Chronicle of a tan M1101 trailer purchase from GovLiquidation.com

This topic is meant to chronicle my purchase of a M1101 trailer from GovLiquidation.com. I've created this thread in order to document all of the things that need to be done when purchasing an auctioned trailer.

At a high level, a prospective buyer needs to go through the following ten steps.

1. Create an account on Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation.
   
2. Start searching for the type of trailer you are interested in: M101, M1101, M1102, etc. Set up automatic search agents to notify you of when a search that meets your criteria is available.
   
3. Once you find something you're interested in, examine the pictures of the trailer and if possible make an appointment to inspect the trailer in person. Then Google around to gather data and make a decision on how much you want to pay for it.
   
4. Try to find a technical manual for the trailer to understand its electrical and breaking system. You want to make sure your vehicle is capable of towing it off base, and you really want to be prepared when you go pick it up.
   
5. If all signs are a go, add the auction item to your Watch List. This is a matter of style, but I don't see a point in bidding early, so I wait until the last day before I bid. I'm sure others have differing opinions on bidding tactics.
   
6. Do your best to win the bid, but don't get into an impulsive bidding war. Wise folks have said after you figure out your price limit in step 3, place that bid and don't look back (set it and forget it). If you win great, if you don't oh well. Oh, and it's important to note that GovLiquidation.com will incrementally bid the minimal amount while not exceeding your upper limit.
   
7. Wait. If don't win, keep trying. If your bid is the highest, it should be a decent indication that you've won the lot. Note however that for my M1101 I had the highest bid, but did not receive an email so to having won the lot by the time they said they would send it (12AM the next morning).
   
8. Get your EUC in pronto.
   
9. Request an SF97. Even if your state doesn't need one, get it. This way if you ever sell it you'll have it--I've read posts from people who have bought a trailer that didn't have an original SF97 and they had issues. (This point may need correcting over time.)
   
10. Wait for your EUC to clear and go get your stuff!

Useful Links:

• rogerm101a2's adapter harness to hook up your 24V trailer to your 12V tow vehicle: military trailer adapter harness M101A1,A2A3 M1101 M105 | eBay
• Erik's adapter harness to hook up your 24V trailer to your 12V tow vehicle: Military Trailer Adapter Cable (Military Trailer on a Civilian Vehicle), X-6034
• emmado22 method for creating your own harness: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/trailers/31824-civy-truck-mil-trailer-wiring-info.html
• 12V/24V Grote tail light: Grote Industries: Product #82212 - Red, Desert Tan, NEW
• 12V/24V Truck-lite tail light: Truck-Lite - Catalog Product : Rear LED Composite Lamps

Pick-up Day / Inspection

I've compiled a list of things to do when inspecting your trailer to make sure everything is in working order, and more importantly that your ride home with the trailer with be safe. I'll be happy to incorporate other's suggestions into this list, so please let me know!

• First and foremost, familiarize yourself with the Technical Manual for your trailer. I've attached the M1101/M1102 manual to this post.
• Try to determine why the trailer was auctioned. I think it goes without saying that there must be something wrong with it otherwise the DoD wouldn't be dumping it. If yours is in perfect shape, then congratulations! If there is damage, then assess it.

With the trailer NOT hooked up to the tow vehicle:

• Verify operation of the Front Support Leg: crank it up and down; make sure it stays locked and secure in the vertical position
• Verify you can move the trailer by hand: with the Front Support Leg in the vertical position and the Handbrake Levers in the upright position, verify you can push the trailer around by hand. (It may be difficult on a gravel GL lot.)
• Verify operation of the both Handbrake Levers: with the Front Support Leg in the vertical position, verify the left brake locks the left wheel when you attempt to push it around by hand. Do the same for the right.
• Verify Tailgate operation
• Verify brake fluid: carefully open up the brake fluid reservoir and verify there is fluid in there

Hook up the trailer to the tow vehicle:

• Verify operation of the Front Support Leg: place it in the horizontal position and verify that it stays there locked and secure
• Verify marker lights: turn on the tow vehicles marker lights and verify they are illuminated on the trailer
• Verify brake lights: depress the brake on the tow vehicle and verify the brake lights illuminate on the trailer
• Verify surge brakes: with a friend beside the tow vehicle and trailer, drive forward and hit the brakes rather firmly. The goal is to have the observer notice whether or not the hydraulic brake actuator assembly moves and actuates the brakes on the trailer.

