Finally snagged an M101CDN2: (a modest build up)

[PajEvo]

I've been wanting one of these for many years. A buddy had one, and I loved the form factor, its tough build, and its Canadian heritage. At the time I had too many projects (my wife might argue that hasn't changed), and no real justification to own one. UNTIL NOW.

The back story aka justification:
I live in "Hail Alley". I've watched houses (including my own) and vehicles (including my own) get destroyed year after year. Driving JDM rigs makes comprehensive insurance almost an impossibility, so parking in the garage is a must. When I found we had three jdm's in our fleet (see my signature) I thought it was high time to add a third bay to the garage. In addition to SUV's, I have an unhealthy affliction with ROOFTOP TENTS. I've had four in the last 10 years, always refining my setup, always looking for that golden ticket...

You may see two competing forces here - generally, residential garages have seven foot doors. Yes, I know lots have 8'. but typically, 7' is the norm. And a rig with any kind of sensible tire on it will eclipse this height fairly quickly once annointed with a rooftop tent. So an SUV that's committed to its RTT must stay outside, and brave the crazy Alberta hail storms. Therefore...

Justification achieved! Why not get my long sought after M101CDN2 and put the RTT on that? Indeed! Except... well.. they've gotten kind of expensive. Esp in AB. And hard to find. And pretty beaten.

My title gives away the suspense. I know it. So I found one. There were three problems though. Location location location.

Here's a short story I wrote a month or so ago, that outlines this problem:
Adventures in Trailering: OH CANADA

 

[PajEvo]

Here's part two of the story, which gives a little more history about these little gems. If you are only here for the fancy fabrication, you may find this thread sorely lacking. Sorry about that...
Adventures in Trailering (Part 2): The small but mighty M101CDN2

And a sneak peek of where we are going in this thread, in case you don't want to subject yourself to endless drivel:

 

[PajEvo]

This brings us to the present. Its home. Its fabulous. Time to go to work.

Originally, my plan was to use it for the summer and then decide in the fall what I wanted to do in terms of mods. But then the day after I got it home, I did this:


Nope, even my little sidekick can't believe it. I besmirched my historic military piece, paid for by the tax payers of this country, with a PRINCESS AUTO LADDER RACK? Seriously? Yep. And it was on sale for $75 (CAD). That's like... what. 50 bucks USD? Quickly, I realized that truck clamps would cost more than the rack, and bolts came with it, so out came the drill. If I'm going to hell anyway...?



Bolted down, and tent was hoisted on top.

Oh no. I couldn't believe it.

The damned thing wouldn't fit through THE GARAGE DOOR. Not again!!!

 

[PajEvo]

Time to get caught up. First off, part three in the Trailer Trilogy... The journey to go and get it:

Adventures in Trailering (Part 3) - The Gearhead Project

A JDM Journey where we actually drive the JDMs.

www.thegearheadproject.com

 

[PajEvo]

So last update, I realized my ladder rack was too high to get out the door. A chopsaw made sort work of this issue, as I cut the uprights down about 4 inches or so. Finally, the top of the tent is around 83" overall height.


Still fits kayaks or bikes inside, and the annex is still usable.


If you look closely, you'll notice I added a tongue jack. Its a cheapie, and feels like it, but it'll do for now. To stabilise the whole thing, I made a mount from stainless all-thread, using two of the rack holes. This allowed me to mount the hilift jack onto the side. Once at camp, this secures the back. Between the handbrake, the hilift, and the tongue jack, it is very solid.

 

[PajEvo]

Time to address paint. Condition-wise, I'd call it fair to pretty good, for something almost 30 years old that's meant to be used hard. A little surface rust, and a couple of small holes on the front inner wall where the sealant had given up. I began by removing all the sealant (pick and hammer, and about as fun as it sounds). Gave the whole thing a scuff up with my palm sander. Then I hit it with rust converting primer.


Undercoated the underside. Flat-blacked (is that a verb?) the tongue and lowers.

 

[jktowhere]

Nice work! Giving me motivation to start work on mine!

 

[Fatboyz]

I'm from Alberta too. Where did you find the trailer? I'm done my 550 now looking for a trailer to build up for my daughter and SIL.

 

[PajEvo]

I'm from Alberta too. Where did you find the trailer? I'm done my 550 now looking for a trailer to build up for my daughter and SIL.

Adventures in Trailering (Part 3) - The Gearhead Project

A JDM Journey where we actually drive the JDMs.

www.thegearheadproject.com

The whole story of acquisition is in "part 3" above. Essentially, I had to drive all the way to Ontario to find one reasonably priced, AND in decent shape. It was all part of the experience. ?

