• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

Gaz-704 Trailer Recovery

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
Question for the folks on here - anyone ever recover an M416/M100/Bantam style trailer with a car dolly? Looking at a 1600 mile round trip to go recover a rough example of the (exceedingly rare in the States) Soviet copy of the Bantam, and it is too wide for my truck bed with built in toolboxes and I do not trust the bearings on that thing even as far as I can throw it. Read some archived threads of guys over on the G503 forum that did just this, but the threads were all old enough the photos were long gone. Anyone who has done it have a photo of how they got the two trailer tongues strapped down?

Looking at dimensions, everything should work fine. But I don't want to drive 11 hours and rent a U-haul dolly and then find out I have to improvise another solution.

Here's a photo of the trailer behind a Gaz69A if you've never seen one. I'll post photos of it behind my Gaz69M once it's safely back here in KS.
gaz-704-1.jpg
 

NDT

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,107
5,714
113
Location
Camp Wood/LC, TX
Did you try U-Ship? I had a car transporter guy move an airborne dump trailer similar to yours 800 miles for like $350 I think is was.
But to answer your question, seems like that would work if you used a zillion straps to tie your trailer to the bouncy car dolly.
 

Bill Nutting

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
569
1,267
93
Location
Chesterfield, Mi.
Why not rent a UHaul car hauler trailer. It would cost a bit more but you can better secure your “new” trailer and it won’t bounce nearly as much. I think your ride quality while returning home would be worth the extra rent fee and it might be a lot safer.
 

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
well, that's what I'm hemming and hawing over. Running down without my trailer as the fuel savings only towing one way outweighs the rental fee on anything like that. Had been leaning toward trailer but read about the dolly as I said, so came to poll the collected intelligence of the wider military collecting world.

Seller is an older gentleman, he's not willing to hold it for me long, and won't deal in anything but cash. So shipping services are sort of out of my time table, unfortunately.
 

Tinstar

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
4,254
1,687
113
Location
Edmond, Oklahoma
Rent a trailer.
The dolly idea would be fine for short hauls, but will bring attention from the State Police DOT officers
Would be a LOT safer than a dolly.

You would be money ahead in the long run just buying a new trailer to haul your new old trailer.
UHaul isn’t cheap.
 

Coug

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,795
3,973
113
Location
Olympia/WA
Rent a trailer.
The dolly idea would be fine for short hauls, but will bring attention from the State Police DOT officers
Would be a LOT safer than a dolly.

You would be money ahead in the long run just buying a new trailer to haul your new old trailer.
UHaul isn’t cheap.
that depends on what you're renting and where you are starting/stopping.
They can't track mileage on trailers, so if you rent it near your home and return it the same place, all you pay for is the daily rental fee. If you rent it at the far end and return it at your end, they'll hit you with some decently large mileage fees.
 

MWMULES

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
In Memorial
5,580
344
83
Location
DESOTO, KANSAS
I did it years ago with a M100 trailer with a friends dolly. We lowered the landing leg wrapped it with ratchet strap and bolted both drawbars together with short length of chain. Dolly straps over both tires and ratchet strap over the M100 axle the dolly axle on each side, pulling the trailer forward.
MC it's times like this when you have to ask yourself what would Allen have Stagg do?
U Haul has changed and are very picky when you fill out the form on what is going on the dolly, so you might want to check with them first before you go.
Good luck.​
 

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
I did it years ago with a M100 trailer with a friends dolly. We lowered the landing leg wrapped it with ratchet strap and bolted both drawbars together with short length of chain. Dolly straps over both tires and ratchet strap over the M100 axle the dolly axle on each side, pulling the trailer forward.
MC it's times like this when you have to ask yourself what would Allen have Stagg do?​
Yeah, if I had Allen to lean on here for knowledge and ingenuity It'd be here and torn apart by now ;)

Going to be bumming a single axle 14' trailer off a friend, just going to take the hit on fuel and drag it down and back. Uhaul were pricks when I spoke to them so not going to throw any money their way. Appreciate the input guys.
 

