M101 overlanding/camping trailer build

[JPaul]

So this weekend I picked up what will be the start of an overlanding/camping trailer to pull behind my H3. With myself, my wife, and three growing daughters (currently one is 10, the other two, twins, are 7), camping has turned into an ordeal with barely fitting everything in/on the H3, even with a hitch cargo rack in addition to my roof rack. Plus it's a pain having to spend a couple hours getting everything loaded up whenever we want to go camping, so we tend to not go very often. My goal is to build an overlanding/camping trailer that we can leave packed with the majority of our gear so then all we should need to do is get clothes packed, throw food in the fridge, hook up and head out.

Here's how it sits right now. It's a M101A1 (I think, no build plates on it that I can find), I picked it up for $250.

As you can see it's not the prettiest thing ever, and frankly it's worse than it looks as far as the tub goes. Lots of rust through at the bottoms of the stake pockets, the tailgate is pretty messed up (seriously, I have only a vague idea how they could have bent everything in at least three different directions), the floor is pretty dented and is rusted through in a few spots on one of the bottom supports, The rear tub uprights were cut through for the taillights, the tires need replacing, the wiring for the lights is half missing (the middle half for some reason, the lights have wiring and the trailer connector to hook to the vehicle is there, but nothing in between that) and the eye bolts for the A-arm are missing.

But, all that being said (plus some unsaid things), the positives are that it's already had the axle replaced (and has electric brakes, not sure if they actually work though, but still), the bolt pattern matches the H3 wheels, the frame is in really good shape other than some surface rust, and I got it for cheap. Really, for $250 the frame alone is worth that to me. I considered building my own frame and everything from scratch, but it's so much simpler and less risky to use a good solid frame already made for me.

As far as the tub goes, I will probably repair it enough to use in the meantime as a regular trailer (we're going to be moving this summer so it will help with getting some stuff up to my wife's parents who live near where we will be moving to) and for camping possibly. But the reality is that I will probably end up scrapping the tub unless I find the repairs are going better than anticipated. Really the tub seems to be pretty darn heavy, so replacing it will be a better option anyway since then I can make it a bit lighter and tailor it to my needs and wants. I'm not going to war with it. Hopefully...

The axle seems to be in good shape overall, I had the seller pull the bearing caps off and the grease looked and smelled fine, though one side had some play in it, but that looked like it just needs the axle nut tightened properly. There are not any shocks on it currently, and there is nothing for the bottom shock mounts on the axle unfortunately, but that's not hard or expensive to fix. The upper shock mounts look fine.

As for the missing eyebolts for the A-arm, the eyebolts used for the tailgate hinges are the same, and since the two inner hinges aren't even in use right now (because it's so bent up they don't align anymore) I'm going to pull those off and use them for the A-arm to get that bolted back into place, instead of the lame bit of wire that's holding it in place right now...

The trailer pulls well though, I didn't notice any issues with tracking, and backing it up wasn't too bad, especially considering I rarely ever pull a trailer. I think this will make a great foundation for an overland/camping trailer. Be forewarned though, it's probably going to take me a couple years before it really becomes anything since I'll only be doing modifications as I have time and cash, but I'll make updates as I go.

 

[RedM101A2]

It is rough but you have several good things going for it. 1 a stout frame to build on and 2. it looks like someone already mounted a six bolt hub axle that should match the H3 pattern.
as for tubs they can be found and in much better condition. You could go custom and remove the tub and build your own box and remove the heavy tub.
Great platform for a build. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

It would look good with matching RED!

 

[SoDakSooner]

They are fun projects. Mine is ongoing as well.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[JPaul]

Yep, I checked the bolt pattern while I was looking at it, it does match the H3's (which is also the same as the Toyota pattern), my only concern is if the lug bolts are long enough to fit my aluminum wheels and if the H3 wheels will clear the brakes (they are 16 inch rims). From what I can gather, that axle is probably a 6500 lb capacity axle. It was cut and shortened but it looks like it was done fairly well, the weld looks really nice and even. I might need to get the spring perches re-welded (kinda looked like they were only tacked on? I haven't looked that closely at them yet.), plus I'm a little worried about the arch of the axle, it looks like its bowing down instead of up. Not by a lot, when I put my tape measure across it to check, it was low in the middle by maybe 3/16" or so. Not sure how much of a problem that really is.

I'm probably going to build a new tub from scratch, it'd be lighter and better suited to my eventual needs. The current tub is a right mess, especially that tailgate. It's like they dropped the trailer on it with it open, then backed over it, then dumped a bunch of heavy boulders on the edge of the gate while it was open, then drove around with the boulders loose in the tub which ripped off the driver side latch and busted almost all of the welds on the driver's side tub side. It flaps around like a flag in the breeze.

