Dolly Convertor Saga Continues completed haul

I tried to post these in a follow on update and could only get one photo in the post so here are the rest up to the present. We will be cleaning up the rust on the fifth wheel frame and adding some I beam support to the chassis along with some additional angle steel that will hold the fifth wheel to the chassis.

I hope to have some good weather and get this done before the New Year

RE: Dolly Convertor Saga Continues

The chassis looks like it is in good shape. Did you paint it or did it come like it is? This is another reason I love having my tractor with a loader. Makes this type stuff go so much faster. Looks like the project is moving along nicely.

RE: Dolly Convertor Saga Continues

Ida

I wish my tractor had a loader...the boom on the back does a decent job, but not near as flexible.

RE: Dolly Convertor Saga Continues

My grandfather has had it for years. It was getting tired so he replaced the pump and it still was tired. When I got it I got a new control valve combination and hooked it under the rear bumper of my F-350 with a metalworking flatbed. I picked up the whole rear of the truck for about 2 seconds until the back tires of the tractor came off the ground. They were filled with calcium and I have a blade on the back. Right now the capacity is only limited by the amount of ballast I have.

RE: Dolly Convertor Saga Continues

This chassis is how I got it and is the most rust free vehicle I have gotten from DRMO. It has new composite lights and almost brand new tires all for $250 not including the fifth wheel but I plan on cleaning up the bottom of the fifth wheel frame and them welding two 7 inch I beams across the frame rails of the chassis along with 1/4 inch angle steel ( I used 3/4 in by 2 in cold rolled steel in vice of angle steel) along the top of the rails to mount the fifth wheel. I hope to have it done soon and will update the pictures.

Finally got the dolly done except for paint

My Son Noah and I took advantage of a nice day and my day off to finish the convertor and I am currently hoping to win a trailer that I will be hauling with this. It was fun to build and I think the longer trailer will acually be a better convertor than the regular short ones. We will see and I will post pictures of it hauling a trailer when I win one.

I hope you all have a blessed New Year

RE: Finally got the dolly done except for paint

nice! make any decisions on brake plumbing?

RE: Finally got the dolly done except for paint

Thanks for the complement, I am going to tee the line on the dolly and also make up a double gladhand line to go from the duece to the semi and bypass the dolly brakes since I do not want them braking harder and jacknifing the rig. I will most likely experiment with the braking and see if I can add a valve that will limit the air to the dolly and see if that works out. I hope that my first tow is just the empty M127 and there are not too many hills and I know I will not be breaking any speed limits.

RE: Finally got the dolly done except for paint

Pretty clever flip job on the 5th wheel.......

The over-thinking paranoia in me says I might build some kind of a "skid plate" and put it on in front of the 5th wheel in order to protect that air tank in case of accident....... Hinged, of course, for easy access (for maintenance purposes).

Also looks like there is enough room ahead of the air tank for a small toolbox-you could weld a floor in (on the bottom of the frame), then put a hinged, lockable plate on top, and have a lockable, dry storage place for extra chains, straps, towing lights, etc.

Nice work

RE: Finally got the dolly done except for paint

Hiiiiiyooo!

Nice dolly and nice welding. I'm curious as to the capacities of such a dolly. What is the maximum vertical load on the dolly axle? It will allow you to expand your ability to tow just about anything "reasonable." Very cool. Does it add much more work for the air compressor despite adding another air tank?

RE: Finally got the dolly done except for paint

I wanted a 5 ton tractor like I had in the Army when I was a brand new lieutenant but the 8500 guy way out bid me on all of them. This is a suragate since I am also looking at a current M 127 that I hope to win today and pick up in January. The chassis is rated at a cross country capacity of 2.5 tons so I am quite sure that it will handle a load of 7 tons without too much stress. I hope that the sliding 5th wheel will allow me to make changes in what it hauls. I like the idea of a longer dolly since I will be hauling it with the duece. Commercial ones are short to keep the overall length within legal limits but a longer one should work better. If I win the trailer I will document bringing home on this one.

On my foray to Shorty's I found an interesting item.
It looked like a set of detachable duel axles for a van trailer. I have never seen anything like them.
There was no evidence of cutting so I assume that the van was lifted off of the axles with a wrecker so it could set at a lower level, maybe with like vans, to set up a com center or field HQ.
It had no tow ring or drawbar. It was not a set of sliding tandems like commercial trailers have.
It did have electrical hook ups, an air reservoir tank, air lines and lights on the rear. My digital was out of memory and I didn't get a pic.
Anybody seen anything like this?
Maybe this could be made into a dolly if anyone is interested.

Looks good. I'd out expanded metal in front of the 5th wheel so you can walk on it but let stuff fall through. It looks like an M200A1. If so a bunch just came up at Ripley. They all look to be in really good shape.

Wreckerman:
I may have been an M 354 two axle dolly convertor. If it was sand colored it was one we had in the First Cav in Desert Storm.

Jeli:
Thanks for the comment, The M200A1 is a good chassis as you said and if you get one as cheap as I did ( $250) you might be temped to make a custom trailer or dolly as I did. This all came about as a result of not being able to afford an M 818 since GL #8500 beat me to all of them

This is what the dolly will be towing Hoo Ahh

I won my bid for an M 127 A2C and the dolly will be going to pick it up in a couple of weeks I am blessed that 77008500 gave up and settled for the rest of the lots and I got this one.

Have a wonderful and blessed New Year

RE: This is what the dolly will be towing Hoo Ahh

nice looking trailer got a good look at the locking meckanism on your 5th wheel that is a manual not like the ones we had but it is a wonder that any is still around thought they all where scraped by now. Dolly looks good cant wait to see pics when you go to get the trailer.

RE: This is what the dolly will be towing Hoo Ahh

How much did you have to give for it?

How high is the fithwheel from the ground? The M127 is 49 inches to sit level. When will you go get it? Congrats on the trailor. Mabye that 8500 guy is on SS and figured he would let one slide after reading all the remarks.

I spent $250 for the M 200A1 and $200 for the fifth wheel, the two sons in the photos cost more than I can say and the steel was the tail end of a 27 foot trailer I built in Texas to move north at my wifes bidding. All in all it will be about $600 for the whole deal since I scavanged two double gladhand airlines from my shelter dollys I bougth for the tires and wheels. I am currently trying to get GL to commit to an early next week pick up since I took leave to work on our church which is doing remodeling and I took the evening shift to allow me to pick the trailer up. I will post pictures of that excellent adventure here when I get it home

Nect time you weld CARC painted metal, take a flap wheel and clean the paint off for 3" all around the weld. Wear a respirator when you do it. The smoke from welding CARC is pretty toxic. You and I are old enough not to worry too much about it, but your son might want to have kids someday!
Seriously, burning urethane paint releases some highly toxic stuff. A good lungfull and you will cough your head off for a day or 2. 5 minutes heavy exposure (like a small shop fire) will put you in the hospital. If you have a pre-existing lung condition, it can be lethal.
Nice looking job!