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Rear stabilizer leg on an M105

BKubu

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I have several M105A2s and none of them came with the rear stabilizer leg mounted on them. Is this something that was removed for some reason, or is this an item that is "desirable" for some reason that would cause a unit to cannibilize the trailer before it hit the CANN point?

Thanks!
 

ARMYMAN30YearsPlus

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Bruce:
I have the leg on my M 105 and one on the M 101 I always set them because I never wanted to upset the trailer when I was loading or unloading. I even put one on a homemade trailer that I got out of the DRMO years ago. I am quite sure it could be duplicated with some threaded rod bar and tube stock and a welder. I can take pictures of mine if you need them.
 

BKubu

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David,thanks for the offer. I actually have found them and mounted them on my trailers. I was just wondering why they would have been removed in the first place. All of the trailers came out of Ft. Bragg if that might make a difference.
 

emmado22

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Soldiers had a habit of putting the leg down, then forgetting it when they hook up and drive off.. So the leg gets mangled, and usually, "hey take it off before the SGT sees that I destroyed it" Much easier to say "it fell off" than the truth
 

wreckerman893

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The Chemical Shelter trailers I have (that are still for sale....hint, hint) all have these legs. I think it was to keep them from counterbalancing due to the weight of the equipment that was loaded on the rear of the trailer by a self-loading device.
I don't remember many of the trailers I pulled in the Active Army having rear legs.
 

CUCVFAN

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I question whether the rear leg actually came on all M105's, because I have seen a bunch that HAD to be wearing their original paint and there were no obvious marks inside or out on the rear panel to indicate that there were ever bolts in there. Maybe they were shipped loose and many units just didn't bother to install them? If so, there must be one heck (<-- does h-e-c-k really need to be censored?) of a stockpile somewhere. I can't see all of them being mangled in the field and then removed, mainly because it would probably mangle the rear panel as well and not many trailers appear as though this has happened.
 

ARMYMAN30YearsPlus

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Bruce:
The tag about getting them ripped off is quite accurate, I even had a soldier pull out from under a heavliy front loaded M 872 that did a nose dive in the motor pool when he pulled out from under it. Soldiers sometimes forget that is why we know the NCO is the backbone of the Army. It is also possible since they came from Bragg that they were removed for air drop or air load ops since they would be in the way of the crush material. But the truth about each one may not be known as turn in of vehicles to DRMO does not always include a complete inventory of the vehicle components like the leg.
 
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