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
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
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