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Help identify this single axle fifth wheel trailer - IDENTIFIED Laguna FTT trailer

Interceptor

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I just bought this trailer, I haven't been able to find any info on it. It originally had a fifth wheel king pin, the gooseneck ball coupler was added during it's civilian life. I don't see any other obvious modifications. It has a torsion axle with hydraulic brakes. I would like to find a matching axle but I don't know what to look for. Would all military trailers have a model number, or could it have been a custom build, one of a kind type thing?

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Interceptor

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I did see the Silver Eagle FTT. That's the closest thing I could find. Similar construction in some ways, but definitely not the same.

The tank is 1200 gallons. That's 8500 pounds of diesel or 10000 pounds of water. Even without considering the weight of the tank and trailer, that's over the rating on the tires. Seems odd that the military (or anyone) would spec something to be built that way. I'm wondering if it originally had a genset or something else on it instead of the tank.
 

simp5782

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There is a dual axle version called they "packhorse". It can only handle 8100lbs.

The tank wasn't on it in the military.


The axle should have a tag on it to give you information to decode its information
 

Interceptor

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I took a closer look and I can now see that the brackets for the tank were welded on later. I found a tag on the tank but it's inaccessible until I remove the tank. I still haven't found a tag on the trailer.

The axle is stamped Dexter #13 7000 pounds. So with that I can have a new one built to match ($$$$). I was hoping I could find a surplus axle ($), but that seems unlikely now. Is there a common tag trailer that uses a Dexter 7-8k torsion axle?
 

M813rc

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I have one of those, it was built as a shelter carrier (S-788 and their kin) to be towed by Humvees. Military designation (if it ever had one) is unknown.

It was made by Laguna Industries. That company had serious management problems at the end, and went defunct some years back after having all their government contracts cancelled for failure to produce on schedule. Their products were good when they were producing them.
A search for Laguna Industries now takes you to a shed behind a house on a reservation outside of Albuquerque. I tried every contact number and email address I could find some years ago when I got my trailer, everything was disconnected or otherwise a dead end.

There were very few made, I know of only three including yours, though mine has T0006 painted on it.
My understanding is that they were prototypes or pre-production units made to compete with the Silver Eagle FTT, but the FTT won that game. This is what I was told, I have no documentation to prove it.

Mine is still in it's original paint, and I cannot see that it ever had any data tags attached. I only know it is from Laguna because it has their cage code stamped on almost all the parts (which is how I also know it is in it's factory paint ;) ).

Yours doesn't have it, but the other two have a box at the front of the deck which contains two batteries, a diesel tank (both are to run the shelter-mounted generator) , and the electric brake controller with all its ancillary bits. Yours also looks like it is missing the small bumperettes from the rear.

I don't know your plans for it, but judging by the number of people who have tried to buy mine from me to put a shelter on, they are sought after for that purpose! :)
I have pictures of the original shelter mounting equipment if yours is missing it, so you'd know what to look for.
Mine now has an S-788 mounted and I'm slowly finishing the restoration on it.
I don't have a Humvee, I pull it with my M1028A2.

Cheers


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Interceptor

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Great info! I found another sticker on the bottom of the axle, says Laguna Industries. It has the order info from Dexter Axle and says 4 of 7, so I guess we can assume at least seven were planned to be made, unless Laguna was building other trailers with the same axle.

I'm planning on building a flat deck trailer to pull behind my antique White truck. A few years ago I started drawing up a curved gooseneck design very similar to this, but after realizing the time and money it would take I sort of gave up on the idea. When I saw this at auction it re-sparked the idea and I couldn't pass it up.

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M813rc

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Nice find! That is further proof of Laguna as the manufacturer. It also gives us a date.
They did produce other military trailers, but between '4 of 7' and the T0006 on mine, maybe 7 was how many there are/were of this type. 2008 would put these near the end of Laguna's business life.

Would you object to changing the thread title to "Laguna FTT trailer" so it is more 'findable' for the future? If its okay with you, we can ask Admin for the change.
We'd also like to see what you do with your trailer, if you don't mind sharing your progress. ;)

Cheers
 
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Interceptor

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Eastern PA
I have no objection to changing the title now that we know what it is.

I will try to remember to post an update when I get it converted, it will be a while.
 

M813rc

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To keep information on these trailers in one thread, here are some pictures of the shelter mounting bracket.
I imagine you could use one of the much more common straight ones, but this one has extensions that bolt around the rear frame (rather than just to the back of it) and to the frame between the wheels, for extra support/strength. It is all made of thick aluminium. The shelter itself bolts to the top of the bracket.
One picture shows the bracket NSN.

The front shelter mounts are simple steel strips welded to the trailer. You can see how the shelter sits on them in the attached picture. The shelter shock insulators are incomplete in the picture, which was taken with bolts just dropped through during alignment.

The stylish green/tan colour scheme is from pre-painting areas inaccessible after mating the shelter and trailer. The whole thing will be getting painted in 383 camo.

Cheers



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M813rc

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Might as well put the details of the box on here too.
The trailer was absolutely filthy when I picked it up, so it is pretty manky looking in the pictures.
The guy I bought it from told me the whole trailer was aluminium. It turned out to be all steel except the wheel wells and the box!

The left side has two doors, one to access the fuel tank and one for the electric brake controller and wiring.

On the top left, there is a door to access the brake actuator and more wiring.

The right side has one large door.
The upper tray has racks for two 6TL batteries (there is one 12v battery in there in the picture, from when I was testing the electric brakes. They work!)
Below that is the back end of the fuel tank, with a raised bit to ease access to the fuel lines below it.
There is also a slave port ahead of the door.

The shelters are designed to vampire off the carrying Humvee for electricity, and fuel for the generator. This box setup allows the trailer-mounted shelter to be independent.

Cheers

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Postman515

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My silver eagle hitch has a control box mounted on it with wiring harness so would be interesting to see what the silver eagle trailer has on it
 

Csm Davis

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I did see the Silver Eagle FTT. That's the closest thing I could find. Similar construction in some ways, but definitely not the same.

The tank is 1200 gallons. That's 8500 pounds of diesel or 10000 pounds of water. Even without considering the weight of the tank and trailer, that's over the rating on the tires. Seems odd that the military (or anyone) would spec something to be built that way. I'm wondering if it originally had a genset or something else on it instead of the tank.
Tank looks to be 600 gallons not 1200. Nice setup.
 

Postman515

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Interceptor, the tank was added on by the construction company that sold it. I was offered the trailer a couple years ago before he sold it to that construction company
 
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