1978 M416A1 Build (4 Viewers)

[iptman]

I suppose I'll start a new thread on this instead of continuing on @woytovich 's thread here. Two and a half days and 1600 miles of driving later I have my NOS M416A1 back home in Virginia. It towed perfectly behind my new to me 04 Suburban 2500. I was a little nervous about running these old trailer tires up at highway speeds but I didn't have any issues. The trailer was manufactured by Parkhurst Manufacturing Company in 1978. It has the service brake as well as the surge brakes. I don't know if the surge brakes work but the service brake definitely does. I plan to use it when my family goes camping or for wheeling trips, in both case towed behind my 80. I was thinking I'd want to restomod this thing, take it apart, media blast and paint (not Army green), put it back together, but it seems a shame to do that. I'll have to think on that. Here's are some pics....

Leaving Dallas yesterday morning... A little nose down but I couldn't do anything about it. I popped the hub dust cover off to make sure there was adequate grease and there was. Original grease I assume. It was almost a clear yellowish color.

Getting home this afternoon.

 

[iptman]

Couple more pics...

 

[iptman]

And the rest of this week I'll need to figure out how to get this thing registered and titled in Virginia with only a bill of sale.

 

[e9999]

very nice find. It's in great condition with very little use obviously. Enjoy!

 

[woytovich]

Great score on the trailer AND the Suburban. I have a 2003 Yukon XL 2500 and I have really liked it a lot. Congrats!

 

[woytovich]

In NY I have registered an M416 a "homemade" without trouble - that's what DMV told me to do.

 

[iptman]

In NY I have registered an M416 a "homemade" without trouble - that's what DMV told me to do.

Did they use the VIN on the data plate of the M416 or give you a new VIN?

 

[iptman]

Does anyone know if there are date codes on military tires like this? I assume I'll want to replace these tires with something I can be more confident with at highway speeds?

 

[woytovich]

Did they use the VIN on the data plate of the M416 or give you a new VIN?

I don't recall. I don't have the trailer any longer. Although I'm pretty sure they issued a new VIN.

 

[Gretsch]

I don't recall. I don't have the trailer any longer. Although I'm pretty sure they issued a new VIN.

For me in Texas I registered my Bantam T3-C as homemade as well and they issued a new VIN number for it. Title I had for it was from out of state, was last registered some years ago, and had changed owners hands since it was last titled. Without a proper title matching the Bill of Sale I had for it I went the homemade route. BOS is all I needed to register for trailers under 2000 pounds (something like that). I don't know for sure but I imagine its similar where you are. HTH.

 

[80t0ylc]

And the rest of this week I'll need to figure out how to get this thing registered and titled in Virginia with only a bill of sale.

Quite an adventure and it looks to have great potential for all kinds of hauling for your 80! But, just wondering, how is it there is a VA trailer tag on it in the pics before you get all this done? Also, did you have to do much electrical mods to connect light wires to your Suburban? Require a new connector or what did it come with?
Referencing this pic:

 

[iptman]

I mailed my brother the tag off my utility trailer. I didn't want to risk any attention with not having one on there. The M416 is still wired for the military connector so I just bought a set of magnet trailer lights to get home and stuck them on the fenders.

 

[80t0ylc]

I mailed my brother the tag off my utility trailer. I didn't want to risk any attention with not having one on there. The M416 is still wired for the military connector so I just bought a set of magnet trailer lights to get home and stuck them on the fenders.

Whew! Glad to hear I'm not in the twilight zone. I'd have done the same thing if I had an unused utility sitting around. After reviewing your 1st pic, still connected to the Suburban, I can see the lights and wires. Are you planning to use the original pintle or go with some other off road setup?

 

[smritte]

Mine was a 1951 M-100. My registration says "spec construction". My homemade tear drop reg says the same. here they register it as home made.

 

[iptman]

Looks like the drain plugs still work.

Got it pulled in to the garage to start whatever it is I'm going to do with this thing. I'll probably start with getting the lights working and maybe looking at the brakes.

 

[iptman]

I started to pull some parts off. One good lamp, one bad.

The front drain bracket isn't salvageable. Hopefully I can find a replacement. The shocks have been leaking oil for a while. Thankfully the bushings came off no problem. I'll do some searching but does anyone know off hand if someone has attempted extending the lunette on one of these with the surge brakes?

 

[ntsqd]

How far do you need it to be extended?

Seems like you could make or have made an extension that bolts in where the lunette is bolted to now, and then bolt the lunette to that. So the shortest that the extension could be is roughly the distance between those two pivot bolts plus an inch or so.

 

[iptman]

I'm not sure actually. I've just seen several people do this for better road manners. I may not tackle it at this time but still curious.

 

[ntsqd]

An upside to a longer tongue is that it is easier to back up.
A downside to a longer tongue is that for the same loading the tongue weight goes down as the tongue gets longer. Which can lead to noise when working with a pintle hitch.

 

[iptman]

I got some replacement shocks from Napa. Also pulled the master cylinder cap off to have a look. Not good. At least there was some fluid in there. I assume this is DOT5? Apparently the Dorman M2796 MC is a direct fit replacement so I'll keep that in mind if I want to just replace this one.