Ex-Army trailers

**C H T** · 10th February 2010, 02:30 PM

The lunette can be made to swivle by reversing the locking plate nest to the retaining nut on the inside end of the ring assembly. I have just converted one on a workshop trailer that I bought last year and am now rebuilding. Towed a No5 across the Simpson last year - pintle hook fixed lunette swivelling with absolutely zero problems. Don't forget to grease the pintle hook and ring, and also the apply grease to both hook and ring shaft via the grease nipples. if you don't grease the ring and hook the wear rate will be very high when towing in the bush - I speak from firsthand experience.

After the Simpson etc I would not consider converting the coupling to a Treg or similar.

Another point on the No5s - the distance from the centre of the tralier axle to the centre of the rear axle of a Defender is almost exactly the same as the wheel base of the vehicle which helps keep the trailer whseels in the tracks of the main vehicle when cornering. We fitted a wider axle to the trailer to match the track of the Defender. We also fitted shockies which really helped on couragations.

C H T

**Cap** · 10th February 2010, 04:47 PM

Thats good to hear an actual experience using the pintle set up.. expecially re stability etc. Thanks for the grease tip also, will certainly apply!

I will in future put on elec brakes, so at that stage ill change to same track axel too.

Cheers,

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 10th February 2010, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by scrambler

<snip>.... AFAIK the reason for the rotating Pintle was to allow the LR to move equipment with fixed Lunettes i.e. field artillery.
.... <snip>

Yes that may have been the original reason for having NATO compliant rotating hitches. However most trailers built for the Army in the 1960's and 70's had rotating lunettes. After having a number of roll-overs the Army investigated the situation and fitted locking plates inside the No.5s lunette flange to fix the lunette from rotating. They then removed the locking tab fromm all in-service pintles on the remaining Land Rovers, to prevent them from being locked.

The Army didn't make this decision because someone thought that it would be better to increase the risk of falls when people tried to stand on now rotating pintles when they got out of Land Rovers. They made the decision because as a result of the investigations it was found that the best configuration was to have the pintle rotate and the lunette to be fixed.

If you can't have a rotating pintle, then the next best option is to have a rotating lunette instead.

**Aaron IIA** · 10th February 2010, 06:42 PM

If you jackknife a trailer with a rotating ring, the ring will drop down on the pintile hook, with the ring now in a verticle plane. When you attempt to straighten the vehicle/trailer combination, the ring may not re-align, preventing the trailer from straightening out. This may result in damage to the trailer, hitch, or vehicle. I have seen bent rear cross members resulting from this. When straightening from a jackknife situation, always check that the rotating ring is aligning itself properly.

If you jackknife a trailer with a fixed ring and a rotating pintle hook, there will not be a problem.

The best solution is to leave the trailer with a fixed ring, buy a military style pintle hook, and bolt this to an adaptor that fits in a standard receiver.

Aaron.

**procrastination inc** · 14th February 2010, 08:36 AM

there are several trailers lined up at bandiana where the disposal auctions are run. All seem to have leaf spring suspension.

I'll post more when the auction is announced

**Cap** · 14th February 2010, 08:50 AM

We bought two, but now my bro is selling his one (under markets) due to the fact he needs to make too many mods to suit he work. But he said that it tows fantastically with the pintle setup, and they are beautifully balanced and he can easily push them as if they were feather weight.

Mine is also with him at the moment, looking forward to getting it down to Tassie and using it for camping trips

**DT-P38** · 19th December 2011, 10:21 PM

As usual... Dumbo here is doing the bulk of the research after the 'big money' is outlayed... anyway, it appears my best option to start safely towing one of the No5's around is to source a rotating military style pintle and get it attached to a fabricated height adjustable HR receiver.

Have seen e-bay has numerous fixed pintles for sale but wondering if there is an easy fix like donate some funds to an ADF stores staff sargents (ironically, dad's last job in the army) xmas party or something!

Surely these rotating versions must be available around the traps? Perhaps another member would like to part with an original one?

Any comments/direction appreciated.

Dave

**Dutchie10** · 29th December 2011, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by stooge

Im looking at off-road trailers at the moment, specifically with the idea to build one myself. However, I would consider buying an ex-army trailer if one is available - and then updating it with exc brakes etc.

Anyone know where I can buy these trailers from? Anyone got one for sale, or know of one for sale? What price do these go for?

They look like this I believe:

Hello Stooge,

I have a # 5 Land rover trailer with a Hayman reace hitch for sale if you are still looking, All new springs and bearing's done by the ADF 5 years ago, and it has now sat with limited use as I work away, PM if intreasted to purchase.

Dutchie10

**Chucaro** · 29th December 2011, 09:28 PM

He have one now

**back_in** · 1st January 2012, 11:06 PM

Hi
A little bit of useless information
some 45 years ago (late 60's) when I was a Member of the 43 Railway Sqn we had a very cold camp at the Ballarat Airport in the middle of winter.
Because our job in real life was to play trains, it was a something that had to happen.
To keep our selves amused we coupled 23 odd trailers behind a poor old 2A and pulled it down the run way and back.
The turning circle to come back was about the area of a football oval
I know as it was my idea to do it so I had to prove it could be done
Once you get a couple of trailers moving they get the next going
the slack between each was the similar to a actual train
It was slow but it worked
the most useful task these trailers provided the Army personal was providing the bung was in place the trailer made a wonderful ice box when full of ice and beer
cheers
Ian

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