Recovery of 2 M101A2's with 1 Dodge pickup.

[mdmorgan]

Thanks, I'll search it down. I'm probably doing the recovery alone at this point.
edit: found it, I don't think I'll try that while flying solo...


I forgot to ask, how can these trailers be piggybacked/doubled? I have an M101A1 now and don't see anyway to put a pintle on the rear of it that I'd trust.

I mounted it just to the side of the rear landing leg on the same cross member as the landing leg, plenty strong enough to pull an empty trailer, but regardless of that, towing that way is inherently unstable as mentioned by others.

 

[maloneythenuttyirishman]

Ratch, Wondering how you made out at fort mead. Did they help with the flip? I am heading down on Tue. to pick up 2 Trailer's and would like to save the toll cash, gas etc fro dragging a 20' trailer down and back.

 

[Ratch]

It went great. I've done it at 2 sites now. But I bought an equipment trailer I'll be using to haul them from now on.

They would not help with any more than lifting the overturned trailer onto the upright one, they don't want to be liable for anything going wrong during a flip operation. They may not allow it at all anymore, either, I had heard there were some policy changes.
Best thing to do is call the site and ask him if you can spend an hour or two flipping it yourself, and once flipped, would they put it on top of the other one.

It took me way too long to do it (completely alone), but it went 95% according to plan. It took some minor damage to a front edge that I didn't really care about because my lowering strap was too loose. I practiced in my driveway a few days before with some trailers I already had, wrote up everything I'd need and everything I did. If you can, I'd very strongly recommend you practice first and get an idea of what can go wrong. It would suck to be at the GL lot and flip your nice trailer, turning it into a not nice trailer, then realize you'll have to find a uhaul in MD and go rent a 20' trailer or make the trip again...

Also, if you're picking up an A2/A3, or a new 1101/1102, be prepared for the brake fluid to leak when it's upside down. I've only hauled A1's upside down, but when I flipped my A2 in practice, brake fluid tried to escape from a few places.

If you PM me your email address, I'll send you my photos and writeup of the at-home practice flip.

 

[RedbeardTheZombieHunter]

When hauling 2 trailers like that, I wonder if anyone ever got a flat on the bottom one and tried to flip the whole mess over rather than just swap a wheel with the top trailer. Temporary cases of cerebral flatulence can make some people do silly things! Not that I would expect anyone to admit it if they did.

 

[86m1028]

I will be picking up (2) M101A2's tomorrow and need to know if they'll both fit ok on a 20 foot bumper pull trailer. Thanks for the help!

3 easily on a 20ft trailer.

I have done 4 on an 18ft trailer.

 

[86m1028]

I will need to pick up three M105's soon and intend to haul them on a flatbed trailer with dovetail. GL says they will not help load - sooooo, Beach Cruiser, DavidB and 86m1028, how'd you get the military trailers up on your civi trailers (winch I assume)? Any tips on loading them on the trailer? Tongue or rear loaded first? Once the first is on, tips on winching on second, then third? Hook all three together and winch all three on in one fell swoop? This will be my first trailer recovery so just trying to work out the logistics in advance.

Did 3 m105's on an 18ft trailer but we loaded with a forklift.

 

[maloneythenuttyirishman]

Ratch, Thanks a lot went great. took me about 2 hours,break down bows, flip,load change bulbs.a plus ,we found on target Gun shop so we hit the range so that added a couple of hours to our trip .
Thanks again, john

 

[Ratch]

Great, I'm glad it worked out and they let you flip there.