Flat Towing M35A2 - Can Brakes Be Hooked Up?

[wolfmech]

Hello,

I have read a lot of threads on flat towing one M35A2 using another M35A2 with the military tow bar, which I have. One thing I can't figure out is if anyone tries to hook up the brakes of the truck being towed.

• If no brakes are hooked up, does a single M35A2 have enough braking force to slow the combination down?
• If brakes are hooked up, how?
• I was curious if the "Service brake" glad-hand could be back-fed from one truck to the other to activate the air pack in the towed truck. But I wasn't sure if back-feeding the glad hand would actually result in brakes being applied.

Thanks,
-Wolf

 

[Barrman]

No, the M35A2 doesn’t get to let the brakes be remotely activated.

I have a pretty large number of miles over the years of M35 pulling M35 with the tow bar. Stock M35 brakes that are properly adjusted are very good brakes. I never really had any issues with stopping. Going faster than 30-40 mph, yes that was an issue. I might have gotten up to 42-45 mph on some flat stretch of interstate, but letting off the throttle gets the entire rig slowing at a pretty good rate.

I tow like I am driving on wet snow though. Be straight before you get on the brakes, don’t turn the wheel for a curve until you are below corner speed and such.

You can run the rear vehicle lights with a cable going between both trailer plugs. The 3 lever on the rear vehicle has to be in the “Park” position for that to work though. I will do a video about that procedure soon now that I think about it.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Well...

Airpack modification for towing

It's pretty simple to hook the brakes together on two deuces for towing. Take the J-pipe off the airpack on the towed deuce, insert male air nipple, then hook the service line on the back of the towing deuce to the airpack. But, that darn J-pipe is a real pain to put back on sometimes. Flared...

www.steelsoldiers.com

Sent from my SM-G991W using Tapatalk

 

[swbradley1]

I was going to say it is possible to hook the brakes up and I know because Stretch did on his. Then Cattlerepairman posted.

 

[Barrman]

You could also get one of those RV vehicle towing brake acuator things that actually push the pedal. Then plumbing air into the rear vehicle air system would ensure good brakes with less pedal travel.

I didn’t mention that or the airpack J pipe trick in my first reply. Because anything is possible with these old trucks but, was it designed for it and is there an air “IN” fitting on the front bumper like the 5 tons to make it easy? No.

However, the thread linked above is a good one to follow if you are going to be doing it often and feel the need for extra braking.

 

[kendelrio]

I flat towed a Ford F-800 equipped with a cane loader with my deuce and no brakes on the Ford. As stated, be smart, don't take chances, let the truck slow you down, keep plenty of reaction space and you should be fine.

The F-800 outweighs my deuce by a.... LOT. Pulling another deuce should be a cakewalk.

 

[HDN]

I don't get why they didn't put gladhands on the front of a deuce like they did on the 5-tons. It seems like a no-brainer thing to me if it's doable by a shadetree mechanic

 

[Barrman]

My personal opinion is that the military never intended them to be towbar towed more than a few miles. At least that is how the tow bar TM reads. Anything long distance would be covered by a wrecker picking up the front or a trailer it seems.

 

[wolfmech]

I flat towed a Ford F-800 equipped with a cane loader with my deuce and no brakes on the Ford. As stated, be smart, don't take chances, let the truck slow you down, keep plenty of reaction space and you should be fine.

The F-800 outweighs my deuce by a.... LOT. Pulling another deuce should be a cakewalk.

Kendelrio, that F-800 is crazy, that some sort of log loader? It looks amazing.

Everyone else, great responses all around!

Good call on the lights, I'll have to find an interconnect cable. I plan to tow the second M35 about 120 miles, so it's not a short drive.

Does anyone know exactly why you can't connect one truck's glad hands to the other like the 5-tons? Is there something about the air plumbing that prevents back-feeding air to the brake air pack?