new to site and new to me m1101 trailer ??'s

[yamaracer]

hi everyone...
just won a m1101 from govplanet and plan on driving to Ft Riley this next week to pick it up.
i've been reading quite a bit on the trailer specs and such and am a bit concerned with the top speed the manufacture recommends for the trailer as it is 575miles from home. i really don't see me being able to drive 55mph on my return trip...
have any of you had any issues going the speed limit(70mph) towing one of these empty?
also, to help level it out, is it much of a problem to turn the eye over on the trailer to help lower the tongue of the trailer?
i'll be getting a pintle hitch from tractor supply on the way w/the receiver plate that allows you to raise the pintle but am afraid it won't bring it high enough to level the trailer being my car receiver hitch is only 16" high...
thanks

 

[Bo1]

Welcome from Louisiana

 

[Gunner USN]

When I picked up my M101A2, I reduced the air pressure in the tires by almost 10 psi (35 down to 25). Trailer nice and smooth behind an F150. That trip was from south of Stevens Point, Wi to the west side of Minneapolis. Also had an IR Thermometer with, bearings never got over ambient temperature (at posted speed)!

By The Way, welcome from Minnesota!

 

[Fredo Corleone]

If you want the trailer lower I would pick up two chevy 8 lug 16" rims and mount some 225 75 16 tires. They will drop the pintle height and then get a Curt part number 48342 2" 11 1/2" rise Receiver plate and mount the pintle. Throw the big tires in the back and hit the road.

 

[dmetalmiki]

Welcome to the hobby and good luck. With all these tips you should enjoy a trouble free return journey.

 

[KansasBobcat]

Have towed several M1101/2 with Tahoe with pintle mounted on hitch with riser that makes the trailer pretty level.Mounted temporary towing lights on 2X4 strapped to footman loops on tail gate. As mentioned check hub temp after a mile or two. You may have to loosen hub nut so take large sockets 1" to 1 1/4" I think and extra cotter pins. You may need to lengthen safety chains depending on your hitch. You can use the hoisting shackles on trailer or some extra chain. The pressure mentioned will work fine. If you go below 15 psi you run the risk of runflat contacting tire and causing heat. These tow nicely at 60mph. I would not mess with lunette as it could inactivate surge brakes, I believe. Remove the cover and bows if present. The flat plates between the bows will create lift if cover not in place at highway speeds! These are great trailers.

 

[m109a2]

Welcome to the site.

 

[yamaracer]

awesome!
thanks so much for the advice and welcomes, i'll repost when i get home on how it all went...

 

[ageregunner]

Welcome from PA. Good luck with the recovery.

 

[Shark Bait]

I made a raised hitch for mine (M1102) to tow it about level. I lowered the tire pressure a bit. With the topper I made (about 800lbs) I pulled it from WV to Texas and back. 3400+ miles round trip. No problem at any speed. It tows likea dream.

 

[maxtor]

Everyone has given you good ideas. With ours, we towed at 30psi in both wheels with no problems. I purchased a magnetic tail light set from Harbor freight for $9.99 and took two metal steel plates with one 3/8 hole in each, to mount to the back corners of the trailer. I think the threads are 3/8 fine thread but could be standard thread. Bolts should be 3/4" long.
The bed is aluminum and magnets will not adhere to aluminum, thus the plates work fine.

As stated above, I took two lengths of chain 12 inches long to add to the trailers safety chain. The M1101 safety chains were to short. Take extra bolts, nuts, and washers for the chains. Also as said above, a laser thermometer to check wheel for to tight a wheel nut. Seems the Military likes to over tighten the nuts.

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
I would plan ahead with as much information as possible. Your a long way from home. You do not know the actual shape of the bearings and grease. The pintle eye on the trailer really cannot be reversed. (it can but it causes other problems, no surge brakes) The M1101 trailers sit high and the eye connection needs to kinda sit high. The receiver with multiple holes can be installed up, and the pintle can be mounted high. Your already starting at 16" height, so you need some adjustment. It might not sit level, but you want to get in that vicinity for the surge brakes to work and travel properly.

Lights = Decide how the future of the trailer will be pulled. The trailer is setup for 24 volt system. There are pre-made connector out there to go from a civi 7way plug to the mil plug. I myself never saw a need to stay with the mil plug and cut it off and put on a cheapie 7 way plug. If you are going that route, you will need to swap out some light bulbs. That will also depend on what year the trailer is. By looking around it was sometime around 2007-2008 that they went to LED lighting. That means a lot of the light will work with either. My trailer was 10/2006 and had all incandescent lights. Since I was only ever going to pull with a 12 volt and I put a 7way plug on, I changed out all the light bulbs to 12 volts bulbs. If you are going to use some magnetic lights... they work good, but I also brought a bunch of hefty zip ties to secure them. Yes the trailer is all aluminum, except for 2 smaller areas which still would not hold the lights properly for a long bouncy trip. My trailer was not a M1101, but a generator M1102, but are almost identical sub framing. My unit had run-flats, so the tire pressure was 17.

