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My little M416

71K views 182 replies 32 participants last post by  GregB_00XJ 
#1 ·
Well here goes...I have been wanting to have a trailer just for my 05' TJ since I got it.The other small trailers worked fine for hauling brush to the bottom pasture or the weekend trips to Home Depot but lacked in the looks when going on a trip.:hahaha: :mad:
Since I am new to the Jeep world and kind of a green horn when it comes to turning wrench's I thought it would be a good idea to hold off on molesting the TJ with newbee ideas.Thought if more time was spent learning how to do things like paint,body work,brakes,and axles on the trailer then it would give a better insight on the ways NOT to do with my pride.:2thumbsup: Also,it could give me a chance to pick up some well needed tools to boot.

SO...here she is in all her rusted up glory.It should be a fun ride.:cheers2:
 

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#5 ·
Yep. I was told by the PO that it was a radio trailer and the tailgate was a mod the military did soon after delivery. Don't know how much I believe of that story with the gate but it did have a plaque on the front showing it was in fact used as a radio trailer. Who knows. Will try to research that to see where it goes.

Stripped it down to nothing and sending it to the sand blasting boys. Hope it resembles a trailer next time I see her.

I will post a pic of the radio plaque tomorrow.Hope someone here knows anything about this so we can shed some light on it.
 
#7 ·
As soon as I got the bed away from the frame I figured that maybe it might not be hard to just remove the rust myself with a grinder wire brush.It only took a few hours of going nowhere and a lot of not paying any attendtion to lose a pair of pants (and almost the reason i wear them!!) before giving in to defeat and sending her to the sandblaster.:rolleyes:
 

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#9 ·
Spent some time with the axle while the trailer was at the sandblaster.Removed the drums to find everything was in great shape.No leaks,no pitting,no nothing.:D
Even the park brake shoes seem to be more then 50% left on them both! sweet
So i repacked the bearings and sanded the axle down to give it a couple of cans of rattle can.dont know what to do about the axle just yet...

Can someone please give some insight on the hubs? Seems that I hit a brick wall on lack of info with the search bar.My M416 came with a large hub dust cap.4 wheel parts sent me a set of wheel adaptors to go from 5x5.5 to 5x4.5 so i can run OEM rims.NEGATIVE.. That dust cap just wont fit inside the center of the adaptor.and from the looks of it,there is just not enough meat left if I was to have it machined out.HELP PLEASE
 

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#10 ·
I have both a PDF file and paper copy of the TM 9-2330-251-14&P that may be helpful but will need an email address to send it...or a fax number. You can also visit this site "g503.com" for everything you could ever hope to know or find about the M416 trailer. Good luck.
 
#12 ·
Got the body and frame back from the sandblasters but forgot to take a pic before i started shooting it with primer.Let me tell you that yall did not miss anything here...the primer was a exact match as the cleaned metal.It was pretty hard to see where the paint was getting applied at. Once one of my buddies came by and opened the door a little to get some of those fumes out I could see the wetness of the paint compaired to the dry metal.:D
 

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#14 ·
Finished up the undercoating.Looking good :club:

Took the frame to the barn to get a feel for the height.Some people have done the SOA on their trailers.Really did not any idea the true height that it would bring.
So....6 beers (3 kicked over) here I am. Stuck the Jeep next to it just to find it WAY too tall.Next to the Jeep it looked like a monster :monsta: Well...guess the only thing to do is kick over 3 more beers.:rantscream:
 

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#16 ·
how much did it cost you to sandblast it, or did you do it yourself?
 
#17 ·
Had a local guy do it for me. He did the tub,frame,fenders and the broken tailgate for a hundred bucks.
The guy could have charged me double and I would not have flinched! Sitting on that wire wheel sucked. Then when it decided to try and eat the boys...I knew I was done with that crap.

Thanks for doing what you are doing Greg Volkman. :D
 
#18 ·
The next thing I did was removed the 1'' black pipe that someone welded on for some sort of canopy.Since it is not in any of my plans to have something that resembles a covered wild west wagon...its gone.

It got late so we finished up removing everything that had a grease zert and cleaned out the area then replaced all the zerts.Refilled back with grease,then smiled and had a beer.:cheers2:
 

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#19 ·
I know some of you may frown on this but it HAD to be done :shhh: took a can of rattle can to some napa cheap shocks.Just could not see paying a small fortune for matching shocks (if they even make them) to fit on a trailer. One of the guys from napa stopped in the shop today and I asked him if he knew of a shock about this size.He brought me a set to try out :thumbsup:
Threw on a extra set of stickers so......good looking clone.:highfive:
 

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#20 ·
Took the trailer home over the weekend to do some work on her in the barn.Got the holes filled on some with the welder where I could (thin gauge metal + never even held a welder = not filling in the holes very good). Went to the metal supply shop and picked up some 3" flat bar to weld on inside of tub.This way i can weld thru the holes on the outside of the tub to stick em together.Seems to work good since their were about a dozen holes to fill on each side.

Left the pic's of the flat bar install on the camera at house so this is the best i could do here back at the shop.Also I added a pic of the tailgate chain's after they got moved a little south and west of old position.The plan on stage 2 of the build is to add a lid to the trailer.This way we know for sure it is not going to be a clearance issue.
 

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#23 ·
Did a little body filler where needed and sanded everything down. What do you think about the color?

Shot it with a gun the paint store said was a Ok one for what I was working on.(just hate to buy cheap tools!)
Does anyone know if it is a paint gun I need to keep or will it be a throw away??
 

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#30 ·
I love what you have done with this M416! Keep up the posts!

I am curious, what are the measurements of the floor area? Is it long enough to throw a sleeping bag in for the night?
The inside floor is 3 foot 5x 6 foot long.Never thought about it but that might be just enough room to :cheers: in.
 
#25 ·
On to the bed liner.Got the monstaliner in the other day.Those guys are first class customer service all the way.glad to be able to buy from a JF vendor and can not say enough good about this product.If they say it...they do it.That's what holds water with me.

Anyway.. here is the link
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f43/introducing-monstaliner-uv-permanent-diy-roll-bed-line-875162/

Prep work was super easy for me since the sandblasting took care of the rust and loose stuff.Went ahead and followed per the instructions
sanded all areas down with the provided pad.cleaned it all up with MEK (found it at local Sherwin Williams) then applied 2 coats of the liner.Ordered the 1 gallon kit off the web site but it did not need that much.No big deal cause it was fun rolling it on.Put it on as thick as it would allow me to between coats.
Those boys made it so you can roll it on with one hand.This keeps the other one free to hold the beer.:drool:

Thats about it on the :monsta:. It really is that easy to do.My best advise is to start your first coat mid morning because you are going to need about 3 hours in between coats to set up a little.Remember the clock is ticking with the stuff mixed in the can (12 hour life i think is what they said).This way you can go do some stuff and eat a bite of lunch before the next coat is ready to be applied.I started after I got done in the shop after work
(6:30pm) so it was kinda a bummer watching paint dry till 9pm on a work night while it tacked up. Shiner kept me in good company so no worries.
 

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