Atxrider m416 trailer build

[atxrider]

I ran across an old m416 trailer in Louisiana while visiting my folks and ended up coming home with it. I have read many builds from this site and decided it would be fun to start my own. It has been a great project thus far and I am hoping I can do some more camping with my father once it is complete. Here are some shots after I got it home:





The trailer originally had an H shaped rack welded in front and back to carry a pirogue (flat bottomed boat from Louisiana), but I cut them off to make room for a lid. I had the frame and body sandblasted and was amazed at the shape the trailer was in. The sandblasters told me it took them forever to get the 6 layers of CARC paint off, but there were no holes and the floor was in great shape. The pitting was very minimal.

I painted the frame with several coats of zero rust paint and added a new 3500 lb. axle with steel wheels and Falken AT wheels. I was sorry to lose the parking brake, but thought it would be easier than finding wheel adapters to match the pattern on my jeep LJ.





My bro helped me herculine the bed, front exterior panel and wheel wells. I used the same zero rust paint for the rest. It came out pretty well:





I added some new reflectors and lots of new grade 8 hardware. I switched the lights over to 12 volt and am not completely sold on them. They are pretty dim, but I do love that they are solid metal and the lights are shock mounted. I may gut and refurbish them with LEDs at a later time.

The drain hole plugs were gone, so I went ahead and replaced with with a quick order to midwest military.

NEXT:

Bumper
lid with rack

[AZ ADVenturist]

Congrats on your M416. I have one all orig. & good cond. Trying to decide what to do with it.
I'll be watching your build to help me decide. I'd like to at least change rims & tires, but can't find proper fittment or adapters - like you said.
All best, Rick in Arizona

[atxrider]

After doing a local search in Austin for a good fab shop, I decided to go with a friend of my father's (Billy Parker or Parker Bros. Welding) to construct a good lid with rack for me. I had a few requirements:

1. At least 3" of clearance over the lip so I can fit my edgestar fridge in it (really, I wanted the extra clearance anyway).
2. Must be very strong.
3. Must have two bars going across the center to support a rooftop tent.
4. The lid must include lift supports (my wife should be able to open it without assistance).
5. It must be lockable.
6. The lid should hang over the trailer lip to help with keep the inside dry (it will have rubber strip seal as well).

I towed the trailer home the week before xmas and visited the shop to discuss the design. After a few hours of discussion/hanging out, I left feeling good about the lid. Here are the initial progress photos they sent:





You can see the internal frame is very stout. The biggest issue is that they did not have a break big enough to make it from one piece of sheet metal. We settled on having two pieces with a strip tacked over the join in the middle. Here are some more photos of the mostly finished lid and rack, sans hinges and hasps.





Here is a closer shot of the strip:



I am going to probably use paintable caulk to seal it properly, then paint the whole lid with spray on bedliner. I decided to go with these hinges, borrowed from another build I read about:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...6309_200306309

They were very heavy duty and after some discussion, figured we would use three on the back and one on the front with a lockable hitch pin for security. Here is a shot of the hinges:



They actually mounted them upside down from the way I had pictured it, but I actually like their way much better. All the areas behind the weld points were reinforced, so no worries about anything flexing.

This is a shot of the front, with lockable pin and two rubber semi truck hood pulls to help secure the lid. Those were an idea from Rick, the main welder on the trailer, and it turned out great. Notice he also put a bend in the handles to match the side handles on the trailer. Good stuff.



I originally bought 2 250 lb lift supports (talk about overkill) and they had trouble even getting them to compress (I think my dad was hanging on the lid). They went to the auto parts store and picked up 2 80 lb supports and it had no problems holding the lid with my father modestly trying to pull it down. Hopefully it will be enough for the roof top tent. Note that I had them mounted on the outside to conserve inside space (stole from Adventure trailers). Check it out:



You can see the jeep bumperettes I mounted on the back in this photo. I opted for them instead of a traditional bumper.



Closeup of the lift support location:



Closeup of the rubber hood pulls:



I could not be happier with the lid. They did a tremendous job...and considering it was done with me in a different state, I am very impressed. My dad was a HUGE help in helping translate and coordinate...as well as being a great sounding board for ideas. Thanks Dad!

With a little paint and caulk, I should be ready for the tent. Here is the one I have picked out:

http://www.campinglab.com/carpatecho02.html

I am going for the middle size. It should be enough for my wife and two dogs for when we go out to the National Seashore on North Padre Island. I also got some stabilization legs for xmas from my bro:

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...abilizer/34337

and built a side table based on this thread:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/trailer-tech...r-build-4.html

Here is what is left on my list of things to do, after the lid is painted and finished:

1. Finish my solar power setup. I have a marine battery, solar charger, 750w tripplite inverter, and a siemens 55w panel. I tested it all hooked up to my edgestar 43L fridge and it worked great in direct sunlight. The battery never lost charge while the sun was shining. I just want to get it all permanently fixed to the rig so I don't have to move it. I thought about putting it in a tongue box, but I want to be careful about balancing the weight properly. I want to still be able to handle the trailer manually if possible. I will need to think about placement some more.

