What do I have here?

[crash7795]

Howdy, folks! Looking for someone with some experience to tell me what I have here. Won this auction on GL which listed this trailer as an M103a3. Seemed pretty clear to me, but the more I read, the more I think this might be a 105a2. Or maybe something else? Can anyone clarify things for me?

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=8093267

Either way, the frame is straight and solid, the rust appears to be all surface, and the wheels roll with no binding or heat. Towed it home this morning behind my V8 Chevy 2500HD. I was a little dismayed that I didn't buy the right pintle hitch...it's a straight shaft out of my receiver, and as a result the trailer cants down toward the truck something wicked. Made it home, but I had to jury-rig a wicked solution to get it off the hitch because the tongue was too low to get the attached support wheel to the ground.

So, some follow-on questions for whomever is kind enough to throw some info my way.

1. What is the best way to overcome the mismatched height issue? Seems I might just have to suck up the cost of a receiver plate with a significant rise, and bolt a pintle hitch to it. And take the loss on the one I already bought. I read something about rotating the lunette ring, but I have to check the trailer when I get home...don't know if that is an option here.

2. Do you recommend the stock MILSPEC tires that are currently on it, or get something commercial/civilian to make it easier to maintain/drive?

3. The guy at GL raised the tongue with the forklist so we could fold the front leg and lower the tongue onto my truck. Now I can't figure out how to get the supporting leg folded down again. (once I deal with the height issue....jack up the tongue with a hi-boy, maybe?) Anyone have a secret to that particular piece of gear?

4. Absolutely no wiring harness on this thing at all, so I will install my own that matches to my truck's electrical system. Anyone have a favorite lighting system they have had good luck with, durable, weatherproof, etc?

Thanks in advance for the help, y'all. Really impressed with the site so far. Hope to learn tons more.

Crash

 

[Scar59]

Crash,
Looks like you have a M105A2 that has been stripped. Even the hand brakes are gone. Be very careful and keep it chocked, they will roll away from you, ( or into you). I move them with a F350 with a raised pintle adapter, however they are to big for everyday civi pickup use without major modification. They are heavy and get heavier when loaded. The pintle ring can be loosened and inverted to gain 4 inches. Your basic trailer light kit can be adapted to match your truck. A M101 would better serve you.

 

[CARNAC]

Drive your truck up onto 4x4's or ramps to get the leg down.

Frankly with how stripped it is, I'd sell the bed for bobber material and look at getting you something different. If you don't need the weight capacity, you probably would be better served with a 101 or 1101 trailer.

 

[davo727]

Well you didn't pay much.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Well you didn't pay much.

Yeah. Sell it to some farmer - it would do great work behind a tractor. Too bad, but it's really too heavy for your pickup.

The 101 is a great trailer for a pickup.

 

[davo727]

I have a 1101 and use it behind one of my trucks which is a little 2001 1500 short bed chevy and it works great for that. Nice size trailer.

 

[FloridaAKM]

Sell it to anybody who can use it & get a M1101 or M1102 that your truck can handle in the weight department. The M105A2 has air brakes, weighs 2750 lbs & needs a larger truck to work it safely. The M1101/02 has surge brakes & weighs just 1470 lbs due to the aluminum body. I can pull the M1101/02 series with a half ton Toyota with no problems, the M105a2 requires the M35A2C to safely tow it in my experiance. You make the call!

Yeah. Sell it to some farmer - it would do great work behind a tractor. Too bad, but it's really too heavy for your pickup.

The 101 is a great trailer for a pickup.

 

[crash7795]

Sell it to anybody who can use it & get a M1101 or M1102 that your truck can handle in the weight department. The M105A2 has air brakes, weighs 2750 lbs & needs a larger truck to work it safely. The M1101/02 has surge brakes & weighs just 1470 lbs due to the aluminum body. I can pull the M1101/02 series with a half ton Toyota with no problems, the M105a2 requires the M35A2C to safely tow it in my experience. You make the call!

Thanks to everyone for all the replies. I appreciate the open candor. I was actually looking at a couple of the 1101 auctions and decided not to. Shoulda, coulda....

