Bought a Bantam....

[CRJeepin]

Bought a Bantam T3C yesterday, met the seller over in Jersey on his way down to MD.

As far as I can tell it's complete, the tub has a new floor in it and the bearings were done recently, but was disappointed to find the frame is pretty rotted at the spring hangers. Going to have to cut and weld, hoping I can do it with the tub still on. Taking it by a truck place tomorrow to have them quote it as I just don't have the time or space for more projects right now, have a 79 CJ-5 in the garage going back together taking up my work space.

Probably overpaid a little for it given the frame, he was asking $850 and I gave him $50 for gas to deliver it. I figure it would have cost me about $200 in gas to go get it. He said it had been "gone over" and was "solid", which is what I was looking for...not a project. We'll see how bad it'll be, if more than a couple hundred I'll probably just do it myself. Anyway, water under the bridge at this point. I'd still prefer to do frame work over sheet metal work anyway.

Planning to add a receiver hitch at the back for a bike rack, and convert the front to a receiver hitch but will do it bolt on so I can revert back to the Fulton coupler. Going to try to keep it as original as possible, or at least the mods reversible. Also would like to add a frame for a tent, haven't figured out how I want to do that yet but definitely want to keep it bolt on if possible. Would like to have the tent bottom about 5'-6" off the ground if possible, have sketched it out (can't take credit for the trailer sketchup but the mods are mine!):

 

[Mark Harley]

Hello fellow Pa, resident.
That is a sharp little trailer, Not bad on the price either.
Keep us posted on the progress with pictures too!

 

[leadsled01]

Looks really good! My bantam t3c has alot more cancer than yours.

 

[CRJeepin]

Sounds like a good price, until you peek underneath. When we made the handoff yesterday it was about dark and raining, I climbed under and noted some rust but didn't look as bad as it is. There's only one bolt holding the hitch on (unless you count bolts with cotter pins and no nuts) and the frame is rotten at the worst spots - spring hangers.

I think I can make the repairs, or maybe have them made, without pulling the tub. An "L" bracket to reinforce the frame rails and crossmembers combined with a flat plate to span underneath the spring hangers and tie into the crossmembers should suffice.

Here's a few pics for fun...

Caveat Emptor....

 

[McZippie]

New Military frames are available for Bantam T-3. Very similar to T-3C
.
D&L Bensinger LLC
Narvon, PA
.
https://www.dlbensinger.com/product_info.php?cPath=51_69&products_id=1201&osCsid=47e25fb68eae3db9141f362ae62ec3b6
.

 

[CRJeepin]

Great info, thanks! They're local to me here in PA, I'll get in touch with them and find out if I can buy just the draw bars I need. They do sell the rear crossmmember separately, which I could cut down and use for the crossmember above the spring hangers.

The rest of the frame is pretty solid, so I'd like to avoid an entire frame swap if possible -- but good to know it's an option!

Thanks!
Chris

 

[Bonked]

Hi Chris,

I have original bantam A-frame draw bars, as well as the brackets that hold them to the front if the frame. PM me.

Anthony

 

[Main Line Overland]

Hey Chris,

Great meeting you the other day on your way to pick the trailer up. That looks like a good base for an adventure/camping trailer once the frame is reinforced. Let us know if you need help with any of the fab work.

I bet your son was still talking about the Eezi-Awn Rooftop tents after leaving our shop, he looked like he was having a blast crawling around in them. I think I even heard him say "This is my new house!", hahahaha! Looks like you have a little adventurer in the making.

Best of luck with the trailer and keep us in mind if you need anything.

-Matt

 

[CRJeepin]

Thanks Matt, was good to meet you guys and I appreciate you setting up the tents for us to check out, definitely helped the wife get an idea what I was up to. The little guy is still pretty excited about the tents and can't wait for us to get one. Here's hoping the Buick sells quick to fund the tent, I dropped it a couple hundred on CL when we got home.

Anthony, sent you a PM about the A-frame rails, thanks.

Cut off the rusted uni-strut u-bolts today and a few buddies helped me flip the tub. The plan is to plate the outside with 4" wide, 1/8" steel from the edge of the frame rail up onto the tub on the two long sides and the back, and then replace the two middle cross-members 2x3, 1/16" box. Maybe add one in the middle too. New plates for the spring hangers to tie it all together. Either replace or chop and fishplate the a-arms.

Good excuse to buy the porta-band that I should have had when I did the CJ frame....it's on it's way, should be here next week. A little more teardown work tomorrow and then I'm pretty much stalled until I get the steel.

Here we go...

 

[FAW3]

Nice Bantam! Good luck with the work on it. A perfect style match to the jeep - they are made for each other.

The one I bought a bit over a year ago had more rust in the floor "back at home" than I noticed at the sellers house...funny how that works.

Ours has been a lot of fun and done a lot of work for us. Whatever the state of load (within design limits of course) the Bantam tows like it's not there - if we use the right tire pressure to match the load. Our only learning curve has been about backing up...those short A-arms and wheelbase distance make it a challenge for backing it down.

 

[Mark Harley]

When you are finished haul it up to the Bantam festival.

http://www.bantamjeepfestival.com/

This is a cool site too!

http://bantamt3c.com/

 

[CRJeepin]

It does tow great behind the jeep. A lot better than the wide & low pop-up, that's for sure. I like the short a-arm design, in my limited towing experience the longer tongue tends to create opportunity for trailer sway.

Here's the latest photos after a BRIEF work session yesterday (being Mothers Day and all). I've decided to go ahead and build a new frame for it, going to order the steel today and it should be here later this week. Wife and kids are out of town on Sunday and my porta-band will be in tomorrow, so weather permitting I should finish it up this weekend. Going with 1.5" x 3", 1/8" box steel for the sides rails and 3 crossmembers. Either going to cut and replace the last 10-12" of the a-arms with box steel, or go for new a-arms if the guy here in PA with the repro tubs gets back to me.

 

[CRJeepin]

Had time to work today and got a lot done. Unfortunately the steel supplier called Friday and said my steel wasn't on their truck so I wasn't able to do the frame this weekend as planned, but might have turned out for the best as I took time to clean everything up and it'll be even easier to build the frame when the metal's here.

Removed the frame as cleanly as I could, except for the rear corners it came apart pretty well. The porta-band was a huge help. The tub is solid, but the floor lip was starting to corrode and it wasn't painted under the frame, and that was rusting too. I cleaned up the metal, hit it with POR-15 and it's ready for the frame build. I ran out of POR15 but was able to get the rusty edges and sections under the frame done, and once the POR15 dried I hit the rest with Rustoleum to give it an even surface.

Overall pretty happy with how it's going. Have to figure out how to weld the two sheet metal edges (side & floor) to the frame as the edges of the floor are jagged from rust, thinking maybe drilling 1/4" holes through them both and doing series of plug welds instead of stitching along the bottom as I'd do if the two edges were complete. Together with sealant and bedliner on the inside, I don't think the floor will go anywhere. Could also plate the outside to cover the frame/tub side joint and that'd hold it all plenty tight. Will see how it goes.

 

[McZippie]

For my T-3 fab'ed-up a bunch of bolt together tabs similar to ones used on a M416 frame, but didn't use them.
Instead welded the frame and tub together.

 

[CRJeepin]

I'm planning to weld the frame and tub together, the challenge is the lip on the floor is corroded in some areas, so the edges don't line up cleanly for a weld.

Thinking that drilling some holes a little further down the edge and plug welding would help tie them together best, in addition to stitching the side wall to the frame.