New to me 416 gets a lid and expo built

[Jtranum]

Earlier this year I went on a trip to New Mexico for 5 days and at that time I was camping in an Oz-tent ground tent. Good level ground in the NM mountains is hard to come by sometimes. Half our group had trailers and everyone had Roof tents. After about the third night I was starting to get jealous of the easy setup and takedown of the roof tents, especially how easy a roof tent is when on a trailer.

A few weeks ago my buddy mentioned he wanted to part with his 416 trailer already outfitted with a rack and a RTT. So I loaded up the 40 series and made the 200 mile trek to pick up the trailer.


Overall, the trailer is in good condition. The bearings and brakes are new and maintained. The body is straight with its main flaw being a bunch of bolt holes. I don’t really have much of a use for an open top camping trailer so plans were made to put a lid on it.

My buddy drew up a cad file for the sheet metal panels to be water jetted at his work.



The one piece 18ga top was stitch cut on the water table so all that need to be done was fold the side panels down onto the crossmembers.


1”x2” Crossmembers welded in. I will
Be building a roof rack for it so I don’t need any flex in the lid.


Now mated to an angle iron frame so that it overlaps the round tub rail of the 416. Fits perfectly with 3/16” clearance on each side.


I welded up the seams and ground it smooth. Since the metal is so thin and I ground it smooth, I will have to weld the inside seam to reduce the chance of the welds cracking.


Found some gate hinges that will work perfectly. Just need to cut them off some to shorten the tab and weld them on. I will need to brace the tub where I weld the hinges on. I wanted removable pin hinges so that I do retain the ability to have an open cargo trailer.

 

[Buffalobwana]

Sweet trailer. Nice job on the lid and the structural supports should do a fine job.

You said you will brace for the hinges. Are you going to weld bracing plate on the inside of the tub or outside, both? Gas struts? Any more mods?

Will you put weatherstripping on the tub lip? McMaster Carr has a bunch of options for that. I’d consider putting it on the lid so you don’t scrape it off dragging things over the lip. Plus it’s easier to put a big strip on a flat surface and let it seal where it will it may.

 

[Buffalobwana]

Oh, sweet 40 too. Can’t believe nobody noticed.

 

[50 fiver]

Very nice job on the lid, I like that it's low profile, what's the weight of it?

 

[Jtranum]

Very nice job on the lid, I like that it's low profile, what's the weight of it?

About 150lbs

 

[Jtranum]

Work has kept me busy from person projects the past couple weeks but I was able to sneak a few hours in today.

I welded in vertical braces inside the tub to prevent to run from flexing when opening the lid:


Then welded the hinges in place:


McMaster Carr has some good 250lb gas struts that work perfect for the lid. I made the tub bracket with a high and low setting for the strut mounting.





Next were the latches. When the tub is cut for a tail gate, a lot of the tub integrity is lost so I needed to brace the tub quite well to not flex with the cam latches.

I cut a piece of 1/4” plate to fit the corner of the tub and then welded cam latches to it. No flex anywhere.