PPansini10's M101 CDN2 Overland Trailer Build

My new leafs and bushings came in today.. pretty neat that the front leafs off a 1940s era Jeep Willys are basically exact same leafs that were used on these trailers.. you can see from the pics that the new leafs are better arched especially towards the bottom overloads

 

Pretty busy few days for the trailer.. Picked up new leaf hangers to better fit the skinnier new leaf packs. Also got new shackles, bushings, longer U bolts, and other suspension odds and ends to replace the old stuff. I met with a friend who has been showing me how to weld and we got the new hangers welded onto the trailer and the axle perches welded into the axle. After paint I assembled everything else and took it for a spin and it rode great. Only thing left to weld underneath is some shock mounts onto the axle. Also got the trailer officially registered and street legal

 

Looks awesome bro!! Good work!!

 

Thanks! trying to get my welding game up to your status haha

 

Haha I saw the welds you laid down and they look good buddy!

 

Looking good bud! getting ready to tear into my trailer for the winter project. Where did you order the replacement springs?

 

Sub'd! I looked and looked for an m101 FOREVER when i had my last taco project... if i found em they were REALLY expensive. What you have going on looks fantastic,good job with the build/rebuild

 

haha i wish i could take credit for those welds but my friend did those ones.. mine were pretty good though

Thanks, the springs are from a 1940s era Willys MB, they are the 10 leaf pack. I ordered them from vintagejeepparts.com. Keep in mind though they are the same length as the stock leafs on the trailer but the width is about 3/4" smaller. Thats why i replaced the hangers to accommodate the skinner leafs.

Yeah man I love these things and searched forever.. I was just about to pull the trigger on an m416 trailer when i saw this pop up on expedition portal.

 

They really are as rugged a looking trailer as you can get imo especially behind a yota lol looked for an m416 as well... one day ill come across one or the other and pull the trigger.

 

thanks man!

 

I love me a trailer build

 

PHOTO DUMP ALERT!
Even though I still have to weld on shock tab onto the axle and add the shocks, I took the trailer out for a quick little shakedown run, and man am i impressed. It pulled great off road and I was really happy with the clearance of the SOA and the articulation of the trailer. Although I was happy with the way the pintle setup performed, it was WAY too load, so I now have a max coupler on order Now for the good part, pictures!


This here was a pretty extreme angle which really impressed me after everything climbed it with no problem:



And another one but going down:



Still have really good clearance underneath:



So I guess now you can say "stage 1" of the build is basically complete (after i add the shocks.) The next part of the build, I will be tackling the tongue, replacing it with 3x2in 3/16" steel, extending it so I can add a tongue box, and of course replacing the pintle setup with the max coupler articulating trailer hitch. Overall I'm extremely happy with the trailer!

 

Got my shock tabs in the mail and welded them up to the axle.. They came out really good and I'm happy with the way everything turned out:

 

Suub'd great work

 

Some updates today.. I picked up a bunch of steel to start putting together the new extended tongue and roof rack. I also got my max coupler hitch in the mail and I can tell already that this is going to be 100x better then the pintle. I also cleaned up and painted the rear reflectors, which is one of my favorite aesthetic parts of the trailer. I cleaned them up and hit them with a couple coats of glossy black paint. I'm really happy with the results.
Here's all the steel:

The max coupler:

The reflectors, before:

Taped off (yes it sucked)

Painted:

And done:

 

this is great! I can't wait to see the next stage!

 

I hate not being able to see pictures while at work. Subbed

 

Can you rebuild my 416 when you're done with this one? Nice work! Can't wait to see what's next.

 

Almost went with a 416 myself before this one popped up for sale, both are badass trailers!

Thanks man! Stage 2 has officially begun!! Still trying to figure out all the final measurements but it'll be close to this i think

 

Some updates today. After getting some great info from an expedition portal member with a badass M101 CDN build, I decided to go ahead with the measurements above and started to cut up the steel. I didn't cut out the angles yet as I am waiting till i start to piece everything together for that. Also waiting on a 24" receiver hitch i just ordered yesterday. The first step before cutting was cutting off some small tabs that were welded on the bottom on the tub. Cut the welds and then proceeded to grind everything flat with a flap disk.




After that was off, I started cutting up the steel and doing some test fits to give myself an idea on how it would sit. Got to use my new chop saw.. Love using new tools After everything was cut, I laid it out to the specs of the trailer to see how it would all fit together. The wood is there as an indicator to show where the front of the trailer tub will be.



Pretty happy with where I'm at so far.