Bonked
Observer
Long overdue build/restoration thread here....
Background: While lurking for about a year, drooling over all the great trailers on this site, my desire for a small trailer began. Well, upon returning from a four-week camping / adventure trip to Glacier National park last summer, I began looking for an M416 when I came upon a Craigslist ad for a Bantam trailer. Without any knowledge of the Bantam History, I began to research and eventually bought my Bantam from a guy in AZ:
Day I bought it: 194? Bantam Trailer (never have been able to figure the exact year...details on that upcoming)....no numbers anywhere on frame???
As it sits today: :wings:
The BAD:
1. I overpaid by a hundred or two...once I had learned a lot about these trailers. My plans really could not include a restoration back to original due to some bubba modifications by one of the previous owners (angle iron welded to frame along the sides to support a galvanized "patch" in the rusted floor)
2. To make a lid work, I had to have some fab work done to the top rails. They were bent at some point in the trailer's life, probably due to overloading.
3. My wife wasn't too happy about the purchase just days following my 5,200-mile road trip last summer, so I had to agree to let it sit from August purchase date until the first of the year. It was tough (and what does my wife know about how long restoration and fab work really take!?)
4. I have no welding ability, so I'd have to find a fab shop. After some CRAZY expensive quotes (one local shop quoted me $1,000 to extend the tongue and skin it in sheet metal!). So I looked toward the shop that built my front bumper: Outdoor logic in Riverside, CA. I knew I'd have to take it in several times because I could only afford to do the fab in stages. Even though the shop is 45 minutes away, Jimmy and the other guys there are easy to work with, reasonably priced, and creative.
Believe me, the trailer tear-down began January 2, 2012! By this time, my boys were ready for action, especially after showing them so many of YOUR trailers on this site!
Underside. Notice the "patchwork" in the floor area (the welding and patch work were totally unsightly but functional. cutting it all out wasn't really worth the effort, so I decided to have a new sheet applied on top of the existing floor. Now the interior is new looking. Notice the front edge is out of square: maybe I should have taken the time & money to have all that unsightly patchwork removed...but I was limited on both time and money!
All the "down" months allowed for some research on the Bantams and I soon realized that some people would consider any mods to this trailer to be...well...BLASPHEMY!
My conscience was eased, though, once I realized that this was no '57 chevy with a bit of surface rust...Restoration was not really an option. Title had been revised to read, "1974 Homebuilt" trailer. Previously mentioned bent tub rails, tailgate bulged, rust through in tub:
Some nutty tongue fab here! Sheesh!
Sandblasting quotes were also NUTS! $300...no way...so I gave the power washer a try:
Pretty good results: from this
to this:
Phase one of the build, in order of importance to me: 1. Extend tongue to allow for better handling & tongue storage, fab new tailgate, fab new front panel to remove cancer, skin the floor
A huge bonus was having Jimmy from Outdoor logic negotiate sandblasting from his powder coat guy....$65???...do it!
I considered POR 15 rust converter when I came across RUST SEAL on a forum for classic car restoration. http://www.kbs-coatings.com/RustSeal.html
I am glad I did because this product is great! Self-leveling, super tough, and easy to apply. The prep called for a product called AquaKlean: KBS RustBlast is a powerful rust remover and zinc phosphate pre-primer and metal etch. RustBlast effectively dissolves rust, corrosion, metal oxides, and tarnishing from most metal surfaces, while providing extended protection against flash-rusting thanks to KBS' unique Oxygen-Block technology
I made a quick spray booth in my garage and got to priming the trailer: two coats (first a self-etching primer, grey):
March 2012: At this point I was really itching to get it on the road: New springs, u-bolts, shackles, hardware...but time and money was tight. MORE to follow.
Background: While lurking for about a year, drooling over all the great trailers on this site, my desire for a small trailer began. Well, upon returning from a four-week camping / adventure trip to Glacier National park last summer, I began looking for an M416 when I came upon a Craigslist ad for a Bantam trailer. Without any knowledge of the Bantam History, I began to research and eventually bought my Bantam from a guy in AZ:
Day I bought it: 194? Bantam Trailer (never have been able to figure the exact year...details on that upcoming)....no numbers anywhere on frame???
As it sits today: :wings:
The BAD:
1. I overpaid by a hundred or two...once I had learned a lot about these trailers. My plans really could not include a restoration back to original due to some bubba modifications by one of the previous owners (angle iron welded to frame along the sides to support a galvanized "patch" in the rusted floor)
2. To make a lid work, I had to have some fab work done to the top rails. They were bent at some point in the trailer's life, probably due to overloading.
3. My wife wasn't too happy about the purchase just days following my 5,200-mile road trip last summer, so I had to agree to let it sit from August purchase date until the first of the year. It was tough (and what does my wife know about how long restoration and fab work really take!?)
4. I have no welding ability, so I'd have to find a fab shop. After some CRAZY expensive quotes (one local shop quoted me $1,000 to extend the tongue and skin it in sheet metal!). So I looked toward the shop that built my front bumper: Outdoor logic in Riverside, CA. I knew I'd have to take it in several times because I could only afford to do the fab in stages. Even though the shop is 45 minutes away, Jimmy and the other guys there are easy to work with, reasonably priced, and creative.
Believe me, the trailer tear-down began January 2, 2012! By this time, my boys were ready for action, especially after showing them so many of YOUR trailers on this site!
Underside. Notice the "patchwork" in the floor area (the welding and patch work were totally unsightly but functional. cutting it all out wasn't really worth the effort, so I decided to have a new sheet applied on top of the existing floor. Now the interior is new looking. Notice the front edge is out of square: maybe I should have taken the time & money to have all that unsightly patchwork removed...but I was limited on both time and money!
All the "down" months allowed for some research on the Bantams and I soon realized that some people would consider any mods to this trailer to be...well...BLASPHEMY!
My conscience was eased, though, once I realized that this was no '57 chevy with a bit of surface rust...Restoration was not really an option. Title had been revised to read, "1974 Homebuilt" trailer. Previously mentioned bent tub rails, tailgate bulged, rust through in tub:
Some nutty tongue fab here! Sheesh!
Sandblasting quotes were also NUTS! $300...no way...so I gave the power washer a try:
Pretty good results: from this
to this:
Phase one of the build, in order of importance to me: 1. Extend tongue to allow for better handling & tongue storage, fab new tailgate, fab new front panel to remove cancer, skin the floor
A huge bonus was having Jimmy from Outdoor logic negotiate sandblasting from his powder coat guy....$65???...do it!
I considered POR 15 rust converter when I came across RUST SEAL on a forum for classic car restoration. http://www.kbs-coatings.com/RustSeal.html
I am glad I did because this product is great! Self-leveling, super tough, and easy to apply. The prep called for a product called AquaKlean: KBS RustBlast is a powerful rust remover and zinc phosphate pre-primer and metal etch. RustBlast effectively dissolves rust, corrosion, metal oxides, and tarnishing from most metal surfaces, while providing extended protection against flash-rusting thanks to KBS' unique Oxygen-Block technology
I made a quick spray booth in my garage and got to priming the trailer: two coats (first a self-etching primer, grey):
March 2012: At this point I was really itching to get it on the road: New springs, u-bolts, shackles, hardware...but time and money was tight. MORE to follow.