Corona Cave Garage's Belgian Army Bantam

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

I recently bought a 1955 Belgian Army Bantam trailer, they are similar to the M100 but all have a tailgate.

Here are some pics taken when I picked it up,







Its number from the Army, it means ABL - Armee Belge, Belgisch Leger, then the 46169 is the licence plate it had in the army, and 55 is the year it was assembled



It was already converted from the standard nato hitch to a european "4bol" hitch



some more pictures from right after purchase in the attachements

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

She had some rust in the front corners of the tub, stood oudside an the drains where clogged,
so i cut out the bad parts an welded new patch plates in

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Next i welded in some plates to support the new taillights, it came to me without any lights or wiring

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

I then scored some wheel adapters from the army depot, the used them on the bantams so the could mount the same wheels as the Volkswagen Iltis they used when the jeeps retired
those wheels have the same PDC and center bore of most mercedes wheels wich are pretty easy to get here.

so I bought 2 second hand AT tires an 2 new steelees and off we go

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

since the original fenders didn't cover the tires anymore I had to find some new ones, law enforcement is pretty strict about this in Belgium.
The only ones that where big enough are designed to bolt to the side of the trailer, so i had to adapt them to use the original mounting points on the Bantam





Also cleaned and resealed the seams inside of the tub

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Last thing i did last week was removing the axle and flipping it over so I could paint the underside and run the wiring for the taillights








Also painted the drawbar an cleaned up the coulper



tomorrow i'll put the painted axle and springs back under ist so i can move it again

 

[Kingsize24]

Knocking it out quick. Lol

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Knocking it out quick. Lol

Thx

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

So I have been busy renovating my bathroom so the trailer came on the 2nd place for a while,

I reinstalled the painted axle and started on painting the tub, there was a bend in the top right side of the trailer so i tried to push it out a little, it isnt fully gone but much better. the method might not be the safest but it did the job



then i made up a little spray booth to raptor line the inside of the tub





also did the fenders and the bottom part of the tub in raptorliner

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

I then started painting the outside of the tub





Installed the fenders, side markers and connected the tail lights











I reinstalled the tailgate today and made a first test drive, it rides so much smoother than the typical euro torsion axle trailers

Pictures tomorrow

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Snapped 2 fast pictures as promised, the cover is the Belgian Army cover that came with the trailer, I'm planning on having a new one made in black later on.

 

[ITTOG]

I kind of like it with the faded color. Just change the rope to black and you are good.

Good job on the restoration.

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Been working on the trailer a little bit

I had a hitch laying around from my ex S2000, decided to cut out the middle part and use it for the trailer, welded 2 pieces of unistrut to the sides so i could also bolt it to the 2nd crossmember



i made a support for the trailer plug an installed it on the hitch

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

Took it for a little test drive





And installed the licence plate

 

[Corona_Cave_Garage]

I saw a cool stencil on a youtube movie that i wanted to try on my trailer, so i made something up an started cutting




then used the flat back of a small paint roller to apply it to the trailer, I'm pretty happy with the result





At last, i installed a little gimmick i had from an old cooler




next i'll replace the bolts on the fenders and the nuts from the rear lights and reflectors by black ones, they are still on order