Ive tried to search this out but it is getting retarded. My trailer is set up with a pintle hitch / lunette ring set-up. The ring that is installed on my trailer is this style:



My question is my ring is not bolted tight to the trailer. It's like the nut was put on just enough to allow the cotter pin to lock the castle nut and that's it. It seems to me that the castle nut should be as tight as you could go and then locked with the cotter pin. Can anybody give me some insite on this? I've never really used a set-up like this before.

 

Depends on how the trailer is designed, Ive seen them both tight and loose (rotates side to side only, not sloppy loose allowing the ring to not be sturdy in the mount) It was for offroad coditions where it allows the trailer to oscillate side to side on rough terrain.

 

Well, I can move this one up and down... I'm thinking it needs to be tight but I want to make sure!

 

This ring on the trailer should be tight and not move at all. The pintle on your truck should rotate.

I'll get the argument goin again, if this is for on road use, cut it off and weld a real hitch mount in it's place. These pintle's at highway speeds are dangerous as hell. They're fine for off road use or for use with heavy equipment but in our case most of the loads we pull out weigh our trucks, considerably. The flex and movement that these hitches allow a trailer is enough to break the back end of your truck lose and lose traction when it get's bouncin around at higher speeds.

 

I guess I should have mentioned that this is on a 20' deck, 10k GVW equiptment hauler. The use is to pull my Cruiser to the camp spot.

Uncle Bubba- I have never seen a pintle that rotated... I have seen a lunette ring that is sleaved and will rotate like what is on a M101 military trailer. This is more like a hole in a piece of channel that they bolted the lunette ring through.

Another side note: There is NO play between my pintle and the ring. It's tight enought that there is less play then the coupler on a BigTex trailer I used to use.

 

the only bouncing around I get is from my goose-neck trailers, every other trailer is a pintle hookup that tow just fine at highway speeds, I have had more hassle and bullshit from ball hitch trailers.... hell I even put a lunette ring on my boat trailer

 

So back to the original question: This should be bolted on tight, correct?

 

If you can move it up and down and side to side I would say for sure lock it down

 

yes it should be tight, use hardened washers if you need to take up more slack then there is threads

 

Bolt it down tight.
The only rotating Lunettes that I've seen were on Military cargo trailers and mixer trailers. Typically they all had tapered sleeves and a large spring ahead of the castle nut / washer to keep them from being sloppy loose. I've also seen Military trucks that have a rotating pintle/lunette receiver mounted on them that was also spring loaded.