Military 1 ton trailer question

[Chdamn]

I’ve owned 3/4 ton, 1.5 ton and 1 ton trailers for years. I buy them, trade them and sell them when the mood strikes.

I finally decided to keep this one forever. It’s in the best shape and I shortened the tarp bows to lessen the wind drag (well actually @BurnedOutGeek shortened the bows and I shortened the tarp to fit when I bought it back from him).

For anyone that has tried to back one of these SOB’s they are a really short tongue trailer. About 2 foot shorter than a 3/4 ton and 4 feet shorter than a 1.5 ton. Squirrelly as hell.

So I decided to lengthen the tongue by 2 feet or so. Just pulled out the loop today and I found a tiny shock absorber inside there. I’m not going to even try to put one back. My question is what In the hell could it have been good for? They don’t have them on 3/4 or 1.5 ton trailers.

It ran from the tiny pin, just behind the loop to the pin that held the square shaft into the trailer.

I see the back pin hole is slotted so it obviously could slide back and forth a little with the shock absorber. I just can’t imagine that translated to much energy absorption under breaking.

The shock is 7 inches or so long and the slot in the connector pin only allows for about 3/4 inch of movement back and forth.

 

[rdinatal]

It's an 'upsell' item. Must have cost the .gov an extra $500.

 

[Chdamn]

Well I looked up the part to see what I could see. According to a website that sells replacement shocks:

This Replacement UFP shock absorber controls the random application of the trailer brakes when towing on rough roads. It also ensures the smooth operation of the trailers hydraulic brake system when applied and released. When replacing your shock absorber, consider replacing the shock absorber busing #34301 as well.

 

[HMP]

The shock is 7 inches or so long

(actual shock length is 4")




Sorry, thought I'd crack a joke right quick.
That is interesting, never heard of a trailer having that sort of thing before

Not messed with trailer brakes much, arent they typically electronically controlled, Im curious how a rough road could set it off

 

[hp468]

Not familiar with .mil trailers but does it have surge brakes? I could see a little cushion helping with surge brakes in a pintle hitched trailer. Interesting design.

 

[Chdamn]

Not familiar with .mil trailers but does it have surge brakes? I could see a little cushion helping with surge brakes in a pintle hitched trailer. Interesting design.

That’s probably what it is. On a rough road it would brake the trailer without the electronic signal of you hitting the brake in the cab.

The shock would just prevent the shaft from slamming into the control switch and slamming back forward.

 

[Scsmith42]

Yup. That’s a shock for the surge brakes. The military trailers are so short coupled that they can move back and forth quite a bit.