new M416 trailer in the stable

[maddawg308]

I picked this up from BigCASE last week when he swung up here. It is your standard M416 1/4-ton trailer, I wanted one for a while since I sold my old one years back and missed it ever since. I wish I had taken some digital pics of that trailer, I rebuilt everything ground up, $600 worth of new parts, stainless bolts everywhere, sandblasted and painted 24087. It was sweet, but times got tough and I had to sell the trailer. It is still cruising trails, I actually saw it at a George Washington National Forest cleanup earlier this year, the new owner was towing it behind a CJ7.

Anyways, this new trailer is heavily rusted. The chassis and suspension are solid, and all the little brackets and lunettes and things are there. The tires are okay, shocks might need to be replaced. However, the body itself is Swiss cheese, worse than I thought. Too bad to repair with repro panels, you'd be replacing the whole thing. Some places it's just CARC chips holding hands. You lean against it and it sounds like Rice Krispies from the rust bending.

SO, long story shorter I plan on cutting the whole body remains off, putting new decking down, and coming up with a quasi-M-762 trailer configuration, maybe with wooden sides that can be bolted on/off. I have attached some pics of the trailer I just got, and a final pic of a M762 trailer I found on Florida MVPA site. Any thoughts to the modification?

Also, am torn between doing a metal deck, like diamond plate, or wood planks. The wood would be cheaper to buy and work with, but the diamond plate would last longer, especially if I can get some aluminum or stainless.

What do you folks think? Other ideas?

 

[Scarecrow1]

On the 762 I have put some side rails and tailgate and that's about it . On the new one ........Well I think I would dump the old upper part and do about the same configuration on the frame that's left, I like to make utility trailers out of most of the surplus frames . Either way you have some work ahead for yourself ....

 

[Recovry4x4]

LOL, when I first started reading this thread I thought to myself that had I known Casey had this trailer, I would have tried to buy it. After finishing the read I was glad I didn't. I like the 762 bed idea myself.

 

[BFR]

can someone who has one of these make a dimensioned drawing of either the front or rear of the box? (& measure the length of the box) I have been kicking around an idea, but I am unwilling to hack one up.

 

[maddawg308]

Well, I spent half the day today tearing down the trailer to the frame and suspension, so I can see what I have to work with. After removing the body, which is shot, the wiring, shocks, hand brake assembly, little brackets and other junk that will not survive into the next incarnation, I saw that most of the frame is good. The rear "C" beam at the back end of the frame is a little rusty, and will need to be replaced eventually. The upper shock mounts are also heavily rusted and will need to be replaced at a later date. The spring brackets, U-bolts, and the spring hangers are too far gone, I have spares here I can use in better condition.

What surprised me was that the axle has a heavy amount of pitting from rust on the outside of the beam. It's solid, but I have a better one that I plan on using to make sure it's strong enough to handle a heavy load on mountain trails without failing.

Here's some pics of the progress, the last pics shows the trailer with everything stripped off, and the fenders in position, to give me an idea of what this will look like after the M-762 clone conversion.

Next steps: install new shocks, replacement spring mounts and axle, and getting the grinder out with the wire wheel and get this thing cleaned down for priming and painting.

 

[CGarbee]

Of course, if you wanted to keep it as a M416, you could talk to me about the spare tub that I have in the backyard...

I also have a M762 (USMC varient) in the yard that is kinda/sorta looking for a home...


Your project is comming right along, heck of a lot of work invested there.

 

[Alredneck]

Thats to bad 416s are getting harder to find and the price for one keep climbing. I saw one sell in AZ for $1500. The guy wanted a tailgate on it as well but then that would bring down it collector value to the purist.

 

[blybrook]

In terms of wood or metal decking, I would recommend the diamond plate. You can get aluminum or stainless, but plain steel would be fine and at a sever fraction of cost. Just do a good job with the primer before installation, then either paint it your color of choice, or look for a colored truck bed liner and coat everything.

When going with wood, most people overlook the capacity of the wood itself and use non-treated materials or too thin for their purpose. They'll be replacing the deck more often than they would have if they just stuck with steel plate.

 

[maddawg308]

I have some aluminum diamond plate laying around, but it's in sections. I may just get steel diamond plate cut to size to fit the deck and be done with it.

The underside of the frame and deck will be coated with bedliner or underbody coating to halt the rust that is there. Or at least slow it down.

What amazed me when I took it apart is the U-bolt nuts have HEAVY rust damage on them. As in, the nuts are so rusted they are literally half gone. I've never seen rust damage on that specific part as bad as this. It was a mystery until I saw a stencil on the back end of the trailer:

"FL-NG"

Florida National Guard.

That explains a lot about the rust.

 

[maddawg308]

Been a while, felt like tearing into the trailer today. I might have a need for it shortly, so it's gonna start the transformation from lawn ornament into a working trailer.

Got to work with a angle grinder with a sanding disc, and starting hitting the frame channels, knocked off about 10 layers of CARC and lead-based paint, and plenty of rust spots. I took off so much paint on the lunette I think the trailer lost 5 pounds.

Some of the perches and shackles are so rusty that they have lost a good deal of their metal. Take a look at the pic with the bed/frame shackles and the spring perch. I think I'll have to find a better set of the latter, I'm not sure it would handle much weight. The shackles snapped off when I tried to unbolt them. Come to think of it, most of the bolts holding this thing together are rusty and very weak, I believe I'm going to be replacing most of them with new Grade 8 bolts soon. All to be expected from a trailer that served in the Florida National Guard.

The fenders were surprisingly solid, the underside was cheaply coated with underbody coating, it came off in sheets with a gasket scraper. Might be putting a new coat of it on, but the old was really weak.

More later...

 

[Ripcord01]

Looks like you are doig a good there. The tub didnt look too bad. I have seen worse.
These little trailers are great to have. The good thing is that they are very versatile and have the ability to be hauled by most vehicles. keep up the good work and throw up a few more pics as you progress.