Pintle Hitch
So, what is a pintle hook? It is a kind of tow hitch normally used for heavy-duty towing. The hitch consists of 2 pieces and is mounted to the vehicle using a plate or a hitch receiver. You can close such a hook around a pintle or lunette ring mounted on a trailer.
To operate a commercial vehicle with a pintle hook, the driver has to have a Class A CDL license, that features a pintle hook restriction. However, pintle hooks for towing can be installed on the regular cars and trucks that are used for towing.
What is a pintle hook?
Pintle hitches are trusted products that are used for heavy-duty specialized towing in construction, military, agriculture, and certain other applications. They are selected since they feature a simple design and extremely high weight capacity.
The basic construction of a pintle hitch is a combination of a hook and a loop. A hook is mounted to the vehicle, while the loop is attached to the trailer. The simple design ensures ease of secure coupling when pintle hitches are used. Besides, they feature thick metal construction and withstand extremely high loads.
Who uses vehicles equipped with pintle hooks?
These are used by industries such as:
- electrical utilities;
- department of highways;
- construction;
- trades requiring large trailers (between 10,000 and 60,000 lbs).
What is the most popular pintle hook in the US?
We have conducted our own research and surveyed over 1.500 US car and truck owners. The results showed, that the most popular pintle hitches among the US truck owners are ones that fit 2’’ receiver tube. Also, people noted, that they have selected pintle hooks that feature gross trailer weight capacity of 20.000 lbs and prefer the construction with a solid shank. Such pintle hooks can easily complement the majority of class 5 trailer hitches.
