Lunette i. D.

[Jeepman272]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the internal diameter of the correct lunette eye for a jeep trailer?
Thanks

[Bill H.]

From a thread of the same name:

hi there chuck .

here,s the info you require on my two trailers.

willys serial no ...acm 34773

bantam serial no ...acm 20793

on the willys trailer. the thick lunette has SHULER - 0 - 364. ???

the bantam lunette has no markings at all on it .

regarding the willys lunette . the shaft is 1"3/4 thick and the eye is 6" 1/4 OD,

bantam lunette shaft 1" 1/4 thick and the eye is 6" 1/4 od .

both the willys / bantam eye internal diameter is 3"

hope this info is of any help chuck.

regards paul . ( the black pearl) ha ha .........

[Wolfman]

Can only speculate why you ask, but.
I have a T-3 trailer behind my GPW.
The trailer was a basket case and someone had put a ball hitch on the trailer.
Lunette hitch parts were acquired to put it back.
The lunette eye and shaft looked to be aftermarket.
The inside of the eye had a left over casting around the rear of the I.D. that wasn't that noticeable.
The eye, before installing on the trailer, would drop in place on the lunette hitch but once the eye was installed and the trailer was being hitched up, the eye would not drop over the hook on the hitch.
Simple fix. Just cleaned up the inside diameter on the eye and it was still a close fit but would go.

[Michael O.]

Mike, do you have a later M-series type lunette on your trailer? Might explain why it doesn’t fit properly.

[Wolfman]

Honestly, I am not sure, Michael.
The T3 was pretty butchered up, with a ball hitch added. The lunette hitch was purchased in pieces later.
And this was several years ago.
As I remember, there was 2 types. An earlier lunette which was lighter in structure and the later one which was heavier.
I wanted but could not find the lighter version because of the vintage of the jeep it would be hitched to, but ended up using the later, heavier type.
One of the discussions that came up during the search was, the lighter version had a smaller diameter loop. The OD of the loop ring itself. Not the overall diameter of the whole loop.
This made the loop fit in the hitch much looser and it rattled around more.
Of course the heavier lunette was a tighter fit in the hitch and was much stronger.
Getting the hitch to hook up smoothly was just a matter of cleaning up some rough edges.
Maybe the heavier lunette I used was an M Series ??

[sjalbert]

Heavier Lunette was post war for the M-100

[Bill H.]

Heavier Lunette was post war for the M-100

And only,the shaft was larger. And, the M100 and M416 lunettes are the same dimensionally. The "late" Converto dump is the same as the M100/M416 dimensionally also.

[Wolfman]

???????????
So, there is only one T-3 lunette or maybe there was two ??
And then the M series, with a heavier shaft was post war ??

[sjalbert]

M Series with thicker shaft was postwar. MBT & T-3 (and other WWII Trailer manufacturers) used at least 3 different castings (that I know of) but were dimensionally the same. Post war European Lunette had a smaller ID ring and thicker shaft.

[Bill H.]

M Series with thicker shaft was postwar. MBT & T-3 (and other WWII Trailer manufacturers) used at least 3 different castings (that I know of) but were dimensionally the same. Post war European Lunette had a smaller ID ring and thicker shaft.

Exactly. The Swiss used the small diameter ring which in my opinion, albeit not correct for a restoration, is a far superior design. There is zero rattle and bang with them.

That said, the late Converto used and heavier "thick" shaft lunette. How late, I'm not sure nor do I believe anyone else is 100% sure.