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Airbornebandsman recently purchased one of my M105A2 trailers I scored from GL last summer, so I had him pick the nicest one for his pending PCS move to Texas.
It's a VSE rebuild, with the extra rib reinforcements inside the bed, and is virtually brand-new. The date on the manufacturer's tag is dated 2008 for the rebuild, and the hubs were marked as being inspected on March 2010.
So, I wanted to ensure that he wouldn't have any issues with it during his long drive to Texas in the summertime heat, so I pulled it out front and began tearing down the hubs & drums to inspect the brakes. The brakes are BRAND-NEW, holy cow! The bearings are marked inside the hub caps as being new replacements upon the 2008 rebuild, and they look it too. I packed the hubs full of grease to help for cool running, and reinstalled everything & torqued to spec. There's no inspection cover for feeler gauges on the drums, so I adjusted the brake drums old-school style: just a slight steady contact made across the rotating drum. The emergency brakes were already adjusted sufficiently, so I broke out the handy-dandy brake pressure bleeder built to the specs in the Sticky on the Deuce thread, and pressure-bled the brakes.
Some things were loose, some little things needed to be replaced, so all this was done at this time. I then used Industrial Strength Goof-Off to remove the blue crayon GL markings around the exterior, as well as to remove the residual adhesive from the EUC/GL stickers. Then I broke out several cleaning brushes and degreased/rinsed the entire trailer.
I used a b-a-s-t-a-r-d file & rat-tail file to open up the holes on the top rail for the stake sides, as the VSE rebuilds are susceptible to poor fits and having to use tremendous force to remove the stake sides. I beveled all edges as well to remove any potential sticking points. Then I touched up the bare metal with a closely-matching rattle can paint.
Speaking of the stake sides, they were rusted pretty good, so I used 2 wire cup brushes in my grinder to remove the rust and then applied Rust Reformer, followed by Rusty Metal Primer and the matching rattle-can paint. Oh, and before sealing/painting, I slightly "pinched" the stake side legs to help them fit better in the trailer pockets. WHEW!
A lot of work but worth it. Airbornebandsman is a great guy and I'm happy to help him as best as I can. He gave me a smoking deal on an almost-new cover with bows & parts for my Deuce, so I'm happy to return the favor.
I'll have it completely put together in a couple of days, and hopefully next weekend he & I can go to the DMV together to get this baby signed over to him & registered in his name...that way we don't need to pay for notary services and shouldn't have any problems if we both go there together.
I'm glad it's going to a good home, I really wasn't too excited about the extra ribbing reinforcement inside the bed, but Airbornebandsman seems happy with it so that's all that matters!
It's a VSE rebuild, with the extra rib reinforcements inside the bed, and is virtually brand-new. The date on the manufacturer's tag is dated 2008 for the rebuild, and the hubs were marked as being inspected on March 2010.
So, I wanted to ensure that he wouldn't have any issues with it during his long drive to Texas in the summertime heat, so I pulled it out front and began tearing down the hubs & drums to inspect the brakes. The brakes are BRAND-NEW, holy cow! The bearings are marked inside the hub caps as being new replacements upon the 2008 rebuild, and they look it too. I packed the hubs full of grease to help for cool running, and reinstalled everything & torqued to spec. There's no inspection cover for feeler gauges on the drums, so I adjusted the brake drums old-school style: just a slight steady contact made across the rotating drum. The emergency brakes were already adjusted sufficiently, so I broke out the handy-dandy brake pressure bleeder built to the specs in the Sticky on the Deuce thread, and pressure-bled the brakes.
Some things were loose, some little things needed to be replaced, so all this was done at this time. I then used Industrial Strength Goof-Off to remove the blue crayon GL markings around the exterior, as well as to remove the residual adhesive from the EUC/GL stickers. Then I broke out several cleaning brushes and degreased/rinsed the entire trailer.
I used a b-a-s-t-a-r-d file & rat-tail file to open up the holes on the top rail for the stake sides, as the VSE rebuilds are susceptible to poor fits and having to use tremendous force to remove the stake sides. I beveled all edges as well to remove any potential sticking points. Then I touched up the bare metal with a closely-matching rattle can paint.
Speaking of the stake sides, they were rusted pretty good, so I used 2 wire cup brushes in my grinder to remove the rust and then applied Rust Reformer, followed by Rusty Metal Primer and the matching rattle-can paint. Oh, and before sealing/painting, I slightly "pinched" the stake side legs to help them fit better in the trailer pockets. WHEW!
A lot of work but worth it. Airbornebandsman is a great guy and I'm happy to help him as best as I can. He gave me a smoking deal on an almost-new cover with bows & parts for my Deuce, so I'm happy to return the favor.
I'll have it completely put together in a couple of days, and hopefully next weekend he & I can go to the DMV together to get this baby signed over to him & registered in his name...that way we don't need to pay for notary services and shouldn't have any problems if we both go there together.
I'm glad it's going to a good home, I really wasn't too excited about the extra ribbing reinforcement inside the bed, but Airbornebandsman seems happy with it so that's all that matters!
