towing a dolly+pup.....

Don't know about other places, but max weight rating for the pintle hooks on the tractors where i work is 4k. I'd be fired so fast I wouldn't even have time to rip the crossmember off the frame.

 

Your pintle hook on the tractor doesn’t have that air arm thing that the back of the 28” or 48” has. So the pintle hook is taking all the strain and it can bounce and jerk around in the pintle hook. You can not clip the top down and still won’t come apart because of that arm that pushes the dolley secure when two trailers are hooked up. But the top is just a safety measure. It’s legal cause tanker straight trucks with the tank on the tractor and a pintle hook with air arm in the hook. They pull a dolley and a 28” tanker. I’ve pulled a 28” for US Foods with a Straight truck with a box on the straight truck and a 28” behind. Straight truck was pretty heavy duty and tandem axle and has the air arm in the hook like a trailer does. If your tractor has the arm then you can pull it. Wouldn’t be fun though.

 

I used a straight truck version like this setup. But has the air arm and I’m sure reinforcement to pull it.

 

Why would you ?

 

I've asked this same question about five years ago .

Short answer is no. It is absolutely illegal and unsafe to tow a dolly behind your truck and have a trailer attached to it.

Almost all trucks that I've driven have a warning lable next to the pintle stating that they are intended for dollies only and have a weight rating of usually 3.5-4k lbs. I find it also rare in the commercial LTL world to see an airline hookup on the back of the truck next to the pintle. It would be insane to stretch your airlines over your fifth wheel and across the dolly to hook on to your trailer.

When I was active duty, we would have an airline next to our beefed up pintle. We used it to transport potable water trailers that weighed enough to justify their own air brakes .

 

Yup, US Foods still pulls those around here once and awhile. Pulled a set to Steamboat in the mountains here. I’m sure Sysco might also.

 

Took him to mean pulling the pup with a dolly behind his bobtail. If moving one pup and a dolly , pull the dolly behind the pup.