If the tub didn't need so much work to make it really nice I'd probably keep it stock-ish. But as it stands I'll probably just weld it back up enough to firm it back up for regular hauling and then eventually pull it off and turn it into scrap metal. I might cut off the tub supports and re-use those on the new tub. I'd also cut off the tie down hooks, and possibly the bottom tub supports and utilize those as well, though they might not be in good enough shape to warrant it. We'll just have to wait and see.

I've got your red M101 build thread pulled up on my computer at work and have been looking through it. I'm trying to get as many ideas as possible to see what I really want to do with it in the long run.

 

[JPaul]

I pulled the wheels off tonight so that I can take them somewhere to get new tires put on. I'm just going to get some decent used tires to put on it for now most likely, right now I just want to get the trailer road worthy and useable.

Looks like my plan for eventually upgrading the brakes to have a parking brake feature will become a necessity, I pulled one drum off tonight to inspect everything and the brakes are completely shot. How shot are they, you ask? Well, when I pulled the drum off one of the shoes pad fell onto the ground...

The pad material had completely separated from the backing. In addition to that, the electromagnet is completely missing for some reason, and the whole unit is heavily rusted. I didn't pull the drum on the other side yet, but I'm guessing it's about the same condition. The spindle and bearings look to be in fine shape though, so that's good. I'm going to check though to see if it will be more worthwhile to just get a whole new axle though, since while the one under there right now is fine, it certainly would make me feel better to have a whole new unit, seeing how the current one was cut and re-welded to shorten it, and the perches aren't fully welded like I'd prefer them to be. I'm going to need all new brake assemblies which are about $200 for the pair, and probably new drums as well I'm betting, so adding a new axle probably won't be much more.

 

[JPaul]

Took a couple pictures of the bed to show how it looks after pulling out the dumb plywood and dirt and junk that was in it before. Turned out the floor has started to rot away at one of the crossmembers.

Just more reasons to scrap the tub and build a new one.

I am happy though with my replacement tires. The old ones not only were rotting away and probably would burst if I tried to actually put any additional weight on them, but they were even close to the same size as each other. On Thursday I went to find some used tires to put on it for now until I need to replace the tires on my H3. The first place I stopped at had some that were the same size as the ones on the H3 (286-75R16) but weren't really what I was looking for. The guy suggested I check out their other location here in Salt Lake since that was the main one. I decided to take the chance and drover over and asked them what they had in my size. They had two, and when they rolled them out for me to check them out I discovered that they just happened to be the exact same tires I have on the H3 (Goodyear Duratrac's in 285-75R16)!!! I was ecstatic to find them, and for $120 plus tax out the door for the pair it was right around the price I was willing to pay.

So now the tires on the trailer match the tires on the H3 exactly, albeit more worn down.

Today I pulled the drums and tore off all the moving (well, at one point they moved anyway) parts for the brakes so that they won't cause any problems until I can replace them, and repacked the bearings and put new seals on, and then put the wheels back on.

 

[JPaul]

The axle is in fine shape overall, spindles look good and everything. However, I priced out a whole new 6000 Lb axle with electric brakes and the parking brake option and it'll only cost me just under $400, so I'll probably just replace the whole thing and have better peace of mind. This might be happening sooner rather than later, since originally I was going to be moving from the Salt Lake area up to northern Utah this summer, but my coworker just quit and is going to another company which is leaving my company concerned about coverage (I'm a Linux sysadmin, and there was only two of us at the company, and anyone we probably will not be as experienced as my coworker or myself are) so they've made me a pretty decent offer to stay down here one more year. It'd give me some good funds to get the trailer a bit further along than I was originally planning. We'll see if I accept their offer or not.

 

[JPaul]

I took the offer my company gave me, and since then I also picked up a 2008 Hummer H3 Alpha to replace the red one with (crazy story, short version is a killer deal on the Alpha came up, I was able to swing the extra payment, couple days later I flew to Seattle and picked it up and got it home to Utah). I'm also going to have funds now to get the new axle with the parking brake option, I haven't ordered it yet since it's been so crazy at work trying to do the job of almost three people as well as training the new guy.

But the Alpha is great, and I'm feeling a lot better now about being able to pull this trailer all over the place once I get it going. I picked up a 7-way cable and distribution box off Amazon as well as some proper wheel chocks to use with it until I can get the new axle and get the parking brakes all hooked up. The existing lighting is in good shape overall, though the wiring needs to be patched back together. I have some ribbon cable to use for that, and it only needs several feet replaced really between where the junction box will be and just before the axle where the existing wiring turns good again. This is all going to be temporary anyway until I have the time and resources to pull the bed off and build a new bed from scratch.

