M416 Restoration Project

Last year I picked up an M416 to restore and then tow with my CJ for camping and yard projects. I figured now that its all done, I should post up a restoration thread. This was my first vehicle restoration, but I have lots of experience with 12v, and basic mechanical repair and replacement. As this trailer was in pretty good shape, I chose not to go all out with body work and the like. Just tear down, repair, replace, upgrade where applicable, resurface and reassemble. I'm pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish with basic tools and the use of my garage. I got a lot of good advice and tips from the M416 group on the FaceBook.

So, here we go. I found a fella on CL selling these for $600, which I thought was a steal.

Purchase day and tow home.







The electrical harness was shot


Looks pretty goofy behind my dad's loaner truck since my rig was in for repairs.


The bed was a little corroded, and stressed, but it was solid.


Tear down was easy, but stripping off the years of paint and corrosion was outside the abilities of my power tools, so I found a fella in Reno who was able to blast everything in a day.




And done




I had Line-X line the bed and undercarriage for durability.




Some parts were sent to my small bits sand blaster and powder coating.






Found another fella in Susanville with some OEM CJ 16" wheels. Those got blasted and coated too.






Now to re-assembly, painting and Electrical.....

 

Lets begin

Weld in a rear reciever for whatever.


Weld in a surface plate for spare tire carrier.


Raptor epoxy the frame, axle, bed & tool-box




Paint the frame & axle satin black. Springs were replaced with OEM CJ3-B front springs as they are the same dimensions.


Paint the bed battleship grey

 

Re-assembly, electrical & finishing touches

Crosswind M/T LT 245/75-16 tires on OEM CJ5 16" wheels


Assembled rolling chassis with lunette and safety chains. Bearings and races replaced with Timken. New shocks from Napa.


Installation of spare tire carrier by use of Nissan X-Terra spare tire crank



Welded rod with 3/8" socket head to allow for easy cranking of spare up and down.




Entire wire loom replaced with my own design using a 7 pin harness and electrical panel.




HMMWV tail lights and LED marker lights


New reflectors and lights mounted


Installation of Harbor Freight trailer box


Horse bed rubber mat from Tractor Supply to soften impacts into the bed.

 

And done

 

X2

 

Thanks. It’s a fun little hauler

 

Well engineered, cool setup.


Dave

 

Very nice, great attention to detail

 

i lke it!

do you really need mud tires on a trailer though?

 

i guess you could have a spare for it or the cj under there. makes sense.

 

Very nice. I'm still int he paint striping phase of my M416.

 

I didn’t, but I wanted spares for the CJ. Plus, it just looos cooler. They were inexpensive.

 

Great write up, super cool.