number9
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- 18
- Location
- Lexington, KY
The trailers had been on the flatbed since picking them up a few weeks ago. Got a guy to come over with a Volvo loader / forktruck with some looong fork extensions and unload them for me. I then used the Deuce to pull them about 5 miles to the place I am going to keep them.
Some things I learned while working with them.
- I think I like the M105A2 landing gear much better than the A3's. Still might look at adapting one to the A3 I keep.
- The A3 is nicer to pull behind the Deuce because you can see it with the extra width. With the A2 behind the truck I couldn't even see it going down the road.
- Both of these trailers are a PITA to back up with the Deuce and armstong steering and high reverse gearing. The trailers cut so quick it's very hard to "catch" it before it goes too far the wrong way. I am thinking hard about installing a pintle to the front bumper of the truck to make moving the trailers around a lot easier affair.
- Don't make the mistake of sitting the landing gear on dirt ground for extended periods. Both one of mine and rwoods trailers had sunk the entire landing gear wheel into the ground and then it had frozen. I had to use the accessory jack on the A3 trailer to jack them back up and the ground swelled up when I did. Had to use a large spade bar to bust the frozen ground from around the landing gear then block them - which I should have done in the first place.
- The A2 with it's much sturdier landing gear and wheels is easier to hook to the Deuce. When you back up to the trailer you almost always are to the side a couple inches - if you are doing it alone. With the A2 you can lock one trailer brake and push / pull the tongue over to where you need it. With the A3 there is only 1 trailer brake handle that locks both brakes so you can't do that. And the flimsy landing gear won't allow the trailer to move over to the pintle easy, I imagine it'd not be too bad if you parked the trailer on concrete.
- Use a foot or so long board to sit the langing gear wheel on if you park on anything other than concrete and turn the wheel side ways when you crank the gear down. Next time you hook the trailer up you can more easily roll the trailer tongue to the side a few inched to line up the pintle.
.......
Some things I learned while working with them.
- I think I like the M105A2 landing gear much better than the A3's. Still might look at adapting one to the A3 I keep.
- The A3 is nicer to pull behind the Deuce because you can see it with the extra width. With the A2 behind the truck I couldn't even see it going down the road.
- Both of these trailers are a PITA to back up with the Deuce and armstong steering and high reverse gearing. The trailers cut so quick it's very hard to "catch" it before it goes too far the wrong way. I am thinking hard about installing a pintle to the front bumper of the truck to make moving the trailers around a lot easier affair.
- Don't make the mistake of sitting the landing gear on dirt ground for extended periods. Both one of mine and rwoods trailers had sunk the entire landing gear wheel into the ground and then it had frozen. I had to use the accessory jack on the A3 trailer to jack them back up and the ground swelled up when I did. Had to use a large spade bar to bust the frozen ground from around the landing gear then block them - which I should have done in the first place.
- The A2 with it's much sturdier landing gear and wheels is easier to hook to the Deuce. When you back up to the trailer you almost always are to the side a couple inches - if you are doing it alone. With the A2 you can lock one trailer brake and push / pull the tongue over to where you need it. With the A3 there is only 1 trailer brake handle that locks both brakes so you can't do that. And the flimsy landing gear won't allow the trailer to move over to the pintle easy, I imagine it'd not be too bad if you parked the trailer on concrete.
- Use a foot or so long board to sit the langing gear wheel on if you park on anything other than concrete and turn the wheel side ways when you crank the gear down. Next time you hook the trailer up you can more easily roll the trailer tongue to the side a few inched to line up the pintle.
.......
