10:32 pm
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online
I bought a military trailer spontaneously today. A former client of mine who lives in Washington was in the area getting his parents house ready to put on the market after because both of his parents have passed away. He posted the trailer for sale on Craigslist yesterday and called me up today because he is headed back to Washington tomorrow. Since he knows that I enjoy off roading, he was wondering if I knew of anyone who might be interested in buying the trailer. I asked him what it was worth and how much he wanted for it. He was a really good client so I offered to buy it at the price he offered me which was less than he had it posted for. I have done some research after buying it and I'm interested in getting comments and opinions from any of you about it. Here is what I know so far:
It is a WWII Navy Converto T6 1/4 Ton trailer. It has leaf springs, shocks, a hand brake (the handle and mount are missing), an operable tailgate, a non-original 2" ball coupler and appears in good condition given it appears to have been manufactured in 1944. It has a 4X6 bed with a little rust through in the front where the floor meets the walls. I gave it a hose bath and it didn't fall apart! Does anyone know anything about these trailers. Take a look at the pic of the tag for more information.
7:31 am
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline It would be a great project! I'd buy it if I had storage space.
8:55 am
Club Webmaster
August 5, 2017
Offline I don't know anything about it, other than it will look really cool decorated in the parade next year 
K6NUB
10:08 am
Club Member
December 14, 2018
Offline Cool. So next is the Willys MB to pull it 
From what I found out is that this trailer is most likely built in 1945 as Converto had a small contract to build these based on the Bantam T-3 design. It looks like you have a rare find on your hands Jeff. Congrats!
10:32 am
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online This trailer is kind of cool. From what I have read this trailer is somewhat rare. It has a hitch coupler for a 2" ball but it can rotate 360 degrees. I suspect, in part based on the poor quality welding, that a previous owner or perhaps the military cut off the pentile ring and welded on a ball style coupler. If so, it is an old coupler because it has a screw style mechanism to lock (secure) the hitch to the ball and a wing nut to keep it from loosening. I greased up the tongue's zekr fitting and can easily rotate the hitch 360 degrees with a wrench. Here are more pics of the hitch. I'm not sure what the almost quarter round part with the holes in it is but I know I have seen them on equipment before but I can't place it. Any ideas?
This does not appear to have been a dump trailer although I found similar ones that are. Here is a link with information: https://forums.g503.com/viewto.....p?t=149411
10:46 am
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online Sloguy said
Cool. So next is the Willys MB to pull it
From what I found out is that this trailer is most likely built in 1945 as Converto had a small contract to build these based on the Bantam T-3 design. It looks like you have a rare find on your hands Jeff. Congrats!
https://wwiijeepparts.com/Arch.....ailer.html
Thanks John. I also just found this: https://forums.g503.com/viewto.....p?t=310653
2:28 pm
Club Member
March 8, 2018
Offline My neighbor had one and got rid of it due to how heavy the thing was. I almost bought one but the weight was a no go for me.
So long and thanks for all the fish!!!
`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.. >`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.. >
2:30 pm
Club Member
April 18, 2019
Offline Cool trailer!
looking forward to seeing it reconditioned and out on the trail (or at least in camp).
3:10 pm
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online ScottV - K3SLV said
My neighbor had one and got rid of it due to how heavy the thing was. I almost bought one but the weight was a no go for me.
This trailer seems surprisingly light to me. It has a gross weight rating of 1050 pounds and a maximum payload rating of 500 pounds which means the trailer only weighs 550 pounds. It is very easy to move around by hand. It is also easy to tip it up and to lift the tongue because it seems very well balanced. I suspect there are much heavier duty trailers that weight a lot more like our rock trailer probably does.
3:12 pm
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online Folsom4Rnr (Brian) said
Cool trailer!looking forward to seeing it reconditioned and out on the trail (or at least in camp).
Maybe I will fill it with ice and beer and bring it to sierra trek.
5:11 pm
Club Member
April 18, 2019
Offline Jeff_R said
Folsom4Rnr (Brian) said
Cool trailer!
looking forward to seeing it reconditioned and out on the trail (or at least in camp).
Maybe I will fill it with ice and beer and bring it to sierra trek.
6:37 pm
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online I think this trailer is a little too long for rock crawling but would make a great overlanding and camping trailer. Plus, I wouldn't want to damage it given the history of these rare trailers.
11:40 pm
Club Member
December 14, 2018
Offline Jeff_R said
Folsom4Rnr (Brian) said
Cool trailer!
looking forward to seeing it reconditioned and out on the trail (or at least in camp).
Maybe I will fill it with ice and beer and bring it to sierra trek.
Correction: You will fill it with ice and beer and bring it to sierra trek to show off.
