LSVW trailer question

[rob love]

ECC is Equipment Configuration code. There would be a basic number for a class of trailer/vehicle and a slightly different number for each official variation of the trailer. ie: If it was a cargo, or had a mounted welder, or a generator, they could have a different code.

I see you are mixing up the 1-1/2 ton trailers with the 750kg trailers. All of the M104 series were made for the 2-1/2 ton and larger SMP trucks like 5 tons in the old days, and the HLVW in the new days.. The original ones in Cdn service dated from the late 50s/early 60s. These were replaced with new ones in the early 80s, and another batch in the late 80s. That was where the Cdn3 etc came form. They did not differ a lot from the early M104 trailers. There were little things like the large M-series lighting, and the vinyl tarps. The main difference was the front landing gear. The 50s/60s trailers had a single big Fred Flinstone wheel for the landing leg that had to be manually raised and lowered. The new versions had two varieties of landing leg. First was the Fred Flinstone wheel with a jack attachment to raise it in it's hinge. The second version had smaller dual landing wheels which had a jack built in to raise and lower, and the whole assembly would hinge. The early 80s trailer was made (IIRC) by Manac, and the late 80s trialers were made by DEW. There were a few basic variants, including Cargo, water tank, and kitchen. I believe there were also some fuel tankers, although most of those I saw were on dual wheeled 2 ton trailers.

With regard to swivelling pintles: For each truck/trailer combination either the towing truck or the trailer would swivel. In the case of the 1/4 ton trailers it was the Jeep/Iltis that was fixed, and the trailer would swivel. With the 3/4 ton/5/4 ton/LSVW fleet, it was the truck that swivelled and the trailers that were stationary. With the MLVW and up, it was the saem...truck would swivel and the trailer was stationary.

Sometimes you would see trailers being towed by the wrong class. This could lead to problems either with a combination that had no swivel, or else a combination where both could swivel. If there was no swivel, then the cross country stress could damage the trailer or truck frame. With both swivelling, the pintle could rotate upside down, which was not ideal either.