on-offroad coupler

[asianflava]

f you have to remember that there are always "chicken littles" or "nervous nellies" on any forum. Even on this board, several dozen people can do something one way and have it like that for years. There will always be a person to point out one probable catastrophic scenario no matter how reliable it is.

On the other hand, posting something here will bring out points of view that you may not thought of. It can be something you overlooked or it can be the situation that I described above.

[PaulC]

f you have to remember that there are always "chicken littles" or "nervous nellies" on any forum. Even on this board, several dozen people can do something one way and have it like that for years. There will always be a person to point out one probable catastrophic scenario no matter how reliable it is.

On the other hand, posting something here will bring out points of view that you may not thought of. It can be something you overlooked or it can be the situation that I described above.

I think that makes me a "Chicken Little" Rocky cos I'd hate to be a "nervous nellie"

Cheers
Paul

[lucky]

this is what I am using for my tear




Ryan

[PaulC]

All I can say is, You're rules must be way different over there to what we have to comply with

Cheers
Paul

[brian_bp]

I'm not making any judgments about a particular hitch design or fabrication job, but I do have a suggestion to address this issue: if in doubt, build one and test it according to the published standards, and if it passes, build another one to use (since the test will likely be destructive).

The applicable standard for ball couplers is SAE J684. I don't know which standard would be applied to other types (such as the U-joints and pintle-and-ring), but the same strength requirement as J684 seems like a good start. This standard calls for the hitch to withstand...

a force equal to 1.5 times the trailer weight (the whole trailer, not just the tongue weight) in the longitudinal direction (front-to-back, as in pulling or braking the trailer)
a force equal to 0.5 times the trailer weight in the lateral direction (side-to-side, as in steering the trailer)
a force equal to 0.5 times the trailer weight in the vertical direction (as in holding up the tongue, but it applies in the opposite direction as well)

For details, including test methods, I suggest doing what I did and reading the standard in the reference section of the local university or college engineering library.

I noticed in an earlier topic that these same forces were specified for tongue strength in an Australian standard, which seems nicely coordinated.

[brian_bp]

this is what I am using for my tear

Ryan, that looks like a clever way to assemble the required bits. I see that the ring is retained by a removable pin; do you have a ball-type coupler to swap in for highway use (less rattling), or do you use the pintle hitch all the time? I can't quite see if the pintle hook is interchangeable or fixed on the tug.

And one more question: that ring looks like one designed to be inserted into a 2" hitch receiver socket and used as a recovery point, rather than a ring intended for towing, although it also appears to fit the pintle hitch well. Is it really a hitch ring?

[brian_bp]

There is an interchangeable coupler setup described and illustrated in the FiberglassRV forum. While the trailer is neither a teardrop nor (arguably) a "tiny" travel trailer, it is the small Compact II which is mentioned here occasionally, and it is for offroad use as we are discussing.

The offroad configuration uses a pintle (hook on the tug) and ring (on the trailer), as in Ryan's setup. In this case, the ring is designed as a trailer coupler component, so it is being used for it's intended purpose and I believe well within its limits.

[lucky]

I do have a ball hook-up as well, but I just finished a 2000KM trip this weekend and used the pintle/lunette ring.
The ring is designed for a receiver, so I just bought some proper recever material and welded it to my tounge( which is 2" od by 1/4 thick wall). The pintle always stays on that truck but I have one that goes in my receiver on my Ford.



Ryan

[mikeschn]

How about some more pictures? And S-F... Paul is just watching out for ya! Don't take offense...

Mike...

[lucky]

Just uploaded a few moe pics in my album


Ryan

[brian_bp]

I do have a ball hook-up as well, but I just finished a 2000KM trip this weekend and used the pintle/lunette ring.
The ring is designed for a receiver, so I just bought some proper recever material and welded it to my tounge( which is 2" od by 1/4 thick wall). The pintle always stays on that truck but I have one that goes in my receiver on my Ford.

Thanks for the info. So it seems that the ring is intended for use in a receiver, but presumably not actually for towing a trailer. Since the trailer is so small, I suppose it's strong enough.