 

[PajEvo]

So - paint. I went through all manner of plans and schemes, but wowsers paint is expensive these days. And finding something in a flat finish is not easy if you don't want all black. I did do the tub that way, but I really wanted a dark gray for the rest. Ultimately, I came back to tremclad, who makes a really nice, easy to apply gray, dark enough that it doesn't look like a job that's not finished. Another bonus, is that the spray bomb and the brush on are indistinguishable. I rolled the first couple of coats, and then spraybombed to hit any edges and crevices that looked thin. Here's how it turned out:





In certain lights (under my garage flourescents for example) it looks green, but in natural light it is in fact gray. Flat blacked the wheels and tub. Overall I think it preserves the military look, without looking like army surplus?

To give the color colour a bit more Canadian flavor flavour, I made up a stencil, and put these on front and back:




Finally, I added a fire extinguisher, using some 80/20 and the existing holes where the rack bolted on.



Time to get this thing out and use it!

 

[PajEvo]

We settled on a 24 hour blast out to our local FLUZ (forest land use zone) and I strapped down my Action Packers. I took it down some narrow, off-camber switchbacks, up some steep rocky climbs, and through some windy forest paths. Once I got used to seeing it opposite camber to my rig in the rear view mirror, I began to enjoy towing it. In 4-low, I didn't really notice it back there, apart from the pintle clunking (I have a ball/pintle combo hitch, and it is going to be replaced with a pure pintle claw type, in the days to come). We found a random site on a mountain, overlooking a river valley, and I got to spend a night sleeping above it. The hilift on the back, combined with brakes and front jack made it super solid.




One thing did become clear though. I needed to do something about storage and organization. Truck is already sorted, but the trailer needed some work.

I got home, and immediately ordered a couple of Plano Sportsman's trunks. Loaded them up, along with two bikes (wifey came along this time) and off we went again, this time to a traditional campsite.





Definitely better, but the bikes took up much of the trailer, and left little room for the small stuff... Trying to keep as little as possible on the roofrack, so I started looking at how I could dial it in just a bit.

 

[PajEvo]

Ultimately, if this was going to work for more than a single day trip, I need to haul the bikes outside the trailer. There isn't enough room on the tongue, so they'd have to hang off the back. Yes, I know what you're thinking: you're going to ruin the handling. Tongue weight is key. I know. Not my first trailer. All a matter of balance.

As long as I move enough weight to the front to counter the bikes off the back, it will equal out.

Soooo I'm going to add a rear hitch. Bikes will mount in my Saris Freedom rack. Then I'll put my water and fuel cans at the very front. That should be around 90 pounds. Once I figure out a way to mount the spare on the tongue, up against the front wall, I should be waaaaaay tongue positive. For offroad trails, I likely won't have bikes hanging off the back, which will give me even more tongue weight for predictable handling in tricky spots.

 

[PajEvo]

So having sorted bikes, its time to deal with the inside. Eventually I'd like to have a tarp made. This means everything needs to stay below the top of the tub rails.

My sportsman"s trunks fit perfectly across, with a little room all around to fit your hand down to grab closures, etc. But my Action Packers (had them for YEARS) didn't quite fit properly. End to end across the tub, they're slightly too long to have two lengthwise. And if I turn them parallel with the tub, I can't quite fit three. And even if I could, they'd be sitting low, and the middle one would be hard to reach.

Now, if you're familiar with the M101CDN2's bed, you know it has a tapered wall. And of course, so does the Action Packer (much to many folks disdain, since it makes the interior volume less useable). I wondered if I could make these two slanted sides work in harmony?

I began by hoisting up the action packers on 2x6s turned on their edge. At this height, they were just about level with rails, AND you could fit two, end-to-end across! I just needed to build some sort of framework to hold them up...

 

[Fatboyz]

Great read! The chances of a barn or back farm find these days is pretty slim, but since I'm not in a big rush I'll keep my eyes open. Sure nice little trailers. Good luck on the rest of your build!

 

[PajEvo]

After a trip to Home Depot to get some slotted angle, I began some more measuring, and then cutting. (Actually I measured twice.)

Here's what I came up with:


By putting longer bolts in place of the originals for the exterior tie-down hooks, I was able to keep from drilling any holes to attach the side pieces. Then it was simply a matter of cutting and bending the cross-bars, and putting them the correct distance apart, to allow the Action Packers to sit recessed in their tracks. I used plastic knobs on the cross bars to enable quick removal if necessary. With three crossbars, I can easily accomodate 4 action packers, which sit flush with the top rails, and have 6 inches underneath them.




This allows me to put chairs and a table under the bins, out of the way.



And they can slide back and forth once you remove one, so its easy to move them around, tetris style, if you need access on one side or the other.

(If you look closely, you can see I substituted a piece of I-beam I had laying around instead of slotted angle. This piece sees both bins, so I opted for something more rigid. 80/20 would be good material to use as well.)