I know this going to sound stupid to some, but, I have a diesel F-250. With the factory trailer towing kit on my truck would the M101's be plug and play for these or should I expect to take a whole new harness to pick one up?
Also are you guys taking a ball setup with you to replace the pintle loop that are on there from DOD use? If so can you shed some insight into which ones you are getting?
With the DOD issued bows and tarp, are they strong enough to hold up an RTT with people actually in them or are yall fabricating new bows for them to handle the weight?
How much of an issue is it to get these trailers registered after picking them up? Obviously the depot is giving you some kind of bill of sale for it and all, but I am worried that since I am military that I may get accused of theft. That happened to a Soldier in my Battalion when he had hummvee tires and wheels on his chevy truck. Luckily for him he had a reciept from a surplus place that sold them to him.
For the harness I just replaced the military stuff from the junction block to the trailer plug with some 7 wire trailer harness and a civilian plug. I also put 12 volt bulbs in the taillights. The junction block should be on the left side of the trailer tongue on the inside covered by a tin shield. Either get a wiring diagram and hope your trailer wires still have the metal ID tags on them or use a DVOM set on ohms and figure out which wires go where. You should only have to worry about 4: tail, left turn/brake, right turn/brake, and ground. Civilian trailer wires are pretty easy to remember: white is ground, brown is tail, green is right, and yellow is left. My BO lights are now non-functional.
I would keep the pintle hitch on the trailer, you can get one that will go on a two inch reciever to go in your truck. This allows a little more off road twisty than a ball.
I don't know about the bows being strong enough but from my experience in the motor pool I would have my doubts they would hold a RTT with people. You could always pick up a S-250 shelter to go in the trailer and then mount your RTT to that.
If you buy the trailer off a government auction site you will be issued a SF97 which is basically a bill of sale. You then take this to your DMV and get a title and registration. If you buy it off a private party and its not already registered make sure you get the SF97 from them, it will save you a big headache. I know first hand. Make sure you have reciepts for everything you get that is painted OD or goverment surplus, just because you are on base. I think you will probably be hassled from time to time by the MP's towing an OD trailer behind a POV even if the trailer has a civy license plate on it. Keep the trailer registration and copies of the reciepts for it with the trailer for when this occurs.
This will be a nice set up for your F250 but for a Jeep or smaller SUV would probably be a little on the heavy side for much use. Good luck.