Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Half-ton trailer series and larger, Wanted, For Sale(NO EBAY ITEMS), and Knowledge Base
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Rustman
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Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:45 am

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After a couple of years of having this Hobart welder sitting on a butchered Ben Hur chassis:
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This welder trailer was spotted on Facebook marketplace. It was sold before I could go buy it. I posted my tale of woe on the Wheels & Tracks MVPA Facebook group and someone who knew the buyer contacted me. Turns out the buyer was after parts for his Ben Hur. I traded some cash and a lunette for the trailer.

The trailer now:
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The final goal:
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The tail lights are still present, but have been removed by the owner of a couple of days, he included them with the sale. The brake handle has been replaced with an M-series one. The bumper is bent and the brakes cables all need restoration or replacement. I haven't looked inside the hubs yet but the wheels are dated 1943 and 1944. It's very complete and unmodified. The BO switch and most of the wiring is gone, but the chassis of the trailer is in excellent shape. The wood and rubber deck was added for a water tank and was bolted to the frame with no additional holes even drilled.

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/


Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Sat Jul 02, 2022 5:42 pm

Despite the heat Mat Curtis and Michael Hall came over today to help me begin stripping the chassis down for repainting. These trailers have no studs, staked or captured nuts or other sorts of hardware difficulties. So in under 3 hours we had managed to cut, grind, snap or remove essentially all the hardware. There's about a half dozen 1/4-20 bolts for the wiring harness clips, the drawbar bolts (already loosened but not removed) and four bolts for the springs left to go. Here's a big photo dump with captions:
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Here she is sitting level behind the tractor.
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Once you move the squirrel's winter stash out of the way it turns out the jerry can holders have drain holes. A nice touch.
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The apprentice was a little aggressive with the cutoff wheel removing the bolt for the jerry can hold down. Well it's a pretty hidden spot unless the trailer is being judged.
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From behind without the bumper.
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The bumper that needs some straightening.
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Bin of parts removed for cleaning, painting and reattachment once the chassis is done.
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GUIDE reflector as found on the trailer.
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The original manual calls for KD 333 reflectors.
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Cover image of the original manual.
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All the reflectors together.

The book calls for KD 333, 3 of the reflectors removed have been GUIDE with the fourth a later replacement as indicated by the style of bezel, style of frame and that the bolts holding on didn't break as easily as the other ones. Now which reflectors do I replace with? Seek out GUIDE or go for KD?

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

gyknot
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by gyknot » Sun Jul 03, 2022 7:55 am

Great find. I have a surplus hobart welder, but no trailer. Never even seen one in person yet.

Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Mon Jul 04, 2022 2:42 am

gyknot wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 7:55 am
Great find. I have a surplus hobart welder, but no trailer. Never even seen one in person yet.
Does your welder run? We are going to restore the trailer, move the welder to the trailer and work on restoration of the welder. We got the engine to smoke and cough when we dribbled gas down the carb. I have a rebuild kit for that. Once that's done I'm certain we can get the engine running well. I've scrounged up some spare parts like another governor. But until it's spinning I won't really know if the DC generator side of things (the welder) can be made functional.

This is only the 4th trailer I know of at all. There's one in the midwest that's fully restored. There's one that came up on eBay several years ago that I came across some photos of. There's one more that a photo is on the G forum here but no information on whether it even still exists. I know of one one New Jersey, and know the owner. There's a recreation of one in Holland. Those are all I'm aware of.

Matt
Last edited by Rustman on Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

gyknot
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by gyknot » Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:15 am

Honestly I've never even tried to turn it over. I got it from an old friend of mine several years ago with the plan to restore it and it hasn't made it into the shop yet.
Actually I have two of them but one is postwar and mounted to a home made trailer. I know it turns but haven't tried to run it either.
Good luck on yours once you get it running well.

Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Sat Aug 20, 2022 6:54 am

Been a bit since I've made an update here on the trailer:

Continuing the reflector quest on my welder trailer. I bought some KD 333 bezels with STIMSONITE AGA No. 12 reflectors. They are on the left. On the right are the original Guide bezels with Stimsonite reflectors WITHOUT A NUMBER. The original lenses are marked only STIMSONITE.
I had originally thought they No. 12 would be the same as it's the commonly seen lens in many WW2 vehicles. But here, side by side you can see they are slightly different. It appears the No. 12 has slightly less reflectors per area. The individual hexes are about 5/32 on the No.12 but 4/32 on the no number one.
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I'm looking for lenses to match the original reflectors on the trailer. If you have a Stimsonite lenses WITHOUT an AGA No. 12 let me know. I'm looking to buy or trade.

