pintle hitch towing, how hrd on the truck??

[GMichaels]

I am looking at a 9 ton pintle hitch trailer, of course I could not use the full capicity of this triaxle trailer, but a 14k ball mount trailer costs 1400 more and a gooseneck well over 2x that. So from a cost presepective this trailer is a great deal.



But I have read here that the pintle being somewhat sloppy can beat up the truck, maybe even cracking the truck frame. I would only tow the legal limit here in the "tax em state", NY of 14k. I figure the trailer with three axles would be well balanced and maybe not be as hard on the truck.



On the trailer the pintle lunnette is mounted to a steel plate, bolt through, and have not seen any place that sells a ball mount conversion kit for this style, which would be my preference.



Any advice?

 

[agkrueger]

I have towed trailers up to about 10,000 with a pintle and yes it is harder on the truck and sometimes a handfull with all that slop in the hitch. If you are planning on hauling a lot I would go with a 5th wheel set up. A lot better load distribution and overall safer tow.

 

[SSage]

I've pulled over 12K on a 7 ton trailer using a pintel, mine is a 16K combo ball mount. It will clunk in stop and go traffic a good bit. If your going to pull 14K, I would go GN with a B&W turn over hitch. I use a combo pintel so I can switch between two tag trailers without making a ball mount change. I use tag trailers due to the bed always being full of cargo. A ball or GN is best for the weights a dodge can pull. I wouldn't want 14K on the factory hitch very often. The Titan V with a WD set up, could work. You would still be over the factory truck ratings and those things are pricey. The GN would be cheaper in the long run with less wear on the truck. And a 14K GN could be within the tow ratings of a later model dually.



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[amillstream]

Spend the money, get a gooseneck. You will never regret it and will never want to pull a bumper trailer again! It'll handle a lot more weight too... a LOT more.

 

[BBarry]

A friend has a nine ton tag trailer he tows around alot with a 3500 and doesn't seem to have any problems with things breaking. I think he is almost always over 10,000lbs and probably much heavier most of the time. I've borrowed the trailer and doesn't seem to bang around much. One thing I have found with the pintles is the straight pintles have less slop in them than the combo pintle ball type. One other point there are probably thousands of pickups and one dumps around dragging bobcats around day in day out and they survive just fine and I met quite a few people who think nothing of pulling a fullsize backhoe around with a one ton dump.

 

[WDaniels]

I tow an old duce and a half trailer with a 525 gallon water tank plus the weight of the trailer twice a week for the last 16 years. If your having problems with slop in the pintle hook, you don't have enought weight on the tongue. The only time mine makes any noise is when I have a violent up and down motion, then the hook will make noise in the pintle. I have never cracked or broken anything on my truck and I will bet that there is no one in the nation with worse roads than Alaska. Especially Fairbanks. (maybe Beaver Creek is worse but that is still in Alaska. ) Granted a goose neck or a fifth wheel is better because the hinge point is in the bed of your pickup truck instead of the bumper but you can't always have everything.

WD

 

[GMichaels]

1/2 and 1/2

Seems things are split 50 50, I do think the GN is the best choice, but for 1/2 the price the pintle wil do the same job. tough choice.

 

[Snow man]

if your traveling any distance and stability is any kind of issue,go with a GN setup,it costs more,but it is so far superior,and as was mentioned it tows like it isnt even there. The bumper pull trailer will never begin to approach the stability or capacity of the gN setup. If you are an occasional user of it and go slow on local roads id tend to go with the bumper pull 9ton. Either way you need the class A CDL.

 

[SSage]

Seems things are split 50 50, I do think the GN is the best choice, but for 1/2 the price the pintle wil do the same job. tough choice.

Tongue weight is your problem, I tow over the hitches ratings all the time and all the people around me do it also. If you pull over 5K with a tag pintel, your "heavy" for a class IV hitch. Down here in in GA I've pulled over 10K without problems. But, you should check what is the local norm for pulling heavy tags in your area. A 14K trailer could have a tongue weight of 2K easy, I shoot for no morer than 1200 pounds. The trailer I have is long with the axels way in the rear half. It helps to keep the tongue weight within sane limits. :-laf



I like two 8K axles better than the three lighter axles. Unless you know that you'll be pulling 14K alot, two axles will be fine. I always get at least 7K's on 14K trailers. And watch the tire ratings, the ones that came with my PJ trailer are rated for 3K each or 12K total. So, at 13K I could be maxed tire wise. Six tires cost more than four! If I hauled over 12K all the time at highway speeds, I would look at oil bath axles with dual type tires. My E rated LT245's get quite warm at 65 mph.

 

[moparguy]

I had a 3 axel pintle trailer I hauled my JD backhoe on. We converted it to a gooseneck about 7 years or so ago. I would not go back. It wasn't so much the slop, but it's just easier to pull and get around tight spots with a gooseneck.



Another thing, three axels are the pits. If you need to make a tight turn on a hard surface it's very hard on whichever axel things pivot on, I've seen sidewalls break down and tires roll off the rim. Not good.



Two axel gooseneck with duals is the only way to go. You'll forget how much it cost, but will be reminded everytime you use it if it's not what you really wanted.



The only good thing about the pintle is you can pull it with a dump truck or other larger truck which is a plus if you want to sell it later, or upgrade to a larger truck.



Good luck, RJR