M101 Harness Change

[mike_l]

Greetings all,

I've been looking at M101 trailers for years now but only recently paid much attention to the cabling setups. I see on some of the earlier trailers, there is a detachable intervehicular cable that runs from the tow vehicle to a connector at the front of the bed, between the brake handles. Some of the later M101 trailers have a box on the drawbar between the body and pintle, as the A1-A3 models have, where a non-detachable intervehicular cable connects with the trailer harness.

When did they change over? Or, were they all made the same and changed over in-service during overhaul/MWO? As examples, the M101 TM dated 1952 shows the early setup and John Bizal has an early setup on the trailer he is selling on his Vehicles for Sale page.

Thanks.

[k8icu]

I don't recall any M101 trailers having the intervehicle cable. They've all been like the later ones from what I can tell. The M100 1/4 ton trailer had the intervehicle cable that detached and went into a box on the front of the bed when not in use.
Don't think I've ever seen a M101 3/4 ton tailer set up that way.

[Sal]

Mike. TM 9-2330-202-14&P does show a number of drawings showing a detachable cable like the one your asking about, With a caption under the drawing saying "on early model M101 and M116 " But doesn't say anything about when it was changed over...

Sal

[mike_l]

Sal,

That helps some. What was the date on that TM? At least we know they weren't manufactured as a detachable cable by the date of that TM. And, is there a supersede notice at the bottom of the contents page? I always like to track pub changes when I'm researching.

k8icu, here is a photo from the 1952 dated TM showing the receptacle box between the brake handles. Also, Bizal has a trailer on his site that has the setup also. Check out the link in my first post.


Thanks again.

[Sal]

Mike. The TM I have is from Portrayal Press and says Current as of 17 Feb 1983. But on the bottom of the Table of Contents Page it also says '' This manual supercedes TM 9-2330-202-14P 24 Aug 1962, I hope this helps.

Sal

[k8icu]

As I said I had never seen one, but now I have. That must have been the thing to do in the 50s with the 1/4 and 3/4 ton and just speculating but probably the late 50s and early 60s was when the change to connected cable was made because the late M100s have the single cable and of course the M416 which replaced the M100 as the 1/4 ton is single connected cable. The change was probably made because to many GIs were loosing the connecting cable or they got stollen by othe GIs who lost theirs and thus made the lights inoperable on the trailer...so the army went to the attached cable so that it couldn't get lost.

[mike_l]

Thanks to both of you for the information and insight. The TM dates can help me cross reference other sources and k8icu certainly brought up a valid reason for changing them over to a non-detachable cable style. When I was in, our unit SOP was to tie down essential gear like compasses and night vision to ourselves, scopes to our weapons, and radios to our pack so they weren't lost.

[cuz]

Even the 1993 manual shows all M101's and M116's getting the stand alone cable. The cable attached to the terminal strip on the draw bar is introduced at the M101A1 and M116A1. Since the original M101's were produced in the 50's by the time they were surplussed out in the late 80's and on, most stand alone cables had been replaced with the newer style as supplies of the old cable were depleted.

The 1/4 ton M100 production was heavy in 1951 thru 53 but then sporadic until 58. It is suspected the switch in cables for the M100 occurred around 1953/54 when the storage box was discontinued.