The tail light buckets and doors are all four YANKEE marked. The manual again list a KD part. But I wonder if my trailer is from another year or the KD parts were the cataloged replacement parts and not how these were built. Continuing with the wiring I investigated the little remaining wire left on the trailer and found rubber. The little remaining wiring on the welder trailer is rubber coated. The individual conductors on the inter vehicular connector have a single layer of cloth wrapping followed by a colored rubber insulation then wrapped in the outer rubber jacket with string. The remaining pieces on the tail lamps appear to be rubber straight onto the copper.
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I know many welders saw service post-war in reconstruction in Europe and in Japan. No doubt they saw service in Korea as well. While it is widely accepted that WW2 vehicles did not use rubber insulated wire; when exactly was the change? We often perceive wartime rationing of materials as universally applied throughout the war. But by 1945 materials such as rubber and aluminum were becoming more readily available, especially for defense needs. Does anyone know when the army switched back to rubber insulation? Does anyone know if the Army Corps of Engineers versus the Ordnance Department used rubber insulation more?

I had pulled the hubs real quick in the hope of finding Liggett axles which have yielded dates on two different Ben Hur trailers so far. Well, unfortunately no date on the axle. It’s also slightly different from the Liggett built axles so I think it's another manufacturer.
Interesting yellow paint over primer on the inside and the ROCKFORD A bolts holding the backing plate to the hub. All of those bolts on both sides were marked that way.
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Separately I've been told to ask Chuck Lutz and Wignutt about this trailer. So if you see either of them in passing ask them to peak in on this thread.

Thanks

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Thu Sep 01, 2022 2:10 am

Thanks to Troy Wilcoxson the welder trailer is one step closer to having correct reflectors. Here is my three original and his is the bottom right one. Nice ink stamping on the back. Also notice in the last picture the difference in the backing shape in the No. 12 versus the Stimsonite with no model number. I still need one each more Amber and Red. I have No. 12 versions to trade.
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Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

Rustman
G-Lieutenant Colonel
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Posts: 1098
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 5:04 am
Location: Charles Town, WV
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Sun May 28, 2023 1:49 am

After sitting idly over the winter. Yesterday was a fury of activity with three friends coming over to help me strip the trailer down to its bare frame/chassis for repaint.We began with removing the wood deck, which revealed some scabbed on metal plates which we ground off.
We pulled the drawbar casting and amazingly enough we were able to unthread the lunette nut.
Once we removed the axle and springs we began wire brushing, flap disc sanding and grinding the frame. The goal wasn’t to go to bare metal but to remove rust, peeling paint and smooth the later non factory welds.

It was a long dirty day. But it finished with a first coat of primer!

Here's a few photographs of the progress yesterday. 11 hours from the farmer's added on wood decking being removed to cleaning up in the stock trailer spray booth.

Removing the added on decking and steel that was scabbed on after military service:
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Only two of the axle bolts had to be cut, the rest came off with the impact rather easily and the spring shackle bolts were easily removed, though the castle nuts were all rusted almost to nothing:
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Sanding, grinding and brushing the frame:
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730 PM done!
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Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Sun May 28, 2023 2:11 pm

Uncovered some markings on the rear bumper today. Located inboard of the tail lamps. This location in any photos I've seen usually has the trailer number and outboard of the lamps were the unit markings. But these are the ONLY markings I've found.
IMG_5220.jpeg
I know it's hard to read but what I came up with is R-190 / - B

The last letter was more legible before I over sanded, and the slash is very, very faint.

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/

Rustman
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Re: Trailer, 1 1/4 Ton, 2W, Arc Welder

Post by Rustman » Sun Jun 25, 2023 2:19 pm

After a break for the convention I was back into the trailer today. Had Michael over helping out. He's a 20 year old who I know through his father and mother, friends and fellow reenactors. Now he's another generation of vehicle junky and reenactor. I had picked up a nice pair of NOS fenders from John Bizal (Midwest Military) while at the MVPA convention. We spent a few hours all doing some hammer and dolly work on a few dings along the edges and sanded or wire wheeled smooth the chipped paint and surface rust from 70 odd years of storage and movement. Then laid down the first coat of primer over them. Michael's first time using an HVLP gun. I don't think he's going back to spray bombs after that experience. I think he's hooked now.

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/


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