1967 M416 to build or not?

[WyoOtto]

Hi, my name is Aaron and I have been a long time lurker on this forum and, as such, have learned an immense amount, witnessed some amazing builds and vicariously partaken in some incredible adventures. So thanks to all for the many contributions to this forum! A quick bit about me. In general, my passion is to be outdoors, whether it’s backcountry skiing, back packing, bagging peaks, or even car camping (though I don’t do campgrounds if I can at all avoid it). Growing up in the least populated county of the least populated state seemingly gave me an aversion to people (I don’t mean that to be offensive) and my hobbies and vehicles have generally been focused and designed in the pursuit of honoring that aversion. However, age has caught up with me and kiddos and a wife who don’t quite share my enthusiasm for the rougher side of backcountry travel have forced me to reevaluate my options for “getting away”. To that end, I finally conceded that maybe I could compromise with an offroad trailer outfitted with an RTT. So I looked and looked and looked (these things are damned expensive) and finally found a 1967 M416 with a price I could afford. So now I’m faced with a conundrum, the particular specimen that I located is actually in pretty good shape! So much so that I almost don’t want to cut it up and modify it. It’s not perfect by any stretch, and at some point, the previous owner slapped some paint on it so I’m not sure what’s lurking beneath but on the whole, it seems very solid, pulls beautifully and is seemingly all original. From what I can tell, these things are kind of rare in this condition so what say you guys, do I get busy on a build or let this go to someone who has more of a passion for preservation of military equipment?
Thank you all in advance for your thoughts!




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[Mickey Bitsko]

If you like it... Make it YOURS ...:smiley_drive:

 

[tgreening]

I've had a handful of these and to me there's a couple things I'd consider do-not-do. Number one is hacking up the tongue to put on some fancy "off-road" hitch. Most people do it because the Pintle hitch they feel is noisy. If the two parts are properly sized they're pretty dang quiet. They are dead simple to hook/unhook. Some of those others, not so much if everything isn't lined up just right.

Hacking in a tailgate. Number 1 on my naughty list because most of the time hack is in reality what happens. Sawz-all, some hinges, and a couple latches, done. The tub corners are now unsupported and will tweak. Any idea of water integrity is gone. And I've just never really seen the need. To me. And these two are probably the hardest things to undo, which makes a complete deal breaker for me if I'm looking at a trailer.

Flipping the axle and losing the hand brake. Good grief why! That thing is mondo useful.

A lot of guys will buy one of these, cut up the tub, mod the tongue, replace the axle and/or buy adapters to get rims to match the junk they're driving, blast, paint, blah blah. You could have just built from scratch and probably saved money once you do all that stuff.

But...at the end of the day, my junk is my junk and yours is yours, and we each get to do what we want to it. But that's my two cents anyway.

 

[brian90744]

If you have a couple thousand $ for RTT plus metal top=go for it, the base trailer looks Good. It a start, Just FYI=brian

 

[4runnerteq]

That's a nice looking trailer. Make a lid for it, pack the wheel bearings, make sure the lights work, load it up and take off. Even without a hard lid, as long as you can secure whats in it. Unless you just want to there is no need to do anything else. Mine is original camo, with a lucabond silver colored lid. The lucabond was free. The metal frame is bolted together. No welder. Put 12 volt lights and harness and new wheel bearings. Works great for me. Or, just like anything, you can spend as much on it is you want.

 

[WyoOtto]

Thanks guys! I'm inclined, (principally out of near term budget concerns) to leave it relatively stock. Tgreening I totally agree with you on a number of points and the pintle hitch I have is actually pretty quiet due to the fortuitous fit. I do need a hitch extender in the absence of a total tongue redesign so that I can open my rear swing arms and not mash the trailer into the spare tire and gas can carrier on my truck in a jack knife situation. Right now my priorities are the electrical, a lid and I'd like to get Toyota wheels on it in a matching size to my tow rig. That may have to wait a bit though. At any rate I appreciate the input and I will keep everyone posted as I start to build it out! :smiley_drive:

 

[shogun]

I've had a handful of these and to me there's a couple things I'd consider do-not-do. Number one is hacking up the tongue to put on some fancy "off-road" hitch. Most people do it because the Pintle hitch they feel is noisy. If the two parts are properly sized they're pretty dang quiet. They are dead simple to hook/unhook. Some of those others, not so much if everything isn't lined up just right.

