M101A3 build

[Johnnyenglish]

I stow my rear jacks poining towards the rear or in the bed of trailer. You will be suprised what they can get hung up on. Build is looking good.

How are you going to drill the holes in the 2.5" tubing?

We used a broach to drill the holes. I'm working with GR Fabrication on the rack and the box and 4runamok from GooseGear on the electrical. We sleeved the new extension and I'm confident that it is much stronger than the original extension and more than strong enough for my application. The trailer tows great and should only get better after the new axle and MUCH lighter wheel/tire combo. We were in the shop until 2am last night putting the boxes together in time for electrical/axle swap prior to my trip and we couldn't get the storage box frame just right, so after Memorial Day we are going to redo the box frames. Just tried the led strip lights in the boxes and they work great.

 

[yzingerr]

Im curious how you attach the Jacks to the frame. Can you take pictures of how you did that?

 

[Johnnyenglish]

I drilled a hole in the receiver and welded a nut over the hole. I threaded a 3/4" bolt through the nut with a battery power impact driver to apply pressure to the whole assembly locking it down. I'll take a picture once I get it back from the axle shop.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

New shoes

New Dexter 3500# axle with electric brakes and AEV Savegre wheels and BFG TA KO 315/70/17 tires to match the tow vehicle.

Close up of the pinch bolt to hold the jacks in place during transit. Can't wait to get all the fabrication done and get this thing to the paint shop.

Hitting the road this weekend to work out the bugs

 

[yzingerr]

Thanks for the closeup! Loving the build!!!

 

[Crimson13]

Do you happen to have the spec's (HF, SC, and drop) you used and possibly where you ordered the Dexter axle?

Going to tow mine behind my jeep as well and want to go with matching wheels/tire as well.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Do you happen to have the spec's (HF, SC, and drop) you used and possibly where you ordered the Dexter axle?

Going to tow mine behind my jeep as well and want to go with matching wheels/tire as well.

The axle order form with all of my specs is attached below.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

The axle order form with all of my specs is attached below.

View attachment 347160

These measurements are specific to the AEV wheels/spacer combo I used. Depending on the backspacing and offset or your wheels you may need to add or subtract to the HF measurement and/or order spacers to help the grease caps clear the wheel. If you are using AEV wheels you'll need an adapt it-USA 2" spacer with a 2.67" center bore.

 

[RagnarD]

Build is coming along well. You move fast.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Some close ups of the new axle. I can tell a big difference in starting and stopping with the new set up. The trailer brakes definitely help. The trailer was very stiff with the old axle and shocks so I decided to start with just leaf springs and add shocks later if necessary.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

M101A3 parts

Anyone in SoCal need M101A3 parts? PM me.

 

[Crimson13]

Thanks and will have to figure it out to match my existing wheel/tire combo on the jeep

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Was able to refab the box mount to square up the boxes. Paint is next.

 

[RagnarD]

Good call. The old box mounts did look like a likely point of failure. Still kind of do to be honest. Any concern about the removal of bump stops? How did the shake down trip go?

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Good call. The old box mounts did look like a likely point of failure. Still kind of do to be honest. Any concern about the removal of bump stops? How did the shake down trip go?

The shakedown trip went great. No issues. The box mounts (even before I replaced them) are crazy strong. They're still way overbuilt. The only reason I changed it was to make the boxes sit square. rhe only way they will fail is some sort of catastrophic collision in which case I have way more to worry about...