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Military 101/Off Road Adventure Trailer

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Well after a few years of wanting one of those military trailers that you see in the WW2 flics being towed behind a jeep, I finally got one. Not that particular one which is the M416 but one that I like better, the later model M101. It's a little larger, plus it's got a flip down tailgate. A lot of surface rust but structurally sound.
Only on spot that is rusted thru. Nothing I can't fix.

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8' long 5' 5" wide with a Pintal hitch. You know it's tuff when you see the name Rockwell on that large jack in the corner. There's two of them but I'll use some lighter ones. Not going th throw away though.

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The bed and frame are in great shape. Check out the leaf pack. Trailer rated at 3/4 ton.

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Only makes sense that it has a military wrap leaf spring at ends. Nice safety feature.

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16" rims with military 8 ply tires that are 35" tall :eek: Believe it or not, but there in great shape.
Love the way these trailers sit up so tall when being towed. In fact it may just sit level when hooked up to the Bronco. Of course the trailer will be paint satin black after some major sanding and touching up some spots. Also going to look into one of those Adventure style tents that are made for these Military trailers.

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Removed a lot of unnecessary items. I think once it's done it will really compliment the little B2. Even though I don't have tags for it yet, I'll try to post a pic if it hooked up to Samson. Love to have it done for the AFN and Extreme 4x4 shows up in Carlisle this year, but not enough time.
 



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Those are informative. I have some Mil Trailer sites that I've saved also. Might have to make up some stickies on these.

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Need to check on wheel bearings before any towing takes place. Removed tire and rim. Next was to take off drum. Here I installed three 3/8" pusher bolts. Once they were turned in the drum came right off. The counter sunk hole is one of three that I had to first remove the bolts with a flat screw driver.

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The brake system is surprisingly in great shape. I'll only be using the brakes as parking brakes, that's if I can get the levers and cables to work right lol.

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Now for the most important part...check the bearings. Problem is that I do not have a large enough spindle socket. Seems that the bearings my be worn from the noise the hub makes. Plus It seems there are about 3 threads that are showing in the spindle nut, as if it's backed off, hmm. Read on another site about trailers that I need a 2-9/16" 8 pt socket. This guy said that napa sells one. He also mentioned that a 6 pt won't fit right. BTW, those lug nuts are huge as in 1-1/2".
 






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Just received my 2-9/16" socket from Napa. And thought I'd put it to use.
Guess what? the problem was the evil backed off spindle nut, imagine that.

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The plate that I had to take off first to get to the inside of the hub is made to rest next to the nut keeping it from backing off further then it did. It backed off just enough to loose it's preload.
When I installed the hub back on, the spindle nut does in fact have threads showing that are not threaded onto the spindle.

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The inner bearing has a large snap ring that has to be removed first.

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The inner and outer bearings were in great shape. All I did was to repack them.
Now to do the other side. So far it seems the trailer had a good maintenance schedule.
 






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After giving it some thought, I junked the brakes on this trailer. Not really going to carry anything that heavy anyway. I thought the parking brake would be cool to have but I'll have front and rear drop down supports anyway. The weight that I can remove is very substantial which will help in the towing aspect and gas mileage.

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Here is the other side that I inspected. Check out the condition of the spindle. The bearings were in good shape just like the other side. So all I did was to repack the bearings. As you can see the backing plate is trashed as well as that humongous brake drum.

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The paper type seal was broken so I put some high torque RTV sealer in it's place.
Nice not seeing that huge drum.
I know this is boring stuff...but just so important.
 






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A good friend of mine donated a pintle hitch for my trailer build. Next month I'll be hitting this build hard to have it ready for, at least towing before Fall including registration and tags. Once that's done then the fun part of making it Adventure ready begins.
The 3/8" steel plate laying behind it will be utilized also, as in bolted to the hitch and then the backside welded to a receiver hitch.
 






...Any chance this once bucket of bolts might be adventuring out West in the next year or so..?..:popcorn:

..and a Pintle Hitch...Nice score on both the good friend and the hitch..:biggthump
 






...Any chance this once bucket of bolts might be adventuring out West in the next year or so..?..:popcorn:

..and a Pintle Hitch...Nice score on both the good friend and the hitch..:biggthump

There is a better then 50/50 chance that it will one way or the other. Be nice to drive the B2 towing the trailer but that's just a little to far especially when something brakes while doing some trails. Much safer to tow the Bronco out there.
 






