Gov't Mule - M101A3 multipurpose trailer build

[Scoutman]

Since I officially began cutting and working on my Gov't surplus M101A3 trailer the other day I figured I'd start a thread on what all I'm doing before I got too far into it. About a year ago, November, I purchased this trailer off of Craigslist in very good condition. It had the side rails, front rail, and back gates all in good working order. The bed was in really good shape with very little rust. There was one bow that was correct for this trailer but the other bows that were included in the bed were supposedly for a M105 and would need to be cut down to be usable. Like most of these, the surge brake assembly was worthless but it did have the jack handle. The tires were good and the A3 had the wider stance to go along with my full size Dodge 3500.

I borrowed a pintle hitch from a buddy and turned the retrieval trip into a quick overnight camping trip through North Georgia with my dad and son.

Pictures from the previous owner...

 

[Scoutman]

The camping trip to get the trailer. We took off on a friday evening and camped out on Conasauga Lake for the night before heading up to Copperhill, TN.

 

[Mark Harley]

Always nice to see anoughter M101A build.

What are your plans so far?

 

[Scoutman]

The trailer was just as advertiesed. I talked with the owner for a bit then hitched up my mule and we were off. I ran a borrowed set of Harbor Freight magnetic trailer lights for the trip home and they were great for this use. I even got a title which I didn't really need for Alabama but if I ever did I would have it. Apparently they were hard to get in NC for this type of trailer.

 

[Scoutman]

Made a lunch stop at the Ocoee River rec area (96 Olympics). It pulled great! :wings:

 

[Scoutman]

Plans are to have a good all around heavy duty trailer that will carry all the stuff that won't fit in the truck camper. When we went from a tent to a TC, it meant that all the extra stuff either had to be packed into the camper or left behind. Well it didn't take long to figure out it was easier to leave it behind but now we can carry what we want. This includes bikes, canoe, firewood, large cooler, propane cooker, extra water, and the like.

Since we bought it we've stored hay for our horses through the winter. We could park the trailer at one of 3 fields depending on where they were located at the time. I've hauled loads of compost, taken it camping, and now it's time to start making some improvements.

My plans are to extend the hitch with an adjustable height coupler. I want to get the original trailer lights working on 12 volt and a 7 pin RV plug to my truck. I'll add additional lights and power stuff as needed. I need to get the license plate mounted up and out of the way. I'll probably build a removable side table, beef up the top bows with steel and perhaps get a cover for it. I want to keep the military theme so storage boxes will probably be kept to military ammo cans of various sizes and things like that. I want to keep the bed usable for hauling dirt, compost, mulch, firewood, etc. while also making it more user friendly for camping and road trips. The adjustable coupler I have allows me to swap from a lunette eye to a 2" ball coupler depending on what I'm doing with it.

 

[Mark Harley]

Matching bolt pattern to the Ram is nice too.
I went with an adjustible channel hitch too.

 

[Scoutman]

Yes that was another bonus. I am torn between keeping the H1 double beadlock wheels on 37's or going with an H2 wheel with matching tires to what is on the truck. Someday I'll put 37's on my Ram but for now I run a 305-70-17 Nitto Terra Grappler which is about 34" tall. I already have the H2 wheels that I was going to use on my Scout but it will be a long while before I need them.

To get the H2 wheels on the trailer I need to route the center hub out just a touch so they will clear the hub. The difference in backspacing pushes the wheel/tire out almost flush with the fender which is fine.



As for the hitch... I pulled the surge brake assembly off. The brake line wasn't attached and given that the paint on it didn't match the rest of the trailer I'm guessing it didn't belong. From the times I pulled the trailer it sat nose low so I wanted something that would make it level now but would be adjustable when I went taller with the truck. I also wanted to keep the stock landing leg/jack. I wanted enough tongue length that I could mount storage to the front of the trailer and still have enough space to drop my tailgate without interference. Being able to jackknife the trailer would be nice too.

Here's where I left off last night. I got the extension notched, fitted, cleaned, and tack'd in place as well as the hitch tacked on. There will be some gussets to the adjustable channel and the chains will need to be moved forward or lengthened as I want to keep the original trailer hooks.

 

[shack]

nice start!

 

[RagnarD]

Looks good. I used the original chains. Just ran a bolt through the bottom channel hole.

 

[Scoutman]

Looks good. I used the original chains. Just ran a bolt through the bottom channel hole

I was planning on putting a hole and welding in a bushing along the tongue somewhere and mounting them to that. What I haven't figured out is how to get the large bolt that goes through the factory frame arms and through the jack assembly to sit flush. That bolt relies on the wedge shaped chain mount tabs to let the bolt head and nut sit flush to be tightened.

I'll check to see if the adjustable coupler channel will work but I think I'll have too much chain slack if I mount them that close to the truck hitch.

 

[Mark Harley]

On my M116A2 frame I removed the safety chains and replaced the one long nose bolt with two short bolts and nuts from behind.
It worked well as the tongue rails and the landing leg mount share the same angle.

 

[Scoutman]

That is a great idea. I'll get hardware on order to do that.

So my thought of sleeving the frame with tubing and mounting the wedge chain mounts to the side of the frame won't work unless I redrill the holes in the wedges to be perpendicular to the wedge face. If you place the wedges against the flat box frame they won't sit flush and if you flip them over then the bolt head won't sit flush. Thoughts?

 

[RagnarD]

I still suggest using a hole in the channel. If they are too long, just twist them a bit. It is clean and no extra parts or hardware are needed. Or just weld the angled brackets to the frame/tongue extension.

You do want to try and keep that large link close to the spacers because you can store the hooks there when parked.

 

[Scrapdaddy]

When you drill and sleeve the tongue, just weld an opposing wedge to the tongue, thereby making a flat surface. Fun project.