Orrey45's M416 build

[orrey45]

Hello all,

I figured that I have sat on the sidelines for long enough. After doing a lot of reading on various sites, but mostly here, I decided to jump in and purchased what I think was a nice example of an M416 trailer. The pictures below are from the Craigslist seller and how I bought it. The trailer came with adapters for 5x5 wheels, 34" tires and a bulldog hitch instead of the pintle. Hopefully by posting this I'll get the drive to start working on this as well as get some suggestions from all the gurus on the forum.







I have had it for a few months and haven't changed a whole lot. As you can see the trailer as I bought it was a little to big for my stock Wrangler so I decided to put the stock wheels and tires on the trailer. This leveled and allowed the fenders to be installed (both came with the trailer). I have a lift kit for the Wrangler sitting in the garage and plan to install once I figure out what wheels/tires I'm going with.



So far the main task for the trailer has been to help with landscaping the house, trips to the storage unit and taking a bunch of unused stuff to Goodwill. Eventually I would like to have it look a bit better and serve to haul gear for some extended weekend trips.

Planned to do list:
-Frame off cleaning of frame and body
-POR-15 the frame and fenders in flat black
-Fix the welding on the tailgate
-Color match the tub paint to mach the jeep
-Sort out the tire/wheel combination to match
-Apply bed liner to the tubs interior
-Install a cover to keep rain and eyes off my stuff(possibly lockable)

 

[Mark Harley]

Looks like a nice trailer to start your build.

 

[orrey45]

Thanks, I'm ordering some supplies this week and hope to be able to tear into the build next week. In the meantime I had some cardboard, pvc and a tarp to play with.

I want to be able to switch between bikes/gear and landscape/chores easily. I'm not sure which direction I'm going with on this build. Not overly excited on the current tarp setup but it serves it's purpose. I might go with a raised lid our a covered wagon approach in the end.
Just as a side note, the girlfriend thought I was nuts in the garage building a "cardboard fort" from the fridge box.

 

[orrey45]

For the past few months I've been using it for hauling mulch, furniture and the like. It's been a while since I have thought about upgrades on the trailer but this past weekend I had some time.

I decided for the way I have and most likely will likely continue to use the trailer it wouldn't do to have a fancy lid on it. As much as I would like to have one it just wouldn't serve me well. I decided to copy the civilian bantam trailer and build some walls and bows to haul general cargo from camping gear to bike and everything in between.

The height of the interior is just over 40" which will allow me to sit up in it or more importantly have any one of my bikes loaded in it on a fork mount. It also should be secure enough to deter thieves of opportunity. I also wanted to make sure that it would be easy to take out should I go a different direction I the future.


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