M105A2 Tire Brake & Swap

[BULLETPRF]

I am going to lower my trailer 16 inches. I'm trying to reduce the weight and make it more friendly to my F-150 application (towing my sled, firewood, etc.). Has anyone swapped out the air brakes for electric or hyd surge? Can I keep the axle and use 15" 6 bolt chevy wheels? My last option and probably the easiest is to just swap the axle out. Any pictures of these types of mods would be appreciated.

 

[WillWagner]

Nay on the 15 inch GM drums. The drum on the 105 is almost that. IMHO, you'd be better off getting an M101 or a 416. At 2700# and then adding wood to that, that is a bit much for a half tonner.

 

[rottiedog]

I took out all the un-needed parts and put a 4 inch drop axle. Changed the huge jack with a boat trailer jack. Thing works great!! Quick pic:

 

[BULLETPRF]

Thanks for the pics. That's exactly what I had in mind. Two questions, did you keep the stock springs and how heavy did you go with the axle rating?

 

[jimm1009]

trailer modification

I performed this task out of necessity.

I had a M105 but no axle or wheels and I had a M101 axle.

What I did was to remove the bottom two leaves of the springs since they are only held by the center pin.
I next widened the axle to the proper width using procedures for welding aircraft tubular frames.

It works great and is much easier to tow behind the standard pickup. NOTE: If you remove the lunett ring and turn it upside down and reinstall it it makes it more level when hitched to the truck too.

Since then I have purchased another M105A2 that was complete with the cover, bows, side rails, etc. to use behind the deuce as needed so the 1st trailer will probably be sold in the near future when home construction is finished.

Jim

 

[rottiedog]

Thanks for the pics. That's exactly what I had in mind. Two questions, did you keep the stock springs and how heavy did you go with the axle rating?

Kept the stock springs. Axle is rated to 7500 lbs. No brakes. Might try to add some shocks because it bounces a lot. Don't know how much it weighs now but it is easy to tow.

 

[BULLETPRF]

Thanks again. I was leaning toward a 7000# axle because of the tight spring center. I'm also considering a torsion axle and completely removing the springs. Maybe it might help with the bounce. I want to keep it simple and cheap. It can be very easy to get carried away. I'd also like to make it a hydraulic dump. Then, reality hits me, or maybe it's my wife, I'm just not going to use it that often.

 

[HJ-45]

Here is mine. 5200lb axle w/ 4" drop.

 

[70deuce]

Very cool mod and Landcruiser! The trailer looks like a pretty good match behind it. Any sway problems at speed??

 

[HJ-45]

Absolutely no towing issues. No sway, no bounce. Couldn't be happier. Get comments on it all the time "Now that's a trailer" Use it to haul and store firewood, carry mulch etc. I love dumping the entire season of leaves in it and going to the recycle center ONCE.

Landcruiser is modified troop carrier from Australia. Original diesel engine and 25 mpg running biodiesel. No heat, no A/C, no power steering. ...the best truck I've ever had.

 

[tylercodydale]

I know this is an old thread I was wondering how wide your guys axles are? Hub face to hub face. I know the springs are 40” on center

 

[kblazer87]

I know this is an old thread I was wondering how wide your guys axles are? Hub face to hub face. I know the springs are 40” on center

Are you asking about the m105a2 trailer axle or the ones the folks in previous replies swapped in?

 

[tylercodydale]

Are you asking about the m105a2 trailer axle or the ones the folks in previous replies swapped in?

both Preferably, the mil axle I have on my M105a2 is shot, so I’m looking at getting a 8k pound 4” drop axle with 8x6.5 lug pattern for my 16.5 Humvee beadlocks.
But they have a 7” backspacing so I will have to take that into account when I get the new axle so my tires don’t end up hitting the trailer body or sticking out to far.

 

[Kevingc]

I did an axle conversion to 8 lug, electric brakes with parking brakes, and used the HMMWV wheels and tires. The problem I had was the parking brake cable was 3/4" from the tire due to the wheel offset. I had to use a 1" wheel spacer.
Here is the axle spec I got from engineered by Dexter. ( please be aware that some out there are selling a drop axle rated for 5K or 6K, but not at the spring center and hub face to spring distance needed. Dangerous)
7K AXLE,
DOWN RATED DUE TO BRAKES AND SPRING CENTERS.
72" HUB FACE, 40" SPRING CENTERS, TOP MOUNTED SPRING PADS.
3-1/2" X 1/2" TUBE
9/16" WHEEL STUDS ELECTRIC BRAKES WITH PARK
The other mods I did was to get rid of the tongue jack and put a 1/4" plate under the tongue and add a 5K rated screw jack. Converted to 7 way electric plug, LED bulbs, and put a 12" drop adjustable drop channel with ball coupler in place of the lunette. When putting the drop channel on you have to move the safety chains to the side of the tongue and add 14" of chain to reach truck.

