Trailer is Titled (12/17/2014)

Blue Goose's last trip before putting her up for the winter was Friday December 12. She pulled the M416 military trailer out to south Kennewick, in the rain, to the State Patrol inspection station. The trailer passed with flying colors, of course, and this week I took the Bill of Sale, weight ticket and inspection form to the D.O.L. and registered it and received a license plate. I will not receive a title for the trailer for three years giving someone the chance to say, "Hey, that's my trailer and I can prove it." Good luck with that.

Still Not Quite Done, But Getting Closer (10/30/2014)

I sprayed numbers and other identifying stuff on the trailer this week using stick-on stencils. This was my first effort and there was a little leakage in places. I attribute the leakage to my clumsiness and colder weather. I think the stencils would have stuck a little better in hot weather. Oh well, I can fix it with a little artistic touch up (next Spring).

The first picture shows the new bumper numbers. From left to right sixth army Dragon Corps, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and Company Headquarters Commander's Trailer.

The second picture is not focused well, but it shows the VIN number above a start above the property tag. This is on the front of the right side of the trailer. A similar number and star are on the front of the left side of the trailer.

Almost Done (10/07/2014)

The M416 is almost done. The tail lights have been wired and checked out and the power plug has been installed on Blue Goose. Also the bumper number panel (back face of the frame) has been painted white. A local engraver copied the information from the original data (VIN number) plate onto a new plate which has been installed on the right side of the rear panel of the tub. The information says that the trailer was manufactured by "DUNBAR KAPPLE", the serial number is "6-7098", and it was delivered (to Fort Lewis, WA) and inspected in "DEC 1965". The following pictures shows the trailer in it's almost complete condition.

The following things remain to be done:

• -Installing a Property tag at the front of the right side frame rail.
• -Putting white stars on the sides of the tub.
• -Putting white "U.S. Army" on the back of the tub.
• -Putting the black bumper numbers on the rear frame rail. Incidentally, they will be 6ADRA 35ADA HQ6T.
• -Putting a rubber floor mat in the tub.
• -Putting a ridge pole longitudinally on the tub to hold the tarp up a little allowing rain water to drain.
• -Putting a tarp on the tub.
• -And finally getting a title and license plate for the trailer.

Assembly Four (09/25/2014)

The last mechanical things that needed attaching to the frame were the tongue rails, yoke, safety chains, standing leg pivot, standing leg and lunette. And that has been accomplished. I had mounted the wheels earlier. Notice that the brakes have been applied. The pictures show the finished frame. Before I attach the tub I need to wire the tail lights. That will require ordering some parts.

Assembly Three (09/25/2014)

A friend came over with his brake shoe spring pliers which has a hook and a point and connected both brake shoe springs in less than a minute. Then I greased the outer brake drum bearings and put the brake drums on and adjusted the shoes for a decent gap. I installed the new brake cable and put the brake handle back together. Everything works properly now. The drums rotate freely when the brake is off and will not rotate at all when the brake is applied.

Then I bought a pairs of shock absorbers from our local NAPA dealer and installed them. I took the following picture showing the shock absorbers with their traditional Monroe blue color. I am not going to paint them olive drab.

Assembly Two (09/12/2014)

I put the spring brackets and bumpers on the frame. After that I put the springs back into the brackets and greased the zircs. Then I put the axle on the springs. Then I put the backing plates on the axle. Now I am trying to put the brakes with their various parts back on the backing plates. Am having difficulty with the return springs; not strong enough. Back to that next week.

Assembly One (08/20/2014)

I purchased 216 bolts, washers, lock washers, and nuts of various sizes and then primed them.

The tires are mounted on the rims and the brake drums have been turned (it's hard to tell from the picture below). I repacked the inside brake drum bearings and replaced them. I did some touch up painting on the wheels.

I cleaned up the reflectors and remounted them on the tub. 

Painted, Except for Touchup (08/15/2014)

Well, the painting is done. I have eight rattle cans of paint to do touch-up coverage, should be enough. Here are the pictures of all of the parts except for the springs. I am planning to assemble all of the spring leaves before painting. To that end I have ordered the two center bolts and the four clips (u-bolts) and nuts. While I am waiting for those to arrive I will have the tires and tubes remounted on the rims and the brake drums turned down a little, just to clean up the rust spots.

Here are the wheels, brake drums and lug nuts, and the backing plates.

 Here are the fenders.

Here are the tongue rails, lunette, safety chains, standing foot, standing foot pivot, and yoke.

Here are the axle, u-bolt (lower shock absorber) brackets, upper shock absorber brackets, shackles, and axle bumpers.

Here are the parking brake parts and the reflector bezels.

Here is the frame.
















And here is the tub.

Primed Springs & Undercoated Tub Plus Wheel Numbers (08/12/2014)

I went to the paint store yesterday and purchased four rattle cans of the leftover primer; I still have a lot left over. I used two of the rattle cans to touch up missed spots on several of the components and to prime the springs. The picture below shows the primed springs.

Then I purchased a couple of rattle cans of (3M rubberized) undercoating from Auto Zone and sprayed the bottom of the tub. The results are shown below.

