Pinz Trailer Manufacture Sutter

[uberpinz]

Does anyone have any information on what the trailer bows or the cover looks like from the inside of this trailer. I would like to purchase or build a cover for it. I purchased the trailer from Jim L. Goatwerks. It is in great shape and will make a fine trailer.


The company is located in Switzerland and here is their website http://www.sutter-fahrzeugbau.ch.
The Type number of the trailer is g50-0879. It is without canvas. The number on the identification plate for the chassis number is 173 it was made in 1974/75, manufacture Sutter Lungern, weight rating 750kg

Other Type numbers are:
g50-0974 Same trailer with a cover that goes over top of the trailer without bows.
g50-0616 Same trailer without a canvas nor fenders (It looks just like the g50-879 otherwise).
g50-0668 Same trailer with a canvas, bows and fenders.

Now for the OOPS!
I went on the Mammoth Treffen organized by John and Glori Wessels and went on the Champion Mine trail ride. Unfortunately the brain cell that had the information on how to drive the Pinzgauer went south (must have been the altitude). On the way up and down the trail I forgot how to put it in 4x4. Yep really screwed up, the ride scared the hell out of my brother. I did put it into low (via the red knobbed lever, near the gas pedal) but rarely flipped down the green lever, duh. So I was basically in 2x2 low and applying the lockers when necessary (ha) thinking that I was in 4x4 low and applying the lockers when I was slipping around. Anyway driving several vehicles makes me a little nutsy, so I am going to write up a little procedure for each.
There now go ahead and laugh, I can take it!
Thanks

Jay

[PinzHound]

Hi Jay,
You should have hung with the 712s. I was the first to get stuck, on the very first ride. Michel (with the yellow 712) came back to help. When I asked him how much trouble I was in, he assured me everything was fine. He then explained patiently and in great detail what each of those levers on my console did. (Hey, I'd been a year since I last used them). Once in 4WD the rest was a piece of cake. I think he did watched over me the rest of the ride, but then again, I am a newbee.

Here's some photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinz6x6/se ... 761461416/ of Chidago Canyon on the way up to the Champion Spark Plug Mine and of Minneret Rd the day before http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinz6x6/se ... 761446360/.

I'm sorry we bailed going up to the mine. We not only missed what sounds like an exciting ride, but I wasn't there when Michel needed the gas can that I carried. You probably never heard that he had run out of gas a mile and a half before what he thought was the last rendezvous. It took him a while to realize no one was coming back for him. Good thing he had a satellite phone to call for rescue. I'll ask his permission to post his story of Father/son bonding adventure.

Oh, and by the way, that is a beautiful trailer, good luck getting the info you seek.

[uberpinz]

Oh, by way that was not the only oops. I had emptied the Pinz prior to taking it up to Goat Werks to get the valves adjusted. So when I picked up to go up to the treffen I had to resupply it via a rental car that we picked up at the San Diego airport. I thought that I packed the rental with all of the tools that I had taken out... NO! I left out a bag that had all of my air chucks to fill up the tires with. So I limped into Bishop and filled up the tires at 45 miles per hour. Getting the 4 tires up from 14-20psi to 50psi took forever and annoyed the hell out of the gas station attendant; he must have flipped that switch 16 times before I was done. What’s funny to Me is that I have had the Pinz for years now, I guess with the loosing of more gray hair I should expect losing memory cells as well.

I know more laughs and giggles...

Jay

[PinzHound]

Air chucks? You forgot air chucks?! All I forgot was my jack handle. I'd been using it with a larger jack in my garage. We had a blow out in Stockton. Didn't notice until we stopped to camp in Yosemite (got to love 6 wheels, lose one and you still have one more than you need). At the time of the blowout, it felt like driving over a garden hose.

With the bad cell coverage in the campground, we need to use the Rangers phone to call AAA. Help never showed, the Ranger had gone off shift by the time AAA had called back for confirmation. Only after a good night's sleep did I realize that I could use my socket wrench handle and pliers to operate the jack. When we got to the tire guy in Mammoth he showed me a large wood fastener that had pierced my Maloya and ripped the tube. I knew it was coming, I could see the gleam in his eye. His perfect opportunity to make his favorite joke; "You got screwed".

Sorry to hi-jack your trailer thread. Maybe we should ask Vince to start a humor section. Regards, Mike

[PinzHound]

I got permission from Michel to share the email he sent me. Here's his account of the ride back from Champion Spark Plug Mine.

Hello and thank you for your e-mail and direction to the cool pictures.

Thank God another person showed up with a Pinzy, I would have felt completely out of place among the syncros.

Too bad you weren't able to be around on saturday afternoon. The ride up the mountain was interesting, so was the hike.