Mini road-test:

• Tow the trailer 5-10 meters with either yourself or a friend watching the wheels rotating, and general movement of the trailer

1 mile check-up (this is VERY IMPORTANT):

• Tow the trailer for 1 mile or so. Pull over and put your hands on the center of the wheel (hub). If it is very hot, i.e. burns after touching it for 5 seconds or so, then you need to troubleshoot the problem. It could either be a bearing issue or brake-drag. I had this due to my Handbrake Levers being slightly bent and causing drag!!
• The wheel/hub should be ambient temperature plus about 20F. If that's the case for you, then congrats: you don't have a bearing or brake-drag problem!

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The remainder of this topic details my personal timeline. Stay tuned for updates.

2012-02-10

• Found a prospective batch of M1101 trailers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The trailers are manufactured by Silver Eagle in 2009 and are tan in color. They look to be in really good shape.
• All the 2009 trailers don't have tops to them, so I'll have to eBay one if I win
• The trailers require a pintle hitch so I need to start researching where to get one for a Hummer H1

2012-02-16

I've attached some pictures of the trailer I bid on (these are GL pictures).

• Placed bid on M1101 trailer on GL
• Was immediately outbid by someone else's upper limit bid
• Re-bid
• I did all this with 5 minutes to spare in the auction. I don't recommend this because the auction gets automatically extended by 15 minutes to allow the previous high-bidder a chance to out bid you. And thus begins the bidding war. I recommend placing your first bid 15 minutes before the auction ends. Give yourself some time because you have to enter in a lot of form data when making the bid.
• Sat for 15 minutes holding my breath to see if I got out-bid. Fortunately I didn't and the auction closed with my bid being the highest.
• The GL web site says it will notify the auction winner by 12AM EST 2012-02-17 (that's the following morning)
• I went back and examined the lot description and noticed the Condition Code F7: Unserviceable - reparable
  Economically reparable material which requires repair, overhaul, or reconditioning. Includes reparable items.
• Panic sets in because of the F7. Google alleviates the panic. Several replies on this site seem to suggest that F7s are usually just fine.

2012-02-17

• As of 1:13AM EST as I create this forum topic, still no email notification from GL.
• There ears must have been burning because I just got my winning notification email at 1:24AM EST.
  

  Dear Valued Customer:
  
  Thank you for your participation in our most recent Government
  Liquidation Sales Event. Please note you were the successful
  bidder of the lots listed below. Pending payment-in-full, your
  official invoice will be posted online under the "Invoices" tab
  on the "My Account" page.

  Click to expand...

• Immediately off to eBay to buy the top for it.
• Received an email from GL saying a EUC must be submitted. I'll fill that in and submit it ASAP.

2012-02-21

• EUC submitted as of last night at 10PM. Awaiting confirmation they received and processed it.
• Bought a wiring harness to hook up the 24V trailer to my 12V H1 from military trailer adapter harness M101A1,A2A3 M1101 M105 | eBay
• Bad news on the lighting front: the tail lights should work with a 12V tow vehicle, but be dim. However Mike from Silver Eagle thinks the marker lights are not dual volt LEDs, and therefore will not work at all. Others on the 'Net say the markers will work but be dim like the tail lights.
  
  If you have 24V LED tail lights, and they are dim when hooked up to your 12V vehicle, then for safety's sake you should upgrade them to 12V/24V lights.
  
