Why aren't pintle hitches more common?

[Martinjmpr]

Does anyone know? I'm the proud owner of my first ever trailer, but of course over 23 years in the military I had plenty of opportunity to drive vehicles with trailers:

M151 Jeep with a 1/4 ton trailer
M35A2 "deuce and a half" 2 1/2 ton truck with 3/4 ton utility trailer
M1008/1009 CUCV (Chevy Blazer or pickup with diesel engine) with 3/4 ton utility trailer
M900-series 5 ton with a 60kw Generator trailer (very heavy!)

All of these trailers had the common round "lunette" that attached to the pintle on the tow vehicle.

My question is: Why do civilian vehicles use ball hitches instead of pintle/lunette hitches? Seems to me the pintle is much safer since it can't come off if the locking pin is on the pintle. It's also easier to hook up since the lunette is about 5" in diameter and you can just slip it over the lower jaw of the pintle, then close the pintle down on top of it.

I'd heard (apocryphally) that pintle hitches are not DOT legal, but I don't think that could be true because I do see some utility-type vehicles with pintle hitches.

Does anyone know why we use ball and not pintle?

 

[toy_tek]

Most construction trailers I've used in recent years are pintle, but I'm talking 8000lb-14000lb trailers with F350/F450 and heavier trucks. They must be DOT legal, our trucks were constantly inspected by Highway Patrol, and never had legality issues with them. I like them, I never had to worry if I had the right size ball on the hitch that day...

My guess is that pintle's are overkill for a sub 6000lb trailer. And ball hitches are arguably quieter. Just my guess...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Noise and slop. Pintles particulary in off-road situations can be extremely clanky. Likely drowned out by the noise of most military applications

I've got a pintle/lunette setup on my Trail-Trailer, have for 6? years now with thousands of miles on and off-road. The lunette actually started to weak from all the movement, it had lost 1/4" of material where it is in constant contact with the pintle. I've added a larger lunette and it not only eliminated the slop but subsequently quieted it down significantly too. That said you won't find me swapping out the hitches on my other trailers for a lunette when a standard ball works.

 

[Jis4Jeep]

I have made 2 Off Road trailers recently one with standard ball and one with pintle because I thought I just had to have it.

On the highway which I just drove to Florida and back to Cali with the pintle hitch and it was great no real noise that I could here and no noise is great.

On the trail the noise is horrible if your going 30 mph on washboard roads but I dont do that. I take my time and cruise. The noise can get old depending on your load.

With that being said I have taken my standard hitch trailer out on some more then serious angles with no problems and its allot quieter. My only concern was that the hitch would pop off the ball but we took video and it never came close.

 

[kai38]

I have three trailers. Two with balls & the M416 w/ the pintle. The pintle is so much easier to hook up & un-hook. I hate the ball set up on the other two trailers. As far as noise I really don't notice it & I can back the M416 up better then my other trailers. I have thought about switching them to pintles.

 

[Martyn]

The pintle offers organizations such as the military and especially NATO the standardization needed to have trailers that are interchangeable between vehicles of different types and different nations.

NATO has specific regulations of couplers and has an officially recognized NATO pintle.

The pintle is really the antique of couples from what I have been able to tell versions of it were being used before the invention of the motor vehicle. It does have some design limitations:

A non-rotational pintle offers 45' of movement before locking up, which is much better than the 15' offered by a ball coupler.

The connection between the tow vehicle and the trailer has lots of movement, resulting in that thudding noise you hear. This lack of a tight connection can lead to trailer sway.

Modern multi axis couplers offer a much tighter connection between the tow vehicle and the trailer, less noise, less chance of sway, and more responsiveness.

Movement between the tow vehicle with a new coupler is much greater, 360' around the horizontal axis, the vertical axis movement is only confined by the interference of the vehicle and trailer.

That said I think we will see the pintle around for sometime as the military is slow to change and has to conform with NATO standards, and the pintle set up is less expensive to install.

 

[matthewp]

That said I think we will see the pintle around for sometime as the military is slow to change and has to conform with NATO standards, and the pintle set up is less expensive to install.

You also forgot to add the fact it's "almost" idiot-proof, or "Private-proof" as we call it!:elkgrin: This is coming from a 10 year Army Motor Transport Operator!

 

[I Leak Oil]

Ball hitches are most likely much cheaper to manufacture.

 

[Piet]

Ball hitches are most likely much cheaper to manufacture.

I don't think so. A Hook and a ring? That is very cheap. From all I read, the noise issue is the biggest complaint, followed by the slop (stop-start movement). Kinda like a box car coupler on a train.

 

[gabepari]

I don't think so. A Hook and a ring? That is very cheap. From all I read, the noise issue is the biggest complaint, followed by the slop (stop-start movement). Kinda like a box car coupler on a train.

There is probably more money, just in material costs alone, in a pintle hitch than the entire manufacturing and distribution costs of a 2" stamped coupler and ball.

 

[dzzz]

There is probably more money, just in material costs alone, in a pintle hitch than the entire manufacturing and distribution costs of a 2" stamped coupler and ball.

Different weight classes. I have a pintle for a 40,000# trailer on my truck. What ball would I use for that?

 

[Fireman78]

A lot of heavy equipment (such as Vermeer Chippers) use pintle hitches. I love em'. They are superior for off road use IMHO.

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: Pintel hitch's are too noisy for general off-road use and the commercial options only offer about 45° of rotation r/l and thats unsat for off-road use

There are two many other
"silent" options available !!

:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO

 

[jesusgatos]

:sombrero: Pintel hitch's are too noisy for general off-road use and the commercial options only offer about 45° of rotation r/l and thats unsat for off-road use

There are lots of military vehicles that have pintles that are rated at 40,000lbs and rotate 360-degrees.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

:sombrero: Pintel hitch's are too noisy for general off-road use and the commercial options only offer about 45° of rotation r/l and thats unsat for off-road use

There are two many other
"silent" options available !!...

There are military application pintles that offer 360* rotation or fixed which equates to roughly 45* rotation. That is the style I use and its never left me wanting sans noise but given the absolute hell its been through I think its done me right. I use it as a constant recovery point and often a lead for a winch anchor, I've had it lift me off the ground On top of that there are many trailer designs that offer a rotating lunette.

We get it, you like the other options out there But for those that have seen those option fail and others that need much higher capacity out of a coupler, the pintle often wins. I'd like to try one of the new Max Couplers but I need to have a compelling reason beyond pretty minor noise. Maybe on my next trailer.