So i have a hitch/recovery question

[surpip]

Well I was always taught to never attach any recovery equipment to a hitch ball to try to yank someone out because the hitch could very well turn into a flying cannon ball,
So my question is this, i would have liked to get a Pintle Hook for my soon to be quad trailer for to tow bwhind my blazer, this would involve some fab woork as most trailer's come with ball hitch stuff not a Pintle Hook.

So I see alot of utility trucks with a Pintle/ Ball hitch, and with a setup like that you are pulling on the ball to tow your trailer, so are these balls different? Stronger?

With a regular Pintle im shure i could hook a strap to it and be fine, but would it be the same for one of these?

 

[rcurrier44]

The balls are the same.

 

[dhcomp]

Don't take what i say as a final answer, but here's my guess.

Yes, you are right that a pintle hitch setup might put a LITTLE more shock stress on a ball, but if you consider teh slop in a pintle setup, and then consider surge brakes on a regular hitch, its probably about the same. As far as i remember, its not the load the ball isn't capable of (it pulls a trailer fine) its the Shock load, from snatch recovery. So technially, if you hooked over a trailer ball for a recovery, you would be ok if you had no slack and pulled really slow, although you should still NEVER do this, its not worth the risk.

So i would conclude that you shouldn't use a pintle setup for recovery, just like you shouldn't use a hitch ball. Plus, in that picture, it just looks like a regular ball is mounted of the bottom half of the pintle. So why woudl it be any stronger?

If i were you, i'd get one of those slide in pintle hitch setups, maybe even the one that rotates depending on the terrain you will be using it over. If you get one of those instead of the bolt on style, you can just pull the pin and slide it out, and use your hitch reciever just like you normally would for recovery

 

[RootBreaker]

Don't take what i say as a final answer, but here's my guess.

Yes, you are right that a pintle hitch setup might put a LITTLE more shock stress on a ball, but if you consider teh slop in a pintle setup, and then consider surge brakes on a regular hitch, its probably about the same. As far as i remember, its not the load the ball isn't capable of (it pulls a trailer fine) its the Shock load, from snatch recovery. So technially, if you hooked over a trailer ball for a recovery, you would be ok if you had no slack and pulled really slow, although you should still NEVER do this, its not worth the risk.

So i would conclude that you shouldn't use a pintle setup for recovery, just like you shouldn't use a hitch ball. Plus, in that picture, it just looks like a regular ball is mounted of the bottom half of the pintle. So why woudl it be any stronger?

If i were you, i'd get one of those slide in pintle hitch setups, maybe even the one that

 

[surpip]

But a regular pintle setup i would think, would be fine to use as a recovery point wouldent it? we pull around 350,000 pound aircraft with them, and on our SE we beat on the pintle hooks pretty bad, i have never seen one fail.

So i would conclude that you shouldn't use a pintle setup for recovery, just like you shouldn't use a hitch ball. Plus, in that picture, it just looks like a regular ball is mounted of the bottom half of the pintle. So why woudl it be any stronger?

 

[cbbr]

I don't have the answer, but my pintle appears far stronger and is more substaintial than the pin holding it in the receiver. I would think that the pin is the weak point.

 

[Stoopalini]

For recovery using a tow hitch, I take the receiver out. My strap has a loop on one end and a hook on the other. I just slide the loop into the hitch then put the pin through the center of the loop. This works very well and there's no chance of anything flying through the air

Thomas.

 

[TorkDSR]

i agree with stoop

last time out a 3/4" d ring wound up in my buddys passenger seat.
had the jeepm glass been up, and had someone been in the passenger seat, there would've been a bloody fatal mess.

the dent left in the head rest was proof to me not to fukaround

and if that pintle comes at you, your gonna get real messed up

go to a hook, or the pin in the reciever. and dont mix chains and nylon.

my .02 thanks for listening

 

[dhcomp]

we pull around 350,000 pound aircraft with them

In terms of a regular pintle pulling 350,000 pould aircraft, its still the idea of shock load. There is very little shock load from pulling a trailer wiht a pintle. The shock load comes from driving a 5000lb truck with slack in teh strap and having it come tight all of a sudden.

Remember, Force = Mass x acceleration

Think how little the acceleration is before the slack in a pintle trailer is taken up, and then think of the amount of force from a truck accelerating for 10-15 ft before the slack is taken up.

I agree that a regular pintle would be stronger than a hitch ball pintle, but i still don't think i'd use it for snatch recovery.

my pintle appears far stronger and is more substaintial than the pin holding it in the receiver. I would think that the pin is the weak point.

In terms of the pin being the weak link in the hitch/pintle setup, i disagree. There is virtually NO slack in the pin, so the force exerted by the hitch would have to be great enough to shear the pin in two places. I don't think ive ever seen a weight rating on a hitch pin, and this is probably why. Just about every pin is probably strong enough to pull more than the hitch/vehicle is able to.

My strap has a loop on one end and a hook on the other.

Don't use straps with hooks on them. A hook that slips off a vehicle is just as dangerous as a trailer ball that gets ripped off a hitch - they both become very dangerous projectiles

 

[surpip]

cool thanks for the awnsers,

BTW you live in davis, i drive by there every day on my way to work, you going to frank rains in april?

 

[dhcomp]

Frank Reins?

 

[Grim-Reaper]

A 2 inch ball is the most common size for the average utility trailer. I have several 2 inch laying around one and one has only a 2500lb trailer rating. Most are 3-4k. I had to go to a trailer hitch place to find one rated 7k to work with my vintage camper with WD Hitch.

A 2 inch recovery strap is usually rated at 20,000 lb.


Probably not a good idea t hook a strap to something with a lower rating. Ya want the strap to break before anything else.

 

[Hossbaby50]

What about using one of these?

That is what I use for rear recovery on my truck.

Harley

 

[k20]

i use the same thing on mine.

 

[dhcomp]

Never used one, but im pretty sure those are stronger than any strap you would ever use. They're designed for snath recovery and the like.

Just don't ever use a regular bolt if u lose the one that it came with through teh D ring.

 

[kyser_soze]

What about using one of these?

That is what I use for rear recovery on my truck.

Harley

That is a clevis shackle reciever, common in the mud pits, I have used them for years NEVER had a problem with it.

 

[dontoe]

That is a clevis shackle reciever, common in the mud pits, I have used them for years NEVER had a problem with it.

I use one in my front receiver.

 

[bigyellowjimmy]

Ive always thought the danger in using a trailer ball as an attachment point for a tow strap with a loop was that the strap could pop off and become a dangerous "whip". I cant imagine a Blazer creating enough force to sheer off a tightened 1" shank on a trailer ball using a tow strap though. Ive torn complete bumpers off before using a trailer ball as the attachment point.

 

[dhcomp]

I cant imagine a Blazer creating enough force to sheer off a tightened 1" shank on a trailer ball using a tow strap though.

It does happen, pretty often too i think. Its easy to create that much force with slack in the strap. I've seen multiple pictures of guys with holes THROUGH their tailgate from balls that have been flung by tow straps. Anyone got a pic like this to post?

 

[BAJA_BLAZER]

Come on...

Ok, I’ve got to see just one picture of a broken (quality) trailer hitch ball. In 30+ years of wheeling I’ve never heard of such a thing. I have to agree with bigyellowjimmy that the reason for not using a ball is because it is nor a secure anchor point. I have seen straps and a come-along slip off a hitch ball with bad results. Even if a hitch ball did break off, it wouldn’t go flying back at the vehicle for several reasons, just think about it.