Strength of fiberglass sides?

[Valence]

I'm thinking of using my M105A2 to haul a cord of firewood. However, I do have some concern with the strength of the sides on the trailer. Mine are fiberglass and are in excellent condition.

A perfectly stacked cord of wood is 128 cubic feet - even poorly stacked the trailer will not be full all the way to the top of the sides, which is 4' (trailer interior is roughly 9'x7'x4').

I just don't want to overload the fiberglass sides and have a messy, expensive, and hazardous failure.

Anyone have more experience/knowledge with the fiberglass sides than myself?

Thank you very much!

 

[m16ty]

I think they should hold up fine.

Mine are wood but I've had firewood rounded up to the top of the sides without a problem. I tend to think the fiber sides are stronger than wood.

 

[Barfkiller]

I use a M101A3 for firewood...........your M105A2 will hold up just fine.

 

[clinto]

This was posted on SS a while back and I kind of think the side racks are wood, but the end racks are definitely fiberglass.

 

[Coffey1]

Now that's some wood for rally. Might would be still burning by next rally.

 

[Wildchild467]

Clinto: Were the helper springs in the M105 touching? I had a pretty big load of wood in my M105 once, but not nearly that much because I had my cargo cover on and no rear gate. It was as full as I could get it with the cover on and no rear gate.

 

[clinto]

Clinto: Were the helper springs in the M105 touching? I had a pretty big load of wood in my M105 once, but not nearly that much because I had my cargo cover on and no rear gate. It was as full as I could get it with the cover on and no rear gate.

No clue, it's an old pic from SS I had saved. I can't find the thread it came from.

 

[Valence]

Thanks folks for the comments and great pics!

I use a M101A3 for firewood...........your M105A2 will hold up just fine.

Thank you, but I had only meant the load on the side racks on the trailer. No doubt that the trailer itself will handle it.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Now that's some wood for rally. Might would be still burning by next rally.

No, not really. It would hardly last 3 days.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I haul firewood in my M101A2, but mine is usually still in the rounds when I haul it. So far so good, but they will NOT hold up to much weight on top of them, and I did have one pop loose when the screws pulled out of the stakes. The top ones are the weak links.

I plan to replace all of mine with oak fence boards, and I'll mount them on the INSIDE of the stakes, so any side pressure is not trying to pull the screws out.

Since the 105 has the slats mounted on the inside (I think?) of the uprights, I'm with everybody else - should be no problem at all.

 

[Wildchild467]

Fiberglass sides worked fine when I had my pool in the back of the truck. I had water 2 inches from the top of the racks and they held like a champ. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 pounds of water.

 

[Barfkiller]

Thanks folks for the comments and great pics!



Thank you, but I had only meant the load on the side racks on the trailer. No doubt that the trailer itself will handle it.

I meant that I stack firewood to the top (and higher in the middle of the trailer) of the side racks of my M101A3. I should have been a little more clear. I will look around for a pic.

 

[Valence]

Just reporting back - we didn't stack above the sides of the trailer (70+ mile trip home) and after getting the wood in there, I had *NO* worries about the rack strength (made me wonder why I did in the first place).

Unfortunately we had a real hard time turning around with the trailer. May not take it on the next trip.




See this thread for trip pics!
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?t=128156