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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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#157 ·
Hey HesterJ...

Yeah, I have still been thinking about the water tank and pump etc. I have an On Demand HW heater and 2 GPM water pump on the way through a friends shop. He is already using one, and it is awesome! He built a custom wood trailer (same guy that built my lid) and he had a tank made for it. I believe his worked out to 16 gals and of course it is potable/safe so is the pump.

We used this setup on our last trip, it was amazing. The on demand HW was the key to it all. Washing dishes takes literally minutes and showers are no prob. I think I will get some measurements and then get my tank made at the same place in Vancouver. They put in baffles and everything. My guess, I will get maybe 10-15 gal under there and only loose 6" of clearance. My trailer floor currently sits about 30" off the ground, so that should not be an issue. I will likely only add a front skid to the tank, but may go full skid and mount the tank with steel straps to the floor and the skid to the frame.

Got a link to the site where you can calculate the gal per size of a custom tank??

:thumbsup:
 
#158 ·
Sorry bud. I can not for the life of me remember what that stupid website is. Could have swore that it was saved to favorites but now it's gone. I'm going to see if my kids can help me dig it out of history. If we come across it,I will pass it along to you.
I did manage to find a few sites that had a good selection. The product finder box in the left upper side is cool too. It's the long way around the porch but you still get in the house at the end of the day.
Not quite ready for the starting of the water/fuel tanks yet myself. The days are getting shorter here. Sucks that it's getting dark before 8:00 pm. Sure makes it hard to wanna go outside. Guess this is as close to cabin fever as a texas boy will ever get. :)

I'm old,ugly, and retarded so no work has been done to the trailer in the last few weeks. Priorities must be kept....dove season is passing its torch to the deer.

Dog Photograph Carnivore Cabinetry Dog breed
 
#160 ·
Just spent the past half hour plus reading this thread from page 1. Let me just say that I have been planning a trailer build before I started the frame-off CJ project…Which is a long time (I don't want to think about how many years that is). I have NEVER seen a project done as well as this one. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and have on my trailer…complete with water-tight lid…but sometimes I hadn't quite got to the stage of thinking of how to do it. Your build is by far the best I've seen and is almost EXACTLY what I want to do with mine. GREAT job, especially for someone who claims they are a somewhat inexperienced wrench turner…you fooled me!!! Great job and keep up the great work.
 
#162 ·
stearman42 said:
Just spent the past half hour plus reading this thread from page 1. Let me just say that I have been planning a trailer build before I started the frame-off CJ project…Which is a long time (I don't want to think about how many years that is). I have NEVER seen a project done as well as this one. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and have on my trailer…complete with water-tight lid…but sometimes I hadn't quite got to the stage of thinking of how to do it. Your build is by far the best I've seen and is almost EXACTLY what I want to do with mine. GREAT job, especially for someone who claims they are a somewhat inexperienced wrench turner…you fooled me!!! Great job and keep up the great work.
Thank you for the kind words. It is much appreciated. Your encouragement keeps me wanting to show it off in the finished stage.

just wished I could figure out a beautiful weld. Really would like to do the lid's skinning myself.

I hope you share some pics if you do decide to start your trailer. It will be awesome behind a CJ. (anything is made better behind a jeep lol).

My nephew and I have been throwing around some ideas on the placement of the batteries. They will be a better grade then the ones used on a standard car,so they can be placed in any position. He is helping me work the bugs out of the idea to build a bridge over the chuckbox from drivers side to passengers.
The batteries will nest comfortably inside the new space that the lid created when in the closed position. ( kind of like a attic inside the tub of the trailer.) This idea will bring the weight of the batteries off the tongue, shorten the run of expensive cable, and use "wasted" space over the chuckbox.

The best part.....I get to play with the welder so more!
 
#163 ·
threeb said:
What kind of tires are you looking at or did get?
I bought 3 new matching 31x10.5x15 BFG KO's and OEM rims same as my TJ for the build. Wished they could be used with the trailer axle setup.lots of people SAY it can be done....until I pull a wad of cash out and say ok,build it.
Then it's a lot of ugh ugh sorry sir we can not do it on this one blah blah blah.

