Ball Mount Angle Questions

[Tobit]

I am building a camper to tow to my land. To access my land, you need 4WD access but the road isn't all that bad. However, there are some hills to climb that have rather sharp approach and departure angles. How much of this can a 2-5/16" ball take? I don't need all the features a full off-road hitch (such as a Lock'n'Roll) gives you, and it'd be quite an expense to upgrade, but if the trailer were to pop off the ball during one of these climbs it'd be a hell of a mess to fix on my road.

[KCStudly]

I can't speak to a 2-5/16 ball, but I did measure a standard 2 inch ball coupler and only got low 20 deg angles up and down. That is, about 26 deg up and 24 deg down IIRC (I'll have a look back thru the start of my build thread to confirm the actual numbers... but that might take a while... it's a big thread ).

It was surprisingly low, which is one of the big reasons I decided to bite the bullet and make my own swivel coupler (also documented in my build).

It would be interesting to see what the damage would be to a coupler that failed in this way (being pried apart ). My guess is that it would see at least some deformation, and might not be able to be secured again. The tongue on a lightly built frame might not fair too well, either.

(Edited to correct quoted angles.)

[Tobit]

Yeah, I may just bite the bullet and have a frame shop replace the a-frame ball coupler with a Lock'n'Roll unit.

[Corwin C]

A pintle hitch might be another option. They have excellent flexibility except in roll. BTW, I've done some pretty extreme stuff with a regular ball and haven't ever had any problems (with the ball/hitch anyway.)

[eggsalad]

A pintle hitch might be another option. They have excellent flexibility except in roll. BTW, I've done some pretty extreme stuff with a regular ball and haven't ever had any problems (with the ball/hitch anyway.)

I second this, albeit with no empirical evidence. The military uses pintle hitches. If you're more concerned about breakover than twisting, a pintle will do fine and be a lot cheaper - especially if your current coupler is bolted on, as opposed to welded.

[KCStudly]

Just be warned that pintle style hitch rings can be clunky. (Actually the proper term is a lunette ring... pintle is a misnomer for this style of hitch that actually refers to the portion of the draw bar that gets inserted into the receiver).

If you don't like hearing your hitch go thunk-thunk when you start and stop maybe a lunette style coupler is not for you. I'm not saying that they all do it all of the time... just saying, there is a loose fit here that you will hear and feel from time to time... maybe frequently. The loose fit gives an advantage with heavier loads where it is not practical to move the trailer tongue manually. They are easier to align for coupling due to the loose fit compared to a ball; close is close enough.

[Dale M.]

The reason the military uses the pintle-lunette style is for universal acceptability.... Image the problem if every manufacturer of a military vehicle or trailer used a different hitch style.... Same goes for trucking industry.... I just wish the utility trailer/RV industry had not decided to use 3 different size balls and coupler for most utilitarian use.... Its sort of like air chucks for air hoses and tools.... Where there is about 5 different types that will not interchange... Talk about confusion...

Dale

[KCStudly]

Actually, there are different size lunette rings based on load, as well.