More info wanted, M149

[SCSG-G4]

To add to what maddawg and slash said, sanitize now and then again shortly before using. I found this on the web:
The U.S. Department of the Navy(1) recommends a 10 second chlorine rinse using any
of the following:
Minimum Water Temperature Min. Chlorine Concentration
120°F 25 mg/L (ppm)
100°F 50 mg/L (ppm)
55°F 100 mg/L (ppm)

Note: Using a Sodium Hypochlorite Liquid with 5% available chlorine, an example of
a 100 ppm concentration would be 1.25 ounces per 5 gallons of water.

That is right along with what MD said - 128 ounces in 500 gallons, usually fill about half full or slightly less (200 gal), then slosh it good with a couple of miles on a rough road or with lots of stops, starts and shifting. You could use less, depending on the ambient temp.

 

[maddawg308]

Had to know chlorine and hypochlorite concentrations inside and out a few years back, working as a wastewater treatment operator. You got to know all sorts of useless information that have little bearing outside of water purification. Go figure.

 

[aboonski]

I appreciate all of the information about properly sanitizing the interior of the tank. Once I finish all of the little stuff for the M149A2 I will want to prep it for our potable water supply here at the house. I am pulling parts off of the brown M149 to use on the green M149A2 - like the fenders for instance. I pressure washed the M149 fenders and painted them an awful shade of green that is just temporary until I can repair the other fenders, get them bead blasted and repainted 383 green. I pulled the tail lights off of one of my M105A2 trailers and installed them on the green water buffalo and swapped out the 24 volt bulbs with 12 volt ones. It's good to have functional lighting where I only have to plug in the military cable into my CUCV rather than to have to use those cheesy Harbor Freight magnetic things that were designed to cause accidents unless you re-wire them right from the package. I purchased new handbrake levers from an Ebay seller in Texas so now my parking brakes are functional too. Next project will be to replace the hinges on the faucet covers which are so rusty they barely function anymore. It has bee ten years since these trailers were used so they are in pretty rough shape. Hoping to have the green M149A2 ready to use by the start of Hurricane Season which starts on the 1st of June.

 

[maddawg308]

Any updates on this project, aboonski?

 

[aboonski]

Still working on both trailers - using the brown trailer (M149) to provide parts for the green (M149A2) trailer. I bought new rubber hoses for the manifold pipes but have to work on the faucet covers and faucets before reassembly. I ordered new reflectors all the way around today from and Ebay seller. I still have to sanitize the interior of the tank which will take place once the parts are all in place. One of my military buddies out at Patrick AFB told me they used "baking soda" to sanitize their water tanks - ever heard of that? I also swapped landing gears from the brown trailer to the green one which had the better dual-wheel assembly in vice of the cornball large single wheel.. There's a guy somewhere in the Orlando area that rehabs these trailers that I have to contact to see if he has any spare parts because I am missing three of the spring-loaded faucets and my cover assemblies are very rusty. A while back there was an Ebay seller that offered a complete faucet assembly but I did not have the trailers yet - I should have bought the part anyway now that I think about it! These things are easy to work on and restore. I also put the fenders from the brown trailer onto the green one but need to repaint them in the proper color. I'll keep you posted Maddawg308! Thanks for asking for a status check by the way!

 

[aboonski]

Here's the manifold valve out of my M149A2 before and after cleaning. Not much to these things except for O-Rings when it comes to replacement parts. With the help of my shop cat, Dewalt drill with wire brush and a bench grinder with a fine wire wheel I managed to clean this up pretty nice. Materials in these valves are brass, stainless steel and aluminum. After all this work I found a brand new valve on Ebay and expect it to arrive sometime tomorrow.

 

[aboonski]

New Manifold Valve

Just got my new valve from and Ebay seller. This is just amazing to find one of these! Now I need new buckets (faucet covers) and I'll be all set to put this thing back together. I also need one replacement faucet which should be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I took the two water trailers apart (water manifolds and faucets) to try and pick the best parts from both units. Somewhere along the line the brass parts were substituted with cast iron stuff and some of the faucets were replaced with brass aftermarket stuff that you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot. My next task will be to thoroughly clean and sanitize the inside of the tank because the Division of Forestry used these tanks to water their dogs so potable water was not used. If I could fit into the tank I would scrub the inside with scouring powder and then pressure wash the tank to get all of the residue out. One of the people I know at Patrick AFB told me they used baking soda to clean the tanks with - makes sense. I just can't wait until this thing is functional once again and I can fill my first canteen with water from my very own water buffalo!

