Gooseneck vs Pintle Hitch

[Blakeyancey]

I recently bought a 1975 Mack u600 with a 237. I plan to put a flatbed on it and use it to haul a 650g dozer, and possibly a 12 ton excavator in the future.

My question is will a pintle hitch trailer wag the tail? Would I be better off with a dual tandem gooseneck? I prefer to stay with one of these v.s. a 5th wheel because I have the flexibility of being able to use it with my one ton truck.

Any opinions/experiences would be appreciated

View attachment IMG_4324.jpeg

 

[IceHole]

I saw a dump truck pulling a backhoe end up upside down. Hit a bump and some ice, loaded too ass heavy and empty box.
Backhoe and trailer were destroyed too. Trailer folded like a banana, front axle tore off the backhie plus pancaked the cab.

I tow an older Miller equipment trailer with my 5500. Definitely feel it when it's banging around in the but if slop on the pintle. And the pintle and lunette are new.

 

[CM1995]

Never towed a pintle tag with 25K + trailer on it behind a single axle but have towed up to 40K on our tandem pintle trailer behind a tri-axle empty with no issues.

I tend to think 25K + trailer on a pintle behind that single axle Mack is going to get squirrelly but then again I haven't tried it.

 

[Pops52]

I think I would put a sliding fifth wheel on the Mack and find a 2 axle tilt bed to haul the dozer and whatever else. Stopping would be my first concern. I don’t think Tennessee is flat.

 

[crane operator]

20-24,000lbs steel tracked equipment on a regular basis, is going to tear up most gooseneck trailers, that are made for behind a 1 ton pickup. You're going to end up tearing up the floor and deck and the ramps.

Personally, I'd put on a 5th wheel, and find a short single drop tandem lowboy. Or a tilt bed like pops52 recommends would be even nicer. Air brakes.

And I'd get rid of the 20" rubber on the old mack.

 

[MG84]

I regularly pull 20-22K behind a 2000 IH 4700 on a pintle hitch, but it is a lot newer, good air brakes, new trailer with good brakes, etc. It also has a fair bit longer wheelbase than what you are working with and I load it with plenty of tongue weight. Works fine, but that is less weight than what you are looking at. I'd go with 5th wheel and a 30-40' single drop equipment trailer with ramps. A trailer you are going to use to haul a 650 dozer or 12t excavator shouldn't end up behind your pickup anyways, regardless of what's on it...

 

[Blakeyancey]

Thanks for the replies!

You all could spot a tick on a hound dog lol.I have a set of 22.5 wheels that I plan to put on, and where I live is nothing but hills.

I will take your alls advice and look for an old phelan/rogers trailer. I will try and report back with some pictures once I get everything situated

 

[IceHole]

I'd imagine 237hp isn't very fun, even on flatlands.

My Mack R model has a 400hp E7 and it's "meh" compared to the 525 3406 I'm used to.

 

[cfherrman]

I imagine any trailer that will be suitable will be a heavy sob empty behind your 1 ton, trying to do both here will result in something that sucks at both the real truck and the won ton.

I've seen plenty on dump trucks pull backhoes with pintles but myself I have never done it.

I'd go gooseneck or pintle over 5th wheel though, unless you are going real 5th wheel and not the pickup style.

 

[Blakeyancey]

Went with the single axle 5th wheel, very satisfied with the setup

 

[cfherrman]

That thing looks really handy and should last a long time. Id spend a little money inside the cab depending on how much drive time you have

 

[Acoals]

That's like . . . storybook cute. At least the pickup haters can't touch you!

 

[crane operator]

Those are some nice looking ramps, do they have cylinders or springs to help them back up for travel?

 

[CM1995]

Looks like the ramps have hydraulic cylinders similar to my tag. We retrofitted them and added a electric pump with battery hooked to a hot wire on the pig tail.

Nice looking rig OP! Should serve you well and you can move heavier equipment than that Gehl to boot.

 

[crane operator]

Good looking 22.5's on the truck, was it hard finding rims and spacers?

 

[JaredV]

Nice setup. Do you know the light weight of that combo and what can you gross? I dreamed about finding a trailer like that for my IH West Coaster but just as well I didn't because I ended up selling it.

 

[oarwhat]

The old Mack 237's pulled pretty good. Just need to cap off that silly airline going to the injection pump.

 

[Vetech63]

 

[Old Doug]

I was going to do something like you wanted to do. I bought a 7500 GMC with a fifth wheel . I was going to use it to replace 2 or 3 trucks . I was going to put a flatbed with hoist on it to replace my f600 with a 14' flatbed . I was also going to put a winch on it to replace a IH truck I have with a winch and gin poles. Then it was going to have a gooseneck and pintle hitch . I got the winch,pintle gooseneck hitches mounted. I haven't put a flatbed on it yet . I haven't found the right trailer yet. I would like to build a setup were I could leave the fifth wheel on or make it easy to remove and install and have a flat bed that I could remove and install but it may be Easyer to leave the truck the way it is and get a dump trailer and a flatbed trailer of some kind. For now I am licensing,insuring and keeping running more stuff than I want to.

 

[Georgia Iron]

I recently bought a 1975 Mack u600 with a 237. I plan to put a flatbed on it and use it to haul a 650g dozer, and possibly a 12 ton excavator in the future.

My question is will a pintle hitch trailer wag the tail? Would I be better off with a dual tandem gooseneck? I prefer to stay with one of these v.s. a 5th wheel because I have the flexibility of being able to use it with my one ton truck.

Any opinions/experiences would be appreciated

View attachment 315133

Not that it's legal but I know 2 people that have used a single axle truck like that to move a 20 ton tag with a 953 on it. I also was told that a pintle would not handle a 963 or 320 sized excavator on a tandem dump truck. I talked to the guy that moves this combo. He stated it was over weight by 3k for the permit. Truck moved it fine but he did not like how it stopped. Supposedly this trailer was custom made to haul this kind of load. He uses this combo to move this tractor around town and he said he absolutely hated it. He wants a lowboy but the company he works for wants him in a dump truck.



I would not be afraid to use a gooseneck. As other have stated a lot of use will wear it out. It would depend on what trailer you find at the right price. I think your truck will be fine with any of the above. I suppose i would prefer airbrakes over electric but either can work.


This trailer would work well for your combo. Problem is the trailers are 10 to 20k used.




I move this around town. Machine is 17k had to remove the front ripper to trim 800 lbs. It was over weight on the trailer axles. Now it just hits legal weight.