m101 Axle

[WIH3]

Does anyone have torsion bar axles on their trailers. I have to order an axle tommorow.

 

[taildragger03]

I went with a solid axle. Here are some pictures:

 

[WIH3]

Is that axle 62" Hub to Hub. What wheight rating did you go with.?

 

[RKBA]

I ordered a 5.2K axle from ABC Trailer for mine, it's a slick swap. 62" hub face and I am pretty sure it's 43.25" spring center to spring center. I highly recommend you spend the extra ten bucks for EZ-lube spindles. With those, it is no longer necessary to pull the bearings for normal service.

Had I been thinking, I would have ordered mine a little wider. I sort of want to section the inner fenders a little so the trailer is over 48" wide at the floor. It will work as is, but a little more room between the fender and tire wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[WIH3]

I ordered a 3.5K axle today with brakes. I am not building that heavy of a frame with 6 bolt 16" rims, and 31" tires. I also ordered the same dimentions as you. 3500lbs should be just fine. I 'am expecting the trailer with box to come in @ 800 lbs. 2700lb payload is plenty.

 

[RKBA]

I ordered a 3.5K axle today with brakes. I am not building that heavy of a frame with 6 bolt 16" rims, and 31" tires. I also ordered the same dimentions as you. 3500lbs should be just fine. I 'am expecting the trailer with box to come in @ 800 lbs. 2700lb payload is plenty.

That should come out very nice - I probably should have chosen the 3.5k axle, but I started down an 8 lug path and just stuck with it. Are you going to build a custom frame for a M101 box? I imagine that will cut down a lot of weight.

I JUST weighed my chassis w/o box and it came in @ 620 lbs. with the following mods:

replace surge lunette coupler w/standard A frame ball coupler
replace military landing leg with standard trailer tongue jack
5200 lb civvie axle with electric brakes
electric brake breakaway circuit including small battery
removed shocks
cut out damaged rear crossmember

Was sort of hoping it would be lighter, but I don't see any practical way to cut any more weight.

 

[WIH3]

Wow I think you did a great job lightening up. I was estimating the Box @ some where around 300-350lbs. Yes the frame is custom. My box is new. no paint or anything. I hope to be @ 200 with just the frame 3x2 box 14 gauge and the tounge is 3/16 . I should be @ your weight when done.

 

[jimbob1111]

EZ-Lube spindles

My buddy Daniel likes to leave his 16' trailer at my house when he goes on vacation, has relatives over or someone visiting and needs the driveway space. He brings his trailer to work swaps it onto my truck. I leave for home after work & call him 5min later and ask "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON WITH YOUR BRAKES?" The trailer is locking up one least tire on the right side.
To make a long story short he gave each EZ-lube spindle two pumps with the grease gun. The grease pushed past inner bearing seals on two wheels, mixed with the brake dust creating big gooey mess. He bought the trailer new, and it came with 5200lb Dexter EZ-lube axles.
A case of brake cleaner to clean up the mess costs more than the EZ-lube option, not counting your time. If any of my wheel bearings starts to get loose, I pull the drum, clean, inspect and repack them.
Just my .02
HMFG

 

[RKBA]

My buddy Daniel likes to leave his 16' trailer at my house when he goes on vacation, has relatives over or someone visiting and needs the driveway space. He brings his trailer to work swaps it onto my truck. I leave for home after work & call him 5min later and ask "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON WITH YOUR BRAKES?" The trailer is locking up one least tire on the right side.
To make a long story short he gave each EZ-lube spindle two pumps with the grease gun. The grease pushed past inner bearing seals on two wheels, mixed with the brake dust creating big gooey mess. He bought the trailer new, and it came with 5200lb Dexter EZ-lube axles.
A case of brake cleaner to clean up the mess costs more than the EZ-lube option, not counting your time. If any of my wheel bearings starts to get loose, I pull the drum, clean, inspect and repack them.
Just my .02
HMFG

hmmm....

that's bad luck. I have had four trailers with the ez-lubes and never pushed grease past the seals. Mine have all used double lip seal; I wonder if your friend's trailer did?

