M-416 Jeep trailer ~hitch choices~

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I was very fortunate to buy  a nice little Jeep trailer from the BLM a week ago.  It came with a large HD pressure washer and 5hp Honda motor not running, a 110 gallon Stainless Steel tank and the trailer up and rolling.  It was used I suppose to pressure wash big stuff in the field.   I removed all the tank and pump and the 1" thick plywood decking and am now left with a keen rolling chassis.  Maybe??? I'll move my W&P 225 onto this... dunno yet.Size of the deck is 41" wide and 72" long.  Net invested $ after selling off the pump assy near zero  110 gal SS tank is a bonusThe hitch is originally a pintle variation and it is spring loaded to allow the trailer to rotate some behind a jeep off road.  In this case the shaft for that pintle was cut and a 2" thick wall square tubing about 6" long slipped over that and welded in. Then he used owo  spacers about 3/16" thick to size to the hitch itself.  A new pintle shaft is $180, hmmm that's out, and I doubt I'd like it anyway. The hitch is a 2" average ol' hitch and doesn't work well, bent up a lot.  So my choices are to remove everything back to the 2" square pipe and try to refab... or maybe remove the entire folding support stand and the guts for this pintle and replace it with a Bulldog set up, 5000#.   Pics enclosed of all of this.I'd like a crank support to raise and lower the hitch so #2 seems the better choice to me so far.  Ideas? Attached ImagesLast edited by PapaLion; 04-25-2012 at 04:47 PM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:At least they didn't hack the original mounting spot just in case you wanted to use it...Miller Performance AD Helmet - Camo Edition Soon to have: Jackson HSL 100 - Forest Digi CamoMiller Thunderbolt AC/DC((Currently at welding school))
Reply:Nice score Papa! But frankly, (uh-oh), when I saw the bulldog, I said to myself NOOOOooooOOOO00000ooo!!! Disclaimer:- It's yours now, I won't presume to give anything but my opinion. (Worth the price you paid eh?)The original lunettes are way too cool, it is too bad yours was cut off. But that is an easy replacement, however as you found out, they can run up in price. If the modified coupler is in working order, I would simply keep it in place after cleaning and regreasing it. They make simple clamp on tongue jacks that would serve you well. Those bulldogs need to mount on c channel facing the opposite way to make for enough mating surface to attach to. As it is, the channel would at the least need to be boxed first, just to give you that available surface area. It is hard to tell if the angles will even match the bulldog.If however the swiveling coupler is not serviceable, then I would personally cut that off and replace it with a good one on the swiveling spindle that made up the original lunette. Again, I would go with a clamp on style tongue jack.Have fun, whatever you decide. What you gonna do with that tank? Last edited by tanglediver; 04-25-2012 at 11:23 PM.City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Thanks Tangle,  I'm going to heed that advice.  Last nite I  got to looking at the tongue and yes, the C channel would need to be boxed to support the bulldog unit.  Also, the angle seems narrower. I have a bulldog on another trailer and it is wider eyeballing the two. I can pony up  for a new lunette but I think I'll work with this one first.   I figure a BLM shop did the change, it is welded in very solid but the lock down mechanism  is bent up some  and doesn't lock down easily.   Yes they make those folding U bolt on tongue jacks and I can go with that.  The tank  110 gallons SS nice and thick, with straps, no dents and could be polished... what to do with that... ?  I don't need it.    24" diameter x 57" length, large 3-4" threaded opening on top and two small threaded openings, one at each end at the base.Last edited by PapaLion; 04-26-2012 at 07:46 AM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:A pic of the trailer day one, with the tank. Attached ImagesLincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:They used to sell rebuild kits for those couplers if you can get the right kit.Wow, that is a killer tank! Well, not a killer tank like with the cannon..., ahhh, you know what I mean!  That tank has got potential. The mind gears get to turning when I think about it...City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:It could be delivered in San Diego next Thursday afternoon, including a FREE lunch... if the ~Price is Right~ 1/2 the price of a gallon of regular in SD x110 gallons would do it.Turns out I got ahead of myself.  I cleaned and WD-40'ed the thing and it is salvageable, looks like it need a new spring in the thing.  Beyond that I think it would be fime.  I did see some keen replacement stuff online... LocknRoll.com (their site is temp down)  makes it... spendy but great if your trailer is going behind a Jeep to the outback.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:There is a wealth of info in the form of numerous Googled "builds"  for M416 trailers in 3-4 models.  I think mine is a B1, used often behind the Might Mite in Nam... One fella had me smiling,  he had modifed the front, removed the  hitch and all related C channel, rebuilt that into a longer  nose and rewelded a different hitch on.  I could only see a few close welds and they seems iffy at best.  The longer tongue looked to put alot of stress on the frame just ahead of the wheels, probably could crack there easily.  His comment was that besides learning to sandblast on this project he also had "learned to weld."   Okay then... sheesh. I'm still pondering mine.  The hitch itself is resolved, keep what I got, clean it up, maybe find anew stronger spring fro the latch down.  Make a smaller tougher welding trailer for my 225, make a little dump for the ranchita to move 2-300 pounds of dung etc,  a li'l flatbed for everything,  something that the new tractor can pull around easily... 101 possibiities.  If I were 30 I'd make a keen camp trailer to pull behind the Tacoma... but my days of sleeping on the ground are way over.Last edited by PapaLion; 04-30-2012 at 05:34 PM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:The hitch you showed in the last photo should work nicely. I would leave the pintle receiver in case you ever wanted to re-install it. Just a thought. Good score.
Reply:Absolutely not tear up the original set up. Now all it would take is a spendy lunette to put it back stock.    People are very clever on uses for these things.  I'm enjoying looikng at all the ideas.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:Those 416s are sought after! If it has the mighty mite rims, it could be worth a lot. Might look into trading it for an M101a2. I have 2 of the 101a2s and love them.
Reply:Hi gimpyrobb, The Govt surplus is a good soure for  these things.  We have several govt agencies around here so watching the  surplus/DRMO websites works.  I got this one two years ago, it ws also just a chassis no bed.  I had no clue what it even was...I built the bed , and the fenders from scratch, made a small bumper,  and fabbed a small hedache/tiedown rack and we use it a lot for all kind of things. Later I learned  it is a M101 of some sort.   It is a  hit at Lowes, draws a small crowd, deck is 4'1" x 8'1" So a 4x8 sheet  goes on it and you got  1 inch on a side and at the end. I've got about $500 in it including the new  shocks and tires.Now we picked up  the li'l brother the M416.   It has the pickup  attachments so a helo etc could lift it, I may not use that feature ... I can't find any  tags to see if it is a B1 series.  Not critical.  We are thinking a mini dump, on the rianchita we need to move 2-300 pounds of manure, etc lots of times... this is small and goes behind the tractors easily and goes in around the pomegranate trees too.. maybe?  For now we'll clean, sandblast and paint what we got.   If I was a young guy I'd make a camping gear  toter, but my days of sleeping on the ground are long gone.  Have you got some pics of yours???  I'd enjoy seeing  what others have done. Attached ImagesLast edited by PapaLion; 05-02-2012 at 10:31 AM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:110 gallons SS nice and thick, with straps, no dents and could be polished... what to do with that.