Less interesting was the return to the campground. Leader was in a hurry to return to have Tequila... and requested to speed through the dirt roads.
Synchros averaged 50 mph on the dirt roads. The Pinz did the best it could but eventually, I started to slow down in the uphills. The syncs behind me eventually passed me and I became the last truck. They eventually became out of sight... but not to worry, as we were suppose to all reconnect at the asphalt road.

Three miles from the asphalt, I ran out of gas!!! Wow, what a miscalculation on my part. We rode the truck so hard, that I burnt through gas at 35% the normal rate, rendering my distance down from 330 km to 220 in two days. Not to worry, I knew they'd be back to locate me within 15 minutes, as they were just ahead waiting. Unfortunately, they did not stop at the asphalt road to re-assemble. THEY left us in the desert, me and my nine year old son... as the darkness set.

After waiting for 45 minutes, I decided to use my satellite phone and call my wife in Mamoth Lakes. She located the number of our fearless leader on the internet, called him and had to leave a message, as they were not in cell phone reception yet. When they finally got the message, they returned to us in a hurry...without gas. Needless to say, without my satellite phone, my son and I might have spent the night in the desert. They were riding away.

So an interesting week-end became a week-end of true adventure. My wife and I hypothesized a few scenarios out of this. I'm sure you see the potential for a really bizarre
time in the desert had we not owned a satellite phone. Of course, running out of gas is unacceptable...should have filled the tank saturday morning too. Interestingly, I usually have three days of gas when the tank is full. This time, had quite a surprise.

Mikey was a little worried, but we had food, water and clothes. I wan't too concerned, there's always a solution. We finally got gas back in the truck at about 11 PM, my wife drove me back in our pick up. Tough to find those silly dirt roads at night time.

I will send you pictures soon.

Michel and Mikey

Being a bit of a smart ass I sent him a picture of my Pinz with the bright red gas can center frame. Being a true gentleman he replied;

Nice picture of the Pinzy with a most beautiful can of petrol!!!
This picture must be when you passed in Yosemite, sure looks like it.

Regarding our little unpredictable stop in the desert, this is certainly something my
son will remember and talk about for a long time. Father/son bonding time. It was very peaceful,
not a sound but ours. As I think back, there were a lot more fun moments than bad moments. It certainly imprinted
the desert image in my brain. Beautiful landscape.

As for group riding, I think I'll try to stick to the Pinz predominant groups in the future. I prefer slow rides with bigger obstacles. That's what the Pinz is built for... not rushing up or down mountains.

Yours in Health,

Michel

Wow, what grace. I, myself have over active adrenal glands. At least nature gave me red hair to warn others. My wife (Carol), my dog, and I all had a great time, part of that was thinking we were a lot safer than we really were. This trip has me seriously considering investing in some type of satellite communications.

Regards, Michael, Carol, and the PinzHound

[PinzHound]

Enough about me, Found this on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Swiss-Ar ... 9a7b#v4-35

Hope it helps

[edzz]

Glad all turned out well, those Syncro boys are an interesting group and do march to a slightly different drummer than the Pinz crowd. Rather than a satellite phone you may want to think about the Spot devices http://www.findmespot.com/en/ as a less expensive alternative. Another consideration is Ham (amateur) radio, good trail and regional communication and depending on setup potential worldwide communication. Since the code requirement was dropped the licensing is much easier. If you want more info about Ham radio let me know.

[uberpinz]

Pinz hound thanks for the ebay trailer image. First one to show the insides of the trailer. It may not be the same trailer but it is close. And thanks for more humor and Michels story of woe.

Jay

[krick3tt]

Pinzhound,

When I first got my pinz, I used to run around with a jeep group as I could find no pinzies to play with.
At the end of the trail they would all haul it to get home leaving me alone in some interesting places. I got used to it and would plan to spend
the night and go home in the morning as it is better to travel some trails with real light from the sky. Got used to carrying extra gas, food and
water as well as my sleeping bag and such. Got very independent and somewhat self sufficient that way...I looked at it as training for my often alone trips.

Hard to fault folks with 300+ HP under the hood and the desire to use it.

Really annoyed me the first time but I adapted and I had a good vehicle under me. Good to hear you and your son have a memory to share that is positive.

[Q]

When I was looking for a trailer I came across this image:



(I eventually found a british Sankey MK2 Widetrack- which is what I really wanted).

[uberpinz]

Thanks Q

It looks like they didn't use the squire tubes on the outside and when I look at mine there are no holes in the location that those uprights are in... Nor are there any holders in the inside corners. They could have welded the corner holders in. That setup looks just like you would expect though. I have another few of this trailer being towed by a 710k looks like it was in a forested area.

Thanks that really helps

Jay