LRRB Trailer Build - Little Red Rust Bucket

[ethernectar]

I picked up a M-416 trailer to begin my build a couple weeks ago. In reality its an M-416 tub (rusted and pitted heavily on the bottom) on top of a relatively new fabricated frame.

First order of business has been to knock off the major rust, treat with naval jelly and then a rust converter. Joy. Also will be learning to weld (MIG) through this project so I picked up a Hobart 140 and have already filled 3/4 of the holes in the tub.

Once the tub is relatively patched up I'm going to add new top rails. The originals are rusted and pretty beat to heck. I plan on fabricating a lid and adding a RTT, so I want the top rails to be right.

When the top rails are done I've got to fab some gas can holders and then prime away. Finish paint will be bedliner (inside) and red to match my 4Runner on the outside with black fenders, bedliner front and a black hitch box.

Will update as things progress. Here's pics so far:

The day I picked it up, over in Santa Barbara, CA.

The rust buckety part.

Naval Jelly and elbow grease.

Welder set up.

First holes patched.

Bed holes patched.

Paraphernalia.

Stay tuned.

 

[ethernectar]

Been a busy morning. Ran to the auto parts store to get a few things. Then have been cutting and grinding all morning.

Added a back-stop to the tailgate opening. It'll keep dust out and helped stiffen the bed.

The existing rails are beat to heck. Going to cap them with some C channel.

Caps all cut and partially de-scaled (inside for starters).

Made a bunch of loops and lashing points for cargo and for the tailgate chain.

This afternoon will grind edges and then weld up the new rails!

 

[ethernectar]

Tie downs in place - welds are ugly but solid.

New rails in place - looks a lot nicer.

 

[yj4trails]

Really like your tie downs, great idea. Your trailer is coming along nicely. Keep up the good work. Keep the pics coming.

 

[ethernectar]

This AM's progress:

Finished up some end caps on the new rails.

Welded on a spare tire carrier from Harbor Freight.

Slopped on primer (DuPont Tuffkote 2.5 PR).

 

[ethernectar]

More progress...

Horizontal gas can carriers will go in front of the fender, one on each side. These are probably about 1/2 way done. Gotta figure out a few things for the next step...

DIY bedliner. Its not as pretty as Line-x, but it'll only cost about $100 bucks when its finished to do the bed, inside tailgate and front of the tub.

 

[97tjguzzy]

what kind of bedliner was that?

 

[ethernectar]

Duplicolor Bed Armor

 

[ethernectar]

Worked on the gas can carriers after work today. They're not pretty, but they're utilitarian, lol. Then put a coat of primer on the outside sides. Looks a lot better even with only the primer.

Tomorrow will clean up the can carriers, hit a few more spots with primer and do some housework for a change, lol.

 

[ethernectar]

Nice bit of progress this afternoon. Sprayed the sides in a dupli-color that is close to my 4Runner. Hoping that it'll darken up a touch when I hit it with the clear coat.

Have abandoned the gas can carriers. Lesson learned about measure twice cut once and designing on the fly. They'll just have to go inside until I find a suitable alternative.

Almost decided on the lid design. Going to raise the edges another 4-5 inches and then do a flat top hinged lid with a rack. For my first build I'm a fan of keeping it simple, yet still working the way I want it to.

 

[ethernectar]

Raised the top of the rail 3" this eve. That will just barely give me the internal height I wanted. It also acts to give me a level surface to put the lid on. If you look closely you'll see how beat down the rails were, even with the cap I added.

Bought steel today, but apparently 20' of steel isn't always 20'. Planned remnant to go on top of the tailgate is almost 7" short. Now have to buy another full length piece (20'! $$) or hope OSH has something I can sub.

Traveling through this weekend and next for work, so probably won't get to the lid framing, but that's ok. Project is moving along swiftly.

 

[ethernectar]

Sanded down the bondo put in place to fill the gap between the rails. Added the rail entension to the tailgate and ground everything flat. Tomorrow I take another stab at the gas can mounts and do some priming.

 

[ethernectar]

Last night welded on the latches to the tailgate:

Painted some trim too...

This morning I built new (and simpler) gas can mounts - they work great.

Installed cables on the tailate

Almost complete with phase 1! Final step in that is to replace the axle/hubs and add wheels to match my 4Runner. Then onto the lid! I've got almost everything I need for that except the skin. If I wasn't traveling for work this weekend I'd have the lid framed out tomorrow...

Thinking that when I do the axle I'll go on top of the spring. It doesn't need this much height

 

[taggart_lumpy]

its coming along great

 

[ethernectar]

Framed the lid tonight. Tomorrow will do some grinding and try to figure out why I have no reverse lights...