M416 Biff's Build

[Sigmataun49]

I was lucky enough to find my m416 trailer about a mile away from my house on Craigslist. It was in great shape minus a hole the previous owner cut in the front of the tub to haul his dirt bike in it. I had it for a year just hauling firewood in it and planning my build.

 

[Sigmataun49]

First thing I did was borrow a pressure washer from a friend and start power washing the trailer.



Then I took the fenders off of the tub and then the tub off of the frame.







Then it was time to get down to business with my cheap angle grinder.. I ground the top and sides of the frame down to bare metal using a disc and wire wheel. I could not figure out a way to get underneath the trailer and grind so I left the powdercoat on the bottom for a later date.



Grinding is fun... :sombrero:

 

[xkid]

Congrats on the find. Pictures are awesome.

 

[Sigmataun49]

Congrats on the find. Pictures are awesome.

Haha xkid I've been creepin on this forum for awhile just getting ideas of what I want to do. It took me a few minutes to realize I couldn't do pictures in the mobile version and had to go to the full site on my phone.

 

[xkid]

Going to be awesome. Nice size.

 

[Sigmataun49]

Why are you grinding off powdercoat ? Is it all flaking & blistered ??

Yes, the powdercoat was starting to flake and there was surface rust on top of it so I wanted to get it down to bare metal. Also I will be welding on side storage in front and behind the fenders.

 

[Sigmataun49]

Is there a simple way to rotate pictures on here?

 

[R Thomas]

Pictures need to be rotated before you upload.

Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk

 

[Sigmataun49]

Hmmm phone phone must be weird or something. They look the way I want them to before I upload then they are wrong. I'll try from my laptop tomorrow and see if that helps. Thanks R Thomas

 

[Sigmataun49]

Halloween Weendend 2015

I need to also reference that I starting grinding about 2 months ago then some time went by while I saved up some funds. Fast forward to about two weeks ago, I decided it was time to hook the trailer up to the FJ and take it up to see Mike at RESZ Fab. He is doing the metal work on the trailer... I know nothing about welding or metal work and I don't have the tools to learn at the moment, maybe some day.... I am getting into a time crunch situation as it is now the weekend of Halloween and I am trying to get all of the work done before snow starts flying in NE Ohio!!:Wow1:



Funny story here... I got license plate for the trailer little over a year ago when I bought it. Right when I was leaving to go to Mike's, I realized the tag on the plate had expired a week ago. I decided to throw the slow moving vehicle triangle on the back and just avoid the highway. Well here is where my plan backfired.. it was all going great for about an hour then out of nowhere I find myself working my way into downtown Cleveland. Had to work my way around all the traffic and construction. Guess I got some trailer driving practice that day, and learned not to just follow the GPS.... Fail

 

[Sigmataun49]

@ RESZ FABRICATION

My friend Mike and I starting with some more grinding, only this time we were grinding the paint off of the rounded lip of the tub all the way around. I was lucky enough to only have one layer of paint!!



When I say we I really mean Mike.... so we welded on some 1.25" angle iron around the top of the trailer.



You can also see here I got rid of the tailgate that only went halfway up to the top of the tub. Time for a new one! It is a pretty beefy tailgate it is 1/8" steel. Bye bye "halfgate" Hello start of new tailgate!



Ended the day by grinding down the corners of the angle iron.



Tailgate lines up pretty good with the angle iron on top of the tub also.

 

[Sigmataun49]

Last weekend 11/7-11/8/15

Last weekend we did some more work on the tailgate, making sure I had a way to lock it and keep it supported. We also welded on the rest of the angle iron around the top lip of the trailer.. we ran out last weekend.



Some shots of how we decided to keep the tailgate locked and secured.









We also unbolted the diamond plate in the front of the tub. The previous owner trailered his dirt bike with the front tire poking through the tub. New piece of metal was cut and welded in place. No pictures of that yet.

Now we are up to date on the build.. more work to be done this week and next weekend. Stay tuned lots of changes coming!!

 

[xkid]

Keep up the good work.

 

[Sikocycles]

Great work. I will be doing the same if I ever find a reasonable priced 416 that is close to me

 

[Sigmataun49]

Keep up the good work.

Thanks!! I will have another update this weekend!

Great work. I will be doing the same if I ever find a reasonable priced 416 that is close to me

Thanks Sikocycles, I really lucked out finding one so close to my house at a great price!