S-250 shelter recovery - how best to haul

[CUCV_ut]

I'm planning on a recovery trip to pick up a S-250 shelter tomorrow. I was planning on putting it on a M-101 trailer but I think it's an A2 model because it has surge brakes and CUCV wheels. Is it true that those are too narrow? My backup plan was to take our tilt deck car hauler down there, it sits pretty low even not tilted, probably about a foot off the ground. That trailer is over 20' long. The seller has it sitting on his driveway on some 4X4s, so it's at least already off the ground a few inches. I just noticed out little trailer is 50" wide between the rails / fenders. It's an old ditch witch trailer rated at 2000lbs. It also tilts and rides low to the ground. The bed is 6.5' long. Here's a picture of it-



We've taken it on several trips on the highway and it's always worked well. The shelter is about 100 miles away. The seller does not have anything to pick it up with so we will probably have to winch it up on a trailer with a come along. This kind of rules out taking an M-101 trailer anyway since the deck on those is so high. I've never seen one of these shelters in person, so if anyone has some advice on which trailer would be best to pick it up. I like the idea of the small one because I could move it around the yard on it and leave it there until I see if it will fit in the M-101 or if I need to get a M-101A3. I'll post some pictures of the recovery and shelter once I get back tomorrow.

 

[TaylorTradingCo]

Take the little trailer. I've moved a bunch of those things by hand. If it is stripped, it ain't too bad, if it still has all the junk in it, then it can be heavy. I use big ratchet straps on each corner to winch them up.
Derek

 

[Bmxenbrett]

A floor jack anf some pvc pipes for rollers and you can nearly move the world. Jack front and block it up to trailer height. Back trailer under and lower onto pvc pipe on trailer. Winch or push it on. When the shelter rocks on that single roller put another as far in front as you can. A pry bat may help also.

I have moved thousands of lbs of top heavy milling machines useing this method..not with pvc pipes.

 

[sigo]

The gent that bought my S788 shelter brought along some large plastic corner slider things. I don't know what they're called, they were like furniture sliders only bigger. With those and a come-along, moving an S788 from the bed of a deuce to a 5-ton was easy. Zoom in on the lower corner of the shelter in the photos to see what I'm referring to. Also, an empty S250 is probably lighter than you think it'll be.

 

[M813rc]

An empty S250 weighs a little over 700#, they are not difficult to move by methods described above.

It will not fit in an M101A2 without modification of the wheel wells, the S250 is just a tad too wide at the bottom.

Cheers

 

[CUCV_ut]

I just got back. I decided to try the small trailer. The shelter hangs off the back of the trailer about 6 inches. This puts too much weight at the back. I had to get clever and get a few more military toys from him to stick towards the front of the shelter to put some more weight on the tongue of the trailer. It was still very light on the front, I kept it under 60 and had plenty of weight in the back of the truck. He used a floor jack to lift the front up then propped it up with Jack stands. We backed the trailer under the front edge of it. We put the floor jack on the trailer, lifted the shelter and got the jack stands out so it was sitting on the trailer. We put the jack under the back edge and lifted it a little then used a come along and pulled it up on the trailer. It went unbelievably smooth.






The seller was very helpful. He claims he got it from the military just like it is, he didn't remove any wiring or panels or anything. It's in pretty good shape, other than a forklift scar on the bottom. They already patched the floor inside but I need to tip it up and patch underneath. Any idea what this was used for? I've never seen such a bare shelter with no mil spec wiring. They have two outdoor plugs on the back where you can stick a normal extension cord end in for power. I've still got to open up the breaker panel and see if they have it separated as 220v, looks that way at first glance. I'm very pleased even though it'll need a full paint job. I had been looking at some of these as far away as california, so I saved as lot of fuel finding one in state. The scary thing was if I hadn't shown up when I did the next best offer he had was from someone who wanted to stick it out in a pasture for a goat milking shed.

 

[M813rc]

Glad you got it home okay and it isn't a goat shed.