Its going to run the standard issue rims and tires. I picked up another good set from tripc off of expedition portal. Now with a spare...it needs a holder. :)
 
#164 ·
I didn't think you had swapped yet. I'm trying to find an appealing set of OE size tires but they are pricy. I believe my NDTs are from the early 80s or late 70s and one was in the sun and the other was not. I wish I could just pick up and off the shelf hub and bolt it to the axle and call it done.
 
#165 ·
threeb said:
I didn't think you had swapped yet. I'm trying to find an appealing set of OE size tires but they are pricy. I believe my NDTs are from the early 80s or late 70s and one was in the sun and the other was not. I wish I could just pick up and off the shelf hub and bolt it to the axle and call it done.
Me too brother!! I struggled with the OEM rim fitting dilemma for way longer then needed. At the end of the day the best advice to anyone attempting the swap is to either change out the axle or find a CJ rim that is close to the style of the pulling vehicle.

All I can say about the pricy tires is to save the money to buy quality. What good is a trailer on the side of the road with a flat tire? How much is the cost of time and tow while on a planned trip? Face it,we are all slaves to our jobs We usually only get a short window to play each year. Weather it's a weekend,week,2week,or a months excursion, it's never long enough. Don't rob yourself of the good times. Enjoy them.
Coker tires sells a reproduction tire that might be going on my trailer some day.

Side note: I used the cutting torch to remove the inner-most lip of a ford rim closest to the stud holes. It gave me the needed clearance around the hubs to be able to mount the rim to the axle. Now don't worry here...it was just for a emergency spare on a trip we were on. The tire won't see even that duty anymore since the correct rims were found. It was cool to see those BFG's on th!
 
#170 ·
I wished!!

A few details have been done since the last update,but none worth posting. Managed to tidy up the wire harness in preparation for some new items

The real hold up is figuring out the lift for the tent frame. It need to be higher off the lid so a lower tent room can work. Got an idea but just need a little more time to work out the details. :)
Not going with the same old idea as the 4 posts straight up. This one will require hydraulic fluid. :p
 
#173 ·
No updates yet. My little trailer has been sitting at the house untouched for the last few months. Time would not permit me to get a lot of things worked out before a few hunts came around. I really wanted to bring it with the jeep here to Mexico. Brought my other trailer (built a few years ago to sleep 6-8).

For all you in the northern states...... Sitting on a dirt road in my dirty jeep. 83 degrees outside,32 degrees in the beer cooler,and 100 percent calm in the soul. :)
 
#175 ·
Hey Greg, thanks for checking in on the loafer over here.

The trailer has been hooked up to the jeep for almost a year without being disconnected once. It has seen the Gulf of Mexico to Panhandle and even some of west Texas. Time has been spent trying to figure out a solid direction to the build. That's why a lot of time has been spent over on ExPo.

My wife has serious reservations with the idea of sleeping in a RTT. Even the thought of a overnight at a buddy's lake lot gets big thumbs down from her. She just can't get past the tent idea. Personally,I feel she does not feel secure enough.
So...I introduced her to the world of teardrop trailers. Figured a door with a lock would be just the ticket.
She fell in love.

So here we are.....

I'm not going to spend the coin on something my wife will not accompany me in and I surely will not be selling my shiney toy!

This is where I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie cast away as he was standing in that 4 way. Thinking to myself, which direction? :p

As of today:

I'm going to button up some small details with the M416 for now and call it good. For sure it will get better interior bed lighting,figure a way to make the stock lights more visible (brighter),house battery w/charger and switch's. Still need a way to haul extra fuel for the jeep too. And.....
More will happen with the M416 once my son gets a little older. That's when the RTT idea will be revisited.

A few more projects around the house need to be finished. The girls add-on rooms are near finished. The chicken coop check list only has a few more things to cross off. Then it will be time to start the build on a teardrop. This way it's a win no matter the road I choose to take...or the trailer.
 
