FJ M416 Trailer

[FJJUNKY]

So I have been lurking around here for some time with intrest of building a trailer for camping. One of the most diffacult things about building a trailer is finding a trailer in good shape for a good price. I searched all over the place. I found a M416 in CA that looked pretty good at the price of 900.00. I called the guy and asked if he would sell it without the top.

He said sure how does 700.00 sound. After recieving more pics and talking to the guy on the phone I decided to go to CA and pick it up.
Much to my supprise the trailer was not to bad. It had one bad fender from the trailer being rolled 6 times on two rubicon runs. Here are some picks of the trailer being rolled. as you can see it was a little top heavy.

Here are picks when I went there to pick up

All in all the trailer was not to bad for what it had been thru. Not sure who did the tailgate for him but it was not a very good job. after tearing it apart I noticed that the trailer had been dragged down the road on the axel and was missing the drum as well. No biggy as I was going to be putting a new 3500lb one under it with 6 lug to match the tow rig.
After hooking this thing up behind the FJ the first thing I noticed was this trailer is up high and I would have to come up with some new front end to level the trailer behind the FJ.

Now the rebuild comes.........

 

[FJJUNKY]

We figured out that there was a 6" drop that was needed to get the trailer level.
Here is what we came up with:

We cut open the front section and welded in a new 2x3x1/4" tube.
Then cut the old front end and welded them back in place to support the new front place.

Out of the same stock 2x3x1/4" we made new fron arms with a 6" drop in them and extended the front end abut 18-20".

Leveling issue taken care of.

On the rear of the trailer the guy used a Big Ibeem as a bumper and welded the bed to it. Yes this caused a big headach.

More to come later.....

 

[njsjeep]

Nice work on the trailer and very cool pics of an m416 in use off-road. I know what you mean about the scarcity of those trailers. I had to search for months until I found one, also out in CA. Good work with the build and I'm plan to follow along to see what you come up with so I can steal your ideas.

My m416:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36777

 

[Titanpat57]

Good luck on the find...awesome metal fab skilzz :smiley_drive:

Pat

 

[MrCyrus16]

Sweeeeet! Can't wait to see the finished product, it should be done this weekend right?:sombrero:

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Lookin' good. Does the FJ hitch not give enough clearance for one of the adjustable pintle hooks? My M416 sits a bit high behind my ZJ so I was just going to get one of the adjustable units. Also, I would recommend adding some fish plates and a small cross member in your tongue to spread out any loads. Some gussets where the a-arms meet the frame wouldn't hurt either.

 

[FJJUNKY]

Lookin' good. Does the FJ hitch not give enough clearance for one of the adjustable pintle hooks? My M416 sits a bit high behind my ZJ so I was just going to get one of the adjustable units. Also, I would recommend adding some fish plates and a small cross member in your tongue to spread out any loads. Some gussets where the a-arms meet the frame wouldn't hurt either.

Absolutely...... Thanks for the gusset idea. My pintle on the FJ is at the top and any higher will hit the rear tire. This trailer with the axel swap and 33's sits really high. With the pintle in the bottom hole there was a 6 inch gap to get the trailer level.

 

[Feileod]

Trailer Canbak top?

If you still are able to contact the seller, could you ask him which model canbak topper that is? I have seen only one other set up like that on an M100 trailer and I was unable to firgure out wich model truck it is intended for. Even better, maybe he has the top for sale?

 

[FJJUNKY]

PMing you his email......

 

[FJJUNKY]

Sorry for not posting in some time but been very busy.

Started working on the tailgate. This has been an interesting thing to figure out being we had to cut four inches out of the rear bottom due to it being welded to the frame. We welded a 4x1/4" plate into the bottom and went from there. We put a 2x2x1/4" on each side to give us a strong support on each side. Here are a few picks.

new tailgate

New axel 55"

New mount for the front stand/wheel

Some random picks after I got it to the point that I need to start on the lid.

Cheep latch but it does the job

That all for now. I have so much grinding to do after all the holes are filled.

Next stop Lid. If anyone knows someone in AZ that does bending for my lid please let me know.

 

[brian64]

Looks great, keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing the final results!

 

[tmac]

Nice job Tom. Trailer is looking good.:drool: When your done, it should only take you half as long to build mine.:elkgrin:

 

[FJJUNKY]

Hey no Problem Tim. I really enjoy this when I can get time. Can't wait to go camping.

 

[highlandercj-7]

Nice fab work man! It's gonna be a sweet trailer. Can't wait to see it done.

 

[Tight_wad]

Your trailer is looking good! Did you make the fenders, or did you modify the ones that were on it? They look really good. Also, the jack that you are using, I see the little handle for pivoting, can you also remove it too?