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Ok, got the 3/8" plate cut and 4-3/4" holes drilled and temporarily bolted up to the hitch. Now to make the drop down bracket from receiver to hitch. This is made from 2x2" x 1/4" sq tubing. I say drop down cause I want the trailer to sit level while towing. It just looks lame if it's sitting so high or low while hooked up. Of course this depends of the weight that I'll be towing also. I allowed for the suspension of the truck to drop a little.
Next I'll weld a gusset and then weld on the 3/8" plate to drop down leg.
If I use this hitch on my upcoming tow truck, I might have to add another plate above the one and drill some more mounting holes to raise the hitch, since I don't think the back would be up as high as the Bronco.
When welding the side of the sq. tubing that faces you, I had to lay down 3 beads of weld cause of the way the tubing has radiused edges/corners.
 






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Hitch is done.
 






..I do hope to see you out here this next year with your build...:biggthump
 






Thanks. Got to see how much jingles I have to do this next year. I would fly wife and kids out so they can go where they want and I'll tow out there and spend some time wheeling and site seeing with them also. I know wife would love to see some of the Big parks out there. Last year they all went to Monument Valley and Grand Canyon.

Ride along as I make my first tow with this rig. It's no more then a half mile. But this is a major accomplishment. Plus it will now give me even more reason to get this thing done. Next will be all the wiring up of lights.
Click on the Utube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeMMKiqNcM4&feature=youtu.be

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Need to make some chain hook ups.

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Another friend just game me this synthetic black leather tonneau top for free. It was on his son's pickup but sold the truck. Gave it to me to see if it would fit, had my doubts,...but fits like a glove once I install the snaps. Really like this. May make some removable supports across the bed.
I think it'll look really bad ass once the trailers done in all black. Got real lucky on the color also.
 






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Whether I use the original taillights is still uncertain at this point? Going to try to use them but what a mess with all this wiring for these type trailer, there are 4 lamps per light, which two I won't use cause the way the housing is made for stealth tows at night. May find that it's a lot easier to use an after market light. If I use these lights I'll still need two detached turn signals.
I cut off the huge military plug in socket and used a standard one.
 






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Let there be Lights...Now just to add some separate turn signals. I used the stock light for running and brakes. Even though there are two more lights, they're mounted too low in the housing for proper use. They're the slots in the lower part. I'll use two after market turn lights mounted to the side. The ground wire is wired directly to the battery. Might just wire them to the trailer frame and let the hitch act as a conductor to the battery also.

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I've got a bucket load of stainless fasteners from this build. Great for some future stuff.
 






Run a ground wire through your trailer light connector.

While the ground signal will go through the hitch, just using the hitch for ground can have problems. Any dirt and grease that gets on the coupler will hinder the electrical flow. (Learned this lesson many years ago with a boat trailer.)
 






Run a ground wire through your trailer light connector.

While the ground signal will go through the hitch, just using the hitch for ground can have problems. Any dirt and grease that gets on the coupler will hinder the electrical flow. (Learned this lesson many years ago with a boat trailer.)

Yes I already did run a wire through the connector. In fact the trailer is not even hooked up to the hitch when pic was taken, just the connector. That's why I used the word "also". I'm just thinking that another ground other then the connector can't hurt. The turn signals will use the same grounding wire that runs through the connector and then connected straight to the negative post. Sorry, I was not clear enough on that.
Need to figure out some kind of camping tent that will fit on top of trailer that can be readily removed for hauling items like firewood, and Dana 60s lol.
 






Yes I already did run a wire through the connector. In fact the trailer is not even hooked up to the hitch when pic was taken, just the connector. That's why I used the word "also". I'm just thinking that another ground other then the connector can't hurt. The turn signals will use the same grounding wire that runs through the connector and then connected straight to the negative post. Sorry, I was not clear enough on that.
Need to figure out some kind of camping tent that will fit on top of trailer that can be readily removed for hauling items like firewood, and Dana 60s lol.

I missed the word also. I agree - another ground wouldn't hurt anything.

Are you looking for a roof top tent?
 






I'm really opened for suggestions on this one. Was thinking of making a removable platform on trailer complete with ladder. The platform could sit on top of trailer or maybe down on top of wheel wheels? On top sure would allow for all kinds of storage under platform. Thinking of making some kind of table that would flip out or stowed under tent platform that would mount on side of trailer for table.
On my connector I also have a pin that will give me 12v for accessories also. I would also like a tongue mounted tool box or cooler compartment maybe both.
Was thinking that some kind of telescoping rods that I could use to prop up a canopy that would be attached to trailer would be cool also. A trip to a RV store would be a good idea I guess.
 






Have you seen this site? You might get some ideas regarding roof top tents.
 






Yes I have their site, great for some ideas, but way too much $$ for this guy. Went and got some blinker lights this morning. I'm doing the wiring now.
 



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I know they're expensive.

I just meant for ideas.
 






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