 

[aboonski]

Faucet Covers

This is what I have to work with..... lots of rust, especially on the ones from the M149 trailer which are basically scrap metal at this point. I an make the ones I have painted green work but need to bead blast them big time. If anyone knows where to find suitable replacements for these please let me know; meanwhile I will attempt to restore what I have to work with. The bottom portions of the green buckets are the real problem.

 

[SCSG-G4]

ski,
Those look a lot better than some I've seen! Clean them good and then use fiberglass on the bottoms to get them enclosed again. Will be a lot easier than fabricating something from sheet metal, and much quicker that trying to find the correct replacement parts. Remember, you are building this to use, not to display in a museum!

 

[aboonski]

Mike you are SO right! Never thought about fiberglass!

Alan

 

[maddawg308]

Good job on keeping the project going.

This reminds me of the one M149 trailer I did buy, back in 1998. I won the item for minimum bid, $5.00, out of Ft. Meade. It was rusty as ****, and had a 2" circular drilled hole in the tank. I sold it not long after that, I should've had more foresight and held onto it, they are very useful at rallies.

 

[aboonski]

Craig's List M149A2 find in Christmas Florida

Yes it was "Christmas in July" when I went over to pick up my latest addition to the Water Buffalo family! I also found a place in Florida where I would truly enjoy relocating to. Christmas Florida is a very small town with a Post Office that gets really busy around the holiday season - people bring their Christmas cards to this post office to get them postmarked with the Christmas Florida cancellation. It is exactly 50 miles from where I live right now. Anyway, back to the trailer. Another member (Ruupster) emailed the link to the Craig's List ad and I immediately responded. I drove over to see the trailer in our Toyota Highlander Hybrid to make sure it had parts that I needed. The trailer was way out in one of several cow pastures and we went through several locked gates just to access the thing. When I saw the faucet assemblies were still in place I knew I had to have this thing! I took the Toyota back home, made a withdrawal of $300.00 from my Credit Union account and gathered up things that would be needed to haul the trailer home to West Melbourne (license plate, tail light system, etc.). It took a bit longer to get there in the M1008A1 but the time went by quickly and before I knew it I was hooked up and on my way home with this great find! My only worry was to pull into the driveway and find that Faye was looking out the window - fortunately that did not happen! She would absolutely kill me to know that I bought another "toy" to garnish the yard with! When you get my age, things like this mean as much as a good time in the sack with your significant other! Pictures to follow (having trouble with my USP right now).

 

[Ruppster]

Congrats on the new addition!

Glad to hear it worked out for you. I almost didn't forward the ad to you as I wasn't sure if it had anything left that you needed. I loved how it ended up being closer to you then I thought. I hate it when someone puts an ad on CL and the location listed ain't even close. At least this time the true location worked out in your favor. It's been a long time since I've been to Christmas, FL. I just had an early Christmas this year too (will be posting a message in the motorcycle section soon) but it was a little closer to me then the town of Christmas.

Anyhow, where's the pictures? What's taking you so long? Don't you know it's rude to keep people waiting?

Ruppster

 

[aboonski]

RUPPSTER!!! Yeah I know! I have the photos in my hard drive but cannot upload them because of the slowdown in my ISP. I need to call AT&T to find out what is wrong. I am getting ready to drop Bellsouth and Dish Network because both are lousey! I did however work on the newly acquired trailer today - dismantling the faucet assemblies and fenderz. The new trailer had a lot of parts that I did not have such as mudflaps, intact and stock faucet assemblies, serviceable fenders and even a Jerry Can holder that has the special mount on the left-hand fender. Once I restore this part it will go on the other M149A2 which already has the tank in place. I actually have enough parts right now to put two M149A2 trailers together - just need another one of those 400 gallon stainless steel tanks and that's about it. Love to find a new set of the faucet covers but the ones I have could easily be repaired. I need to get up to Patrick AFB to use the Auto Hobby Shop bead blaster to get all of the parts ready to paint. Anyway Ruupster, I can't thank you enough for leading me to this new addition to my collection. I would have had to buy each of the parts from locations all over the U.S. and would have spent tons of money on shipping had it not been for you! Now I need to get over to my friend's place in South Melbourne to see if the owner of that Dodge truck is willing to sell it. I hope to do that tomorrow......

 

[aboonski]

Christmas Florida M149A2 find

A few photos - took forever to upload!!!

 

[aboonski]

A few more of the trailer. The last one with the square water tank on the trailer was taken over at the Christmas Florida location prior to retrieval. One of the nicest things on this trailer was the landing gear - once I flip the lunette I should be able to hook this up to my M1008A1 without having to use a bottle jack. This particular gear lowers further than the others but needs a thorough cleaning and fresh grease here and there. The data plate indicates this is a Turtle Mountain trailer. I have always wanted a Turtle Mountain trailer for some reason and now I have one!

 

[aboonski]

Faucet Covers are ready

Moving kind of slow on this project but I did accomplish a little portion today. The faucet covers that I have are not in the best of shape due to rust deterioration over the years. I would love to come upon some new ones someday. I used some of that liquid rust killer on these after removing excess scale with a wire wheel and my cordless drill. The reflectors are brand new and purchased from an Ebay seller. I replaced all of the bolts with some old F-4 Phantom hardware that I have been hanging onto for years. Back when I was stationed at Homestead AFB Florida, they were scrapping out several F-4s and I managed to scrounge up lots of bolts, nuts and washers from the residue. They work beautifully on the water buffalo covers

 

[aboonski]

Fenders are ready

Perfect day for painting today! After having these parts blasted by "East Coast Sandblasting" yesterday I sprayed them with primer and let everything thoroughly dry for 24 hours or more. Today I undercoated the bottoms of the fenders and sprayed the business side with an olive color that closely matches the tank that is on my trailer. The nice part about these fenders is that one of them had a jerry can holder mounted on it. Interestingly enough, the hardware used to mount the jerry can holder included brass washers that were used on the underside of the fender - probably to prevent rust through when the tires would sling water directly on the mounting hardware. I'll probably mount the faucet covers and fenders sometime tomorrow then will work on routing the plumbing for the faucets after that. No telling how long the manifold pipes were open to the elements, insects and other debris so I plan to blow them out and them thoroughly sanitize them with a strong bleach solution. I still have to sanitize the tank (saving the best for last).

 

[aboonski]

Fenders and faucet covers are mounted

Don't look at the frame just yet! I am piece mealing this project and have a long way to go. Taking three trailers to make one is time consuming for sure. I want to take the landing gear off of the brown M149A2 and get it sandblasted and painted green. It's the best landing gear out of the three trailers because it lowers further than the other ones which will make it easier to hook up to my M1008A1 CUCV. I ran the faucet assemblies through a dishwasher cycle with the faucets in the open position. I think these faucets will work but will pressure test them once I make up an adapter that hooks into the manifold and to a garden hose. I still need to transfer the mud flaps from the brown trailer but there's no rush to do that right now. Eventually this thing will become functional and will be used on a daily basis to ferry and dispense potable water here at the house. I am sick of dragging those 5-gallon jugs of H2O from "R&S Water" in Palm Bay to the house!

I uploaded a photo of the fender with the Jerry Can Holder when it was on the brown trailer (before sandblasting & painting). The weird looking green fenders came off of the M149 trailer and were used temporarily until the good ones were installed today. When I find replacement steel sheeting I will restore the other fenders for the second trailer that I will eventually put into service as a fire suppression tanker with a gas driven water pump.

 

[gunboy1656]

Ok, here is a new question. I got to look very close at the trailer I posted pics in post 10.

What is the horizontal "band" that goes around the tank made of? On this trailer it is the fiberglass tank, which I was told does not leak. but upon closer inspection there is rust running down the tank.