Pintle size mis-match. Easy fix??

[NightOwl]

I drove 100 miles in my new 923a2 to recover this tow dolly only to discover that my pintle hitch is larger than this civ pintle hitch on the dolly. Son of a....

Can I replace my mil pintle with a civ pintle? Anybody make one? Any other ideas besides mounting a receiver on my truck? I now own two of these things so I need a fix. I'll be selling one of them.

Thanks in advance....
BTW, I did a bit of searching on pintle hitches but didn't find an answer.

 

[quickfarms]

What is the ID and thickness (diameter of the metal) on the lunette eye on the dolly?

 

[goldneagle]

If the difference is not substantial you may be able to modify the Military hitch so that the lunette fits it. It will reduce the weight capacity of the Pintle hitch but it will fit. I am not sure it would be easy to find the same style Pintle hitch with a smaller size end on it. By modifying I mean grind it small in diameter.

 

[zebedee]

Any other ideas besides mounting a receiver on my truck? I now own two of these things so I need a fix. I'll be selling one of them.

Wouldn't it be easier to change out the lunettre eye on the dollies? This could be done by just burning a bigger hole in a suitable piece of plate then a hour or so of grinding. Also, Military lunette eyes are out there - there are a often people who civilian'ise military trailers by changing the eye for a ball hitch coupler...

How much will the 'selling one' be? And/or who sells these? I think it's a 'must have' item for my truck... 'till I get a road tractor that is! (I have a couple of lunette eyes from my own civilianising of army trailers in the past, though they are NATO/UK pattern and I haven't yet checked the compatibility vs my US pintle.)

 

[NDT]

Replace your pintle with a WWII version, they are compatible with the civi lunette ring size. Call Sam Winer Motors for this part.

 

[ichudov]

The pintle on your converter dolly is a bolt on type, it seems? The picture seems to suggest that. If so, you can buy a larger pintle and upgrade your converter dolly. I sold some of those pintles on ebay made by Buyers, a year ago.

 

[clinto]

Unbolt the lunette from this and drive your truck to Northern tool. Find lunette that fits (by walking out in the parking lot and testing it), buy it, swap it, etc.

Or do what NDT said.

 

[juanprado]

Even the military has ones with the smaller hole as they got rid of a few navy dollies at Gulfport this year. The DRMO escort pointed it out to me when I did a preview in the spring when they where selling 6 or so. He told me it was real pain for the seebees to get mismatched and they mostly sat.

Be aware of any navy units in the future!

 

[quickfarms]

A lot of the civilian converter dollies are set up for an air actuated pintle hook. This pintle hook has an air can under the frame to take up the slop and eliminate, or reduce, the clunking noise and jerky operation if towing a heavy trailer, 20 tons,on a pintle hook. Due to the fact that these pintle hooks do not have to deal with the shock load they can be smaller in diameter. These pintle hooks are not cheap and are seldom seen used due to the fact that they are usually worn out when the truck is retired.

Grinding on your existing pintle hook is a very bad idea. It will significantly reduce the capacity to point where it might fail when you are towing, there are DOT wear standards for pintle hooks.

The dolly appears to have a welded on Lynnette eye.

If you measure the eye I can see if it would fit the air actuated pintle hooks the Navy put on my tractor.

Are you planning on towing trailers with this dolly or just want to move it around?

 

[quickfarms]

This is an air actuated pintle hook. The block in the back of the hitch moves to close the gap.

 

[NightOwl]

Thanks for all the responses. I love this site. Here's an update.

After further review, the dolly pintle hitch is a part of the frame. It can not be adjusted or removed. There is a surge brake that can be adjusted but that doesn't buy me any more space unless I cut it out somehow.

The hitches are off by about 1 inch total. I don't think grinding either hitch is my cup of tea.

This may be a custom pintle hitch. See photos. There is a tag on the dolly pintle hitch but I can't read it.

I like the idea of replacing my truck pintle with a WWII pintle. Anybody have one? I'll check Northern Tool too.

I now have a considerable amount of time, shipping, and effort in these darn dollies. I'm asking $2,500 for the second one. All the tires are in great shape. There's even a spare tire on each dolly. I also consider a conversion dolly to be a must have, until I get a tractor.

Thanks.

