Brought home an M100 Trailer today

[Brian in Oregon]

A friend who is having severe health problems asked if I wanted his M100 trailer. He knows I've wanted it for a long time. His backyard was overgrown with blackberries. My son Sean and I hacked out the blackberries holding the trailer hostage, then cut the others that prevented him from getting into the backyard. We finally got the yard cleared so we could get the trailer out, and he could get around. We decided to heap the blackberries in the trailer and give it a test run from Portland to my mother-in-law's just beyond Sandy, were we could put them on a logging slash pile for burning.

The trailer trailed fine at highway speeds. Hubs were cool to the touch. This was also the first test of my rotating pintle assembly I installed on my FJ40 rear bumper, which I posted about a few months back on the FJ40 board. Clearance on sharp right turns is tight to the 1250x16 spare tire. Sharp right turns with a lot of articulation may be an issue. The lunette assembly really needs to be a foot further out.

Despite the looks, the tires need replacing. There is surface rust in the bed, but there isn't any rust through. However, someone pickaxed some holes in the trailer bed. Most are small, but there is a large one, which is quite noticable if you look just past the lopers laying in the bed in the first pic. Fortunately, most have the displaced metal intact, so we can hammer it back into position and weld them up. The lights are missing and the wiring harness is toast. He has a pile of military rebuilt light assemblies, so we have a couple to install. I had magnetic lights on the trailer, but I had just taken them off when the night pics were made.

The trailer nose is slightly in the air. The Land Cruiser has a 4" lift. I may have to do a spring over axle conversion or make extended shackles.

Plans are to make a camping trailer out of it, and store tents, stoves, whatever, ready to roll. It will need some sort of a lid.

I also have a beater Bantam civilian jeep trailer that we'll use as a utility trailer. It's lacking a hitch, and needs a lot of work. We decided a long time ago to not use it for camping.

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Looks good Brian. that explains why you weren't home yesterday when I came by in my 40. I'll be home for three weeks, I'm having surgery to repair a hernia and will be taking some time off to recover. Come by sometime later this week or next. I would love to see the trailer/ pintle setup

[photogod]

Looks like a great project. If you need springs, and it looks like you do if there is any sag at all, front springs from a 50's CJ with 10 leaf are the replacements same with the shocks. Nice not having no rust through. Nice find.

[FF LC FREAK]

Looks good. It is way nicer than the one I picked up a few weeks ago down in Salem. I just finished completely going through mine. I repacked the wheel bearings, took apart the springs and painted them, cut the floor out and welded in a new piece and patched some rust holes in the sides. I also went SOA with it. You can see the pictures on the cascade cruisers website - My new project. I'll be updating tomorrow with some pictures of the finished product.

By the way, my Cruiser has a 4" lift. Before the trailer SOA, it was nose up being pulled. Now, with the SOA, it is nose down. I guess I'm going to have to put bigger tires on my Cruiser now. I love how I can justify things...

Have fun with it!

[Brian in Oregon]

FF LC FREAK, I looked at the link, but didn't see any pics. Are there any?

BTW, the data plate says this M100 was delivered in Jan '53.

[FF LC FREAK]

Sorry, I guess you have to be a member to the CC website to be able to see the pictures. Here's some before and after pics. I just finished up the bedliner a couple of days ago.



These are before:

[FF LC FREAK]

By the way, do you know the lug spacing on these? Is it 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 5.5? I need to get some new wheels and tires. The tires are shot, and then I realized I have a 15" wheel and a 16" wheel. You gotta love POs.

After pics:

[Brian in Oregon]

Well, since the lugnut pattern is the same as early Jeep (MB, CJ and M-series) it should be 5 on 5.5". Here's a handy chart which indicates this should be correct:
OKoffroad.com - Bolt Pattern

[Brian in Oregon]

That's a nice looking M100. Good job bringing it back. (It makes me feel better about my beater civilian Bantam trailer LOL.)

Hey, Midwest Military has the missing box that fits between the brackets on the front of the bed. $85 new reproduction. They also have repro tail light brackets ($12 each) and NOS safety chains, hooks and brackets ($18 each). They also have tail lights for $45 each, but the old gentleman I got my trailer from has a pile of them. I can ask him how much if you would like original lights.

Trailer Parts

They also have reflectors, but at $13 each that adds up. Are yours just typical auto parts store blister pack specials? I measured the reflector hole spacing and they're 4".

I'm leaning towards sticking with military tires. Original style military 700x16 NDT (Non-Directional Tread) tires are available from Lucas Automotive in Ohio for $93 each (tubes not included) and from Coker Tire Coker Tire*::*Millitary Tires in two tread styles ($90 and $103 each, not incl tubes).

[FF LC FREAK]

Thanks! Yeah, I've seen that website before. It is a good resource. Unfortunately, I'm too cheap. I thought about doing a full resto, but decided it was only a trailer. I'm going to abuse it somewhat anyway. This is really making me want to go camping, now!

