After a summer camping road trip to Vancouver Island and Montana, I decided I needed to look into a little trailer. I like to have everything packed so that I can still see out all the windows, therefor we were pretty full and it was just me, my wife, and our 10 month old son. We knew we wanted to add a dog to our family and possibly another child, so I knew I needed to come up with something that did not include getting rid of the 4runner.

When we got home, I started researching offroad utility trailers and really liked the old military jeep trailers. I liked the pintle setup and was familiar with them from my time in the marines. I knew if they could handle towing tanks and AAV's, then a little 1/4 ton trailer would be a piece of cake. I started the hunt for one, ebay, adds, whatever. I didn't have a lot of money so I knew I would have to find a fixer upper. I finally found one on ebay that was the right price and close enough to go get. I snagged it for 300 bucks

Here it is on the way home, notice the terrible butt sag my 4runner had at the time.










To be able to differentiate the build portion and general chatter, I will post all build related posts in this color. It will make it easier for those who just want to read about the trailer.

Stats at the time I picked it up:
Bad:
Surface rust and flaking of 100 coats of paint
Missing tail lights but wire harness still intact
Missing one tail light bracket
Bent fenders
A couple of fender mounting points had broken their welds, brackets and bolts still there just not welded anymore.
Tires sketchy to say the least, one tube leaked, and both tires had dryrot.
Landing leg bracket broken.
Missing original safety chain.
More surface rust and flaking paint
Dents and a couple of tiny holes in body.
Bent shock
Driverside hub leaking grease

Good:
Nothing more than surface rust
Wire harness looked very good
Frame, body, lunnete ring, etc... all structurally sound
Both drain plugs present and accounted for
Working parking brake
only 300 bucks!


LINKS
M416 manual Courtesy of Joe Melhorn @ ih8mud

PARTS
Midwest Military
Army Supply Warehouse

OTHER M416 PROJECTS
Scott Blackburn's M416
Pete Elton's M416
Project One Raptor