Are you using a pintle mount or did you switch it over to a ball setup?

I'm using the military pintel mount - this thing is meant for off-road use.  The guy I got the trailer from threw in this mount he and his buddy fabricated.  It's the hook part of the pintel from a military jeep mounted to bar that fits in the trailer hitch.  It's built like a tank!  I keep it mounted on my jeep all the time - but I can swap to the ball receiver should I need to pull a different trailer.

I'll get some pics of both for the next update.

P.S. I've been told the ring portion is from a larger trailer.  However it's working, so no complaints from me.

Excellent.

Ok I just got back from a 3 day family camping trip with the Trailer.

I'll post my AAR of the camping trip in a separate thread.  I'llnote I worked on the trailer Thursday prior to leaving on Friday.  I'll post pics tomorrow of the updates (and the trailer hitch for Hawkeye).

Anyway she worked very well.  Even better on the return trip as I could load it optimized for travel (on the way up there I had it loaded with a mind toward what I would need to offload first (like my large heavy tent).  Loading balance is definately important with this trailer.

BTW at the campgroun (family type mostly with RVs) I had a couple of the 'old timers come around for a look at the trailer and give me a thumbs up.    One even gave me a tip on how I could mount a tent on top of the trailer.

As promised a photo of the trailer Hitch:


Now I had 7 other shots including photos of the trailer fully loaded as well as some of the shots of the updates.  Unfortunetly they seem to be floating in cyberspace as I sent them from my camera phono to my e-mail address.  So far only the Hitch photo has come through.  Hopefull the rest will arrive within a day (and they are only being delayed by the virus scanning software and not blocked).

Anyway last Thursday I did some updates on the Trailer:

1) I made sure the bolt-eyes were screwed in all the way then I used a dremel to cut off the excess bolt and a power drill with a grinding wheel to grind it near flush with the T-nut.  I had tried using a bolt cutter - but I just couldn't cut close enough to the T-nut.  I used the cereamic cutting disks with the dremel- each bolt took 1-2 disks to cut through.

2) I added 3 eye bolts to the bottom of the bumper.  Center, left and right.  The center one was screwed into the wood, but the other two were bolted into existing holes on the steel frame.  These will give more anchoring points to secure cargo until the tail gate is added.

3) I added a very large ammo can to the front of the trailer on the drivers side. I store Cargo straps, bungee cords and a hefty lock and chain (for securing the trailer)  in there.  Sometime I'll add a way to lock the can.

Once I had loaded the trailer with all the 'big stuff' (tent, kitchen, food chests etc) I wanted to add the sleeping bags and duffel bags.  To do this I grabbed the soft cargo carrier (get's attached to the roof of a car) and put it on top of the cargo.  The straps would not work with the bolt-eyes (the buckles were too large) so I ran a rope around the trailer - through the bolt eyes and had the cargo carrier strap to the rope.  It worked great and te carrier never shifted position (even at 70 mph).

(P.S. I'll post the pics to this post if they come through) - otherwise I'll retake some of them tonight and try again.

That's an awesome trailer. I saw stacks of them at Ft Campbell when we got rid of our Jeeps for Humvees...I hope they weren't all cut up.

the ring thing is called a lunette

Quoted: Something like this on the front might give you some lockable space; www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/3480311_lg.gif or this www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/701005_lg.gif Just a thought. Oh yeah, great trailer by the way Doc

Thanks for the kind words.  I had thought of that but those are way too large and would block access to the brake. I'll be taking some stuff to the dump in an hour and I'll take pics of what I have installed.

Ok I loaed up stome stuff for the dump so I took a few photos as I was loading up:

In this one you can note that bolteyes on the side are now all at the same height (exception being the one on the end for the tailgate).  You can also see one (of 3) of the eyes below the rear bumper.  These are very handy when strapping things down w/o a tailgate.


This is the ammo box that I added to the front wall.  I store a small tarp, bungee cords, cargo straps, and a chain/lock in there.   Lock to be added soon.  The can sits about 3/4" off the front of the trailer.  I'm using 1/2" stainless nuts as spacers.  The box needed to be off the wall so the cover tarp could overlap the front and keep the rain out.
Closed:


Open (note the two (of four) 3/8" Lag Screws I use to hold the repainted box onto the wood):

I just painted the Jerry Can Holders:



The holders came from Amazon.com (through Northern Tool) for $14.95 each (no shipping IIRC due to some other purchases I was making at the same time).

I didn't care for the red so I decided to repaint them.  As these racks may carry some MFCs I needed a paint that could withstand gasoline.  I settled on an Engine Paint I picked up at an auto parts store (flat black about $4.79/can) - it's got a ceramic component that is supposed to be heat and solvent resistant once it dries.

I started out by lightly sanding each rack with a fine sandpaper.  I wasn't looking to remove the existing coating - just roughen it up so the engine paint would stick better.  I then used a rag dipped in Acetone to remove the paint dust and any oils that might be on the racks.

I hung the racks from branches in a tree (rope tied to the end of a bolt.  Then painted.  In the sun the paint dried suprisingly fast and I was able to put on a 2nd coat within 30 minutes.  I'll let it sit for another hor or two then I'll take them down and install them.

Today my son and I installed the racks on both sides of the trailer.  Then we hit up the racks for a 3rd coat (to fix any scratches and cover the bolts).

Forest, man, I can say enough how much I like that. Excellent job sir!

I love that BO trailer!  How about a pic of it hooked up to the BOV?

Quoted: I love that BO trailer!  How about a pic of it hooked up to the BOV?

If not this weekend then in 2 weeks.  I'm not sure if I'll be using it for camping this weekend, but I definately will at the end of the month - with MWCs instead of MFCs in the racks.

Quoted: You dont think youll need any extra support under the gas carrier? 5gal of gas weighs about 30-35lbs and the can itself is over 5lbs. Jus a thought.

Honestly I'm more concerned about MWCs (a bit over 40lbs of water..).  However I'm using 3/8" steel bolts and T nuts in the equivalent of 1" of plywood.  What you can't see in the pics is part of the rack rests on the support rail that prevents the walls from getting pushed out.  That area is the strongest part of the wall so if anypart will hold it, that should be the place.

However, that is why I'll be trying it out not only during a camping trip this month - but I'll be taking a long ride out to western MD sometime later this fall - again I'll have it loaded with MWCs to really push the issue.

The one thing I'm not happy with is the nylon straps that came with the carriers.  They are not long enough to handle a 5 gallon container (either the metal one or the military plastic ones.  The strap should go from one strap point to the other over the container (under the hand bar).  However the strap is not long enough (it will work for a 2.5 gallon can).  I've come up with a work around - but It's far from optimal.

I'm thinking with some 1" metal strips I can not only come up with a better solution - but one that is lockable as well.  Time for another trip to the hardware store.

Looks good. Ive been searching high and low in my area for either an M416, M100 or M101 Utility trailer, all the ones ive found on Craigslist and Ebay are no where near FLorida.

It took me over a year to find mine (then I had 3 come available within a few hours of my location).  When I was looking most seemed to be out west.

Quoted: What I did was I took some flat stock that was 2" wide, 1/8" thick, and about 18" long to make a new washer. I drilled holes into it that matched the holes on the MFC rack, then I used this as my new washer to be put inside the wooden wall. Now the MFC rack has to pull that 18" long washer through the wooden wall. It won't happen.

Thanks - if the T-Nuts don't hold up on the test runs I'll go this route.