I also converted another 105 to electric over hydraulic. When doing this, the hydraulic brake system must be flushed very well with mineral spirits. I had to rebuild a wheel cylinder and found the seal cups at the brake supply store for $2.00. I used tires and wheels from the M1061 flatbed trailer. They are the same 6 lug but 16.5" wheels and the tires are 36" tall. They stick out about an 1 1/2". I also did the jack removal and replaced with a screw jack. It weighs out at 2150 lbs.

The cost to do the axle or electric/hyd brake conversion was about the same. Roughly $950 a couple of years ago. I find that keeping the parking brakes is mandatory. You don't want one of these to get away from you.

I have new cargo covers, Check classifieds.

Good Luck to All

 

[tylercodydale]

I did an axle conversion to 8 lug, electric brakes with parking brakes, and used the HMMWV wheels and tires. The problem I had was the parking brake cable was 3/4" from the tire due to the wheel offset. I had to use a 1" wheel spacer.
Here is the axle spec I got from engineered by Dexter. ( please be aware that some out there are selling a drop axle rated for 5K or 6K, but not at the spring center and hub face to spring distance needed. Dangerous)
7K AXLE,
DOWN RATED DUE TO BRAKES AND SPRING CENTERS.
72" HUB FACE, 40" SPRING CENTERS, TOP MOUNTED SPRING PADS.
3-1/2" X 1/2" TUBE
9/16" WHEEL STUDS ELECTRIC BRAKES WITH PARK
The other mods I did was to get rid of the tongue jack and put a 1/4" plate under the tongue and add a 5K rated screw jack. Converted to 7 way electric plug, LED bulbs, and put a 12" drop adjustable drop channel with ball coupler in place of the lunette. When putting the drop channel on you have to move the safety chains to the side of the tongue and add 14" of chain to reach truck.

I also converted another 105 to electric over hydraulic. When doing this, the hydraulic brake system must be flushed very well with mineral spirits. I had to rebuild a wheel cylinder and found the seal cups at the brake supply store for $2.00. I used tires and wheels from the M1061 flatbed trailer. They are the same 6 lug but 16" wheels and the tires are 36" tall. They stick out about an 1 1/2". I also did the jack removal and replaced with a screw jack. It weighs out at 2150 lbs.

The cost to do the axle or electric/hyd brake conversion was about the same. Roughly $950 a couple of years ago. I find that keeping the parking brakes is mandatory. You don't want one of these to get away from you.

I have new cargo covers, Check classifieds.

Good Luck to All

Pictures? And 72” hub face that seems very narrow?
I had planned to doing 77” which gives you 18” from spring center to hub face? Is this correct maybe I’m wrong.

 

[Kevingc]

I only had these old pictures from 4 years ago. Thinking back, I think they were real close to being on the inside of the fender well about an inch. This was after I put the 1" wheel spacers on. The HMMWV tires are wider by 50% or so than what I planned. Probably from spring center to hub face should have been 17" with a normal type of offset not HMMWV. These are 235/80R16 these wheels pictured are what I was going to use, then changed to HMMWV. The 2x4 is flush with the fender face. I don't know if you are going to use the parking brake, I highly suggest it, you will need the wheel spacer no matter what the spring to hub face is.

Hope this helps.

 

[tylercodydale]

I only had these old pictures from 4 years ago. Thinking back, I think they were real close to being on the inside of the fender well about an inch. This was after I put the 1" wheel spacers on. The HMMWV tires are wider by 50% or so than what I planned. Probably from spring center to hub face should have been 17" with a normal type of offset not HMMWV. These are 235/80R16 these wheels pictured are what I was going to use, then changed to HMMWV. The 2x4 is flush with the fender face. I don't know if you are going to use the parking brake, I highly suggest it, you will need the wheel spacer no matter what the spring to hub face is.

Hope this helps.

Thank you! I think my confusion was coming from when you were saying HMMWV wheels I was assuming we were using the same wheels but we are not, I will be using this kind of wheel and tire this wheel has a 7” back spacing, so I need a much wider axle to account for how much the tires sit inside the hub face

 

[Kevingc]

Here are the best pics I could find. I believe a thought I had at the time was the sidewall width of the HMMWV setup. The sidewall is a little more rounded than a regular tire.