Posted by Paul Cook on Thursday, January 27, 2005 at 11:23AM :
In Reply to: Pintle hitch pros and cons? posted by Tim Holloway on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 7:24PM :
NEVER cut off anything that will easily unbolt. There are folks on this Forum who will trade you a FUBAR ball hitch modification for an ORIGINAL lunette ring setup.
On my regular truck, I use a pintle hook in my receiver hitch that came from a military tracked vehicle. It has a 2" diameter shaft. I removed the nut and drilled a hole through the shaft to match the receiver hitch pin. Here's a case where a round shaft will fit a square hole - if they're the same size.
Also, pay attention to John's comment about the pintle hook and the lunette ring being of matching size. The Army idiot proofed the trailer hookups by insuring you could not connect a trailer that was too large for a particular tow vehicle.
My improvised pintle hook is oversize for the lunette ring on a 3/4 ton M-101 trailer so there's a little loose play, but it will let me pull a 1 1/2 ton M-105 trailer as well.