Pintle vs. ball hitch

[Botabill]

I have a friend who looks after a small construction company fleet. He says he prefers a pintle hitch. Says it clunks and rattles more than a ball hitch but is simpler to use and more durable. Anyone have any experience to support or counter this opinion. When I tow it will be short usually less than 50 miles with a 2 ton machine in a tandem dump trailer.

 

[Nat]

Just as the man said, it clunks and rattles more, is easier to hook up and less likely to be borrowed HTH, Nat

 

[Builder]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have a friend who looks after a small construction company fleet. He says he prefers a pintle hitch. Says it clunks and rattles more than a ball hitch but is simpler to use and more durable. Anyone have any experience to support or counter this opinion. When I tow it will be short usually less than 50 miles with a 2 ton machine in a tandem dump trailer. )</font>

I have trucks set up with both. I also have a ball/pintle combination. That allows you to tow either type of trailer. The pintle is more rugged, simple & reliable. You see them more on heavy duty dumps. Ball hitches usually only go up to 14,000lbs on a bobtail set-up. Anything heavier than that is pintle.

My ball/pintle combo doesn't clunk & rattle that much since the 2&5/16" ball keeps the ring from moving around a lot. Check into one of them, you might really like it.

 

[gsganzer]

Get a combination ball/pintle. They have them at Northern Tool. I like them for also attaching a chain or tow strap. Slip the strap over the ball and drop the pintle arm over it to keep it from popping off.
Northern Tool Pintle

 

[RollTideRam]

Back when I was researching a dump trailer, I read that it is much safer to use a pintle instead of a ball. I had never thought about it, but with just a little wear, while dumping, the trailer is more prone to jumping off the ball and doing damage. This is just something I read, but it makes sense. JC

 

[Highbeam]

The bulldog style coupler on a ball hitch actually squeezes tighter to take up the slack of a worn ball. I've never seen a WD setup on a pintle hitch, will you need to use one of those?

The pintle allows a ton of movement which is good for difficult terrain but is a bit noisy.

 

[Botabill]

I don't know if I'll need a WD setup on a pintle hitch. WD setup sounds like a good idea but I don't even know if it's available for a pintle setup. Anyone know?-

 

[Highbeam]

It's not so much whether you'll need it for the hitch but whether your truck will need it for the load. If it turns out that you need it for the load then I think you're stuck with the standard ball. I've never seen one on a pintle though I can't see why it wouldn't work since the ball and pintle are both the same type of pivot joint allowing movement in all directions but not transferring leverage.

 

[sleepy_sleeper]

I use both the Ball and the Pintle from time to time. Any heavy hauling is done with the Pintle. I keep the Pintle hook with the Mounting plate on my Dodge 3500 even when Im not pulling a trailer because it looks like it would offer some protection incase of a rearend accident. I know during Hurricane Season when I haul 300KW 32,000lb generators all over the Gulf Coast I use my Pintle Hook with the 12 hole Adjustable Plate because I can raise and lower the Hook Position. For Light duty use I would probably go with a regular ball but if you plan on weight (12K +) go with a Pintle.