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
Trailer has been recovered, in better shape than I thought based on the photos - much of the odd Russian bits which are difficult to source are present and in good condition. Will periodically update here as it gets torn down and restored.

136148405_722540685333351_1527101640669861898_n.jpg
 

Recovry4x4

LLM/Member 785
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
34,014
1,813
113
Location
GA Mountains
Looks great. In the end, you might have lost a few dollars on gas but having a known trailer for the trip saves heartache.
 

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
Been a busy.....most of a year. Doesn't feel like that long.

Was able to determine with some certainty that this trailer came over here the same way the other 3-4 i know of did - captured from the Iraqi's in Desert Storm, they were used behind M151s and Humvees and when those units came back, someone threw these in with the M416s and other small ancillary trailers. Once stateside they got surplussed. There is a photo of one with US Army markings, guess that motor pool sgt was a stickler for unit SOP. The Iraqis bought a bunch of stuff from the Germans in 1990, as they started liquidating the former East German military's stockpiles. East Germany themselves bought these from the Soviets, as they never produced them themselves.


So onto mine, initially the trailer just sat and got dusty as I slowly pieced my shop back together after moving at the tail end of last year. Wound up finally getting torn into this thing in late spring starting with a good cleaning and then using it as is for firewood and various ancillary tasks behind it's vehicle, the Gaz69.
20210223_172504.jpg

Eventually began to tackle paint removal, which I was leery about due to the really....sketchy....nature of this thing's service. As you peel back the layers, you see a silver paint over top, then a pink-tan paint which appears to be Iraqi, a light green which looks East German, and then a darker Green color that should be Soviet. I trust none of those nations to not have weird shit in their paint now, let alone in the 70s/80s when put on here.
20210223_153125.jpg

So I did the sandblasting well away from my wellhead, on a tarp, wearing N95 and eyepro, and did a thorough washdown of equipment afterward. I then shot the primer, which I didn't photo, and the first coat of Gillespie Green (383 is close to the East German Green).

245218442_1024714991443410_8649820954584262569_n.jpg
(ignore the work truck in the background)

While there were some mods made by the farmer I bought this from, most were bolted on rather than welded and the owners didn't cut off any of the original, hard to source or replicate Russian features, just added what they wanted. I detached all that as well as the reflectors, which I hit with a headlight restoration kit to get reflective again.

20210223_150921.jpg
Turns out, the Russians never switched their reflector standard from the 3 inch ones used by the Jeeps and Dodges we gave them in WW2, so US Amber 3 inch reflector lenses fit in the Russian mounts. They're a little bright, and much more reflective than the original orange being modern reflectors, but they'll settle down, or I'll tone them down with some darker orange lens paint if i really hate it when it's all done.
245131132_275812517747095_9217596474074611082_n.jpg
Restored on left, original on right. Using Gillespie Semi-Gloss OD for reflectors.

Currently, I am looking at the best way to rebuild the original style landing leg since the mounts for it are still present. Also hunting for the proper races and bearings since I am sure these haven't been serviced since the first Gulf War. Finally, trying to decide the best way to repair the Tail light housings to bolt the new lenses on, all the mounting holes have cracked out from either age or impact. Might drill through and run a bolt and nut.

More to follow.
 

Master Chef

New member
10
13
3
Location
Kansas
Rounded cover thing is a storage container, I painted it seafoam green just because I wanted to, should probably be OD like the rest. Two different varieties of those, this later clamshell style which is much more common, and a small storage locker type bolted to the crossmemebers of the tongue on very early trailers. Far as I know, it's storage for the canvas cover. The Gaz69 has a similar compartment built into the tailgate to store the canvas top and glass windows for that vehicle.

245314077_733283724741282_2953479017517199969_n.jpg

And the older style storage compartment on a trailer in Europe
307.jpg
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks