M1101 trailer on our Middle East diesel 80 with the original pintle hitch

[John Young]

So I took the plunge and bought this on govplanet.

All in with auction fees and title documents was about 2400 USD

I bought this because I have some things I need to move from Northern Virginia to Florida, and kinda just because I wanted a nice utility trailer.

I know I need to change out the tires and wheels but today I am faced with either spending another 600 to get the trailer to Arlington VA where I can really work on it, or just going up and hauling it more or less as-is for about 80 miles from PA to NOVA. The tires look really good and seem likely to be new from 2010. I think I might take a chance and just go for it.

 

[John Young]

I've been reading up on the M1101 and doing some calculation with assistance from our new robot overlords. With stock military tires I am getting nose down angles of about 6.5 degrees which does not seem to terribly bad.

My pintle hitch is about 615mm with my 40mm rear lift on the 80. I read that 3 degrees nose-down is about optimal but I'm thinking that I should be ok for a short trip.

Right now I am trying to sort a short term solution for the lights. Thinking wireless kit from Amazon, but I don't think my 80 has any trailer wiring in it currently.

It looks like the OEM connections points are still there and undisturbed.

But there is no indication that anyone has ever wired them up.

 

[John Young]

This was kind of a spur of the moment impulse buy. I'd really like to find a US made plug-in harness. I did find this AUS harness that looked good but the timing would not be great.

A friend mentioned the Hopkins 33405 that he bought a year ago, but Hopkins seems to be out of business and although a lot of parts places list the part number none of them actually have it. He also mentioned CruiserParts in New Hampshire and even though it was almost 6 pm they answered the phone and were able to ship it out today! So, progress.

 

[John Young]

I was trying to get some idea of how the whole getup would look but the clanker had some trouble with it, but I had some fun. Here was the best image:

And I think we have a winner:

 

[David310]

Fellow M1101/M1102 owner. How’s the latest setup?

 

[John Young]

The trailer is great! No issues whatsoever on the long ride down from DC to FL. Biggest issue is that the FL DMV already had a trailer with the same serial number in the database so still working on getting that sorted. But I REALLY like the trailer.

A buddy from South America saw it and wanted it for himself too.

 

[David310]

Great to hear! I love these trailers. I have done just about every maintenance and basic item: bearings, shocks, wiring to 7pin, license plate light, the 3 MWOs, pintle to 365 articulating hitch etc. Reach out with any Qs.

Do you still have the canvas cover? I used it a few times but the height acted more as a wind sail. What’s your experience?

 

[John Young]

Great to hear! I love these trailers. I have done just about every maintenance and basic item: bearings, shocks, wiring to 7pin, license plate light, the 3 MWOs, pintle to 365 articulating hitch etc. Reach out with any Qs.

Do you still have the canvas cover? I used it a few times but the height acted more as a wind sail. What’s your experience?

I like the cover and I still have it and it is in good shape. However, I like seeing out the back when I am on the highway. I can see over the trailer itself. I took it down for our trip to Florida. My intent is to get a video monitor and mount some cameras on it. But I suspect I will find the same thing that you have, that the wind sail effect may make this whole thing a bad idea.

I was inspired to get this thing as a kind of off road trailer camper. The canvas is not hard or time consuming to put up. The thought still percolates within me that I can build a couple of practical sleeping platforms that stay low below the tops of the walls of the trailer and then just bring the canvas top and put it up when we camp. The nice thing about the tops is that you can stand up inside and they are really sturdy.

 

[John Young]

I see I never really updated this thread as much as I should have.

It was no issue going to pick it up. And when we got it, it appeared basically unused.

We drove up to the middle of PA to collect it and there was no real problem with the bluetooth temp lights. I stopped after a mile to check trailer hub temps but they stayed ambient then and stayed that way all the way home.

But to your point, even at the Ritchie Bros yard I realized I did not want to pull this thing with the canvas up especially with no rear view.

And the pintle hitch is the way to go IMHO.

(And yes I know I have the chains wrong in this photo.)

 

[John Young]

Here is another close up of the pintle hitch (yes I know I have the chains wrong).

It is substantially wider than the 80.

But with the top off of it, I think visibility is fine.

The biggest worry I had were the Hummer tires on the trailer. Date codes suggested they were at least 15 years old. And they looked to be run-flats. I knew I did not want to drive all the way to Florida on them. I was nervous enough driving from PA to VA!

Took a little effort but I found three old Ford rims that would work on the stock trailer hubs.

They were a bit nasty.

 

[David310]

That is a super clean trailer! I like the idea of using the cover once you arrive at camp! Good idea on tires. Mine were also very old so I went with 16” wheels from a chevy and installed 33” tires + spare.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

I see I never really updated this thread as much as I should have.

It was no issue going to pick it up. And when we got it, it appeared basically unused.

View attachment 4178722

View attachment 4178723

View attachment 4178729

We drove up to the middle of PA to collect it and there was no real problem with the bluetooth temp lights. I stopped after a mile to check trailer hub temps but they stayed ambient then and stayed that way all the way home.

But to your point, even at the Ritchie Bros yard I realized I did not want to pull this thing with the canvas up especially with no rear view.

View attachment 4178731

And the pintle hitch is the way to go IMHO.

View attachment 4178733

(And yes I know I have the chains wrong in this photo.)

Great purchase Johny, congrats!
Demetrios

PS. Sweet puppies too!

 

[John Young]

Actually today was kind of a big event in relation to the trailer.

We drove it all the way from Virginia to Florida without incident with only a temporary 'test drive' 5 USD letter from the VA DMV, which was not limited in terms of mileage. But I could not register it in Florida for a number of reasons. The practical one was that the trailer serial number is only a few digits long and the Florida DMV already had a boat trailer with that serial number in its database. So the Florida DMV had to assign a new serial number to the trailer which will not match what is actually on the equipment tag. This required the original copy of something known as an SF97 which is a federal document by which the US government formally relinquishes title. This took a couple of months to get.

we also had to make a few trips to the DMV regional office.


Those are new Khumo 285/75R16 tires on there which happen to be what I have on most of my LC's.

Then there was a process that the Florida DMV had to follow internally. And just today we were able to register the trailer!

So now we are legit! (And I have to get busy on the permanent wiring.)

 

[John Young]

Here are a couple of photos from our trip from VA to FL.