Bonofied Suiter
Bonofied Suiter
M416 Off-road Trailer Build - Moved from Other Expedition Vehicles Section
Sorry but I couldn't find a way to move the whole thread and I was not able to copy any replies only my posts. I'll delete my other posts and direct everyone to this area.
I hope you enjoy this build thread on my trailer. It's still a work in progress and about 80% finished at this point. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. I have the original fenders, axle with park brakes, tires and Wheels for sale. Most everything else is being used in the build or thrown away as it was worthless.
For quite a while after seeing these trailers being used for the Jeeper's Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail to haul in supplies I've wanted one. These trailers impressed me with their design and features. I spent a significant amount of time surfing the web and looking at what people had built and modifications they made to them to make them better. This build borrows on many of the builds that I saw and modifications I liked and some of the things that I wanted to avoid such as doing a spring-over conversion. One major goal is to keep the center of gravity as low as possible while still having the same 35” tires as the Jeep. Here's a photo of our 2003 Jeep Wrangler TJ that will be pulling the trailer. The plan is to paint the trailer to match the Jeep.
I started my search for a nice clean M416 in about January. Good clean M416 trailers are very scarce and I missed out on a few great deals and passed on a few that were more expensive or rougher than what I had in mind. Ultimately, I placed a “looking for” ad in Craig's List and got a call from a gentleman in the San Diego area. He emailed me photos and it looked good. We settled on $800.00 I also located an ad on Craig's list for someone selling a new heavy axle with Jeep hubs , springs and hardware. He was planning a similar upgrade project but chose another route. I live in Las Vegas and both sellers lived only a few miles apart in San Diego.
I made the arrangements, scrounged up the cash and the following weekend and made the trip to buy my M416 and also the axle I needed. I didn't want to tow the trailer home so I brought it home on my car trailer we use for the Jeep on the longer trips.
Here are photos of the trailer I purchased. It the tub and frame was in fairly good shape, there are a few rust holes that need to be patched and the lunette ring had been replaced with a standard type trailer hitch. I let the owner of the trailer keep the park brake control and cable as I didn't need it. He didn't have any ownership documents or a title. This ended up being a problem later with the DMV but I was able to work it out over time. I appreciate their assistance.
Here are photos of the trailer as I bought it.
The trailer had seven different colors of paint rust on the floor and frame and evidence that I had been used since it was built sometime in the 1960's. I couldn't find and sign of a serial number on the trailer.
I started to try to strip the paint myself but found it to be far more difficult than I expected. I was able to strip the floor of the trailer but later decided to have the tub bead blasted and I would recondition the frame myself. I did remove the major castings and brackets and sent them with the tub for bead blasting too.
While the tub was out I took the frame down to bare metal with a grinder, flap discs and wire wheels.
The first coat of paint was a rust converter and the final coats are Rustoleum texture black paint. This paint is a perfect match to the black powder coat on our Jeep. The ultimate plan is for the chassis to be black with red highlights such as the shocks and some trim.
The tub will be painted Sienna Pearl (Maroon) to match the Jeep and the fenders will be custom made by Moab Fab to look similar to the Metal Cloak fenders on the Jeep. The Tub will be lined with a black texture similar to Line-X
Sorry but I couldn't find a way to move the whole thread and I was not able to copy any replies only my posts. I'll delete my other posts and direct everyone to this area.
I hope you enjoy this build thread on my trailer. It's still a work in progress and about 80% finished at this point. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. I have the original fenders, axle with park brakes, tires and Wheels for sale. Most everything else is being used in the build or thrown away as it was worthless.
For quite a while after seeing these trailers being used for the Jeeper's Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail to haul in supplies I've wanted one. These trailers impressed me with their design and features. I spent a significant amount of time surfing the web and looking at what people had built and modifications they made to them to make them better. This build borrows on many of the builds that I saw and modifications I liked and some of the things that I wanted to avoid such as doing a spring-over conversion. One major goal is to keep the center of gravity as low as possible while still having the same 35” tires as the Jeep. Here's a photo of our 2003 Jeep Wrangler TJ that will be pulling the trailer. The plan is to paint the trailer to match the Jeep.
I started my search for a nice clean M416 in about January. Good clean M416 trailers are very scarce and I missed out on a few great deals and passed on a few that were more expensive or rougher than what I had in mind. Ultimately, I placed a “looking for” ad in Craig's List and got a call from a gentleman in the San Diego area. He emailed me photos and it looked good. We settled on $800.00 I also located an ad on Craig's list for someone selling a new heavy axle with Jeep hubs , springs and hardware. He was planning a similar upgrade project but chose another route. I live in Las Vegas and both sellers lived only a few miles apart in San Diego.
I made the arrangements, scrounged up the cash and the following weekend and made the trip to buy my M416 and also the axle I needed. I didn't want to tow the trailer home so I brought it home on my car trailer we use for the Jeep on the longer trips.
Here are photos of the trailer I purchased. It the tub and frame was in fairly good shape, there are a few rust holes that need to be patched and the lunette ring had been replaced with a standard type trailer hitch. I let the owner of the trailer keep the park brake control and cable as I didn't need it. He didn't have any ownership documents or a title. This ended up being a problem later with the DMV but I was able to work it out over time. I appreciate their assistance.
Here are photos of the trailer as I bought it.
The trailer had seven different colors of paint rust on the floor and frame and evidence that I had been used since it was built sometime in the 1960's. I couldn't find and sign of a serial number on the trailer.
I started to try to strip the paint myself but found it to be far more difficult than I expected. I was able to strip the floor of the trailer but later decided to have the tub bead blasted and I would recondition the frame myself. I did remove the major castings and brackets and sent them with the tub for bead blasting too.
While the tub was out I took the frame down to bare metal with a grinder, flap discs and wire wheels.
The first coat of paint was a rust converter and the final coats are Rustoleum texture black paint. This paint is a perfect match to the black powder coat on our Jeep. The ultimate plan is for the chassis to be black with red highlights such as the shocks and some trim.
The tub will be painted Sienna Pearl (Maroon) to match the Jeep and the fenders will be custom made by Moab Fab to look similar to the Metal Cloak fenders on the Jeep. The Tub will be lined with a black texture similar to Line-X
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