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towing

tiny110

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I'll give you a challenge. Hook an M818 behind your Deuce which weighs about 22,000 pounds and tow it around the block. Don't worry, it can do it. Please use an actual towbar, rated chains and proper airlines so you can use the towed vehicles brakes. After doing this exercise, you'll realize that if you plan on pulling heavy trailers, the Deuce can hold it's own if you have all day to get there. As has been pointed out, you need a CDL to tow a trailer over 10,000 pounds in most states. By the time you get a Deuce to pull a heavy trailer, you could probably get a 5.9 powered Dodge which can pull easy at highway speeds and be able to control the load. The Deuce is heavy and that helps with stability but you're limited to 55 mph on flats and if you hit some hills, a little or alot less going up depending on your set up.
yea i had air to the brakes on the m818. but i did get a air leak on the 5 ton just as i got up on the atchafalaya bridge. you can stop a 5 ton with a duece that has no air. you just need about 3 mi. to do it. lol not fun!
 

swbradley1

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I was thinking about making a trailer. I have a parts deuce in my backyard with a good bed on it. I was thinking about taking the bed and 2 frames with the brake systems off of 2 m105 trailers And making a tandem axle deuce trailer out of them.

Docfarmall built one like that as well. I think he used two M200 trailers and cut and spliced them and put a Deuce bed on it.
 

tiny110

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Docfarmall built one like that as well. I think he used two M200 trailers and cut and spliced them and put a Deuce bed on it.
i thought about that but all i need is a trailer thats good thats good for 10,000-12,000lb. any more than that and thats what i have a m818 with a flat bed for.
 

ixpacman

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Chilmark/Massachusetts
I mistakenly overloaded my M105 trailer when I was cleaning out a post world war 2 junkyard that had a bunch of old cars filled with generator and starter cores. I made what seemed like a small pile of cores in the trailer and loaded the duece with #1 prepared steel. I noticed that the m105 helper springs were definitely engaged ,but I didn't really notice how loaded I was until I hit about 50MPH. The trailer had a distinct wag at higher speeds which I might add took a lot to get to. When I unloaded and re -weighed I had an 6000 # payload in the M105. I counted the generators when I hand unloaded them and there were about 300 of them. The M105 is definitely an impressive trailer but I would never do that again. My heaviest load with my M35 and M105 combo was 33,000# and of course that was the one and only time I got stopped by the State Police motor vehicle division undercover . No medical card or CDL. Oops ! He gave me a written warning for no side lettering and no medical card and made me read the GVW off of the registartions and gave me a very hairy eyeball at that but he was generous. Avoiding that situation in the future definitely but the lettering and the medical card happened that week. If I had been required to pay the fines for the two things he called me on it would have been $2075. I cashed in that load and I got $2080. That would have been a very unprofitable day. Thank you sir as I left the scene
 

Ruppster

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after doin some reading it seams that m35s can legally pull 10000lbs but can handle way more, but the m105a2 are only rated at 1 1/2 tons so my question is what else did they tow while inservice and where can i get something bigger?
One very important thing that has to be kept in mind is while an M35 has the potential to pull more then 10,000 pound the one thing you really don't want to do is pull something that is heavier then the truck itself. If something goes wrong the trailer will take the truck where ever the trailer wants to go. I know others have used M35s to pull 5 tons with but just because they did it doesn't mean it's safe.

Plus as someone else mentioned with a large trailer you have to watch out for possible CDL issues. This is a state by state deal (the Feds could care less about GVWR's and GCWR's as long as you're not for hire) so you may want to check with your state about it. When you do talk to them ask them for the state regulation or statute number that they are quoting from so you can read it for yourself. I've had states tell me a CDL was needed but when I did the reading on my own I found an exemption they failed to tell me about.

As far as the texting issue you will learn one thing real quick about SS: don't question the moderators as some of them will ban you in a heartbeat, even if you're right. I have seen a mod ban someone for breaking a rule that didn't exist because this mod had a different interpretation of said rule. Then after the fact they re-wrote the rules to reflect that mod's interpretation, yet they did not change the date that said when the rules were last modified so it looked like the mod was right all along and not the person that questioned him and was banned. I got banned for a week because I failed to answer a mod's question. The reason I didn't answer it was because the answer I wanted to give was a smart arse one (this mod was real quick to come down on new members for not using the search feature and his question was one that could easily have been answered had he followed his own advice) but I refrained from posting it. So because I held back on my sarcasm I received a week long ban.

