So I've made some progress on my old M101cnd and thought I would start a thread to show the build. Also, I've had a few questions along the way and it would be nice to bounce some ideas off of the forum members.
This was when I picked it up. 800$ and a couple hours drive. It seemed like a deal as I had been searching for one for about a year.
This is dropping it off to have it sandblasted. The fenders are in the tub.
In hindsight this was a mistake...I should have used a flap disc and grinded the heavily rusted areas. The military paint on the trailer would have been nice to keep. I also stored the trailer like this, bare metal, in my garage over the winter which allowed some of the surface rust to come back.
So as summer finally arrived I decided that if I wanted to use it any time soon I better get a move on it. So the next decisions were for paint and a lid. Now this was suppose to be a budget build and after some research on these two subjects I figured out that I would need to expand my budget.
First was the lid. I looked into having a nice fancy metal lid fabbed up with a foot of height built into it. After some pricing and thought towards weight I decided to go with aluminum. 2/3 the strength, 1/3 the weight but more expensive for material so I simplified my lid idea. Just a basic flat lid with a shoe box lip to help keep moisture out. Labour was 400$ and aluminum was another 240$.
I wanted to mount a rack to the lid for a basket and bike trays ect. After looking into a Thule set up I realized that 400-500$ was insane. So I went to the wrecker and pulled this off of an explorer sport. 20$!!!!
I needed a way to lift the lid so I went to princess auto and found a couple 80lb shocks for 15$ each. Awesome right? Nope. Could not for the life of me find mounting brackets for the shock heads. So back they went and I ended up with smaller more expensive shocks. 70$ for two 40lb shocks...but at least they had brackets on the shelf next to them.
I also needed a heavy piano hinge, that also was a witch hunt but I ended up finding a 3''x7' that fit perfectly.
I saved the basket off my old jeep, thank god, because if I had to go spend another 500$ on one I probably would just do without. I am a little concerned that with the basket loaded the shocks may not be strong enough but ill have to wait and see as I need to find some new mounting hardware for the basket. It was seized on my old rack and I had to grind the bolts off.
I took some holidays next week so ill hopefully be ready to start painting. After some thought painting options I figured the best way to do it would be to use por-15 which stands for paint over rust. 200$ later and I have the set up...not including paint.
I went with grey por-15 as I can paint directly on it without having to prime, this should help to not have the black show through. I think it may only come in grey or black with a gloss or flat option.
The steps are to soak trailer for 15 minutes with the ready prep and then rinse well. Dry and then apply the por-15 with a brush. Apparently 1 quart will go along way but I bought 2 just in case with the option to return the unused one.
I guess the trick is to paint while the por-15 is still wet to assist with a bond. Otherwise you have to sand and clean if you allow it to dry. This por-15 dries very hard and creates a great seal allowing nothing in or out (rust).
My tail lights arrived. They were a bit of a pain to find a dealer who would ship them into Canada. They were also ridiculously expensive at 180$ for the pair.
So I'm ready to get busy and paint in the next few days. I'm not looking to have the trailer match my JK exactly...more of military theme. I have an idea to do it in camo. Any one painted camo before and have any advice. I was thinking about this scheme with the brown being tan.
Spent a few...well more than a few...hours painting the trailer. Por-15 the entire thing and then painted with a flat khaki camo. It doesn't match the jeep all that well but I'm not too concerned.
Spent a few...well more than a few...hours painting the trailer. Por-15 the entire thing and then painted with a flat khaki camo. It doesn't match the jeep all that well but I'm not too concerned.
Well I bought this mostly as a cool toy to use for camping. Ill put some Thule trays on the rack and carry mine and my gf's mnt and road bikes. I do adventure races and have to travel for them and I hate how the vehicle is so overly packed full. This will help to organize and simplify
I used the trailer a lot this summer and it worked like a charm, no leaks and it pulled great.
Added a few things to it...2 Kolpin fuel canisters for emergency and finally finished up the rack. The Kolpins were on sale for 30$/each and I was able to build the rack for 105$ (I had the basket from previous jeep).
I thought I would update this thread with a few little things I've added to the set-up. I have a hi lift that's about 2 years old but brand new because I never take it with me...I've never actually found myself in a situation that my winch or a shovel couldn't get me out of...anyway...these tubular mounts will work awesome when on trips and the hi lift is easily removed to be left in the garage when not needed.
I think legally I need to have lights covered...it was an excuse to order something anyway.
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