 

[dstock]

Aside from the bed, a good base to build off of, enjoy! Just know that it will never, ever be truly "done"! At least mine isn't, but I don't want it to be :sombrero:

 

[JPaul]

I should take some more pictures, but here is what I ended up with for the trailer tongue:

Not much else has happened with the trailer, though it pulled terrific for the 600+ mile trip each way for my Colorado trip. Still a ton of work to do on it, hopefully once I am done redoing the entire suspension on my Alpha I can spend some more time on the trailer.

 

[Theschist]

Congratulations on your purchase. Now just open your wallet and let the fun begin!!

 

[JPaul]

Finally took some more pictures Tuesday morning to show what progress had been made on the trailer. First up was welding up the tub a bit to keep it from falling apart any further:

And I needed to replace the catch for the gate that had been torn off on the driver's side:

Nothing super pretty, just good enough to get everything fastened back together and mostly operational and safe. Fortunately the sheet metal on the tub is thick enough that it wasn't too much of a challenge to weld without burning through (considering I was using .035 flux core), but a few spots I either had to keep going back over it to tie it together, or just give up since it just kept burning away. It's held up fine so far.

 

[JPaul]

Other things done were getting the trailer wiring hooked up. When I bought it there was no connection to the vehicle, the wires for the trailer lights actually stopped just a bit before the axle. I purchased a 8 foot 7 way plug and cable and distribution box, since I'll eventually get electric brakes on this as well as additional wiring for things like a house battery and whatnot. Plus my Hummer H3 has a 7 way plug, so it's nice to not have to use an adapter.

I bolted the distribution box to the frame and used some cheap trailer wire from Harbor Freight I already had on hand to connect to the rest of the existing trailer wiring:

Here are a couple shots of the finished trailer tongue. I used a 6 ton capacity lunette and I have a straight shank pintle hook that lines up perfectly when used with my Alpha. The pintle hook sticks out far enough that I don't have to worry about the tongue hitting my spare tire that sits right above it on the rear door when going through extreme articulation. The tongue jack is greaseable and plenty tall enough to be able to handle rough terrain when coupling/uncoupling without needing blocks or anything. I do want to add a strap for the handle though so that it doesn't hang down when the jack is stowed, just to keep it clean looking and to make sure it doesn't accidentally catch on anything while going offroad.

Lastly, here is a shot of the repaired tongue brackets. I never could find a source for the eye bolts, but fortunately I was able to use the ones from the tailgate since thanks to all the damage to the gate the inner two hinges were completely useless since they no longer lined up between the gate and the tub. I was able to get them unbolted easily enough (which was very surprising to me) and then cleaned off all the paint and then used some Evapo-rust to clear all the rust off them. If you've never used Evapo-rust before it's really nice. It's non-toxic and non-caustic and supposedly made using natural components. It takes a while to work, especially on heavier rust build up, but you don't have to worry about it damaging the parts and you can just leave them in there for hours and hours until all the rust is eaten away. So far the only local place I have found it was at Harbor Freight, oddly enough.

The surprising part to me though was when I went to bolt the tongue to the eye bolts, I discovered the ears on the tongue were totally out of alignment with the eye bolts. I had to bend both sides in towards the center to get them to line up. Considering the tongue bracket I used was an original piece, I couldn't figure out why the arms seem to have been spread apart. Eventually though I am probably just going to permanently weld the tongue arms to the frame, so it doesn't really matter to me.

I did have to make new spacers for the bolts that connect the tongue brackets to the frame eye bolts, I just used some 1/2" black iron pipe cut to fit. I made sure to include the spaces though so that I could properly tighten the bolts without worrying about snapping the eye bolts. While they might be forged pieces, based on the broken one I have that was originally from this very application I don't think they are capable of handling a lot of side loading, or torque.

I also put on a full new set of lugnuts since I was missing one. All in all I haven't had to put in too much work so far to have a usable trailer. I do still need to take off the gate so that I can remove the remaining eye bolts and straighten that back edge of the tub. Right now it's all bent in a way that pushes the top of the gate up when it's closed which leaves it protruding over the top of the tub. The reason this is a problem is that I picked up a free truck topper that normally would fit, but with the tailgate sticking up when it's closed it prevents the truck topper from sitting on the tub correctly. Once the tailgate is fixed and is level with the top of the tub I am going to bolt the truck topper on so that I don't have to mess around with a tarp. I'd like to get that done before my trip back out to Colorado in a couple weeks to pick up some stuff from my parents, but right now I'm busy rebuilding the entire suspension on my Hummer H3 Alpha, so it may not happen before that trip. We'll see how it all goes.

 

[tatanka48]

HINT, we never discard/get rid of old ice chests

we keep them for semi insulated storage in the cargo trailer and back of the pick up while traveling

they make great containers for treasures & plunder etc...

the addition of a 3/8" piece of plywood to cover the tops makes them sitable a/o good side tables in camp

T

 

[SoDakSooner]

looking good....