 

[RKBA]

Wow I think you did a great job lightening up. I was estimating the Box @ some where around 300-350lbs. Yes the frame is custom. My box is new. no paint or anything. I hope to be @ 200 with just the frame 3x2 box 14 gauge and the tounge is 3/16 . I should be @ your weight when done.

I hope to get the box and tailgate back on the chassis here shortly and will weigh it.

If you are right about that 300-350, I will be a happy camper.

I like your approach, what springs are you going to use?

I have often thought that these trailers and the M105s are stout enough to be run w/o a frame for utility use. Just weld spring mounts directly to the under bed cross supports and attach an A frame tongue.

 

[WIH3]

When I saw this thing for the first time I thought the same thing. The whole deal is in the box. Built like I have never seen. It will be interesting on the weight. Mine is a guess by being able to pick up one corner. It's going to work out sweet for our Wyoming hauler. The biggest thing is gas milage I am hoping to get 15-17 I know if I would have bought a stock one it would have been cheaper but milage would have been down to 10 or less. I'll have a $1000 into it before i'am done. Shooting for half the weight. Springs are 4 leaf I think should be standard 3.5k spring.

 

[ultim8gamr]

I know what the TM states for towing capacity and weights, but from your experience how much weight can the M101 hold? I just bought three A2's from GL with the intention to haul firewood. I was hoping to get a cord of wood (approx 3k-4k#) but based on the TM's load rating of 2250#. Does the axle need to be changed to haul these heavier loads? Will the springs and spindles hold up to the weight?

 

[WIH3]

If their stock( and they should be from GL )they should be a 5k axle. I could be wrong , but I thought they were 5k axle. The guy I bought mine from said with the sides on he gets a more than a full cord in one. There is a pic on here from a member with 8' logs to the top of the stakes with these things. I think the weight rating is only a recommedation. Three of them ah. Nice. Are the in good shape?.

 

[ultim8gamr]

I've seen the pics of the one loaded with logs, but I thought that was after an axle swap. Yeah I lucked out, two looked free of any dents, etc. but were just the box, and one has a few dents along the upper front edge of the box, but also has the lattice sides. so I will be swapping the sides to one of the clean ones. It's my first time dealing with GL and I'm still waiting for my EUC to clear so I'm trying not to get too excited. Luckily when I bought my M1008 it was from a local and I didn't have to deal with all the extra paperwork

 

[WIH3]

They look nice. Especially the one with the sides. Youshould get a 2.5 ton and really haul the wood.

 

[RKBA]

I know that the A2 axle had similar bearings but heavier wall tubing than my 5.2K trailer axle. I would say the military axle compares favorably to a 6 or 7K trailer axle.

 

[Wolf.Dose]

The M101A2 trailer is a tough one, however it should not be used over 2 metric tone gross weight, even the tires and rimms carry more and the overrun head is good for 6000 lbs. However, the brakes are not good for more!
2 metric tons or 4410 lbs gives you an approximate pay load (no bows, no tarpauline or such,. just the box of about 3000 lbs which is about 2 steer of wood (which is 2 qubic metres of wood or arround 1400 kg, saying a steer is 700 kg.) With dry wood you can load a little more volume.
This is the weight range we decided in Germany to be good fore these trailers and so forth nobody claimed they can carry more or they are not used to the limit. Customers are happy with their trailers since years and care for the load not to exceed it that these trailers in their hands at least survive an other 20 to 30 years.
This is the ordinary lifetime of a somewhat good trailer in Germany. Junk lives a short live.
Wolf

 

[WIH3]

I knew they were heavy duty. This is great advise.

 

[ultim8gamr]

Indeed, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with the M101. Looking forward to my trailers!

 

[ultim8gamr]

TailDragger, when you went with the new solid axles did you not use brakes? Has anyone here bought a new axle and used the original hubs/brakes from their M101A2's? I may upgrade the trailer I keep to a stronger axle, but would like to keep the hydraulic brakes.