Towing M149A2 Trailer Without Air Hookups

[glcaines]

I need to move an M149A2 water buffalo about 500 miles with no air line hookups. I have checked TM 9-2330-267-14&P and searched Resources and haven't found an answer to my question. If I bleed the air from the trailer tank, will the brakes be released? This trailer was manufactured in 2000, so it is relatively new. I've had someone tell me that if I bleed the tank empty that there is a spring that will force the brakes to engage if the trailer is a newer model, but that with older models, emptying the air tank will in fact release the brakes. First, I don't know what is considered a new or old model M149A2, and second I don't know if the individual I talked to knew what he was talking about. If in fact bleeding the air tank won't release the brakes, can the brakes be caged? The TM does not address this question.

I helped someone recover another model trailer (don't remember the model) about six months ago and that trailer was of fairly new manufacture and it did in fact have the springs that locked the brakes and we had to cage them before the trailer could be pulled withut hookups.

 

[hndrsonj]

Brakes aren't set with no air. Hook up and pull.

 

[glcaines]

Brakes aren't set with no air. Hook up and pull.

That's what I thought as that is the way M105A2 brakes work with double air lines.

 

[BKubu]

I'd love to see pics of the trailer if you have any. Thanks!

 

[emmado22]

M149A2's dont have "cageable brakes".. They are air over hydraulic, EXACTLY like the M105A2's brake system. Hook up the air lines, drain the tank, see what happens. Hopefully your relay valve is working.

Whats the tow vehicle?

 

[wreckerman893]

If you are pulling the "Buff" empty with a deuce or 5 ton you don't need the brakes.

The only time we used them was if we were hauling water in them.

We always hooked up the air lines for show but never turned on the air.

One of the reasons we did this was some of them had a bad habit of locking up if the air was on them (often due to the driver crossing the lines up).....I have seen guys pulling them down the road with the axles on fire.

 

[glcaines]

I'm waiting on the EUC to clear. I'll be pulling the trailer with a Ford pickup. If I use my Deuce, it is a 1,000 mile round trip. I recovered my M105A2 with the same truck last year and had zero problems, but the M105A2 was a 1968 did not have the dual air lines. I thought the M149A2 brakes worked like the newer M105A2 brakes, but someone told me a different story, which I really didn't believe. Thanks everyone.