the trailer I've got a 2" receiver up front that I slide the lunette ring into. Where I got noise was mainly where the lunette ring was pivoting on the hitch pin and banging inside the receiver tube. I drilled a hole UNDER the hitch and welded a nut so I could run a bolt up and snug the lunette ring in place (FORWARD OF THE HITCH PIN ON THE TRAILER!!!). On the pintle hitch mount I put a thin shim inside the receiver to take up any slack. I don't find it noisy at all. And a pintle hitch set-up it makes it so easy to connect and disconnect the trailer (you just have to be close and then close the pintle jaw).

If you're going to HF buy one of their magnetic angle thingies and let us know what you get with your ball mount coupler.

 

[XPEDBC]

I've been looking all over for a thread like this..... We just bought a Fleetwood Evo 2 and of course its a standard ball hitch. I don't plan on wheeling it very hard because its just not designed for that, but I was wondering how it would do going through tank traps/ditches etc. What would break first if stressed too much?

Here's an alternative to the pintle style which looks interesting: https://locknroll.com/

 

[orangeTJ]

Standard ball and coupler won't survive long at much of an angle, from my experience.

I do RV transport as a part time job. One manufacturer I haul for has extremely high hitch heights, so high that I had to buy a new piece for my weight distribution hitch so I get get the ball high enough.
I did one haul with the hitch as high as it would go, (prior to buying the new ball mount) but it was still probably 6" too low. After that trip, the ball had a gouge mark on it.

 

[Antichrist]

Dixon-Bate make pintles that rotate 360 degrees. They are standard on military Rovers.
Normal use is non-swivel. When off road you pull the pin on the bottom and the u-shape lock swings down allowing 360 swivel.

http://dixon-bate.co.uk/shop/gb/pintles/23-dixon-bate-35t-universal-coup-.html
http://dixon-bate.co.uk/shop/gb/pintles/24-dixon-bate-35t-universal-coup-.html

 

[Martyn]

A normal ball coupler provides 15' off center of motion before separation becomes likely. This provides for a total of 30', for example 15' of the vehicle off center to the left, and 15' of the trailer off center to the right. It doesn't mean that at 31' the trailer and vehicle come apart, it means that the chances of this happening are greatly increased.

 

[MountainD]

total aside, and finally my curiosity got the best of me so I looked it up...but when typing the 15' and meaning degrees, you can just type 15° by holding down the ALT key and then typing (on the numeric keypad) 0176. You have to make sure Num Lock (number lock) is turned on. Just a tip

 

[cruisertoy]

AS someone who has witnessed an FJ40 being towed off the trail on a ball mount, I can say that it doesn't take much. You hit that 15° with other twists and factors very quickly. An FJ40 will do significant damage to the back of a regular pickup and take out the winch on the 40. When it happens, don't hook it up again and keep going the same way. The second time it comes loose it will do even more damage. I could not talk said gentleman into not doing it the second time. good times.