Lubrication Trailer Resoration ???

[Speddmon]

I just bought this one, it is a PM96-133 with a diesel engine. It is a 1997 so I hope it does not need alot of restoration.

Where did you pick that one up at? Was it in this last set of auctions or did you have it for a while? That's a nice looking trailer.

 

[drgreg]

Got it at McCoy, last week. Should be picking it up in about a week or so. It was not as cheap as the ENG-3s but it is 30 years newer.

 

[lavarok]

I like my ENG-3, but I really want one of those PM96-133's!!

 

[Speddmon]

drgreg
Maybe you could pick it up in the morning of the 22nd. That's when I'll be picking up my deuce, and hopefully my trailer. I sure would appreciate all the help I could get. I'm sure you don't need any help picking up a trailer, but I would be more than willing to assist!!!!!

 

[drgreg]

Mondays suck for me. Probably Thurs. the 25th. We are also picking up a Deuce, but i'm an old hand at that.

 

[aboonski]

Speddmon, thank you for the info about the buttonhead fittings. I went back this morning and did a search under that heading and found that you had answered my question about these fittings which I have never seen before. I wound up with about six of these in my trailer but no way to use them. All of the accessories that normally come in these trailers were missing from mine. I doubt if I would find a use for them on my deuce or the CUCV but would love to see a photo of one or two in use on somebody's MV. I am now trying to find the proper fittings to hook up grease guns and the lubrication metering valves to my hoses in the trailer. Looks like they need to be made of steel so I will have to run over to an industrial supply house to see if they can locate what I need.

 

[Speddmon]

aboonski,

I don't know where all they could be used on a deuce yet, because I still have to pick mine up, but I can tell you this much. We use them all the time at work and they are soooooo much nicer than a zerk fitting. If you find a place to use them, get the proper coupler and put one on a grease gun and use them!!! They are easy to keep clean, just wipe across them with a rag, and presto...clean. The coupler has an o-ring inside of it so you get a tremendous seal, and if you have a flexable hose on your gun, you can swivel 360 like I said. No need to worry about the zerk being on perfectly straight and having grease ooze out the sides because it can't. With the o-ring and design of the coupler, plugged lines are not a problem with a high pressure gun, you can blow right through the clog. Those kind of fittings are the cats meow. If they hold up to the hellish environment of a steel mill, they'll work great on an MV!

Here are some pictures of the fittings and couplers. The manufacturer we use at work is Alemite, but I'm sure other companies make the couplers. I doctored up the one picture to show you kind of how they fit together and you can see the sealing ring inside. The first coupler picture is the kind we use at work, rated for 10,000 lbs.

 

[lavarok]

Good info! I have several different sizes of those fittings in my lube trailer. Now that I know what they are for; it is time to go open the packages and see how I can put them to use!

 

[aboonski]

Making some progress on my lube trailer. I bought all of the necessary fittings to hook up my grease guns and the one oil meter valve that I have. I took the grease guns and oil meter over to Northern Tools and matched up the parts right in the store. I also took a coupling fitting from one of the 10 foot lengths of the hose in the trailer to be sure I would get the size that hooks up to the hose. I get confused when I look at fittings for some reason. A scan of the fittings I bought will show up below the text of this post in case anyone else is trying to restore one of these units. I was very fortunate that the one meter valve that I found in my lube trailer actually functions so I will use it for the Rotella and the new one for the gear oil (on backorder from Northern Tools). I did manage to get a little life out of the motor that drives the compressor in my trailer but have to hook up one of the spark plug wires on the back side of the motor - I have no idea why that was disconnected. I wound up pouring gas into the intake just to see if it would fire and was pleasantly surprised that it did! Even if I never get the compressor running in the trailer I can still use the lube system simply by feeding it air from my shop compressor. I have no doubt that I will soon have a 100% funtional lubrication and air service trailer before too much longer. Money well spent!

And thanks again to Speddmon for taking the time to post photos of the button head fittings and how they are used. My buddy Lavarok will probably beat me to installing them on his trucks because he got a much better selection with the spoils that came with his trailer. Nothing like upgrading a deuce, right Lavarok?

 

[aboonski]

The GAA grease arrived this evening via UPS - 88 pound parcel with two metal containers of the good stuff. Also bought the final part that I need to complete the valve setup at the end of each hose. I called Northern Tools and found out my backordered valve would not be shipped until late August so I went over to our local Northern Tool store and bought one that was brand new and marked down from $158.00 to $99.00. I wound up saving money by getting one which was in stock at the store! It's actually a better assembly than the one I had ordered on line too! I got rained out this evening otherwise I would have prepped the tank for the GAA grease - tomorrow is another day. Lavarok told me where to buy the correct gear lube (GL-1) over at our local Bennett Auto Supply so that will be another purchase tomorrow. Even with all the expenses of setting this trailer up I think it will come to just over $1K. The best part about buying this trailer was not having to fill out an EUC! There's another one that I keep looking to find on the South Carolina portion of GSA but still not listed yet; supposed to be a whole lot better than the one I bought with all of the grease and oil valves still wrapped in plastic. Lots of nice stuff in soe of those GSA auctions!

If anyone knows where I can find a replacement air filter for my lube trailer please PM me with the details.

