M840 trailer/ mobilizer question---

[icecreamman]

What's it used for?

 

[emmado22]

It's a dolly set. moves 20 foot connex boxes

 

[Another Ahab]

This just might be the shortest thread I ever bumped into. But, what the heck:

- Subscribed.

 

[icecreamman]

Will it safely transport an Arpa Model FFSS Mobile Kitchen section on the highway at convoy speeds?

Also, will it transport civvy generic 20ft storage containers?

@Another Ahab, the wheels in my head are turning. With these trailers selling basically at scrap prices, they have to be able to be repurposed for something. 20ft storage container turned into a transportable living quarters/camper. The trailer appears to shrink into something small. Store the trailer at least under cover while not in use to preserve rubber based parts and the container is designed to be carried on a ship in salt water conditions.

 

[juanprado]

They are squirly to tow. I think 45mph at most. The container mounts are rare and not easy to find.

 

[icecreamman]

Wow, that was quick. Could you please specify a little?

Will it directly hook up to the military kitchen sections? If not, what is needed?

Will it hook up to standard 20ft storage containers? If not, what's needed?

Otherwise, it's truly scrap metal.

 

[juanprado]

I bought its cousin a m832 and towed it maybe 200 miles with my Tahoe. It weights empty 3900 so well with in my towing limits. It fish tailed and rode real hard. Tried different speeds from 40-60 and could not find sweet spot. I parted and scrapped mine.

Not sure on what you need to use with a container as I have not seen them. Others have mentioned they are unobtainum. I do know the dolly as is does not have the gizmo to attach it to a shelter or container. There is at least one member here that has a dolly with container as I saw his post when I researched buying mine. I suck at search so can not help...

A lot of aluminum, total 660lbs , 900lbs steel without axles, drawbar, hydraulics, rims/tires I think will be the total "scrap"

 

[M813rc]

As JP said above, some are squirrely when towed. Some are not. I have hauled two unladen M832's several hundred miles home at 55mph and they were steady as can be. I tried to haul one home from Ft Worth and couldn't get it over 25mph without the tail wagging the dog in a most alarming manner (it got traded off before I left town!).

Loaded with shelters (S280 and SPAM), both the M832's tow straight and true at 50-52mph behind a deuce or the M813. Never managed to get myself or the trailer to try higher speeds.

With a shelter on they are a bear to back up, difficult to the point of try really hard to avoid ever doing so.

Cheers

(PS - SPAM=Shelter, Portable, Aircraft Maintenance. Think S280 with fold out sides).

 

[MWMULES]

Wow, that was quick. Could you please specify a little?

Will it directly hook up to the military kitchen sections? If not, what is needed?

Will it hook up to standard 20ft storage containers? If not, what's needed?

Otherwise, it's truly scrap metal.

Yes you are actually talking about a M840, the 841 is just the front half. Max load 4.5T
No won't hook up to the FFSS Kitchen, they are built in an ISO 1C box, think you would need a M1022 max load 10T
No won't hook up to standard 20' container, they are called an ISO 1C 8x8x20, again a M1022
There are a lot of useful parts on an 840 and on a side note, some of the 840s have been modified by the USAF to be a M720

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziWmoEBI8mU

 

[icecreamman]

Thanks all.

I guess an m1022 is needed for my application.

 

[StrykerPerry]

I have a m720 and a M840 the holes on my m840 did not line up with my SPAM shelter when I towed it so I tied it on the dolly sets also broke the rubber part of the hitch on the way home turning in a parking lot welded the piece back on and got rid of the old rubber

 

[StrykerPerry]

also if you can back a 4 wheel farm wagon you can back these pretty easily I recommend power steering though for backing also I backed this one about 80ft into place next to the cones where I had marked it off to open it up

 

[StrykerPerry]

only issue I had when I towed it home was I had to swing really wide for 1 and 2 I turned to sharp and broke the rubber off the hitch in a parking lot (didnt know a deuce could turn sharp enough to do this)

 

[StrykerPerry]

 

[StrykerPerry]

also a good trick to a swaying dolly set is to tie the hitch (it has to be straight or it will hop) also dont chain because the straps allot it to flex just enough to raise up and down for going into parking lots etc I towed this m720 80 mph no problem with my 1/2 ton and before strapping it could not even get to 40 mph with it also if you tow a larger dolly this way make sure the truck can handle dragging the front tires also they back well like this too

 

[Valence]

4 year old thread bump.

There is an M840 dolly and, what appears to be, an S280 for sale locally to me. I've been trying to research the S840 dolly and understand the differences between it and other dollies, such as M720 displayed in the excellent Youtube videos by Stryker Perry:

But most pictures that I can find of the M840 dolly look a lot different than google search results, or even on SteelSoldiers here. See this post by goldneagle for example:
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/new-uses-for-m840-shelter-dolly-trailer.91024/post-1169958

Note: None of the photos in this post are mine, just what has been posted by these sellers, and I'm just trying to understand so if I decide to proceed I know what I'm looking at (I've never seen a dolly or shelter, of any variant, in person)

The M840 dolly near me has, for lack of a better term, "raised arms", nearly all other supposed "M840" photos I see do not.


And here's, what I believe is, the S280 near me. I can see that this shelter doesn't have the same reinforced mount/bolt points like the shelter does in Stryker's video above, but I do see little triangle tabs sticking out in the second picture below, bot front and rear that look like a bolt-to point...



Sooo if I had to surmise, it appears that this M840 dolly would NOT be appropriate for this shelter?

 

[Valence]

The M840 dolly near me has, for lack of a better term, "raised arms", nearly all other supposed "M840" photos I see do not.

I should point out, in the TM 9-2330-275-14&P, on page 1-3, it DOES show an M840 with exactly the same "raised arms", but that only makes me more confused. Are those "arms" adjustable? Do they fold down or something? Because that doesn't explain why other's M840 dollies look different.

The TM is terribly unclear. It takes the awful approach of trying to explain how to operate all three dollies (M689, M832, and M840), at the same time.

 

[juanprado]

look at pics of a m832 dolly.

There are a few flavors of dolly and different tire sizes. Some use the deuce 900 and others use the 10 bolt budd wheel to tow behind a 5 ton. There is also some smaller dollies that take 15 or 16 inch tires but do not recall nomenclature.

Best to eyeball dataplate.

 

[Valence]

look at pics of a m832 dolly.

There are a few flavors of dolly and different tire sizes. Some use the deuce 900 and others use the 10 bolt budd wheel to tow behind a 5 ton. There is also some smaller dollies that take 15 or 16 inch tires but do not recall nomenclature.

Best to eyeball dataplate.

I'm not sure you were replying to my question, but here was the dataplate pictures the seller provided of the M840 dolly local to me.

 

[StrykerPerry]

I think the m840 was modified for a larger shelter system, also the s280 shelter you posted does not have the shelter dolly feet or bolt brackets attached to it.