Seanz0rz's M-762 Trailer Buildup

[oly884]

You sir, have motivated me to get a trailer for my truck!

I have found that my camper is simply too small to carry all the gear I usually carry when camping and still have things organized.

[Seanz0rz]

so that primered frame has sat there for nearly a month. today i got around to finishing it off.

drilled my holes for bolts. these holes will eventually be sleeved through the square tube. after that i painted it:



bolted the box to the lid. i used 3/8" bolts with large fender washers and a generous amount of silicone to seal up the holes:



here you can see the bolts sticking down from the bottom. i will be cutting them flush at some later date:


and heres what she looks like now:


some small housekeeping on the trailer and it will be ready for pismo! i have latches to be installed on the right side of the trailer, but i wont be able to get that done before the weekend. for now ill just strap it down with some ratchet straps.

[Obi..]

Thought about insetting the nut(s) when you sleeve the box tubing? *Use the correct size sleeve, but one that you can fit a nut/socket down into, preferably grade 8. That, or just lay a bead down to keep the nut there and clean it all up a bit so nothing can snag or tear during travel?

[DHC6twinotter]

Awesome! I like it.

[Seanz0rz]

guess i should update this.

built a new nose wheel, one that actually makes the trailer nearly level when deployed:


and here it is right before we left for pismo, the most loaded i have ever had the trailer:

[PRA4WX]

That trailer looks sharp! Nice work.

[Seanz0rz]

thanks!

i should give dan (DCH6twinotter) credit for the last photo, thanks dan!

[4x4mike]

Did you mod the stock leaf spring looking kick stand? Having a wheel at the tongue is nice for moving the trailer around. I don't think I've ever had so much tongue weight that I wasn't able to push my trailer around my driveway.

[Seanz0rz]

the trailer didnt come with a landing leg, just the old wheel (which looked like a military addition, not a PO addition).

when the PO did the spring over, it put the wheel too short. i had to kick out the piece with some washers so it will lock in the upright position. when i extend the tongue, that wont matter and i can return it to the flat position.

[Seanz0rz]

I will have to go back and fix broken pictures...


ANYWAY, today I decided I would swap in my new axle.

This all started about 6 months ago when I was looking for wheel bearing replacements for the stock military axle. I was finding that each race and each roller bearing was in the 13-17 dollar range, not to mention the seals which were nearly 20 each! and that is all dependent on being able to find them in stock!

I looked into another option: Swapping to a modern axle with a standard trailer bearing setup. This would allow me to buy a set of bearings (one wheel) for the cost of one race for the old axle! not to mention, I can eventually change out the hubs for matching 6 on 6.5". The cost of the new axle was about half again more than it was going to be for new bearings for the old.

I measured and ordered from www.trailerpart.com. It took like a month to come. I planned on doing it and it just got put off.

Today, I pulled the old axle. Since the shocks blew/blue (haha tobias reference!) themselves, the bolts were not too hard to get off after being penetrated with shock oil for who knows how long.


In no time at all, that hunk of junk was out of there!


I set to putting the new axle in so I could tack the perches on the tube and then fully weld them. I found my U bolts were too short! since the spring pack is so think on these trailers, the ends of the supplied bolts were not even flush with the top plate!

I explored my options online, and finally resorted to my friendly NAPA. They found a good canidate in a catalog, and ordered me one for tomorrow morning. If I like it, they will order 3 more and have them ready for me by 12pm. Great service there! The price is pretty high, but I sort of need them now!

Since I couldn't bolt anything up, I used the jack to place the axle underneath and centered it on the trailer. I welded on the perches, cleaned them up, and shot it with primer.




tomorrow afternoon I will pick up the bolts and get everything back together.

This axle has the option for brakes, which I might add soon. I also plan on packing and double vacuum sealing 2 full sets of replacement bearings, in case I had to swap one in the field.


I do have a question: I am not reusing the old U bolt plates that have the integrated shock mount. They are pretty crispy. Should I really worry about running the trailer with out shocks (apparently I have been for some time!)?