I seriously overestimated the size of your trailer from the pictures in post 1!

Cheers

 

[CUCV_ut]

Does anyone know where I could find some of the electrical panels that went in this? I'd like to get it setup for 24v and 120v again. I wish it had the electrical racks still, I'd like to use it for some comms equipment. I got the lights working. They did a real hack wiring job on it. The plastic conduit is velcro'd to ceiling, the wires going into the lights just run through knockouts with no bushings or protection. The 2 power inputs (one for each 120v leg) are just run through a knockout into the back of that electrical panel. It need's some serious rework. I've got it plugged into a GFCI outlet just in case. I'd like to set it up with the original power inlets. Does anyone know what the DC input looked like for these? If I can't locate one I was thinking about just using a recessed slave receptacle from a MEP802 generator. That would keep the cables common. Behind the cheap white paint job is blue paint, I've never heard of a shelter that was painted that color. I can't keep the kids out of it, they're already calling it their club house. I was thinking of more of a camper towed in a M-101 behind the HMMWV.

 

[Recovry4x4]

They make great storage containers for ammo cans and wonderful shelters for the kids waiting for the bus at the end of the lane. I had an S318 that filled all those rolls and so many more. Try to keep it somewhat modular.

 

[NDT]

Shelter could have been equipped for one of hundreds of applications, this would be listed on one of the three data plates on the door, which in your case have been ruined by sandblasting. Military likes to use these for storage boxes after they are obsolete, which can happen quickly.

 

[CUCV_ut]

I've had this on the back burner for a while, but this week found an A/C unit I was hoping to use. I measured the opening inside the shelter and it was 12" wide and 9" tall. Is that smaller than usual? I wonder if they reduced the opening to put a civilian unit in it. The AC I found is bigger than the opening. It was made in 1972 by trane. It runs off 230v 1 phase 60 hz FSN 4120-411-5443 P/N 97403-13216E5920.


Is this the same size as the 115v A/C units? I was actually hoping it was one of those but the seller wasn't sure and practically gave it away so I thought I'd give it a chance. This is the sight indicator on the back, I thought normal was green with no bubbles. Does this unit look empty of freon?

It has a 5 pin plug for power. Weren't most of these A/C units 4 pin?


Does anyone else have this model A/C? Was it reliable and worth recharging if necessary? I'd like to find the original mounting brackets for the front mounted A/C unit. Does anyone have any leads on them? I wouldn't mind finding the cabinets that mount on sides inside or the racks that went at the front of the shelter either.

 

[Tinstar]

It’s easier and cheaper in the long run to strip it and do all the electrical exactly like you want.
Lights, outlets, etc.
I used a commercial a/c in my S-280 and works great.
But I wasn’t doing a all military original build either. No clue about your a/c.

Who knows what it was used for.
They are and have been used for almost anything.
Not often you see two exactly alike.

The S-250 will fit a M101A3 since it’s wider between the wheel wells.
Others have narrowed the wheel wells on their A2’s with great success.
Several threads about it.

Seal every hole you can find.
Once they leak, they hold water very well.

 

[rmss]

Using a uhaul

To move mine, I rented a $20 uhaul 5x8 utility trailer. It fits the in-the-bed portion of the S-250 with only a few inches (width) to spare. And the side rails on the trailer are too high. I think I need about 7" of support under the S-250 to make it clear the sides, but I wanted to mount my S250 on temporary skids so I could drag it around at my property, so I built one with a pair of 6x6s and some 4x4s across the top. See attached for how it sat in the trailer.
The only problem with using the trailer is that the chains holding the tailgate on are welded, so you can't drop the tailgate, and there is little clearance between the s250's sides and the points on the tailgate where the chains are welded on. So be sure to pull the s250 out straight and carefully. My skid platform got hung up on this welded chain and I kind of destroyed it. S250 was fine though.

Now if someone could tell me a cheap way to get an M1101/M1102 from GA to MO, my setup could be complete...