ww2dodge.com Forum

i just picked up a ben hur trailer only things missing are the lounette ring and its mount casting,and park brake hardware.i wold even try an m101 hitch assy. just to get it on the road.does anyone have anything?i also noticed this one has 16 inch wheels,and the axle is mounted above the springs,it was made by checker in 43.any info on these?

Not sure about the lunette, but if it has a '43 plate it should be on 20" rims.

You can take the axle off and move it (back) under the springs to get room for the bigger rims. When I bought mine the axle had also been turned round to allow the handbrake cables to point forwards for use as an overrun brake too.

If it is sitting on 16" rims with an overslung axle the fenders must look wrong or at least too low?

The M101 3/4-ton trailer lunette eye will interchange with the WWII 1-ton. I have never compared the casting and the bolt hole spacing may be different. The 16" wheels are a bit of a worry. The 7.50 x 20 wheel has 6 lug nuts while the 9.00 x 16 Dodge wheel has a 5 hole lug pattern. It sounds like some one may have interchanged the axle from a M101.

My Ben Hur uses a spacer assembly between the 20" rims and the wheel hubs, which places the tire centered under the fender, when the convex side of the rim faces out.

The smaller rim and tire combo will look normal in relation to the fender height if the axle is overslung, as the smaller diameter will give more overhead clearance with the fender. The problem with appearance would be the two arcs (fender and tire) would not match.

20" rims are around, but you'll be digging to find them. I found a pair each of 5-lug and 6-lug at a farm equipment repair shop junk yard.

If the trailer has the spacers I mentioned, they may have been reworked to take 5 studs, and the original 6-stud hole pattern may still be there.