  Grote offers a replacement light:
  
  Grote Industries: Product #82212 - Red, Desert Tan, NEW
  
  and so does Truck-lite:
  
  Truck-Lite - Catalog Product : Rear LED Composite Lamps

2012-02-23

• EUC returned to me requiring revisions. Turned it around ASAP and sent it back.
• Struggling with finding a swiveling pintle set up. It seems like only rigid pintles are practically possible with standard hitch adapter plates. Therefore I'm going to have to pony up for the $$$ AM General specific one for the H1: HITCH, PINTLE
• Why a swiveling pintle? Well this trailer will come off-road with me at some point.
• As of 17:48 EST, my EUC status is: "EUC sent to Battle Creek". Now it's in the hands of the government--next update in 30 days probably

2012-03-13

• EUC approved. 19 day turn-around time if my math serves me correctly.
• Getting the H1 trip worthy

2012-03-22

• Spare tires for H1 and trailer: check (fortunately they are one and the same woohoo!)
• Jack kit for H1: check
• CB: check
• Spare front end parts: check
• Tools: check
• Wiring harness: check

2012-04-02
Got my trailer! Picked it up at JBLM. Joyce was nice and a dude in a forklift lifted the trailer up and dropped it on my pintle. There were moments of nervousness as I hooked up the nonsensically large wire hook-up to my adapter. But it worked. The markers were bright enough and the tail lights worked.

• Wiring adapter: works
• Trailer condition: good
• SF97 applied for: check

2012-04-02
Put the bow and tarp kit on. What a hellish job: self-tapping screws through metal. Anyway, this pretty much marks the completion of this post. I hope others find this useful: I know the whole purchase and acquisition from GovLiquidation was a big mystery to me. But, it was very easy and everything went smoothly.

Good luck with your own GL purchase!

So why didn't you go for one of the trailers in MD. They seem to have gone for about 1/2 of what the JBLM trailers are going for and it looks like less shipping for you?

Amer-team said:

So why didn't you go for one of the trailers in MD. They seem to have gone for about 1/2 of what the JBLM trailers are going for and it looks like less shipping for you?

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I won't argue on the price point, this one was a gouge for sure

This is for my Vegas place, not Boston and I actually plan to pick up the trailer with my H1 on the way to Canada. Pretty silly all the way around, but I figure it's an adventure. Just getting all my ducks in a row will be interesting (e.g. temporary Washington permit on a trailer entering another country, and then back into the U.S.)

What a great adventure and those trailers look great. I was at Satsop this week, that is a mothballed nuclear power plant and the Army is doing quite a bit of training there, so was looking over the vehicles. The M 1101's and 2's they were towing all seem to be in the age range of the ones that are coming out and they were in very nice condition. Good luck on your adventure.

It is interesting that they came out with these trailers to replace the M101's and they are listed as weighing 100 pounds more.

PS when you are looking for your top you will also need a top bow kit. According to the TM which you can find online, the 1101's didn't seem to have tops and the 2's did. but the trailers I was looking at this week, there were 1101's with tops on them, so they must have put a top kit on them.
As for your hitch, if you have a receiver on the back, about any good auto or truck parts store will be able to fix you right up.

Really? Training up at Satsop? That's only 20 min from my house. I need to head up there this week to take a look....in my deuce of course

Yes and they are not there all the time.

OK, stupid question from a NOOB. What the heck is an EUL?

Psywarrior said:

OK, stupid question from a NOOB. What the heck is an EUL?

Click to expand...

Its "EUC" and it stands for End User Certificate. Read up some here:
General GL Questions - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

or here:
Help and FAQs at Government Liquidation

when purchasing certain surplus items they require a EUC, you will be bound by certain rules such as never reselling item to non US citizen. Also involves a background check to verify you are a citizen and not on any watch list.

Good luck once you start down this path abandon all hope any extra money you might have will start going towards all the vehicles you "need"

-Dale

Will you be making an Expo trailer?
matching paint to the H1?

