5 Ton Semi tractors and trailers?

[rmgill]

so, I'm starting to examine the type of truck and trailer for our gaggle of guys in the PA area for our armored vehicle transport. We'll have x3 7 ton armored cars, and some smaller 4-5 ton vehicles.

Same as the deuce for my dingo, I'm thinking a 5 ton semi tractor would be good for the recovery issues. Question is, what type of low loader trailer would be good. I'd prefer something with a platform over the 5th wheel for another smaller vehicle like a jeep.

Our armored cars are 7' 8" tall so we're not too tall for height clearance as far as I understand. The military 5th wheel trailers for low loaders, seem to be >60" high whereas the 5th wheel on the 5 tons is 57". Is this going to work with a civilian trailer?

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Ryan:
We used to carry two M 113's on our M 915 / M 872 rigs and of course this required a loading ramp to get them on and off. The M 870 trailer would be a great lowboy for you and you could tow that behind a 5 Ton M 818 or M 52. A higher or lower fifth wheel will work it just makes the trailer tilt a little. The M 127 was tilted like that hauling it home with the Dolly I built since the dolly has 900 20's and the M 127 uses 1100 20. I have seen M 870's on GL in the past.

 

[ken]

Ryan, i sudjest a M172. It's a lowboy type trailor. It's only long enough to carry one vehicle at a time though. The other problem is it's about 9 feet wide. That makes loading and unloading a breeze. But you may require a wide load permit when using it?

 

[jwaller]

the problem with military trailers is that they are all too short only meant to haul 1 vehicle at a time and most are all too wide(9'+) unless you want to permit it every time you tow it I am going thru this same process. I have the XM818 and I'm going with a great dane civy drop deck 48'. gives me 38' of low deck and 10' on top of the 5th wheel with a small ramp in between.

 

[Elwenil]

How about this one at White Owl?

http://whiteowl.com/trailers.html

 

[jwaller]

How about this one at White Owl?

http://whiteowl.com/trailers.html

looks nice but pricey.

 

[rmgill]

Yeah, something like that would be good, but we'd need to add ramps. Though we could get some and weld them on. Ideally we're going to try to make up two to three trucks like this so we can move all our own vehicles and not have to worry about getting a trucker to make the moves. It'll be more money up front, but we'll not have to screw with high costs over the long term and waiting around for the truck to show up. Here's an example of what I'm looking at.

I need to do a line drawing of the Humber BTW.

 

[rmgill]

Oh, as you can see, I'm kind of thinking that one of the trucks should be a standard wheel base cargo converted to a semi-tractor so we can add a rear facing winch and handle recoveries of our vehicles easier. If something needs to be hauled onto a trailer, I want it to be as simple as possible. HAving multiple trucks of the MultiFuel 5 Ton type means we'll be flexible on fuel, have a reasonably reliable truck, and when we pull into an event with 3 or 4 MVs hauling 5-7 MVs we'll be REALLY bad ass. I'd love for it to be a bunch of old US lend lease Whites or Federal Semi-tractors, but a concession to slightly more modern is important for the reality of the parts availability.

 

[rmgill]

As far as trailers go, something like that Wallace would be nice, but it doesn't have to be as nice. We'll have several people able to turn wrenches at one of our guy's farms making it FAR easier to get the trailer up to snuff.

We're only looking at less than 20 tons with three vehicles. (the Humber and Daimler ACs weigh less than 7 tons, 7 tons is fully loaded ready for combat) and the daimler dingo weighs around 3 tons. So most of those 25 ton and heavier capacity trailers are way good to go on weight capacity.

When we were looking at only one or two ACs it made sense for a short ex-military trailer, but with the need to move 3 Heavy ACs, 2 Dingos, and possibly some other vehicles, we'll need more length so we can get the best bang for our buck.

 

[wreckerman893]

My old unit here at Fort Benning had what we called "Air Force trailers". They were drop decks about 35 ft. long with a long narrow flat space on top of the gooseneck.
I was told that they were the trailers that went with the M246 wreckers.
The unit next to us had a M246 and we hooked them together several times to pull oddball loads that required a wrecker to load.
If I remember correctly you could get one deuce and one CCCV on them with a slight overhang off the rear.
I see them occasionally on GL, usually they sell cheap.

 

[rmgill]

So I'm thinking this slightly abused Phelan might work. Looks like it's been over loaded in the rear though. I can't tell if that's the camera or not.

Bit of welding, some new 383 Green paint and it'd make a good MV trailer I think.

28' WELL, 3' BEAVER TAIL, 5' RAMPS, 5' SLOPE UP TO 10' TOP DECK, 96"" WIDE.

Adjusting how the Ramps sit when lifted would allow for 31' on the lower deck and 15' on the upper end. Plenty of room for 3 of our short vehicles. It would take 3 Daimlers nicely.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Na, the deck is straight, the ramps are just THAT bent.

 

[Opie]

Ryan,
I don't know much about trailers, but let me know if you want the Phelan eyeballed. I could make a daytrip of it.

Opie

 

[rmgill]

That phelan is really just an example. We're still in the planning and scoping out stage. There's umm, 5 of us that have 6 vehicles owned collectively or singly. Having something to move all 6 in a gaggle of three trucks would be VERY useful. One member has a farm so we'll have plenty of space for storage if his wife lets us store them there. That configuration of trailer would be bets though.


So does anyone know the specifics on 5th wheel height and size? Are the differently sized king pins between civilian and military trailers changeable? Can I put a Military sized kingpin on a civilian trailer easily or is that a major welding job?

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

The Kingpins on standard semi and lowboy trailers are the same it make the S&P such a universal soldier. The HET and old 10 tons have larger King Pins and they are also permit load vehicles stay away from them unless they stay on the farm. I would also considrer building my own if you have the talent. An old trailer with repairs and ramps might cost less and meet your needs exactly. I built a 27 footer to move from Fort Hood to PA in 1993 it weighed 5,000 and carried 21,000 I used housetrailer axles cheap in Texas and steel I got from a scrap dealer used a lot of welding rods but it was fun too.

 

[red devils dude]

rmgill
would a M172 work 35ft long one in NY state for $7500 heres the ad
1964 M172A1C 25 ton Trl.
Excellent overall condition
Matched Bridgestone
11.00x15 radial tires
Has ramps & wheel covers
Can be used with a 2 1/2,
5 or 10 ton Tractor
Brakes perfect, Deck and
paint are excellent

 

[TacticalTruck]

i've got one w/ bias-plys and needin' a few boards but a good trailer for $4500.
Jeff