replacing wood bows on M101 A2

[dodgerex]

I have a couple pieces of wood on my bows I would like to replace. what kind of wood should I be using?

 

[wb1895]

Oak. It can be bought at Lowes, but it isnt cheap

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

If you have a good table saw or radial arm saw, scrounge some pallets. The rails are usually oak. You can do some McGuyver lumbermilling to get the right size out of the pallet rails.

It's not furniture quality, but it's good solid oak. In my area, I can bury myself with free pallets, and I use them quite a bit for different things. Craig's List is your friend.

I use a circular saw to cut along the rails to remove the slats, then I can much more easily remove the piece of the slat that's left, and get the nails out. Then you are left with (usually) 3 solid oak rails that can be cut down to size.

If you can get the kind that's used for landscaping rocks or masonry, you'll have some pretty stout pieces of oak.

 

[DAP]

Yoou can buy red oak at Lowes or Home Depot BUT the correct oak is white oak. You can get that from a millery. it is much cheaper than the box stores and you can get it milled to the exact size. Caution - once you get new wood it will pain you to cover it with OD. I succumbed and did mine in clear exterior polyureathane. It really brings out the grain nice. Not original but I like it. that is what counts.

 

[M35A2-AZ]

I needed two bows for a M105 I had and I used a red wood 2x6 I had around the shop. I painted it and it worked just fine.
I do not think they used red wood at the factory, but it worked.

 

[dodgerex]

I will try the pallet idea, Tons of them around here, if not then off to lowes. thanks everybody.

 

[sggoat]

Wood bows-

I will try the pallet idea, Tons of them around here, if not then off to lowes. thanks everybody.

My A2 has solid Mahogany bows and sides-this stuff is not available at any Lowes/Home depot and such. The guy I bought it from has 5 more trailers just like it--all Mahogany. I had to replace a broken front bow-got a good sized piece of lumber(Honduras Mahogany--2"X3"X10')from our local hobby lumber retailer(Alva Hardwoods) for ~$50. Cut it to length, ripped on the table saw and planed. I think the final dimensions were 1 3/4" wide X 1 1/2 thick X 54" long It is finer grained than the original, of course-maybe different country of origin(Africa/Phillipines?) after the years--the original wood had opened up some--trailer is an '89). I can post pics(I think) if you want.----I don't know of any pallets that have wood long enough or straight enough for the bows-- Gary

 

[paraclete comes]

Good to know. Im going to take my canvas off here in another month and do an inspection and see what needs doing. I have to say I love these old military trailers, such good gear.

 

[rosco]

On a couple of my trailers, the wood was getting old, and had sagged some from winter snows. It was still sound, so I just reversed them 180*, to put the bow up.

 

[dodgerex]

reversing them is not a bad idea

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I don't know of any pallets that have wood long enough or straight enough for the bows-- Gary

I have a pile of 8 footers sitting here, but they are hard to come by.

 

[harleyhouse]

We have several settlements of Amish around us.
They are good to order from.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Hey, Gary, here's another idea: Look around your area for some amateur sawmillers. You might find you can get what you need at a decent price from one of them.

 

[sggoat]

I did get matching Mahogany(well, almost-I got Honduran-I think the original was from Africa, or the Phillipines, judging by the grain pattern) from a local wood supplier(Alva Hardwoods). As in the prev. post, I dimensioned it ok and varnished using Epiphanes Varnish-lots of work up front, but it will last quite a few years before needing a refinish(maybe 10--if I keep the canvas cover on--who knows how long) I never knew pallet wood came in that length--sometimes that wood has absolutely gorgeous grain underneath all the crud!

 

[sggoat]

If your bows are bowing, it is probably a moisture issue. Reversing them is just what you should do. Keep an eye on them, and after they begin to get back to the original straight form, seal up the trailer somehow to stop the moisture from getting in----(The best method would be to remove the wood, sand and seal with a couple of coats of 50% dewaxed shellac, then 2-3 coats of varnish(Use Epiphanes if you want to never do it again, but if you do use this, don't use the Shellac) to mitigate the moisture affects).

 

[dodgerex]

now what about the hardware, ive got some screws in there that just wont come out wit out stripping them. plus the little metal sleeves that go around the bottoms, are they necessary?

 

[sggoat]

Those sleeves are like captive nuts-yes, they are necessary to hold the wood to the frame(speaking about the side wood here.) These nuts are available from local hardware stores(Ace). you can get them in brass/Zinc/Stainless. If I remember correctly, the bolts are 3/16"X 1 1/4" . They go through the metal frame into the side wood with the spiked nut on the inside(the nuts have 3 or 4 "spikes" that grip the wood as the bolt is tightened). The bolts for the bows are carriage bolts(1/4" X 2" I think)They go through the bow frame(square hole), and the through the wood, with a nylon self-locking nut.

 

[CGarbee]

I'll admit to using fir for my M37 and M101A1 wood... Cheap, and a little more flexible (so it doesn't break as easily when you bounce things off it when loading with a forklilft operator who isn't as smooth as you would like). Once you get the paint on it, you can't tell what it is...
All the hardware can be found at the big box store (Lowes/Home Depot), but my mom and pop gas station/service station/bait shop up the street has it all in bulk instead of the little baggies.

Dimensions for the bed wood on my M37 and M101 can be found on my website at:
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/bedwood.htm

Good luck.

 

[sggoat]

here are some pics of my A2 wood rails and bows---

 

[dodgerex]

your'e corners look brand new, where can i get some that look like that?! mine are in rough shape + alot of my screws look like there going to strip.