Question for Pintle/Lunette users owner

[Bear in NM]

Members,

First let me say that this is indeed a pretty neat forum. I found it recently, and have acquired a homebuilt trailer to pull behind my YJ. It is similar to a M416, but shallower and a tad wider and longer, but it does have a water tight top that hinges on the tongue side. It will not end up as one of the really cool expedition trailers here, but it will be great for camping and hauling behind my Jeep.

I am currently going to set it up with an interchangeable hitch system, tradtional ball and coupler and pintle/lunette. I have looked at the Max, Treg, L & R (I think) but have decided to go with a pintle as my off road choice. Basically pull to the trailhead with ball hitch, and if the trail warrants, switch out to pintle/lunette. Both the trailer tongue and back of the jeep will be fitted with 2" receivers, and I have everything setup right now with ball and hitch. I also have the lunette eye picked out, it will have a 2.5" ID with 1 1/4" cross section (round portion).

My question is about using a traditional pintle nose profile v. the ball type with the pintle latch that closes on the top. It would seem that the ball type would have the most banging going on, but possibly more articulation? I already have the ball setup for the traditional pull, but I am trying to figure out from the folks who post that their pintle setups are reasonably quiet whether they are using the more traditional pintle jaws, or the ball and coupler style. And I have never seen an M416 in the flesh, but from what I have read here it is possible to bind the pintle system in some conditions, but I have no idea what kind of clearances the stock M416 has at the pintle with lunette. I am not terribly concerned with noise, just trying to balance articulation against excessive banging on the tranny.

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Craig

 

[ridendude]

I've got a CDN M101 and have been using the pintle and ball combo since I got it. The ball fits my utility/junk trailer so it eliminates swapping stingers out all the time. As far as clunking and banging, it hasn't really been much of an issue. If my 101 is loaded up and ready to go, there is next to no banging around. I just finished a 10,000 km road trip up to Inuvik and the trailer was barely noticeable behind the FJ.

 

[Mark Harley]

Ball and Pintle

Go with both, I have a 4 position adjustable hitch on my M101A2
I use a 2" ball on the pavement and a 2 1/2" lunette off.
Easy set up two 5/8" x 3 1/3" pins and they change out.
I have a cast pintle with 2" ball on my tow rig.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Maybe this?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Why the 2" ball at all? What does it offer on the pavement that the pintle lacks?

 

[Bear in NM]

Thank you all very much. That two votes for the pintle with ball. That helps a bunch.

Riden, it sounds like as long as I get my tongue weight properly set up, it should help a lot. Wondering if the 10K included any washboards or serious off roading?

Mark, I am planning on doing what you have, but my trailer tongue is a single tube, 2.5" od and 2 2/16" I.D so I am going to go with a 2" reciever type slide in pintle with a top mount hitch that will either bolt or pin into the same holes for the receiver (where it is right now). Right now the hitch I have on the trailer has two 3/8 inch holes that are bolted. The front hole hits right at where the new slide in lunette will sit, so I just need to open the side of the tongue holes (and hitch plate) to 5/8's for a pin (or 5/8 grade 8), and I will need to have the back of the slide in lunette drilled for the second set of holes that exist on the tongue right now. I am going to open that to 5/8's as well. That and I will need to have a few beads of weld added to the tube portion of the lunette to take up 1/16th on all four sides to minimize slop and any rotational forces on the grade 8 bolts.

And Phil, what on earth is that? I have been through 28 pages of trailer threads here, and do not recollect seeing that.

Thanks again, I have wanted a trailer for as long as I have had my Jeep (20 years original owner) and I am like a kid at Christmas.

Craig

 

[Bear in NM]

Why the 2" ball at all? What does it offer on the pavement that the pintle lacks?

Cruiser,

That is exactly what I am trying to figure out. I have been through all of the pintle/lunette threads that I can find, and there are lots of folks who say that their setup does not make a lot of noise or bang around. Unfortunately these posters have not noted what exact setup they have. I do not have the m416 stock setup, so I am trying to get my noodle around what commercial alternative stuff the folks may be running.

Craig

 

[46flattie]

Cruiser,

That is exactly what I am trying to figure out. I have been through all of the pintle/lunette threads that I can find, and there are lots of folks who say that their setup does not make a lot of noise or bang around. Unfortunately these posters have not noted what exact setup they have. I do not have the m416 stock setup, so I am trying to get my noodle around what commercial alternative stuff the folks may be running.

Craig

I'm running a stock 416 lunette w/ the common 5 ton pintle. Really no complaints for noise on the hwy or off-road when loaded w/proper tongue wt. (You wouldn't want to tow w/o tongue wt anyway.) Sure you'll get a clunk now and then, but w/a pintle it is not coming off. You would be surprised how easy it is to "pry-off" a typical ball hitch from the ball. I actually prefer pintle hitches and have thought about changing all my trailers to pintle.

I think if you choose the pintle route, the standard 5 ton w/the matching ring/lunette will work fine.

