Yet another CDN m101 (1 Viewer)

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still having plug in failure message that won't let me upload pictures. any one else having this trouble?
 
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here we go. my computer is being stupid (or maybe it's just me).

angle iron welded to the bottom after making sure it was square. square tube welded up the inside to support the angle iron and give structure to the side walls. it's quite rigid and should give nice clean corners.

now I have to find a good way to fill the square holes. likely will weld in a a square patch. just need more gas!!
 
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i got a few more hours done on the tail gate. here the angle iron is tacked into place for the gate to seal to.
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both sides welded in. i learned a bit of a new skill here with vertical welding. i used the pull method starting from the top and moving down. this way gravity and the direction of the weld puddle were opposing themselves and helped keep control of the puddle. there was a large gap in a few places that required large sweeping movements to fill it in but that way i didn't need to cut a weld a 1/4 inch strip in. that would have been a pain.
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tail gate primed. here was one of two mistakes for the evening. i should have waited to prime it because i ended up getting to the point that i could have welded the hinges on but the primer was still wet. i also now have to grind the primer where the hinges will go because this stuff is not my weld through primer.
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second mistake was getting overspray on my tail lights. now i have to take the lenses out and clean them up. doh!!!!
 
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soooo close to being done. i got the tail gate hinges welded on and the latches mounted. i still have to weld a little slide block in place as i positioned the hinges so i can take the gate off if i want. it'll have to open all the way once the slide block is in place and chains will stop it from going all the way. i still have to get the chains. i also riveted the latches on and am not overly happy with that. i need to weld some plate on as the sheet metal is a little to thin and allows too much flex under the latch. lastly i need to paint it and put the weather stripping in. i left a little play between the gate and the tub for it. i think it looks good and it should function well. then i need to weld the lit hinges and get gas struts for it but all in good time.

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oh yeah i and have to get that primer off my lights!!... and fill the square holes. ok so theres still a bunch of stuff to do:worms:
 
spent some time friday night reinforcing where the latches mount because the sheet metal was too flimsy to really support them on it's own. i needed to get it in working condition to go on a camping trip so it wasn't finished but was functional. i used stainless hardware to mount the latches instead of rivets. here's a shot in action. also dragged it through this water crossing with out any weather stripping and it all stayed dry.
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so I changed the bearings out as they were heating up and I figured it's just the right thing to do as they haven't been addressed since I've owned the trailer. I bought a standard bearing kit for a 3500 axle and everything worked perfectly except the inner race. it was about 1/2 mm larger diameter than the one I took out. the bearing surface was exactly the same and the new bearing fit it perfectly I just couldn't get it to go into the hub. any one have this trouble. the old race surface was still in fine shape so I'm taking a chance using the new bearings in it. I think in hind sight the brakes were sticking on and causing the heating because the bearings looked good but it's peace of mind. hopefully old race new bearing won't cause a problem. if it does they aren't expensive so oh well
 
Compare the numbers stamped in the races, see if they match. If they don't a local bearing house should be able to get you the correct race. Or contact the bearing kit vendor ask about it.
 
i went on a fishing camping exploration trip this past weekend with a friend and each of us took out canoes. i had mine on the roof of the truck and his was on the trailer. the tongue of the m101 is quite short which makes it track really well in tight spots but the canoe ends up hanging way over the back. i really like the pintle because its strong and simple so i don't want to get rid of it for a multi axis coupler. i do wonder if anyone has any suggestions for how to make it longer so i can centre the boat? i was thinking of using the high mount on the current pintle set up to put a longer pintle in when i trailer with the canoe on and then take it off and use the short one when i'm trailering boat free. i'll show some pictures once i get them downloaded from the camera.
 
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heres a video of the trip i went on. you can see the canoe on the trailer is hanging way over the back. i'd like to have it more centred.



i also got the hinges on finally. they are from harbour freight. they work nice. i had to cut them down to match the lid count our but that was easy. i just got the hardware to put the lid latches on and all the gas struts. just have to find time to do it.

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Hey, Franklin why not add wider cross bars and put both canoes on the truck? It's been done before.
An idea anyhow. Looks like a lot of fun though. I leave Sat for my trip.
 
I'm finding that as my truck gets older and higher mileage the more wind resistance i have to fight against the harder the truck seems to work. a canoe on top is like a sail and two might push the old girl over the top. the one on the trailer really has no resistance as it's hidden behind the truck. maybe with a diesel swap coming down the line it won't be such an issue. i have some ideas for the trailer tongue but we'll see what comes of them
 
You could try an extended rack above the trailer as well for 2 canoes. have them parallel on the trailer, with
same height as your truck roof line. That would tow really well, good aero as well. You could have the forward tips just
a couple feet aft of the rear of the truck, just outside your corners in the turn. All just ideas.
 
yeah I plan on welding a rack to the top of my lid with slide out bars for when j want to load two canoes. they still hang way out over the back a drag on the ground when going over steep short hummocks. I don't the the rack will add much clearance to avoid this but maybe it will. it's my next step of my trailer build.
 
I put my lift struts on today. doh they're not strong enough. they were 75 lb struts from what I recall. I think the leverage of the lid it just too much because I put the struts fairly close to the hinges. they're the right place for how much I want the lid to open. I have no idea how much the lid actually weights so I couldn't do any math to figure it out mathematically. it's kind of trial and error so well tonight was more error than correct. I think a second strut parallel to these ones will help. I'll post up more results and pictures when I get it figured out.
 
problem partially solved. I bought 2 200 lb gas springs which actually will lift the lid once I start it moving. perfect weight match for where I have them placed. only problem is that acklands didn't have the ball stud of the right size so I have to try and find some other ones or I'll still be out of luck. there wasn't even a given measurement for the strut to tell me what ball size to look for. I'm sure they exist...it'll just take some sleuthing.
 
found the ball studs today locally. a place called lift support technologies had them. I'll post some picturesthis weekend. apparently he just made and shipped some struts to someone in Alaska building a trailer lid. pretty cool.
 
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here's the lift spring and these are the ball studs. one will weld onto the lid and one will screw into the hole I drilled and tapped in the lip of the trailer box. then the little black clip is the locking clip to hold the spring on the ball. should work well and it'll be cleaner that what I have there now.
 
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Post #500!!

spent some time in the shop. I got the tongue leg all greased up so it moves well and then took the lift springs off to replace them with the more robust ones.

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note the crutch lift strut

after

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I also got my handles, reflectors and side latches on and my licence plate back on
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oh yeah and I took some wet sand paper and finally got the primer overspray off my tail lights
 
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it’s been a few years since i really did anything to my trailer but i’m getting tired of hooking up a pintle hitch to my van (i use this thing for everything) so i’m making an adjustable sleeve type tongue with a 2 inch ball receiver that way i can easily tow it behind any of my vehicles and ill make a tongue that i can swap out with the pintle for off road use. here’s what i’ve done today. i can keep it short for day to day use and lengthen it to haul canoes. i want to get all my fab stuff done soon because it’s getting surface rust on a lot of it and i want to get it blasted and repainted this summer if i can.
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i still need to gusset it and drill holes. i’m also going to try to modify the original tongue stand so i still have it
 

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