Bought a M416 trailer - What year could it be?

[K9Vic]

I bought a M416 trailer from a fire department that was used for air tank storage/refill. It was converted to ball hitch and the rear has a hole cut out of it where they accessed the air tanks. The tail lights are also converted and original missing. The rear does not open and looks like it was manufactured that way, I have seen pictures of M416 with this same look. There is no data plate so I do not know what year it is no title. I am thinking 60s model, but I do not know much about these and not much info I found on the net. Trailer is in great condition as it was stored inside a climate controlled garage being a fire department.

So can anyone help with year and if the rear should have a non-opening tail gate?

 

[Stan]

No tailgate.

 

[Wolf.Dose]

Year of manufacture? Hmm, between 1962 and 1973 according to my manuals. And they never ever had tail gates. With tail gate the trailer will not float with 250 lbs of payload, even not unladen.
Wolf

 

[K9Vic]

I finally have got around to fixing my M416 trailer that I bought over a year ago and so far it is looking good considering how I got it with the hole in the rear. I happen to get lucky on Sunday at Harbor Fright, they had their sidewalk sale and put 50% off the listed price on floor model and return items. They happen to have a plasma cutter marked down to $350 and with 50% off it was $175 and looked new being a floor model. So I bought it and had to spend about another $50 for misc parts for the cutting tip, but still worked out to be about $225 when done. So I now had a way to cut the metal to weld in the hole and for my first project like this it turned out OK.

I have spent about 8 hours working on the repair and now I only have to prime sand and paint the trailer. The metal stock was about $40 and other misc items $20 with some more work to do. I did not insert the metal into the hole as I did not think that would be too strong, so I made my patch larger than the hole. This would hold it in place over the existing area and was able to weld in in the front and back. It may not look as neat as if it was a flat piece, but it is functional and when painted it should not really show.

I should have it done in a few weeks as I need to get the paint stripped so I can paint it green. From there it will be done, but it still was converted to 2" ball hitch that I decided was too expensive to convert back. It will still look good being my M1009, so not too worried about the hitch being incorrect.

After I sand the primer and clean it up more it will look better, this is just the rough first sand and paint. Other images are who it was used by the Fire Department to fill SCUBA tanks as to why it had the hole in it. The converted ball hitch as well.

 

[maddawg308]

I hate those folks who buy military trailers, go to the expense and time to convert to ball hitches (which are weaker than pintle), and then WE have to go to the expense of converting it back. Pure rubbish. I would be easier to get a pintle hitch on the truck they are towing it with, and retain the ruggedness of that system than convert everything to ball.

Nice save, your work looks very good!

 

[K9Vic]

I hate those folks who buy military trailers, go to the expense and time to convert to ball hitches (which are weaker than pintle), and then WE have to go to the expense of converting it back. Pure rubbish. I would be easier to get a pintle hitch on the truck they are towing it with, and retain the ruggedness of that system than convert everything to ball.

Nice save, your work looks very good!

Thanks, I know my work is not perfect but I did it myself.

I agree on the hitch, does not make sense to do that when it is cheaper to buy a pintle for your truck. There was the whole set up on eBay this week that I could have converted it back. I passed as it would have added about $200 more on what I already have into it and just did not see that it would overall make me break even if I did sell the trailer. So I am just fixing the hole and from there see what I want to do with it. I like the M101A2/3 trailers better, but the small M416 looks better behind a M1009.

 

[harleyhouse]

Grind the V frame hitch off, Looks like the original nose is under it.
Spend 50 bucks for an adjustible channel and lunette Weld it on the front.
It works great for my needs.

 

[K9Vic]

Thanks for the idea Harleyhouse.

I think I found how to do it for $30 with a receiver lunette from Tractor Supply that will fit well inside how they modified the hitch. There is a 2" gap that and hole that will fit the lunette and I will bolt it in and weld it to hold it in place. Yeah it will not be original, but at least it will be a pintle setup again.

You can kind of see in the pictures of how it will work. Since I have the plasma cutter it will be easy to cut and clean the parts out. You can see how sloppy the cuts is, hopefully I will be able to make it neater.


It will probably be a week until I can get to that, but will update the change.

EDIT: Found it 1/2 the price at Tractor Supply for $30 compared to $60 at Northern Tool, so this project will turn out cheaper.

 

[K9Vic]

Well this project would not have been possible without the plasma cutter as grinding & cutter would have been a major PITA. Probably would not have even been able to do this without a plasma cutter, or spent a ton of cash on cut off blades and piss off my neighbors with the noise.

I do wish I would have bought that whole pintle M416 setup that was listed recently, but I did not have the plasma cutter at that time. I found that I could have salvaged the original setup and put the correct setup back on it, but who knows when one would show up again.

I finished my pintle setup using over the counter parts from Tractor Supply, Northern Tool & Harbor Freight, this was three places as the price of the parts I needed was cheaper at three places, but at least they are were close to me. Harbor sells a receiver adapter for $12 that you can weld onto anything to accept the 2" pintle I got from Tractor Supply for $30. The trailer jack was from Northern as it was on sale for $18. Add about $15 in blots and you have about a $75 for the parts to make this work. It took me about 10 hours to complete the project over two days as the Texas heat is too much afternoon. The only thing I messed up on was the receiver holder is about 1/4 off set to one side, I think it shifter before I put my tack weld on. You can only really see it on the back side, but being a pintle that will not matter as it shifts when connected anyways. I kept the plate that was welded on there for the ball hitch that was added, i just cut it off on the sides and along the front of the original trailers arms. The receiver was welded and bolted in place, so it is not going anywhere. I also have the pintle bolted on the receiver and welded it in place so it does not shift. I installed small metal plates to tighten it in the receiver, it barley moved with the bolt. After everything was welded I grinned the welds to smooth them out so they look better as I am not a super expert at welding. The whole system looks like it should be there in my opinion and when the trailer is painted green it will all look even better.

I still have to finish the rear gate by cleaning up my welds and from there it will be sand blasted and painted all 383 green. The reflective tape is easy to remove when you do not have to worry about the paint, so that will not be a big deal.

So here are the pictures....
.

 

[K9Vic]

Oh, and can anyone help me to create a data plate for it so I can get a license plate. Texas needs some type of ID, so I want to try to keep close to what would have been on a M416. I already have a blank plate to attach after I have it painted.

I added a picture of what I have above. I ned to fill in the following, so if anyone has an example. I will no copy vehicle ID, that I will create a unique number from what I get as an example.

MDF BY
VEH IDENT. NO.
CONTRACT NO.
DELIVERY DATE
INSPECTED

EDIT: I made it more clear that I already have a blank plate, I was too vague before.

 

[harleyhouse]

I like your hitch work.
as for a data plate check ebay I have seen blank ones on there for a 416.

 

[K9Vic]

I like your hitch work.
as for a data plate check ebay I have seen blank ones on there for a 416.

Thanks it was allot of work, but I enjoy working on projects like this.

I already have a blank, I just wanted to know what to stamp in it. I edited my previous post to make that more clear. After I read it again it seemed like I was asking where to get one.

 

[Tobiasinla]

I just wanted to know what to stamp in it.

You got some stamping to do if you want to fill in all of those fields. I think CEMSCO was more common on the left coast, so not sure if you want to use them or find someone with a Steven's plate to get some numbers from. There is nothing in the "Inspected" box

 

[task125]

Nice Trailer,I love my m416,but no tailgate makes it limited for what I need to do with a trailer and I can't get myself to cut it.

 

[task125]

I just put mine up for sale on craigslist.I need a trailer that dumps with a tailgate