#176 ·
Hey Hester.

Yeah I totally understand that. My wife is "ok" with the RTT, but many arent. We have a 2009 21' Tent Trailer so she is used to camping in a "tent"...well sort of. I brought up the idea of Tear Drops with an RTT for the kids, she said no (insert explitive) way. Sadly...

My buddy has designed and is building a prototype offroad teardrop trailer which should be amazing. Lightweight, strong and fully kitted out. I wanted to buy the first production one, but this is looking like it will not happen. lol

Glad to hear the 416 and the RTT will remain for the kids enjoyment at least.

:thumbsup:
 
#177 ·
Time certainly flys by fast these days.

My little trailer has seen a bunch. But after a few years of abuse under its belt, it is needing some much needed love.

I bought the 4x8 sheets of 16 gauge metal. They set idle for a few months while I was deciding how they might be bent/broke over the curves. Figured I could build some sort of jig that would afford me a nice clean line.
That's how I was introduced to the sheer will of metal! It said "not today little man! After several failed attempts at a long clean line I gave up. It just seemed to be out of my ability to get the metal bent over And look good at the same time. We used hammer and block,a long angle iron jig,empty beer bottles and foul language...nothing seemed to work with any great result.

So the trailer ran with its skeleton lid and a tarp draped over it. Gave just enough weather protection to call it ok for the mean time.

Thats until I ran across a thread on td&ttt. They use a system of lightweight plywood and canvas to build some of their campers. Makes for a really light,waterproof structure.

So I got to work.
 
#179 ·
As you can see in the above pic,I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the square tubing. Then a skin of plywood was glued down to the metal frame. Liquid nail did a really good job. No screws were needed at all.

The next step was to give the outside of the plywood a healthy coat of type 2 wood glue. A regular old paint roller was used to get a thick even coat down. Then a painters tarp was centered and lowered down into that nasty mess of glue. I used a hand held squeegee type piece of plastic to work out all of the air pockets that got trapped before the glue had a chance to set up. Folded under the painters cotton tarp to the inside of the lid all the way around the lip. Then called it done for the day.

The next morning I came in and gave the outside lid a coat of house exterior grade black paint. just rolled it on the same as you would a normal paint job. After letting the oil base paint dry completely, a second coat was given.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1761938&stc=1&d=1419379083
 

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#180 ·
So now it is left looking like this:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1761946&stc=1&d=1419379230
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1761954&stc=1&d=1419379230

It comes in at around 50 pounds total! (with the square tube and hinges) That's a huge loss of weight compared to the idea of the metal. Sure its not going to be as strong as the 22 gauge I bought..but thinking back at how we have used it.. a cotton tarp by itself stood up to the strength task just fine!
Wished I had taken a pic of the kids jumping up and down on it after I finished it. Maybe I can redo that test. My 7 year old boy would love to do it over I'm sure. :)

So to recap a long awaited mod to the trailer;
its waterproof. It has lived outside in the last week of nonstop rain (sorta unheard of here in Texas lately) without one single drip entering the tub. I placed a few sheets of paper towels in the floor just so we wouldn't miss it if a couple of drops made it in undetected. Still dry as a bone.

It has the same texture and color as my Jeeps soft top. We took in one of the windows to Home Depot to color match the house paint. It is a perfect match. Even has the same styled sewn seam as the factory top too. I ended up getting a smaller(9x12) tarp so it would come with that seam down the middle. Some of the foamie guys and girls over on td&ttt try like mad to not have a seam in their builds. Guess its all in what kind of look a person is going for.

Next we need to adjust the lid and install back the Jeep hood hold downs to finish off this little project. The lid is not centered in those pics yet. Then a rack on top of the lid might be next in line. I couldn't do without the jeeps rack,but I could do without the crawling around way up top to remove everything. Having a on the trailer lid would bring the load lower and out of the slipstream, making my Jeep close to a Prius in fuel economy right?? :D

All in all it will work for me just fine.
 

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