 

[NightOwl]

A lot of the civilian converter dollies are set up for an air actuated pintle hook. This pintle hook has an air can under the frame to take up the slop and eliminate, or reduce, the clunking noise and jerky operation if towing a heavy trailer, 20 tons,on a pintle hook. Due to the fact that these pintle hooks do not have to deal with the shock load they can be smaller in diameter. These pintle hooks are not cheap and are seldom seen used due to the fact that they are usually worn out when the truck is retired.

Grinding on your existing pintle hook is a very bad idea. It will significantly reduce the capacity to point where it might fail when you are towing, there are DOT wear standards for pintle hooks.

The dolly appears to have a welded on Lynnette eye.

If you measure the eye I can see if it would fit the air actuated pintle hooks the Navy put on my tractor.

Are you planning on towing trailers with this dolly or just want to move it around?

I plan on towing a few empty semi trailers. The diameter of the entire pintle is 6". I forgot to measure the diameter of the metal. I did not find any IDs.

 

[juanprado]

PM sent on a possible solution.

 

[quickfarms]

The military uses a standard sized swivel pintle hook that us designed to accommodate a standard 3" inside diameter " ID" lunette eye.

Based on the pictures it appears that this dolly is designed to be used with a fixed pintle hook. The 20 ton can accept a 2" inside diameter pintle hook and the larger ones use a 2 3/8" inside diameter pintle hook.

You will need to change the pintle hook to use this dolly. You can either remove the existing hook and bracket and fabricate a new bracket and brace or add a 2 1/2" receiver but the receiver is limited to about a 16,000 pound trailer.

Is there an air can connected to the back of that block you call a surge brake?

Are the dolly brakes air or hydraulic?

 

[wreckerman893]

That is the same type tow dolly I used to pull my big trailer to the GA Rally last year. I didn't know that there was a size difference either so (due to very short time constraints) I used a 4 inch angle grinder and shaved the pintle hitch to make it work. You do not have to take much off since you are going all the way around the hitch. I made sure the dolly turned freely and one plus is that there is no slack in the connection. Since I never pull anything heavy with the truck I don't think the small amount I shaved off is going to be an issue. Since I may have to use the same dolly to pull the trailer this year I haven't bought a new hitch to replace the modified one with.

 

[73m819]

The dollies shown are for the older doubles, notice the snubber (NOT a surge brake) in the lunette eye, these were used with the weld-on pintle without a snubber, think you will find the the pintle that was used with these dollies is a touch smaller than even todays civi pintles, the pintle was a one piece unit with a sorta strange latching mechanism (very secure, just strange), also think you will find the lunette eye is a touch smaller then todays normal civi one.

As long as the EMG. air is applied to the dolly, the snubber is activated

 

[NightOwl]

The military uses a standard sized swivel pintle hook that us designed to accommodate a standard 3" inside diameter " ID" lunette eye.

Based on the pictures it appears that this dolly is designed to be used with a fixed pintle hook. The 20 ton can accept a 2" inside diameter pintle hook and the larger ones use a 2 3/8" inside diameter pintle hook.

You will need to change the pintle hook to use this dolly. You can either remove the existing hook and bracket and fabricate a new bracket and brace or add a 2 1/2" receiver but the receiver is limited to about a 16,000 pound trailer.

Is there an air can connected to the back of that block you call a surge brake?

Are the dolly brakes air or hydraulic?

Yes, there is an air can connected to the back of the block.

The dolly has air brakes.

 

[NightOwl]

PM sent on a possible solution.

Thanks. If I can't find a WWII pintle hitch then I'll go with this air actuated hitch that you sent me.

 

[NightOwl]

The dollies shown are for the older doubles, notice the snubber (NOT a surge brake) in the lunette eye, these were used with the weld-on pintle without a snubber, think you will find the the pintle that was used with these dollies is a touch smaller than even todays civi pintles, the pintle was a one piece unit with a sorta strange latching mechanism (very secure, just strange), also think you will find the lunette eye is a touch smaller then todays normal civi one.

As long as the EMG. air is applied to the dolly, the snubber is activated

Yeah, the "touch smaller" is killing me. Thanks for the info on my new dolly. The farmer who I bought this from told me it was a surge brake but he probably didn't know.

 

[quickfarms]

Thanks. If I can't find a WWII pintle hitch then I'll go with this air actuated hitch that you sent me.

View attachment 443263

You need the fixed version of the hitch. If you run air to air they can bind up due to too much force. This is a real problem with an unloaded dolly or empty trailer, it kind of acts like a dry fifth wheel.

I explained the different size pintle hooks in post 14