With this site the best thing to do is what I've seen several people saying on here quite often: "just shut up and color". While I understand the rules are the rules (note to mods: I am not question them, just trying to give this young guy a little advice) with this place freedom of speech does not exist. In the past I've made comments about the rules and heavy handed mods when I saw them coming down on others for rule violations while at the same time they were committing rule violations themselves. But because I dared to speak my mind I was rewarded with negative rep points with all sorts of stupid comments from some of the members (and will get some more for this post I'm sure, all because I dared to voice an opinion). So while you might feel you're in the right that means little to some people here. As I mentioned above, with this place it's just best to bite thy tongue and move on. It's like being a slick sleeve in the military and an officer chews you out for doing a job that didn't meet "his standards". Just say "Yes Sir!" and move on. Believe me, it ain't worth the headaches you'll get from some of the people here that don't understand what freedom of speech is.
 
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swbradley1

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I've had states tell me a CDL was needed but when I did the reading on my own I found an exemption they failed to tell me about.

Yes, there are exemptions and that pesky thing about a CDL just keeps popping up, Commercial.
 

Ruppster

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Yes, there are exemptions and that pesky thing about a CDL just keeps popping up, Commercial.
The problem is is that you are trying to use "common sense" in a system with a total lack of it. :) What the Feds say and what a state does are two different things. In some states you only have two types of licenses: a regular car/pickup license or a commercial license. Some states have gone as far as to create a non-commercial Class A or Class B license, even though this is not a federal requirement. In Alaska I had to have a Class B CDL to drive a 5 ton that was not for hire as they don't give an exemption for personal use (unless it's registered as an RV) and they didn't have a non-commercial Class A or B either. But I did not need a med card or log book as that was a different regulation (based on CFR 49) that had the exemption for personal use. In Florida I can drive a 5 ton cargo truck with a normal driver's license but if it's a 5 ton tractor I need a Class B CDL.

So the word "commercial" means nothing to some states. A big truck can be classified as a "commercial motor vehicle" (CMV) based solely on weight rating alone. That doesn't mean it's used in commerce. Same with a driver's license. It would be nice if commercial meant commercial to these yahoos though. :)
 

Csm Davis

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As to what you can pull every tractor trailer pulls more than the truck weighs if you use common sense you can safely pull almost anything but you need a good solid connection to your trailer and working trailer brakes.
 

Ruppster

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As to what you can pull every tractor trailer pulls more than the truck weighs if you use common sense you can safely pull almost anything but you need a good solid connection to your trailer and working trailer brakes.
You are correct, a semi truck tractor pulls more than it weighs. The catch is most of the weight of the trailer is placed on the tractor via the fifth wheel hitch. There's less weight riding on the axles of the trailer than there is on the axles of the tractor. If you are towing with an M35 you will not have as much weight transfer to the towing vehicle as you would with a semi truck, especially if you are using a tow bar as that has no weight transfer at all. Plus if you're using common sense in the first place you wouldn't be using a lighter vehicle that's not a semi tractor to tow a load that is heavier than the towing vehicle. :)
 
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steelsoldiers

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I get so tired of having to play hall monitor. Drop the sarcasm and the snide remarks. If you don't have anything constructive to say about the topic, then move on. We are supposed to be a family in the helpful way, not in the obnoxious sibling way.
 

spicergear

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As was stated in most states pulling over 10,000lbs (10,001 and up to be exact) you'll need extra cred on your driver's license. BUT, in PA for instance, 10,000lbs and under DOES NOT get added to the truck in a GCWR. In fact, in PA 10,000lbs and under and the state practically doesn't care it's there...aside from licensing. 10,001lbs and up and it gets added to the truck in GCWR which is where people get in trouble. If you have a choice of a 10,000GVWR trailer or a 12,000lb trailer and 10,000 will do ...GET THE 10,000 and breath a sigh of relief. As states get more and more broke, they'll start looking at little BS like this harder and harder to get that extra coin coming in.

I told a certain place for two years that their dually truck and 12,000lb trailer combo wasn't registered right...they just got nailed for over $700 in fines and fortunately for the driver the cop put the fine on the company not him.
 
I'll give you a challenge. Hook an M818 behind your Deuce which weighs about 22,000 pounds and tow it around the block. Don't worry, it can do it. Please use an actual towbar, rated chains and proper airlines so you can use the towed vehicles brakes. After doing this exercise, you'll realize that if you plan on pulling heavy trailers, the Deuce can hold it's own if you have all day to get there. As has been pointed out, you need a CDL to tow a trailer over 10,000 pounds in most states. By the time you get a Deuce to pull a heavy trailer, you could probably get a 5.9 powered Dodge which can pull easy at highway speeds and be able to control the load. The Deuce is heavy and that helps with stability but you're limited to 55 mph on flats and if you hit some hills, a little or alot less going up depending on your set up.

how do you hook up air lines to another vehicle being towed with a bar?
 

hndrsonj

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are they just on the 5 tons or other vehicles too and is is possible to do something like that on a deuce since its air over hydrolic not just air?
I seem to remember a post (I think by stretch) on how he towed a deuce and interconnected the brakes somehow....
 
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