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Pintle hitches provide a dependable connection for towing your trailer. We offer a wide variety of pintle hooks for all types of towing applications, from light and medium duty up to the heaviest of loads. They are easy to use and offer an extremely durable solution to towing a trailer.
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A pintle hitch, also known as a pintle hook hitch, or pintle hook, is an alternative type of coupling device used to attach a tow vehicle to a trailer. A pintle hitch resembles a bird’s beak. The upper portion will open which will allow it to latch to a ring on a trailer. The ring on the trailer that it connects to is called a pintle hitch eye, drawbar, or a lunette ring. Pintle hitches are made of a cast steel alloy and come in gross trailer weight capacities from 10,000 lbs. up to 100,000 lbs. They are commonly used on military applications, construction equipment, and heavy-duty trucks. Smaller versions of the same design can be used for lighter and medium duty towing.
Standard pintle hitches are a simple coupler with only a few moving parts. They are incredibly durable and can tolerate being coupled and un-coupled dozens of times a day for years. The simple design means that they are easy to operate with gloves on and you can visually confirm that they are locked in a closed position when you couple a trailer. Pintle hitches and can be used on-road or off-road, and they allow for vast differences in angles between the trailer and the tow vehicle. Pintle hitches are built to be a reliable and very durable connection method for use in commercial applications where backing a trailer in is less common.
When outfitting light or medium duty trucks and trailers for towing you may be in the weight range that you could use traditional trailer hitch ballmounts or a pintle hitch. There are some significant differences in how a pintle hitch and a ball hitch perform.
If you still can’t decide or you need to tow both ball coupler trailers and pintle ring trailers you can use a pintle ball hitch, or a combination hitch. A combination pintle hitch is a pintle hook with a ball on the end that can couple with either type of trailer.
Pintle hitches come in two main mounting types, Standard and Swivel. Standard pintle hitches are fixed to a plate with the latch as the only moving part. For light duty applications standard type pintle hitch receivers are available with a 2" or 2-1/2" square shank as one unit.
Swivel mount pintle hitches can swivel on a parallel axis to the tow vehicle (like turning a doorknob), this extra movement is needed for off-road use and can prevent damage from the hitch or ring binding. Swivel pintle hitches and swivel pintle rings are available, but they should not be coupled together, only the hitch or the ring can be a swivel type the other must be a standard mount. In addition to two mounting types, there are different options for the pintle hitches themselves.
Rigid-mounted with no swivel capability. These are best for on-road applications and for receiver mounted pintle hitches. These will accept various sizes of pintle hitch rings, or lunette rings depending on the hitch design.
Can be used as both a pintle hitch and a ball mount for trucks that may routinely pull both types of trailer. These are great for pickup trucks and medium duty trucks that may also pull a ball coupler trailer. These will accept both a ball mount or pintle hitch ring. The ball may not be replaceable, and many are cast into the hitch.
There is some slack designed into the pintle hitch and ring, and this may cause noise and clunking when starting or stopping. Excessive slack can accelerate wear on both the pintle hitch and the ring. To prevent excessive movement air cushioned pintle hitches are used on trucks with a compressed air source. These have a plunger called a snubber which keeps the pressure on the ring using an air brake chamber, holding it tightly against the towing horn.
When taking off from a stop (referred to as “start-up”) the pintle hitch and the pintle ring experience the most shock. Shock to both the tow vehicle and the trailer is decreased by using a shock-absorbing spring type pintle hitch. Spring type pintle hitches use a coil spring which becomes compressed on take-off. The act of compressing the spring applies the full load of the trailer more slowly and lowers the chance of damage from shocks on take-off.
When mounting a pintle hitch, the weight of the trailer and the capacity of the hitch must be considered. No matter how strong the pintle hitch is, it will only be able to support the maximum capacity of the mount. There are two main ways to mount a pintle hitch to your tow vehicle, receiver mounts, and direct mounting.
On light duty applications, a pintle hitch receiver mount can be used. A pintle hitch receiver mount has a mounting plate and a square shank receiver tube that allows the hitch to be installed in a standard receiver hitch on a pickup truck. Most of these will allow the height to be adjusted when the hitch is bolted to the receiver mount and some are available that do not require the pintle to be unbolted. These mounts are adjusted by removing a pin and sliding the mount up or down as needed.
On medium and heavy-duty applications, the pintle hitch will need to be mounted directly to a steel plate that has been welded to the frame. This mounting plate should be a sufficient strength to support the rated capacity of the pintle hook in accordance with SAE J849 and SAE J847, and a certified welder should do any welding. With the weights that heavy-duty pintle hitches can support it is not the time to get out your old stick welder and see what it can do. When adding a plate for a pintle hitch installation, it is best to consult your local DOT for the requirements of the plate to ensure it is done safely. The pintle hitch plate will need holes for mounting the pintle hitch, and if the hitch uses an air cushion or a shock absorbing spring, there will need to be holes to allow these items to pass through the plate. Mounting dimension guides are available for all Holland pintle hitches. Additionally, rings will be necessary for safety chain mounts, and the chains will need to be a sufficient size to support the trailer tongue in the event of an unplanned detachment. Direct mounting a pintle hitch can be a big job and if you have not installed one before it may be best to leave it to professionals.
If you have any questions on pintle hitches, please give us a call at 1-800-358-4751 or reach out to us at Truckspring.com
Out of 19 reviews, the average customer rating for Pintle Hooks: 4.8 out of 5.
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