front coupling jaw for towing a 5-ton

[zebedee]

Back on topic:-

Just thought... there is room off to one side of the 'hump' in the bottom, between it and the frame end, to mount and stiffen either a pintle or the slot you are after. If done on the passengers side it would give you a better view down the side of the trailer...


Some of the Aussie M816's had an optional hitch on the RHS.. see the four square bolt holes. A slot could go here instead.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Gimpy, that's basically what zebedee showed in his first post.

Basically, yes, BUT he showed using wrecker ground spade anchor pockets which are hard to find. I was suggesting something thats a "dime a dozen". As long as you understand, its all good.

 

[Csm Davis]

What about a wiffletree?

 

[Robo McDuff]

Had to look that word up, but turns out we have several of them in our blacksmith workshop and in our museum, for horse and ox-drawn ploughs or wagons. Pulling is not that much the problem, and a wiffletree would work good. The problem is the braking: how to do that smooths without the towed truck hitting the towing truck or pushing it sideways.

 

[zebedee]

Robo - Jeff has a great idea though you may have to make your own rigid bar that has one end that will only pivot left/right. That would mate to the center swivel in the whiffletree.
This was done back in WWII with the M1 Ward laFrance and Kenworth wreckers. The whiffletree usually stays on the front bumper unless the wrecker was being suspended towed.



(N.B. First two pics have a replicated/wrong bumper - lower surface should be curved - "Treebuster bumper".)

I made a rigid bar that one end has a removable lunette eye, so it can be changed for a simple pivot that fits a spreader bar - a la whiffletree.