Since mine had a generator sitting on it, I had some weight there. I traveled along with traffic 55mph up to 75mph without a problem.

Stud nuts, tire pressure, bearing grease, bearing temperature are things to watch for the trip.
Obviously, go with your tools and such. and make sure the manual brakes are fully released, some said it didn't release all the way and had some dragging heat build-up.

Licensing, plates, road travel, interstate travel, be aware of what needs to be legal thru your trip

Good luck with your recovery.

 

[FloridaAKM]

The guys here have posted most everything you need to know to tow your trailer home safely. If you use magnetic lights for the trip home, they will stick on the stubs that the rear landing legs attach to as they are steel. Open your trailer tailgate for visibility, check your axle hubs when you stop for heat signature & you should be good to go. Be safe & post some pictures of your travels!

 

[ProximityX]

KansasBobcat and Daybreak are right about the surge brakes. There's no groove on the flip side of the lunette so the surge lever will be stuck. I flipped the lunette behind my 1078 to level it perfectly but I don't need to worry about no brakes behind that thing. I'd tow it empty behind my little GMC without brakes but I'd be extra careful when doing it. Great idea to put some higher speed rated wheels/tires on it for the drive. Have a safe trip!

 

[3dAngus]

If the tires arent cut, and arent overinflated, you can drive that thing 80 mph and wont even know its back there. If you run 16 psi, it gets bouncy. Thats for off road. Dont go over 35 psi, as these tires are known to leak if you get to much pressure in them as they would be known to collect sand at the sidewalls and the intense pressure would increase the liklihood of leakage. If the surge brakes work, it doesnt have to be perfectly level for stopping power. With some of these things, the surge brakes can be used to save the brakes on your pickup, it just depends,...
Just be sure to take off the top gear, cover and bows if it has it, tuck them in the bed, put on your mag lightd and tie wrap them in place, then enjoy the ride, but... Be sure to stop and double check everything, all connections, and bearing temp after the first mile. I've hauled dozens of these alum trailers and they're the easiest of the lot.

Its even better if you can put at least 200 pounds in the bed to weigh it down some. These things always ride better with weight in them, and I find that to be the case with all trailers, civilian and military. Tires, blocks, ice chest full of ice and drinks, tools, anything. 400 pounds is better. Remember to balance the weight evenly across the axle, left to right, front to back.

 

[Jon Giovani]

My wife and I picked up a few of these from Fort Riley yesterday, I already had one so I was already familiar with them. If you do not have a 24 volt to 12 volt adapter harness you can use magnetic tow lights and stick them right onto the rear leg support and just a zip tie them on for good measure I hauled two of them behind my F 250 with a cylinder trailer in the bed and my wife towed one in her 2015 Jeep Cherokee with a four cylinder at 75 miles an hour from Kansas to Nebraska with no issues. she said she could not even tell that it was behind her. since my trailer weighed 3960 pounds because I had two of them I ran at the 17psi as recommended we aired hers tires down to 10 psi so it did not bounce so much and it was perfect. going to pick up a couple more next week.
And for the record, you got a good buy, every trailer in that lot was never put into service no scratches in the paint for the most part and still had the casting nipples on the tread on the tires.
Craig the lot manager there and Brian, the lot guy were extremely helpful and very great to work with. Made it an awesome experience. If they are slow you might even get to jump off a loading dock in a humvee......

 

[Jon Giovani]

sorry about the double post my phone is not cooperating you can delete this one if you want to

 

[yamaracer]

you guys are great!! thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice!!
my initial plan was to take out VW touareg to recover the trailer but have about decided to take my full size bronco instead...receiver is much higher and the obvious, its bigger.
planning on taking a good collection of tools, a floor jack, zip ties, magnetic tail lights, small compressor and axle grease.
what i don't like is that i can't carry my traveling companion(pistol) as they won't let me on the base if there is one in the vehicle...oh well, all will be fine i'm sure

 

[FloridaAKM]

Very few bases will allow weapons of any type, its something we just have to deal with! My last recovery from last week, I have to strip everything out of the truck & no one even looked inside the truck to see that it was empty. Of course, the tools were left @ home which made getting the landing leg up a real bear since it was rusted in place! Go figure!

you guys are great!! thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice!!
my initial plan was to take out VW touareg to recover the trailer but have about decided to take my full size bronco instead...receiver is much higher and the obvious, its bigger.
planning on taking a good collection of tools, a floor jack, zip ties, magnetic tail lights, small compressor and axle grease.
what i don't like is that i can't carry my traveling companion(pistol) as they won't let me on the base if there is one in the vehicle...oh well, all will be fine i'm sure

 

[Jon Giovani]

although I have a concealed carry and I usually have a pistol or two with me I opted not to take them when I went to do my recovery last week, but the signat the entrance where u have to get you a pass if you do not have a military ID said no unregistered weapons allowed...