Pintle hook towing capacity ?

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Guys I have searched but really haven't got a clear answer... Or I am just too dumb to comprehend what I'm reading.. I have a 8 ton Reese pintle hook with a 1 7/8 ball. It is mounted on top of hanna rear bumper and factory cross member.... Would I have a problem if I wanted to tow a 3500 lb travel trailer? I realize this is not a tow forum, but I might get some advise or examples of what peeps on here are towing/ weight with their pintle hook set ups... I see that is says 8 ton capacity on hook, but does that mean the tow capacity or tongue weight ? Sorry if questions are dumb, I'm at a loss... Here is a pic of the setup... I just ordered a pintle hook safety chain mounting plate I will be installing before towing... Thanks guys....


http://www.tnjmurray.com/militaryve...id/135/id/AB35A7C0-5056-A361-12202AC73BC33BDC
 
Pic of pintle hook.....

20150621_191251.webp
 
My opinion, yes, you'll be fine. You're 1,000 lb below the rated tow capacity of the vehicle. I've got basically the same hitch and have had our M101 CDN (a 1/4 ton trailer) loaded with a ton for short hops from the building materials big box. BTW, what is the Hanna bumper rated at that mount point?

Brakes on the trailer would be a VERY smart idea. Perhaps legally necessary in your jurisdiction.

I suspect air bags in you rear coils would be useful for getting everything level. You'll be throwing bad angles on the rear driveshaft if you don't adjust a coil-sprung suspension, something people forget about when towing regularly sometimes.

The 8 ton rating is the ultimate towing capacity of the pintle. What we have to worry about is the tow capacity of what it attaches to, which is far below what it can tow. Remember, they use these things in cargo tugs, military operations, industrial apps.

Tongue weight I can only guess at, never measured ours because I've loaded a lot of trailers and can size things up pretty well by eye. If you have only limited experience best to measure a time or two before a trip. Once you know how you load things to achieve a good TW, then follow that and you're OK. Just keep in mind extra weight will need adjusting. used to be said 200 lb was about the max. nominal TW and that is achieved by properly loading your trailer, about 60% in front of the axle, 40% behind. It's something you should do some checking on to verify things like tongue weight, which is commonly checked with a bathroom scale for trailers of this class here in the Midwest, at least:hillbilly::wrench:
That's why I mentioned the air bags, since the extra weight you put on the truck should not be too extreme. It's more about keeping the drivetrain angles right, depending on the load in the truck itself.

But you don't want it too light, either, as that can cause severa tailwagging type handling problems.
 
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Did not mention that the land cruiser has a ome J lift.... Airbags does sound like a good idea, but hope it's not necessary with lift/springs I have... Not sure of Rear bumper tow capacity... Does not have tow hitch on it.... It is securely mounted to frame rails... IIRC 3 bolts on each side plus the 4 bolts on pintle/rear cross memeber...
 
With the aftermarket bumper there added to the strength of the rear cross member, you have no worries.

Helper bags might be a good idea with big loads. Like airlift 1000 bags inside the rear springs.
 
I read about surprisingly high tow ratings for overseas cruisers on that OEM 4 bolts mount, not that I believe them all, but considering you are also bolted to a Hannah bumper which I'm guessing is very well built, I'm pretty sure you can tow 3,500 lbs with that setup without problem (assuming the trailer has good brakes if you want to stop at some point).

The hook's 8 tons rating is very likely a nominal straight pull rating and largely overkill here. However, I never trusted those balls too much and that may be much less than 8 tons worth. And typically the 1 7/8" balls are for a lot lighter duty than the 2" ones. Is that one original to the hook?

Don't cheapen out on the 4 bolts!
 
Did not mention that the land cruiser has a ome J lift.... Airbags does sound like a good idea, but hope it's not necessary with lift/springs I have... Not sure of Rear bumper tow capacity... Does not have tow hitch on it.... It is securely mounted to frame rails... IIRC 3 bolts on each side plus the 4 bolts on pintle/rear cross memeber...

Hard to tell until things are loaded and hooked up whether adjustment is needed. And for short term use, really not that big a deal. But if you're going to put 4,000 miles on it, then it will help the long term reliability of U-joints, etc, to get thing lined out properly. That's where the airbags shine, because you can dial them in to whatever you need in terms of capacity. Remember that coil springs are pretty weight sensitive, so the airbags help compensate for that when you're pushing the limits of what your suspension set-up is.

This pic is from one of our first trips with the M101 CDN. It's loaded with the complete camping kit, fuel, water, etc. Wish I'd weighed it, but guessing the trailer is about 2,000 gross.
2011RoadTrip2.webp


Definitely no stinkbug:cool:
In fact, things look pretty straight in terms of driveline angles. This is likely OK in terms of avoiding excessive wear and tear. Problem was on the trail it really wallowed. With the tongue weight from a full load, there was a tendency to want to bottom out. Air Bags would solve that.

If the back end was any lower, then you'd want the air bags or another means to get things somewhat better oriented.
 
Like e9999 said, overseas the rear OEM pintle attachment was rated at 3500 kg (braked) and 750 kg (unbraked). I believe max tongue load is 350 kg. This topic comes up quite often as published info from Toyota is almost non existent. Can't speak though about the strength of the Hanna bumper vs OEM setup.
 
to be clear, I was assuming that the Hannah bumper lays on top of the OEM crossmember like my Kaymar, in which case I'm pretty sure it should be a plenty strong mount. If the OEM crossmember has been cut or is not used for the bolts, then it's all up to the Hannah's rating -if any- of course.

Btw, my eyes are bad but does that hook not say 6 tons? Not that it would matter here...
 
SNIP

Btw, my eyes are bad but does that hook not say 6 tons? Not that it would matter here...

That does look like 6 tons, but may be a quirk of the light? Then again, the OP did say he had a 1 7/8" ball, so perhaps it is a 6 ton. As you say, I don't think it matters....

But I decided to look a little more closely at mine, which as I said is very similar. Mine is definitely 8 tons on the casting side. The sticker indicates a 16,000 lb towed weight limit, but also a 3,000 vertical load limit. Not in an 80, if you know what's good for you.

Perhaps more importantly for our discussion, the ball is marked 2" but also 7,000 lbs. I presume that's when using the ball hitch side of things, rather than the pintle only with a lunette. The 1 7/8" ball will likely be rated somewhat less.
 
yes, the ball might likely be the weak point here if the bumper is good. As I said, I never liked those balls on pintle hooks, I think it's a clumsy compromise approach. I would much prefer if they were designed with the locking cap tying on the ball somehow to impart some extra strength when the ball stem is being torqued, but I have not seen any like that yet.
 
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