Thread: Registering ex military trailer.

On the up side, there are heaps of ex-mil trailers registered in NSW. As I am in Qld (with a registered ex-mil trailer), I will let a southerner come along and give you the rules & regs.

By the time you buy the No. 5 Trailer (as pictured) convert it to standard wiring from 12 core NATO wiring, get a pintle hook for your hitch, convert it to a camper, put brakes on it because it will almost certainly be overweight...

...you may aswell have just bought a proper off road camper trailer and had change to put towards your trip.

Other than ground clearance, these things have very little going for them as a camper trailer. They're small, heavy, stiffly sprung, no shocks, no brakes, narrow track (matches Series LRs), no tailgate, old, incompatible wiring and hitch... get the idea?

It can and has been done, but you're looking at a lot of modifying.

Originally Posted by Shonky

By the time you buy the No. 5 Trailer (as pictured) convert it to standard wiring from 12 core NATO wiring, get a pintle hook for your hitch, convert it to a camper, put brakes on it because it will almost certainly be overweight...

...you may aswell have just bought a proper off road camper trailer and had change to put towards your trip.

Other than ground clearance, these things have very little going for them as a camper trailer. They're small, heavy, stiffly sprung, no shocks, no brakes, narrow track (matches Series LRs), no tailgate, old, incompatible wiring and hitch... get the idea?

It can and has been done, but you're looking at a lot of modifying.

No Brakes? So not like Sankey Wide track's?

Qld. Transport did not recognise Government Ordnance Factory, Maribyrnong, as a manufacturer, so my No. 5 is registered a "home made". Dead easy to rewire as a 7 pin. Just buy a length of trailer harness and the requisite plug and socket. Any good tow bar place can set you up a pintle hook to go into a Hayman Reece receiver.

Originally Posted by juddy

No Brakes? So not like Sankey Wide track's?

Correct.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Qld. Transport did not recognise Government Ordnance Factory, Maribyrnong, as a manufacturer, so my No. 5 is registered a "home made". Dead easy to rewire as a 7 pin. Just buy a length of trailer harness and the requisite plug and socket. Any good tow bar place can set you up a pintle hook to go into a Hayman Reece receiver.

The manufacturer is listed as Australian Defence Industries (ADI) on the system in the NSW RTA.

Is this one of the No.5s without a lunette?

Some No.5s have brakes - the one for the fire engine at the SME does. Workshop trailer chassis frequently have shock absorbers and these sometimes find their way underneath a No.5 tub, Black Bill has one.

Addit: I have to agree with Shonky about camperising a No.5.
I have a No.5 and also a Workshop trailer and a Haulmark PT1-1.2 trailer designed for behind the Perentie.
I find that the No.5 is a beast to back behind my 109" SIII because the drawbar is too short, it's even bad behind my 100" RRc. The lack of brakes almost caused a disaster when travelling along a highway at 90KPH when I crested a hill only to find a line of traffic stopped in front of me. Luckily there was enough verge for me to run off into. The same situation with my 4 wheel electric braked car float would not have been an issue even fully loaded.

Of my ex-military trailers I find the Haulmark by far preferable to the No.5 even though it only has over-ride brakes and the long drawbar makes backing a breeze.

Follow Shonky's advice, use the money to buy a civilian designed off-road trailer with electric brakes and camperise that.

The No5 may not the best option for camper conversion. The spring issue is easy to sort - reset and drop a couple of leaves, changing the chassis to a RAEME for shocks is achievable, changing the coupling is easy to do, modifying the rear of the tub is also easy and fix up any rust in the wheel arches. I have seen a number of RAEME trailers made into campers - same basic chassis but different top. Weight may be the issue here - unbraked trailer weight limits are quite low in NSW and there are no brakes on the majority of these trailers. So you would need change the axle and add electric brakes. This will add dollars and/or time to the project.
Your better starting option may be the RAAF Track trailer - has hydraulic over-ride brakes possibly not the best but legal, tailgate, good suspension and are originally galvanized. There is a thread on this somewhere here.

Yeah the RAAF ones are hard to come by. I looked at one at work the other day and had that braking system built into the centre draw bar shaft. Thanks for the replies guys awesome advice here.