 

[jasonjc]

If it has the 4 clcy gas eng it is a mil standard 04A032. try Satern or any of the other dealers. The military used that eng on all kinds of stuff.

 

[aboonski]

Just an update on the progress on my trailer. I cleaned the hopper in preparation for the GAA grease yesterday then stocked it with the two pails of GAA that I bought from a guy named Bagwell in New York. I filled the air tank via my shop compressor (still have to get the trailer compressor running) and turned on the air for the grease pump. After hearing the pump run on and on I realized that it was not priming so I obtained a clean 2 X 4 and pushed the grease all around the snorkel of the pump and right away I could hear a difference in the sound of the pump. Within a short time I was getting a strong grease reply from one grease valve then the other. I hope to use the system to grease all the fittings in my deuce sometime today.

I included a photo of the data plate on my Wisconsin motor. The hour meter indicates only 23 hours on this trailer - just wondering if this is accurate. Someone went crazy with spray paint inside this trailer and everything has a thick coat of forest green paint to include all of the wiring.

Also added some pull chains to assist in opening the latches on my trailer which are very stubborn. This worked great! I just used materials that I had in my garage. Pictures will tell the story. I still have to paint the part green though....

Today I may even clean out the gear oil reservoir and see how that will function. I need to change out the gear oil throughout both of my trucks and this will be the easiest way to accomplish that task.

 

[aboonski]

Adding on again! I just took a few photos of the axle hub on the lube trailer for the benefit of one of the members who wanted to see the suspension system on these things. What I found interesting is the spacer for this trailer! Looks almost as if you could bolt it onto deuce axles for some modification requiring a fairly wide spacer. It was all I could do to break the lugs free on this trailer! I needed the tire for the front of my deuce. Now that I have the lube trailer home, I will not be towing anywhere in the immediate future! I was lucky I made it home with this thing behind an M1008!

 

[pctrans]

For those of you having fuel pump problems with that "lame" diaphram system trying to pump the fuel up so high, I tried something that seems to work quite well and is simple to install. Got a low-pressure electric pump from NAPA; mounted it inline; hooked up a switch on the control panel and ..... WAHLAA! No excess cranking and can usually shut it off once it's running. Total cost about $70.

 

[Speddmon]

Nice mod. Mine seemed to pick up the fuel pretty well, although I don't know how it's supposed to run, I don't think it cranked too long considering it probably wasn't started for about 6 or 8 months at least

 

[mkcoen]

Just got one of these out of the Ft Sam GL site. Looks like there are some major issues with it (drawers missing and control panel screwy) but I think with all the great posts from you guys I'll manage.

Looks like I'm going to need most of the accessories though and I'm afraid they might be a little harder to come by.

Aboonski I saw your start up vid on another site when I did a Google search for lube trailers. Man your videos are everywhere!

 

[ricmase]

i bought one of these trailers WITHOUT the lube unit. i got the SF97 , it says no VIN or MODEL or MANUFACTURER. GL sold it as WELDING TRAILER. GL site was LETTERKENNY (CHAMBERSBURG ,PA. ) i assume bare weight is around 2800 lbs and gross is 5500 lbs. i beleive the one i have is henry spen and co. manufactured. i saw also the Elliot made them also...... what is the TECH MANUAL for this trailer ? Someone says its 2 1/2 ton CHASSIS rating . anyone have picture of data tag for just the trailer ? or info on chassis ? i thank you for your time and reply. PENNDOT told me to get any pics or copies of manual and they would apply that info as weight. police officer came out and signed off that it has no data plate or vin. my goal is to get PA TITLE , then either redo it or sell . i live in HANOVER ( 10 miles from GETTYSBURG ). again thanks. rick

 

[mkcoen]

Rick if you go to the Resouces tab at the top of the page, under Manuals you can locate a TM that has all of the weight information. I'm in WA state this week (brother had a heart attack) so will not be able to photo mine until I get back to San Antonio on Monday. As soon as I do I'll either post it or PM you.

 

[Speddmon]

Rick,

I'll go out here in a bit and snap a picture of the trailer data plate for you. These units have 2 data plates...one is on the trailer and one is on the lube unit itself. You are correct that the bare weight is around #2800, but the Gross weight is around #7800 (#5000 payload)

Here is a snap-shot of page 1-7 from TM 5-4930-207-12, you can see the sections I have "highlighted" showing the trailer weight, and payload. Keep in mind and make sure you remind the proper agencies when you get your title, that the weight listed (5000#) is the PAYLOAD, not the GVW. On pages 1-5 and 1-6 are pictures of the trailer itself, although they are hard to see properly because of the old scans of the TM when the military converted it to an electronic version, it still shows that this is the trailer you have. If you want the entire manual to show to whoever needs it send me a PM with your e-mail addy and I'll send it to you.

Hope this helps some.

 

[ricmase]

i thank you for the above information. i'm trying to have as much info as possible or PENNDOT will want the ENHANCED VEHICLE INSPECTION process done. i was quoted that it starts around $300.00. only several stations per county do it. the reason behind it is GOV. doesn't want homemade trailers built. most AAA places have no idea what a SF-97 is or even looks like. again i thank you , happy holidays...rick