I'm surprised to hear that it weighs so much. The auction lot said 1660. Maybe I will take it to a scale to see why there's such a difference. That's kind of annoying to have such a difference between the auction lot and the actual weight. So if the Chevy has a curb weight of 6000# and a rated towing capacity of 10k#, what makes that trailer so awkward? Does the height play into it?

Also, what am I looking for to know if the trailer is stripped? Aside from missing a tailgate, it looks like a lot of the other stuff is there. The handbrakes (picture attached), folding trailer stand, and air/hydraulic brakes (at least the master cylinder) are all there. What else should I have been looking for?



I was originally thinking of verifying the moving parts (wheels, brakes, etc), fabricating a tailgate, and painting the whole thing. Assuming those items are finished, what's a reasonable asking price if I decide not to keep it?

Crash

 

[gimpyrobb]

The weight listed is probably for a M103 flat bed trailer instead of a M105 trailer. The M101 is about 1340lbs and its flat bed version is about 800lbs.

You get a trailer with that high of center of gravity plus 1.5 tons and no brakes, it gets squirrely(sp?) real quick. Ad in a 12" high pintle adapter and things go wrong REAL quick. It was designed to be pulled by a deuce or 5ton for a reason.

 

[Scrounger]

What you have is a typical M105A2. When complete it has a curb weight of 2750lbs. It uses air to operate the brakes and that’s something that your pickup can’t supply. So basically you are going to have to tow it without brakes. Generally one doesn’t want to tow much over 4000lbs without brakes. Some states have it even lower than that. Without brakes the thing will push you down the road when you try and stop.
The trailer is missing the airline to the master cylinder, not a big deal, anyway. The big item is the tailgate. It is also missing the two yellow reflectors in the front, the two yellow ones on the front of the sides and the two red reflectors on the rear sides. It also doesn’t have the rear leg that comes in handy when loading the trailer when it isn’t hooked to something, that keeps the trailer from tipping over on you. As far as wiring goes you already know about that.
As far as hitch height goes. Just bite the bullet and get an offset hitch plate with a bolt on pintle hook and be done with it. If you wish to rotate the lunette just remember Kroil and time is your friend. Just put penetrating oil on it every day for a week, pull the cotter pin, loose the castle nut, it’s 1 ½”, a few turns. Then hit the ring with a BFH.

If you want to haul stuff with it there are better choices for a 3/4ton pickup. If you were to build a box on the thing and make it into a mini camper like we use to do in the field it could work out quite well for that.

 

[harleyhouse]

You got a good price on the trailer. Sell it on craigslist and list it for $250.00 double your money
then watch for a M101A2 or M1102 trailer for behind your 2500HD those trailers have the same 8 on 6.5 bolt pattern as your truck.

Here are the trailers side by side for size.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

What's the inside distance between the wheelwells on the 1101? Can a 4'x8' sheet of [plywood, drywall, whatever] fit in between? That's the only downside to the 101. It's just short of letting a 4x8 sheet fit in there.

 

[M813rc]

GL ..listed this trailer as an M103a3. ...I think this might be a 105a2.

I don't see where this was actually clearly addressed. The M103 is the nomenclature for that type chassis. With a specific type cargo bed on it, it becomes an M105, (or less commonly, with a different bed, an M104). It is not unusual to have the data plate say M103 on an M105 trailer. Same goes for the M101/M116.

Cheers

 

[crash7795]

It is not unusual to have the data plate say M103 on an M105 trailer. Same goes for the M101/M116.

So I got the data plate cleared up (tape/paint all over it) and it actually says M105a2. Kinda cool. I didn't even realize the plate was there at first (not knowing exactly where to look).

**EDIT** So I got the data plates ALL THE WAY cleaned off, and they actually indicate this was delivered as an M103 and then converted to an M105. Data plate has "M103" printed on the top, and "M105" is hand-scratched into it. The schematic plate also has the drawing of the M103. So that's where the 1660# number came from for the auction...their paperwork probably had the original weight on it.