 

[Mark Harley]

Pintle and ball set up.

I tow with both, I have several landscape trailers and now a M101A2
that I tow with this combo pintle. My M101A2 is set up to use both.
I towed the trailer home from ohio with the military lunette and it was large and sloppy compaired to my new system. I have the 2" on now and have been towing the trailer around I tried the new lunette and it also works better than the original.

I have had this monster pintle / 2" ball combo on my truck for over 6 years and it has worked fine either way.

 

[Bear in NM]

Mark,

Thanks for the info and picture. That is a monster. I think I remember your thread or post about getting the trailer? There was one where a member was asking about dimensions as he was headed to I think Ohio to pick up a trailer. Perhaps this was you.

I decided to try a reasonably matched regular pintle and the lunette that I could find to fit a 2" receiver. The lunette will be here later in the week, I have the pintle hook (not quite what you have, mine is only the 8 ton model), and the drop flange to screw the pintle to fit my Jeep receiver will be here on Monday. I decided to go this route to give the more traditional setup a try, and for the fact that I already have a ball hitch. The tongue will be easily converted between the two, and if I decide to try a pintle with ball later, it will be pretty cheap as I already have the drop plate for attachmant.

And here is where I have to be completely honest with you guys (and gals). I am almost 50, and since I was a kid I always wanted a Jeep with a Browning 50 mounted in the bed, with a big pintle hitch on the back. One out of two ain't bad.......for a big kid.

Craig

 

[Mark Harley]

Lunette for my M101A2

I went out and snapped some night pictures of the Lunette
It has a 2 1/2" hole and a 3" extention. 5/8" hardened pins lock it in place.

 

[Bear in NM]

Mark,

Thanks again. My lunette will also have a 2.5" ID so it is good to know that if I decide to try a ball/pintle that my size may be optimal. Your lunette ring diameter does look to be larger than what I have coming (1 1/4"), but I would not think it will matter. My trailer loaded is likely not going to exceed 1500 pounds total, so I am already way "overkill". The more I look at your pintle that you posted the picture of, the more I like the looks. It appears the ball is forged/cast as part of the lower jaw. That was also part of my reason to first try the more traditional jaw, one less nut to worry about. And I am going to make sure that my connecting 5/8's pin is upgraded some. I may just go grade 8 on it and call it good.

And I do thank you for helping me, as all of the threads I searched ended up mostly as Max Coupler debates or the L & R, so I hope this thread might be useful to other folks who are looking at the pintle that may be considering non-M416 options. Once I have mine set up, I will be able to test it out on my roads here, and shoot up to the national forest above the house, and I will update with some pictures and thoughts. I am in Northern New Mexico, so it is easier to find rough/rooted/washboard roads than it is to find pavement.

Craig

 

[AZ ADVenturist]

How to quiet a pintle/lunette

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd add to it rather than starting a new one if that is O.K.
I've been using my 416 mostly as a trash hauler. Sometimes on rough Arizona washboard back roads. The banging & bucking has always annoyed me. No harm I'm sure but bothersome anyway.
So, I took a couple of lengths of motorcycle inner tube cut about 6", pulled them onto the lower member of the pintle (kinda' like a condom). One over another (extra cushioning). Then used a couple of zip-ties to hold the rubbers in place. It Works. The pintle-lunette coupling is now much quieter & less bucking. Don't know what it would do in extreme off road duty, but it's all good going to the dump & back with or without a load. YMMV

 

[AZ ADVenturist]

Trlr flip?

There is a guy on here with thread about Flipping his 416:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/78789-I-flipped-my-M416

But I like your oil on pintle & lunette. I'll try that next.

My mother-in-laws last name was Murphy - I'm sure she is still watching me & messing with me for taking her daughter at 18. We've been married now 47 blissful years. LOL!

 

[Cutlass327]

I've pulled my 416 loaded and empty many times, and compared to the noise my 2" ball makes, it isn't any more or less. I know my latest drop hitch for my other trailer makes a lot more noise than the cast pintle insert and lunette I have on the 416. I've tried to keep a light film of axle grease on the ring to stop the binding, as the first time it happened I got out and looked for broken parts. My only concern is that I may have the lunette too tight or too loose, as I switched the location from the top hole to the bottom one, and after some maneuvering I found the ring had spun and had bound up once. I've tightened it a bit each time until it quit turning under normal driving, so that isn't as much of an issue now.

I just don't see a point in the hassle of switching from one to the other between highway or off-road use. The pintle setup works just fine for both, and if there is an awful amount of slop, you may want to get proper fitting pieces. Mine has hardly any front/back movement, some side-to-side and up/down. And I went with the dedicated pintle, not the hook/ball combo just because I didn't want the slop in the hitch. I had went to Tractor Supply and found a lunette on the shelf and tried it on the combo hook and the dedicated hook, and bought the dedicated hook since it was the best fitting of the two designs. I guess it just comes down to the question of do you want the convenience of the combo and have the slop, or the dedicated and properly designed pintle hook and go without the slop?