I made my own taillight brackets out of 2"x1/4" flat stock that i bent into a 90* (probably $1.50 in steel). The reflectors were the cheapies from Baxters. They are the 3" reflectors. The holes lined right up. The lights are also the cheap trailer lights from Baxters.

I do like the look of the military tires. I thought pretty hard about them. But since I would have to source 2 stock wheels (I have one stock rim, but I want one for a spare), then buy 3 tires and have them shipped to me, I decided against it. Again, I'm cheap. Can you see a pattern. I'd rather save my money for my Land Cruiser. The other reason is that I went SOA with the trailer, so I'd like some taller tires to fill the wheel wells.

Again, good luck with yours.

[Brian in Oregon]

Bastards Auto Parts? I thought those reflectors looked familiar. I think I'll get a set but paint the aluminum base.

Hey, you ever get out Gresham way in your FJ40? Or maybe this spring we ought to do a Gorge run - go up Hwy 14 then come back down I-84/US30.

[photogod]

Originally Posted by Brian in Oregon

That's a nice looking M100. Good job bringing it back. (It makes me feel better about my beater civilian Bantam trailer LOL.)

I'm leaning towards sticking with military tires. Original style military 700x16 NDT (Non-Directional Tread) tires are available from Lucas Automotive in Ohio for $93 each (tubes not included) and from Coker Tire Coker Tire*::*Millitary Tires in two tread styles ($90 and $103 each, not incl tubes).

I have three military ND tires I would part with but they are 6.5x16, I think. Two are almost new (less that 1000 miles) and one is new mounted as a spare. $50.00 each with tubes if you are so inclined.

[FF LC FREAK]

Originally Posted by Brian in Oregon

Bastards Auto Parts? I thought those reflectors looked familiar. I think I'll get a set but paint the aluminum base.

Hey, you ever get out Gresham way in your FJ40? Or maybe this spring we ought to do a Gorge run - go up Hwy 14 then come back down I-84/US30.

That's a good idea about painting the base. Now that I look at it, the aluminum really jumps out at you.

I don't get to Gresham a whole lot, but I'm not far from there. I live in E Vancouver not far from 205. Seeing as how our rigs look to be twins, we should get together. A run up the gorge sounds good. Let me know!

[Brian in Oregon]

I upended the trailer tonight to assess the hole damage, clean the inside, and clear the drain holes.

While inspecting the underside, I noticed blue paint. And then found more. And more. It's factory paint. And it's Air Force Strata Blue. Yep, this was a trailer for the USAF.

Then it dawned on me that the holes might not be random. Sure enough, the small holes are laid out as a pattern. Evidently this trailer held some sort of equipment. A generator, air field lights, cable spool holders, who knows?

Unfortunately, it looks like the topside of the trailer got sandblasted and was spray painted with olive drab. I'll bet that the registration number and unit lettering no longer exist. But I'm going to sand down the paint on the rear wall carefully just in case.

[gavman]

el neato, You totally rescued that thing and gave it a new lease of life, cool

[cbmontgo]

Nice rescue. Those are some great trailers...

[Brian in Oregon]

Let there be light!

A lesson in automotive electricals - my son Sean learns to wire a trailer. The hardest part was cutting out the old wiring. We pressure washed the underside, and found out that wasn't caked mud and dirt. At some point the whole underside has been sprayed with undercoating, and it ain't bedliner, but the old asphaltic based stuff. The remains of the old harness were like armor plated with the stuff.

Picked up a cheapie trailer light kit from U-Haul. They used to be a lot higher for prices, but lately the auto parts stores are. The lights are expedient. They're plastic, and are susceptible to trail damage. They'll suffice until I can figure out how to cram LED lights inside the military light housings. The standard military lenses are pretty small for surface area.

Had a problem getting a good ground until I wire wheeled the old light brackets so the light hardware would ground properly. Took it on a road test tonight, and even dropped by Colorado Boy's for inspection.

Oh, and the parking brake works perfectly.

[VanGo]

Is that a electical utility crossarm holding up the trailer? Nice score.

[REZARF]

More than one way to work under a rig! I love it!

[Brian in Oregon]

Took some debris to the burn pile at my mother-in-law's ranch. My son talked me into off road testing the M100 trailer. I'm going up a hill in a logged off area.

[Brian in Oregon]

For expediency, I took some tires and rims from an old trailer I had that was made from a 1/2 ton full size Ford pickup. I swapped on some tires with Chevy rims, which would not fit the M100 trailer because the center holes were only 3" in diameter. But the white spoke rims that were removed have 4" center holes, which will fit the M100. The original tire and rim are 700x16. The replacement is a 235-75-R15. The tire is only an inch smaller in overall diameter. It is wider, though. The tread is slightly wider than the fender, and the sidewall protrudes even more. But the inner clearance between the sidewall and the tub is almost the same. This is going to allow me to get the trailer into operation sooner for summer camping, though I still need to inspect the bearings. The old tires will be removed from the rims, and the rims will be cleaned, possibly sandblasted, and repainted. here are before and after pics of the tires & rim swap.

[cbmontgo]

Put the old rims back on after you get them sandblasted and check the bearings...they look much better in my opinion.