Topic: MILITARY TRAILER

[SKI BOY]

I've been looking for a while for a mid-size trailer to use for camping. I have a line on a surplus military trailer (Vietnam Era) called a "pioneer tool carrier" with dual brakes & pintle hook set-up. My question is, should I stay with the pintle or swap it out for a H.D. ball & hitch?? The auction is next week, so any first hand experience is appreciated! Any military guys on the site seen/ used one of these?  I'll post pictures if I can upload them from my cell phone!!

[oldjeep]

If you're going to use it offroad, nothing beats a pintle and lunnette.  If you want it quiet, then swap to a ball mount.

I'm guessing it's an M416 if it's jeep pullable

[jagular7]

It should look like this



It is designed to carry tools which are heavy. The frame is based on the M101 chassis and its 'C' channel 2x3. Its leafs are soft but with multiple leafs, provides a good ride with little weight on them. Axle will have the drums on it for the parking purposes. Some even come with the tongue surge hydraulic brake. The tires should be 9.00-16s and about 36" tall. The sheetmetal portion would be cool with dual opening sides and a rear access door, but could be heavy due to the configuration and floor support. The fenders are 1/4 plate steel and very heavy. The tongue frame is triangular, bolts to the front leaf mount, and the front frame crossmember has bolts which can be pulled to make a dump trailer. The lunette tongue is heavy and due to the design, it will be noisy in any pintle mount. The lights should be black-out design and have multiple bulbs, but they will be 24v bulbs which are not compatible with your Jeeps 12v, nor is the connecter. The carrying capacity is truely too high for your Jeep and camping gear. M101s are designed to carry upwards of 4000#s offroad safely, 5000#s on road.

I've got a M101 chassis which I got rid of the heavy axle and tires for a Dexter 3500# with parking brake and electric brakes and 14" tires. I also got rid of the triangular tongue for something much lighter. The lunette is good for all purpose offroad, but not really necessary for your use. You can sell the lunette and stand for practically what you will be paying for the trailer itself. If you want to pull the trailer offroad, I would look for multi-axis coupler to use. Though a 2" ball with the trailer tongue level should be more than enough for back roads.

I started off with


Added Dexter axle with stock suspension


Added boat trailer frame for a tongue


Put a camper slide in box on


And I weighed it the other day after hitting Moab for a week, it weighs ~1300#s with a 160# tongue weight and that is without the firewood I had lugged out there. Camper is 450#s, I only had spare front axles for my TJ in the front black box, so this should give you an idea on the weight of the frame, axle, and tires.

If anything, bid what you would like (my frame was $90), but if you win, MTL you'll have to fill out a EUC certificate (End-Use-Certificate). This type of item auctioned off by mil surplus has this requirement. Sometimes it can be a PITA to fill the EUC out correctly. It should take about 2 months or less to be able to pickup the trailer after the EUC process. If you do buy it, I would suggest you lower it by swapping out axle/tires, replace the tongue and lights for something more compatible, and look into using the sheetmetal as a sleep quarters. Good luck.

[Mozman68]

You should spend a little less money on trailer building and more on lawn fertilizer....
 

[chardrc]

we have a m101 trailer that we pull behind our cj2a up the mountain filled with all our gear for elk hunting.. very solid unit. but as said above it may be "too heavy" for your purpose (if that is really a ligament phase.)

[Mozman68]

A couple of the off road magazines this month had a sweet trailer (military size/shape..but new)....I'm at work and can't see them though.

[jagular7]

When temps are in the 90s, any lawn work is just sweating it. I've down my fall airing, overseed and verta-cut to get good growth for next spring. Thanks for taking the time to notice in the pics. 

I forgot to mention weight considerations. The M101 with a tub on it weighs 1250#s empty. Tongue shall be nearly 10% for any weight as the axle is usually centered in the frame. Figure the Pioneer to be nearly the same. For pulling it around, you'll need adjust the pintle hook on your Jeep to nearly match the height of the lunette. Pulling it around shouldn't be a problem. The lunette will bang against the pintle hook and that can be annoying, empty or not. Brakes are usually only the parking brakes. If you look in the first picture, in front of the water can on the tongue/front crossmember, you see to arms standing up vertically. These are the parking brake levers, one right, other left. On my frame, you can see them on the outside of the frame. The lug nuts are 1.5" hex and are right and left had threaded. The rims will probably be a split type rim and the tire shall be a tube setup.

[SKI BOY]

When temps are in the 90s, any lawn work is just sweating it. I've down my fall airing, overseed and verta-cut to get good growth for next spring. Thanks for taking the time to notice in the pics. 

I forgot to mention weight considerations. The M101 with a tub on it weighs 1250#s empty. Tongue shall be nearly 10% for any weight as the axle is usually centered in the frame. Figure the Pioneer to be nearly the same. For pulling it around, you'll need adjust the pintle hook on your Jeep to nearly match the height of the lunette. Pulling it around shouldn't be a problem. The lunette will bang against the pintle hook and that can be annoying, empty or not. Brakes are usually only the parking brakes. If you look in the first picture, in front of the water can on the tongue/front crossmember, you see to arms standing up vertically. These are the parking brake levers, one right, other left. On my frame, you can see them on the outside of the frame. The lug nuts are 1.5" hex and are right and left had threaded. The rims will probably be a split type rim and the tire shall be a tube setup.

Jag- Thanks for the info! The unit I'm looking to bid on must be an earlier version; it doesn't have the extended frame platforms front or rear and the curved doors don't have the ribbing, probably added later on for strength! Essentially though it's the same trailer, should be okay for occasional towing if I strip as much weight off it as possible!  Thanks!