2. Receiver hitch. I have a hitch mounted rack I used on my previous TJ that I could utilize with a receiver for more storage (firewood, whatever). It would also be used for a bicycle rack.

3. Lighting. It would be nice to have some LED lighting inside and outside of the trailer.

4. Water tank. I was thinking of getting one mounted underneath near the axle. Maybe 10-15 gallon RV type tank with some kind of manual pump.

5. Nerf bars. I want something in case the trailer bounces over on its side. Also, would be nice to have mounting points for other objects (5lb propane tank, fuel). I like the ones pictures in this thread...the way he extended the fenders was pretty cool:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/trailer-tech...r-build-4.html

Thats all for now. I am going to make a mad dash this weekend back home to pick it up so I can get started on the list. Stay tuned!

[atxrider]

Congrats on your M416. I have one all orig. & good cond. Trying to decide what to do with it.
I'll be watching your build to help me decide. I'd like to at least change rims & tires, but can't find proper fittment or adapters - like you said.
All best, Rick in Arizona

Thanks Rick. I did find a place that did wheel adapters, but the cost was close enough to a new axle that I went with an upgraded axle with the 5x4.5 spacing I needed. I will try to dig up where I found them. One thing to consider if you go with a new axle...the hub on most new 3500 lb axles (or even 2000 lb axles) is too large to run OEM jeep tj or lj aluminum wheels (don't know your tow vehicle). I was going to run the same tires as my jeep, but the hub holes were way too small. I ended up getting black steelies for the trailer. Not a huge deal, but could have used the information before I bought more jeep wheels .

[AZ ADVenturist]

Just finished reading your build/finish update. I like it! I'm still undecided, don't know if my wife is into RTT
trailer camping. Well I do know, 'cause she likes the bed & T.V. in our camper van... So, I could use it pretty basic
for the few times I'd go out alone with the TJ Jeep. I'd still like to change wheels & tires though. Did you look into
old Ford 5 x 5.5 rims? I think their center is 4", but I don't know/understand about correct offset.
Thanks for all the detail on the cover construction.
BTW - I like that Yamaha in background, but wonder what model/size? Regards, Rick, AZ

[McZippie]

Just finished reading your build/finish update. I like it! I'm still undecided, don't know if my wife is into RTT
trailer camping. Well I do know, 'cause she likes the bed & T.V. in our camper van... So, I could use it pretty basic
for the few times I'd go out alone with the TJ Jeep. I'd still like to change wheels & tires though. Did you look into
old Ford 5 x 5.5 rims? I think their center is 4", but I don't know/understand about correct offset.
Thanks for all the detail on the cover construction.
BTW - I like that Yamaha in background, but wonder what model/size? Regards, Rick, AZ

AZ ADVenturis, if I had a nice M416 trailer and wanted to keep the original axle, I'd order wheels to match the tow vehicle and have custom wheel adapters machined.
They are expensive but the cost savings by using the M416 axle would be well worth the expense. The adapters can be made in most any bolt patterns, thickness and center bore to work with the new rims offset.
.
http://www.wheeladapter.com/index.php
.
http://www.uswheeladapters.com/

[AZ ADVenturist]

McZip; I like that idea, thanks. I shall check it out. TJ rims are easy to find (I mean buy) in Arizona.

ATX; didn't mean to hi-jack your build. But I really like your ideas for the 416. All Best R...

[atxrider]

Not a problem at all. I wanted the trailer wheels and tow vehicle wheels similar in the beginning so I can run one spare (I am going to replace my jeep wheels with steelies eventually).

If you do not care about that....you can run the 5x5.5 wheels with tires no problem. It seems that tj/lj aluminum jeep wheels are the ones that suffer from super small hub holes. Just make sure to measure both the hub hole and the backspacing on the tire. I honestly do not remember all the measurements of the axle, but you want to be sure your tires have enough clearance from the side of your trailer.

Just FYI...if you decide to go the adapter route, it will probably run you 100+ shipped. I got my 3500 lb axle with greaseable hubs and 5x4.5 hub faces for 170 shipped from Randy at abctrailers.com. The biggest loss for me was the parking brake...super handy.

The bike is a 1992 Yamaha xt600 my dad gave to me that I just refurbished. It is alot of fun in a big, tractor kind of way. I want to see if I can rig a mount for it on the trailer one day.

[rat patrol]

Glad to see posts like this.

I too just purchased an original unmolested M416 with the Lunette in tact. So far, I plan on redoing the Desert Storm paint and adding my old unit bumper numbers. Not sure if I'll build a top yet as the wife isn't keem on a RTT.

ATX, not sure if I missed it or not...did you use bedliner on the outside of the trailer?

[atxrider]

Hey Rat,

I bedlined the interior, but also the fenders and front panel. I figured those would get the most abuse being towed behind the jeep. I used zero rust flat black paint everywhere else.