M116A2 Expedition Trailer Build

[mkcoen]

Well I'm giving in and rebuilding the axle that's on there. I was hoping I could just use the old drums on the electric backing plates but that won't work either without a fair bit of modification of the inside of the drum. I know when I'm whupped and will just live with the surge brakes. This way I get to keep the parking brakes as well so it's not a complete loss.

I got the left side done this afternoon since it was the one I'd taken off for the test. I went ahead and replaced both the inner and outer wheel bearings. The old ones looked in good shape so I'll put them in a ziplock and throw it in the tool box in the event I have a roadside meltdown somewhere in the future. My firm belief is that if you've got the parts to fix something with you then Murphy doesn't bother breaking that, he'll just find something else to screw up.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the right side then look to see what kind of tires I can find to replace the waaaaay out of date ones that are on there now.

 

[Another Ahab]

How's the PT working out; does it feel like a little progress?

 

[mkcoen]

How's the PT working out; does it feel like a little progress?

I'm making tons of progress. When I first went in I could bend my left knee (good one) 140° and my right knee (bum one) 80°. I can now get my right knee to 125° so figure a couple more weeks and I should have range of motion back to pre-accident.

Well once again 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

I pulled the right side hub apart this morning and it wasn't in near as good of shape as the left side. There were signs of water intrusion in the hub and the outer wheel bearing was locked up tight and shows signs of heat damage. The inner bearing looked in good shape though so the hub was turning okay just getting hot on the outside of the spindle. I brought this and another M116A2 home on my flatbed trailer so the only distance I've towed it was about 3 miles to the sandblaster and back and didn't get a chance to feel the hubs to see if they were getting hot (actually Keith_J towed it home as the day I towed it over was the day I broke the kneecap).

Once I got all the old grease cleaned out I could see that the outer bearing race was damaged also. That's the part that I'm guessing I'll have to order and wait for it to get in. I've got all the bearings and the outers had to be ordered so I'll bet the race will too. Time to head into town and face the music.

Here's some pics. The first one shows the order of disassembly from left to right. So that means what kids? Assembly is in that order only from right to left. Next is the bad bearing and finally the bad race.

 

[mkcoen]

Race won't be in until 4/24. Since its going to take that long I went ahead and ordered a set of shocks too. If I was really industrious I would simply pull a hub off my other generator trailer but it's in the back field with a MEP003 on it. Plus this way I get the rest of the day off.

 

[combat32]

Let me know when you get done with hubs on that one and I'll drop mine off.

 

[mkcoen]

Let me know when you get done with hubs on that one and I'll drop mine off.

Bring your credit card. Bearings for these things ain't cheap.

 

[mkcoen]

Finally got the new parts in to finish the axle rebuild. While the inner bearing race isn't a Timken at least it's not Chinese. I don't know how much better Spanish metallurgy is but I'll take a chance that something from Spain is better than something from China.

I didn't have a socket the right size to set the race but fortunately the old race worked just fine to do that. I got it set, the bearings packed, everything in place and then torqued to the TM specifications.

While ordering the race I went ahead and ordered new shocks. They were a perfect match with zero modifications needed and now I'm confident that the trailer has several good years of trail dragging in it before having to do too much further. Now on to the body!

 

[Tinstar]

What part number shocks did you get.
It will help someone who is looking for a set.

I did timken bearings and races on both of mine. It wasn't cheap but I also don't have to worry about them for a long time. National seals also.

Not familiar with the ones you bought, but anything is better than the China junk they're selling now.

Its a good feeling knowing the bearings and seals are good instead of wondering.

 

[mkcoen]

What part number shocks did you get.
It will help someone who is looking for a set.

Here you go. If someone needed them and pulled this up on their phone the shop could probably just scan the UPC and pull it up.

 

[mkcoen]

I started taking some of the unneeded items off the trailer such as the stake pockets and reflector plates. The plates I'm going to repurpose as fill material for the pocket openings on the deck. There are a couple of spots where the deck was bent up and tore the side metal. I left the stake pockets at those 2 points so we can use them as leverage assists to bend the deck back down while the cracks are being welded. I also took off the rear landing leg. The bracket bit me in the back while I was working on the shocks so I kind of enjoyed removing it. I'll be mounting adjustable landing legs on the 2 rear corners at a later date.

 

[mkcoen]

Change of plans. Check the classifieds if you'd like to take over the project.

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?169460-For-Sale-M116A2-and-Aluminum-Shelter

 

[Another Ahab]

Change of plans. Check the classifieds if you'd like to take over the project.

https://youtu.be/m4DWmADZh5I