Even the old 105's look good behind H1's, here is a custom 105.
Keep us posted on the pick up and build.

clutzer,

welcome to the green iron disease

and the vagaries of winning a vehicle from GL - I've won a few - it's always a chance, but where else can you get great military surplus at what is actually a fairly good price

its none of my business what you paid, but I'd bet it's not any where near what you would have paid for it if you had gone to the manufacturer and just purchased it outright, and like you said, more than if you had PERHAPS purchased it from a different lot, BUT EVEN THEN you never know if you had bid in that auction, the prices in that one could have gone higher


I've found that if it's something YOU WANT, set a price you won't go over and have at it - I generally just put in my maximum and keep crossed fingers that it's enough

and I MUST commend you on how your formatted your first post

clear, concise, and to the point

AND YOU HAD PIX

I commend you sir

edit - forgot to add, great score on a really sweet trailer, have fun with it

harleyhouse said:

Will you be making an Expo trailer?
matching paint to the H1?

Even the old 105's look good behind H1's, here is a custom 105.
Keep us posted on the pick up and build.

Click to expand...

That M-105 looks lowered. Is it yours? I was wondering how you got it level, and what tires are mounted on it, what rims, and where they came from.

Angus: Not mine it is someone from Expedition Portal site.
If you blow the picture up it appears that it is an independent suspension on the trailer
Could be H1 parts. There is no axle crossing under it.
Also there is a hub sticking out in the center of the rim.
Could be air adjustable. It is a nice set but too much $$$$$ for me.

This is my set up.

As far as canvas and bows for the 1101/2 series, none come from the factory with them. The canvas and bows are "add on" kits at the unit level if your mission requires them. This info comes from speaking with Schutt and Silver Eagle.

Also, condition codes are usually meaningless.

Your point about the add on kit is well taken. The only difference I could see in the TM between a 1 and a 2 was the top kit. Is there something else that they upgraded?

The top has nothing to do with the trailer being a 1101 or 1102. Only the data plate is different between the two. Read the first chapter or so of the TM for further explainaton. It all has to do with the towing vehicle... No kidding.

Thank you, That makes sense, will read further. 1's must be for Humvee's and 2's for FMTV's I was looking at quite a batch of them last week and noticed that they were hooked up to both types of vehicles.

No... They are all for HMMWVs. 01s are for light humvees, 02s are for heavy humvees. I would dread backing up a FMTV with a tiny trailer like 1101/2.

wallew said:

clutzer,

welcome to the green iron disease

Click to expand...

Thanks, glad to be a part of this great forum.

wallew said:

its none of my business what you paid, but I'd bet it's not any where near what you would have paid for it if you had gone to the manufacturer and just purchased it outright, and like you said, more than if you had PERHAPS purchased it from a different lot, BUT EVEN THEN you never know if you had bid in that auction, the prices in that one could have gone higher

Click to expand...

I'm not shy about my price point. I didn't get a really good deal compared to what most people pay, but for me I was under a time crunch--and these are 2009(s) if that means anything. To me that means a trailer that has been much less used and abused than a 1997. Maybe I'm naive I dunno. My high bid of $1039.99 won it. Then tack on GL's 10% and sales tax and my credit card got billed $1243.52. Compared to eBay listings of at least $2000 and private sellers in Nevada trying to get $4000 I feel like I did all right. But friends on HML have towed out trailers for less than $600 all in. Barf.

wallew said:

and I MUST commend you on how your formatted your first post

clear, concise, and to the point

AND YOU HAD PIX

I commend you sir

Click to expand...

Thanks man! Clear and concise was exactly my point. There are a number of easy steps to go through to get a GL trailer--but you have to be organized to get all your ducks in a row to make sure everything goes smoothly. Hopefully I'll practice what I preach and this will be a painless process

Next time I catch them out there training, will see if they will let me take some pics, but they definitly had them hooked up to at least one LMTV 2.5 ton. I wasn't really paying much attention to the truck as I was interested in the 1101's. They had a wide variety of configurations of Humvee's as well.