3d fj's m416 build thread

[3d fj]

See if this helps.................

http://www.jeepdraw.com/TM_9-2330-251-14.pdf

Thank you. I have the paper copy of the one from mud. I actually took the hub apart last night. I couldn't sleep. The previous owner had the bearings repacked. There looked to be fresh grease inside the hub. The bearings looked pretty new actually. I kinda answered my own question last night. To remove the backing plate, you definitely need have access to the bolt heads. Somehow i was thinking that perhaps the bolt heads were kept from spinning like a carriage bolt. In fact, even those bolts that hold in the backing plate are brand new. YAY!

I was following this one for sale on eBay. It looks like you found a really good deal on a well prepped trailer. I was looking to make the same drive myself. Congratulations on a very solid purchase!

You may wish to check the strap section of your local Home Depot for recessed tie down anchors. I was eyeing them last week for a similar purpose.

I had been looking for a bit. I had my friend in DE looking for me as well. I contacted the seller and asked him what he wanted for it. We agreed and he took the auction off. Turns out timing had finally been on my side as if i didn't contact him and I waited for the auction to end, I may have ended up paying more, and I don't think i would have been able to pick it up until 2 weeks later. Things just fell into place.

I want to see what Flashole's tie downs look like. I just might take them. Dunno. If not, i have a few ideas swirling around in my head. I can definitely say that having a welder (albeit limited knowledge and very little experience with welding) makes life a ton easier. I have to find the time to take a welding class. I've watched a lot of videos and such, but I think a class will definitely help a lot.

 

[3d fj]

So I actually did something with the trailer last night! I figured that if i wanted to be done with build, or close to being done by august, that I'd have to get my butt in gear and actually start doing things. Last night, i started fitting my AT lunette conversion plate.



I found instructions on how someone did their conversion. http://www.jeepbrokers.com/jeep_project_12_pintle_hitch_conversion.htm

Now in these instructions, the front tabs on the plate were bent. I don't have a brake, I don't have an acetylene torch and really... Have you ever tried to bend 1/4" steel? One other way i read about bending metal this thick was to score it 1/2 way through the thickness of said metal then heating it and bending it and then welding it where it was scored. I thought about it long and hard. Now i measured and measured to try and make sure that i knew exactly where to cut and where to bend to. I really had a lot of reservations about whether my bend would be accurate enough. Suddenly, while in the shower, I had an epiphany. Why not just cut out the entire pieces that need bending, and then weld them back together at the angle that i need. It would be much more accurate doing it this way. I figured that if i scored the metal and was going to do welding anyway, why waste time trying to get the bend as close as possible when I could make it more accurate and do it easier right? Here's what the result of my efforts were. (mind you, i don't weld very often and can probably count on my two hands minus a finger or two how many times i've actually welded. I will need more practice!)



Tonight I plan on welding the outside angles of the plate and i'm going to measure out the receiver tube.

Here's a question for those who've extended their tongues... Is there any rhyme or reason or magic formula to determining how long to extend the receiver tube past the angled members of the frame? I would think that the minimum length would be the distance necessary to clear the body of tow vehicle and any (if present) tailgate or swingouts.

 

[Flashole]

The more you fabricate stuff, the more efficient you will become at it. I'm no fabricator either, but I have learned a lot throughout my build. When I went to build my roof rack, it went really quickly because I didn't have to spend much time thinking about it.

Your welds look good to me

As for how long to extend the tongue, I would probably just back my vehicle up to it making sure the swing out clears. Be sure to post lots of pics, because I'm going to extend mine in the near future. Pretty sure I am going to go about it the same way you are.

 

[3d fj]

As with many of you, life has gotten in the way of building my trailer. Since my last post, i've extended the tongue, did a spring over lift (brake line still enters above the axle), added adapters to the hub so i can run matching wheels (03 lx470 18") and added two 285/75/18 toyo open country at/II's. In addition, i added a lid, put new lights at the rear of the trailer (oval led style) cutout into the rear of the frame and added a max coupler. Thus far that's been it. Since august, i really haven't done anything to it. I've taken the trailer out only once camping. I have a CVT mt. rainier on the lid. It pulled behind me very well. I didn't even notice that it was there despite the slight drop in mpg.



Unfortunately, this is the only picture i can find of the trailer with the tent deployed. Now that things in life are sort of quieting down, I've started thinking about the trailer again. Within the next few months, i'd like to finish up any additions (fuel tank platform, propane tank platform etc) that require welding so i can finally get it ready for paint. I'm still reading other people's threads to get ideas on what i'd like to do and how i'd like to do it. There is one question that i have that maybe some of you can help me with. In the floor of the trailer and the body panels of the tub, i have some perforations and holes that used to be meant for bolting the data plate and reflectors to the trailer. I'd like to seal some of these up. My question is, other than using a welding spoon and filling the holes, can i use something like bondo instead? Is there a negative side to doing this? I ask this because the little perforations in the floor are rather difficult to fill by using a welding spoon. Also, using bondo would seem easier and faster and could give me the desired result that i'm looking for. Eventually, i plan on spraying the inside of the tub with a bedliner like RaptorLiner or the like. Thoughts?