Building a trailer

[whiterubicon]

another dumb ?

I want to build a new trailer for use with my Jeep. I am thinking about using a Lunette eye on the toung and a pintle hook instead of a ball. I am tired of people wanting to barrow my trailer and bringing it back broken. Also tired of having to go to a friends house to get it when I need it. My question is has any one here ever used this set up? What are the pros and cons to this kind of mounting? Thanks, Whiterubicon.

 

[OutOfStep]

I prefer pintle's soooooo much to ball's, the only draw back I've noticed is that you get some noise from the pintle moving in the eye. I'm certian that once you switch you'll never want to go back to a ball hitch.

 

[Snitty]

i would suggest getting the pintle/ball combo for your vehicle.. that way you can still borrow other trailers.. but others won't be able to borrow yours

 

[whiterubicon]

LOL! I like the way you think Snitty.

 

[White]

whats the smallest pintle ? I usually only see 10tons or so ???

 

[toyman]

Forum title edit suggestion

The pintle design does alow for alot of slop but also alot of articulation. If your going to pull this off road it works great! For street use mostly & you want to prevent people from barrowing it just build it with a 2 5/16"hitch & get a quick change ball on your tow rig so you can pull any size you want. You'll find not to many have this larger ball unless they have a need for the extra strength.

 

[graewulf]

or you could try "sorry, no you can't borrow my trailer".. that usually works real well... lol or charge them a rental fee per hour....

 

[redrooster]

I quit loaning my trailer out too. It's a 16 footer for the Jeep to ride on. Whenever I loaned it out it inevitably came back with a busted tail light, bent jack, dented fender or flat tire. Not once did anyone replace that crap before they brought it back. One dude even complained because it kept blowing his tail light fuses. I told him to get his own damn trailer then, cause it works fine on mine.
Back to the original subject...Have you ever seen a M416 military trailer? It's a 2 wheel 1/4 ton trailer like they used to pull behind Jeeps in WWII. You can find them occassionally on military auctions through www.governmentliquidation.com. Here are some specs:
Length: 109"
Width: 62"
Height: 44"
Weight: 580 lbs
Hitch: pintle
Coolness factor behind your Jeep: 10+

 

[TwistedCU]

We use pintle hitches for everything at work. They are great. You get a little movement/bump upon stopping and starting, but nothing you don't get used to.

That's the M416 Redrooster was referring to - the perfect Jeep trailer.

 

[whiterubicon]

Yes I have seen the M416 Jeep trailer. My uncle has one that his faher got in the late 40's. It looks a bit different though. It has a metal tag on it that states it is a 1/4 ton made by the Bantam co. It looks to have full floating axles but the hitch has been changed to a ball type. Looks like it was changed a long time ago. Unless the military used ball hitches also. I tried to buy it from him with no luck. I am going to use it as a model to build mine. I realy like the way they look. Even though it will be a TJ pulling it and not a flat fender I think that the coolness factor will still be 10 plus.

 

[88Wrangles]

Is that the only size they make those military trailers? I've always wanted one, but they are a little too small for anything I would use it for.

 

[numbrsevn]

They make those trailers in several different sizes. I'm sorry I'm not up to speed on the numbers of them, but I have seen some pretty big ones at auctions. Pretty much every military auction will have at least 10 of this style trailer up for bid. They are always on that website mentioned above as well.

 

[newbie]

made a trailer from an old toyota! seemed appropriate to haul s--t and debris in it..........behind my jeep.............when people ask where i got it , i tell them i pulled the whole truck out of a mud hole, dragged it home over a class 5 trail and this is all that was left!

 

[88Wrangles]

Ya, I thought about using the bed of an old full size truck, and then realized my Jeep probably wouldn't like pulling that around! It was, however, able to pull a 900 pound trailer with 4 dirtbikes and all our gear about 50 miles, through the mountains, and to the coast! It only went about 10mph up the hills and topped out at around 40 (going down hill) Never got it stuck in the sand with all that weight though