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[2286]

Clifford

I think I have seen both options.  Pintle and nato on trailer rear.  Maybe it depended on the regiment and how affluent they were or how many they had in stores!

I am guessing that the 45mph max speed was due to the hitch being strong but not particularly refined?

Army trailers now seem to be Penman, has there been a take over or a change of supplier?

[oddjob]

Many many years ago I used to deliver road towed compressors to people who had hired them. One of them had somehow lost the ring from it's towing hitch and had a huge 4 inch ring hoop thing welded on to the broken end of the sliding brake mechanism. Like a Sankey ring hitch but a bigger hole. This was a VERY sloppy fit in the pin hitch on the van and being a childish 17 year old I'd merrily jiggle the throttle to hear the impressive banging noises coming from the hitch.
Anyway, it never broke and I'm still using the pin hitch on my land rover.

Does that help at all? 

[2286]

Your pintle looks like the heavy duty type with extra capacity over mine between the pin and the back face, reinforced too.

The sankey trailer hitch is large presumably to have commonality with the rest of the army fleet although I am aware that that come in larger sizes too and this is the baby.

The sloppy fit, banging you mention is ok for moving stuff around a yard or field but not what I would want for on road going any distance.

[oddjob]

The sloppy fit, banging you mention is ok for moving stuff around a yard or field but not what I would want for on road going any distance.

This was charging up and down Swaledale, but it was a very long time ago.

[2286]

I did consider using a bow shackle to shift it initially.

Oddjob is your adjustable height drop plate mounted upside to allow for the removable towbar or back rack that plugs into the square socket?

Just out of interest what rear door do you have fitted as i have to watch my tailgate does not hit mine when it opens.

[strang]

There is a good reason for the rotating hitch......

[strang]

And an example of a Sankey 'train'

[oddjob]

I did consider using a bow shackle to shift it initially.

Oddjob is your adjustable height drop plate mounted upside to allow for the removable towbar or back rack that plugs into the square socket?

Just out of interest what rear door do you have fitted as i have to watch my tailgate does not hit mine when it opens.

I didn’t think it was upside down?!
The two little tabs on it fit the top two small holes in the crossmember and then the four big holes meet the two big holes in the crossmember and two big holes in the angle iron reinforcement. Is there another way to mount them?
It has a drop down tailgate and it just clears it. The square mount is a 2” receiver and I have a 50mm towball that plugs into it.

 

[2286]

Re the picture of the sankey by exile.

Does or has anyone used a pintle from the rear of a sankey to bolt onto the land rover and use as the main coupling to accept the sankey ring with the 75mm centre hole.

OR is it intended for emergency off highway use.

Does anyone have the dims or a sketch of the pintle, inc bolt patterns?

[w3526602]

Hi,

The problem I encountered (coz I'm a cheapskate) was fitting a coupling on the trailer in lieu of the military ring (which is too thick  to fit into the normal civilian pin hitch.liaan
S2
May be have an engineer, with facilities, within our group, that can think of a way of modifying the NATO ring to fit int a civilian pin-hitch "fork".

If you go the easy way, and remove the NATO coupling assembly, and fit a simple 50mm hitch like I did, you will have no brakes, which limits the trailer's MGW to 750kg ... effectively reducing the payload to about 5cwt. I'd suggest taking both your tow-car and the trailer to a public weighbridge, to get a chitty confirming the unladen weights of both .... then calculate how much you can carry in the trailer.

Remember, all trailers must display, in the prescribed manner, their MGW.  I presume a SANKEY is too old to need a VIN plate. If it does have a VIN plate, research the legality of it requiring a new plate, if towed behind your 88". Then come and tell me!

602

[Wittsend]

I would advise that you don't try and modify/engineer the NATO ring on the Sankey as you are limiting your choice of towing truck.

I would use the Dixon/Bate adjustable tow hitch bracket. I would then get a "slider" plate and fit a proper NATO hitch to that.
On another I would fit a standard (50mm) ball hitch. And if you need the pintle hitch they can come with the  standard ball hitch combined, or you get another slider and fit a hitch to that.
Best of all worlds then ....

[Wittsend]

Sankey don't have (or need) a VIN plate if they were made before 1980 as VIN plates weren't invented till then.

AFAIK Sankeys have a chassis plate in the position shown below.



Probably under about 20 layers of paint

There is also an MoD Sankey manual.

I think anyone behaving properly and not visibly overloaded or carrying a dangerous load won't attract the authorities attention.

[Alan Drover]

Thanks to a Lt Colonel who used to go to the same pub as I did and who was at the nearby base I have an MOD manual for a Sankey. I sold the trailer a few years ago but kept the manual.

[Rory]

I remember a sanky train of about 30 trailers at Waterbeach about 89.

REME got bored and were playing but I think it was a “knocker” , some sort of 10 ton truck that I can never remember the name of, towing.

There were only 2 knockers left as they were being phased out for TM66’s.

[Matt Reeves]

Sankey don't have (or need) a VIN plate if they were made before 1980 as VIN plates weren't invented till then.

AFAIK Sankeys have a chassis plate in the position shown below.



Probably under about 20 layers of paint

There is also an MoD Sankey manual.

I think anyone behaving properly and not visibly overloaded or carrying a dangerous load won't attract the authorities attention.

I like your hitch set up Alan, it certainly seems the most practical solution.

The plate you picture is actually the body tag, the chassis plate is below that on the chassis and gives chassis number, military registration, model, weight etc. The only thing is these are alloy and tend to be in fairly poor condition.