Hacking in a tailgate. Number 1 on my naughty list because most of the time hack is in reality what happens. Sawz-all, some hinges, and a couple latches, done. The tub corners are now unsupported and will tweak. Any idea of water integrity is gone. And I've just never really seen the need. To me. And these two are probably the hardest things to undo, which makes a complete deal breaker for me if I'm looking at a trailer.

Flipping the axle and losing the hand brake. Good grief why! That thing is mondo useful.

A lot of guys will buy one of these, cut up the tub, mod the tongue, replace the axle and/or buy adapters to get rims to match the junk they're driving, blast, paint, blah blah. You could have just built from scratch and probably saved money once you do all that stuff.

But...at the end of the day, my junk is my junk and yours is yours, and we each get to do what we want to it. But that's my two cents anyway.

All this. Cutting and welding on a ball hitch and hacking a tailgate are the two sins with these. I wouldnt ever consider paying $50 for one that had that done to it.

These things are designed for more than you may ever dish out and all the "mods" in the world are not improvements. It is possible to keep it bone stock and yet have all the "expo" stuff you want. Lids, racks, spare tire, can all be bolt-on designs. With the prices and demand going up I wouldnt ruin it, but thats just my opinion. I shake my head every day seeing what garbage people turn out.

 

[mep1811]

Keep the lunette. Just make sure it is lubricated and rotates easily. Doing a spring-over does not lose the hand brake. Read my post on how to fix that.

Get rid of the ND tires but keep one as a spare. Get a couple of Jeep wheels that bolt on and get some tires that you can air down and reduce any off and on road bouncing that will flip your trailer.

Good luck with your project.

 

[M35A2]

I've got one that is a twin of yours.

I keep mine stock, with the exception of a wooden cover that drops into place on top.

Whatever I need to carry, I can load up and carry.

Versatility os the key for me and it is my opinion that all of the custom add-ons just reduce the number of use cases that trailer can handle.

IMHO, keep the M416 stock and if you ever really need to build a custom trailer, start with a HF or Northern unit as many have successfully done.

I do not want to take anything away from those who have done great work customizing their M416s. I just don't see the point as the idea of a trailer is flexibility for the mission at hand.

Whatever you decide, good luck and nice trailer!

 

[McCall Pinz]

That is a clean trailer.Please don't cut it up. Use it as is or sell it to a collector and find one that is beat up if want to mod the body.
Ps- my son is at CSM.

 

[WyoOtto]

Thanks for all of the replies and advice. I am kind of blown away by the all of the "keep it stock" input given the numerous redesigns on the pages of this forum. That said, your collective input confirms my suspicions that this trailer is probably a better candidate for full restoration than it is to completely alter it into something different than the military beast that it already is. MEP1811, I will search for your post on the spring over while retaining the hand brake - that thing has already come in super handy and I don't want to lose it. Out of curiosity has anyone come across a lunette with a longer "shaft"? A hitch extender will work for the purposes of putting some distance between my rear tire/gas can swingouts but then any angle between the truck and trailer is going to be exacerbated (i.e., significant loss of approach/departure angle). I would love to hear if anyone has thoughts/solutions to this problem.

Thanks again guys!

 

[jeep crawl]

my 2 cents ...you bought to build ,get your plan and do it ....i have built three ,now i have what i want ....so think twice ,build once

 

[DonBeasley]

I agree with everyone----don't cut it. If you are going to us it for camping you will probably need to make some changes. The SOA is easy and yes you can keep the hand brake. It is easy.

For the wheel match you can get adapters or do an axle swap.

Get a tarp for a cover for a start and build a lid when you can. I like my RTT and it has been worth the mods.

Just build it for you and have fun!

 

[WyoOtto]

Thanks for the input guys! I'm still in the planning stages. Things I know are that I definitely want a lid, a SOA, I need to somehow extend the lunette shaft and I don't plan on putting in a tailgate. Everything else is still up in the air. That said, I don't want to start until I have a comprehensive plan in place for the sake of executing only once.

 

[borison]

Your plans for the trailer sound perfect. It seems like it would make it more useful, while keeping a mostly original look. Looking forward to seeing your finished product.