Long overdue update and some advice needed. The m416 has been sitting waiting to be worked on; in the meantime I got the Cruiser wired up and ready to tow. The rear bumper is almost tow-ready and just needs attachment points for the tow-chains and a hole in the bumper so we can mount the wiring plug flush.
Here's the dilemma. I recently picked up Kurt's well-known fj40 tub trailer with RTT. It's been sitting at his place for a few years (he has other rigs now with tents and gear, especially his slick 100) and when he made the hard decision to sell it I jumped. It needs a little freshening up after sitting for a while but is in solid shape. I'm sure many of you have read his build thread,
http://www.cruiseroutfitters.com/tech_trailer.html. I bought it with the intent of keeping the RTT and eventually selling the trailer separately after fixing mine up (promising not to flip it because he let it go at a great price). It's also appropriate because my 40 is Kurt's first 40 he built in high school, so it's fitting to keep them together.
However, I also love the old school military trailers and that has been my first love. I literally looked for years before picking my m416 up. I am tempted to put the body of the m416 on Kurt's fj55 frame trailer, which already has the tongue extended, is wired, frame is reinforced, has Toyota hubs, etc. I could then pass on the fiberglass tub to someone who is restoring their cruiser or perhaps would make a trailer out of the military frame and cruiser tub? Kurt did bring up that possibility but I feel blasphemous. I work in museums and silly as it sounds preservation is important to me so am I ruining two historic projects here? Kurt's trailer is definitely awesome as is but I can't justify having two and a military body on his frame would be a pretty amazing trail trailer.