10:13 am
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online I need to put new tires on this trailer. Since I don't envision using this trailer rock crawling and because it is a rare trailer in very good condition, I'm probably going to try to restore it to its original form (parts, tires, paint color, etc). It would make a great overlanding trailer. In exploring tires, I found out that it has split rims on it. They aren't beadlocks nor do they function like beadlocks. It is a two piece rim that after deflating the tire, can be unbolted to separate the two halves in order to take the tire off. It is a tube tire. So I will probably get a pair of military type tires, tubes and rubber wheel liners that protect the tube and go with the original type and size tires. The other option would be to get new, tubeless wheels and similar or different tubeless tires. If I do use the original wheels, that will be the first significant part of the restoration because I would want to have the rims blasted and then primer and paint them before mounting the new tires.
The bearings look great. They were well greased and show no signs of rust or significant wear. One of the lugs on the left side of the trailer was broken off. I had a very hard time removing the lug nuts and seeing that one was already broken off, I kept spraying them with PB Blaster. I still couldn't remove them and then it occurred to me that since this was the left side of the trailer they might be left hand threads. Sure enough, with not too much effort them came right off. I could not get the broken stud out since it has been in there for 81 years, so I carefully drilled it out. I cleaned out the hubs, bearings and other parts and repacked and reassembled the right side. I'm waiting on a new, left hand threaded stud to arrive before I can finish the left side.
I found out some really cool history about the trailer. The guy I know who sold it to me sent me paperwork about the purchase history of the trailer. His father purchased it in 1947 from the War Assets Administration after it was put up for sale as surplus equipment. He paid $76 for it. I'm still waiting for some legal documents to be able to register it but the woman at the DMV suggested I request to keep the original 1947 pink slip, which she said they will let me do, because of the historical significance of it. Looks like I have a project on my hands.
9:56 am
Club Trailmaster
March 13, 2015
Offline Highly suggest finding some modern 1 piece wheels if only for safety and ease of balancing. Coker tire has some new versions of tubeless and tubed military tires. Basically just need to find a 15" or 16" 4.5" wide steel smoothy. Visually the same but way way safer at freeway speeds.
10:01 am
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline Jeff_R said
I need to put new tires on this trailer. Since I don't envision using this trailer rock crawling and because it is a rare trailer in very good condition, I'm probably going to try to restore it to its original form (parts, tires, paint color, etc). It would make a great overlanding trailer. In exploring tires, I found out that it has split rims on it. They aren't beadlocks nor do they function like beadlocks. It is a two piece rim that after deflating the tire, can be unbolted to separate the two halves in order to take the tire off. It is a tube tire. So I will probably get a pair of military type tires, tubes and rubber wheel liners that protect the tube and go with the original type and size tires. The other option would be to get new, tubeless wheels and similar or different tubeless tires. If I do use the original wheels, that will be the first significant part of the restoration because I would want to have the rims blasted and then primer and paint them before mounting the new tires.The bearings look great. They were well greased and show no signs of rust or significant wear. One of the lugs on the left side of the trailer was broken off. I had a very hard time removing the lug nuts and seeing that one was already broken off, I kept spraying them with PB Blaster. I still couldn't remove them and then it occurred to me that since this was the left side of the trailer they might be left hand threads. Sure enough, with not too much effort them came right off. I could not get the broken stud out since it has been in there for 81 years, so I carefully drilled it out. I cleaned out the hubs, bearings and other parts and repacked and reassembled the right side. I'm waiting on a new, left hand threaded stud to arrive before I can finish the left side.
I found out some really cool history about the trailer. The guy I know who sold it to me sent me paperwork about the purchase history of the trailer. His father purchased it in 1947 from the War Assets Administration after it was put up for sale as surplus equipment. He paid $76 for it. I'm still waiting for some legal documents to be able to register it but the woman at the DMV suggested I request to keep the original 1947 pink slip, which she said they will let me do, because of the historical significance of it. Looks like I have a project on my hands.
That is about $1050 in today's dollars!
10:02 am
Club Member
July 14, 2016
Online kris_olof said
Highly suggest finding some modern 1 piece wheels if only for safety and ease of balancing. Coker tire has some new versions of tubeless and tubed military tires. Basically just need to find a 15" or 16" 4.5" wide steel smoothy. Visually the same but way way safer at freeway speeds.
I have been looking at the tires and tubes on Coker. That's about the only place to get military and vintage tires.
2:57 pm
Club Trailmaster
March 13, 2015
Offline Jeff_R said
I have been looking at the tires and tubes on Coker. That's about the only place to get military and vintage tires.
Not the only place... I might just have a set of split rims from a GPW sitting around from my father-in-laws flatty.
But https://www.kaiserwillys.com/p.....ep-willys/
has a set of 4.5" wide with a proper safety bead that can be used tubeless with some tires or a tube and the old NDTs
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