While touching up the primer on the wheels I discovered numbers stamped in the rims. You may remember that I mentioned in a previous post that one of the wheel rims was so misshapened (for lack of a better word) that it needed to be replaced. It was and its ID is:
     "S2 01 15 13 0308731 DOT 16X4.5ET EWUSA.129"
which means it was probably manufactured on January 15, 2013. The rest of the numbers mean other unknown (to me) things. These numbers were on the outside of the rim, which means that they can be read while the tire is on the rim.

The following ID (on the inside) of the original wheel rim is
     "2 KE LS EY CANADA 16 X 450 E0 1 28"
and around the outside of the valve hole is "1 28".

So we have one rim made in Canada, the other USA. The size is 16" in diameter by 4.5 inches wide. And I wonder if Kelsey is the same Kelsey as in Kelsey-Hayes (after-market?) wheels made for the '30s V8 Fords.

Primed (08/10/2014)

Yesterday my son and grandson came down from Spokane and together we put a primer coat on almost all of the M416 trailer parts. Here are the results.

 

















Here are two views of the tub with the frame and fenders below.

Here are the wheels, backing plates, drums, lug nuts, and hub caps.

Here are the tongue frames, yoke, landing leg, landing leg pivot, lunette, and safety chains.

 Here are the axle, upper and lower shock absorber brackets, shackles, and front and rear spring brackets.

Here are the reflector bezels and bumper pads.

And, finally, here are the parts associated with the parking brake.

Before putting the olive drab final coats on I am going to get two or three rattle cans made up the the remaining primer paint and use them to touch up the hard to reach places that were missed yesterday, and do the springs which 1) we overlooked and 2) we didn't want to make up another batch of paint to spray.

Pinhole Bondoling (07/28/2014)

If you have ever watched American Pickers on the History Channel starring Mike Wolfe (tall & slim) and Frank Fritz (shorter & wider) you will know that Frank loves bundleling his bids. Well I don't love bondoling but I did some this morning.

It turns out that the tub has/had several pinholes on the sheet metal so I bought some bondo yesterday and filled in the pinholes this morning. The following pictures show the result.

Rear Outside

Inside Rear

These two show the rear panel inside and out. I applied the bondo on the inside and smoothed out the leakage on the outside.

Front Inside

Outside Front

These pinholes were bigger, more like cracks along the bottom seam between the front and bottom panel. I applied the bondo on the inside and as you can see very little leaked outside.

Sandblasted & Fixed (07/26/2014)

The last six items, tub, frame, fenders, and upper shock absorber brackets, were sandblasted. I then took them over to a local machine shop to have them fixed. Fixed translates to having one of the fenders and a couple of the mounting tabs straightened on the tub and frame, three holes drilled in the frame (one to accommodate the parking brake bell crank and the other two to allow mounting bolts to access the upper shock absorber brackets), replace the missing handholds on the corners of the tub, and fill in some rusted out places on the tub.

I had left these parts on my trailer at the machine shop several weeks ago. When they called this week to say that they were done they also told me that they had broken the trailer lights and that they would replace them which they did. When I attached Snowflake to the trailer and tested the lights I found that the right one wasn't working. They scrambled around and fixed that too.

When I got home I wanted to take the parts off the trailer so I could take the following pictures. Big problem! It turns out that they accidently welded one corner of the tub to the frame at the location of a handhold. So I got out my portable grinder and used it to separate the tub from the frame.

The following pictures show the last six parts. The next step in this restoration project is to spray on the primer.

Fenders

Upper Shock Absorber Brackets

Tub

Frame

Licensed Trailer (05/18/2014)

My M416 trailer was delivered to Fort Lewis, WA in December, 1965. So I have been on the lookout for a 1965 trailer license plate. The fellow I purchased my 1947 truck license plates for BG (Blue Goose in case you have forgotten) offered several plates to choose from. Two were restored and two were as-is. He wanted $100 for the as-is one I liked. It turned out that back then the plates were made in 1963 and then tabs were available for subsequent years. (New plates were issued in 1966.) The fellow also had a '65 trailer tab for $35. I went a swap meet here in town on May 3 and found the plate shown here for $35 with an automobile '65 tab for an additional $5. When I returned home I remembered the '65 trailer tab the fellow on the west side of the state had and I bought it. Maybe I'll be able to get rid of the '65 auto tab at next year's swap meet.

License Plate as Purchased

'65 Auto Tab

'65 Trailer Tab

License Plate with '65 Tab

The problem is that since the trailer is not a motorized vehicle I can't use this license plate legally. I still have to have a legal trailer license plate with an up-to-date tab. So whenever I am out and about I will have two license plates with me, a legal one and a vintage one.

Shocked (04/10/2014)

In my previous post I mentioned purchasing a couple of upper shock absorber brackets and I wouldn't have to have them fabricated if they fit. They came yesterday and my response is YAHOO (not bing nor google nor facebook nor U-tube nor pinterist nor twitter etc., etc., etc.). They are NOS (New Old Stock), painted OD (Olive Drab), and fit perfectly. They only require a slight modification to the frame: A hole must be bored on the bottom of each side.

A number of months ago when I decided that I wanted to complete the restoration of the M416 by installing shock absorbers I didn't know what the upper brackets looked like. So I went out to West Richland where Andy owns a heavily modified (my opinion) M100. (It might be a T3 or a T3C). He put in a tail gate and replaced the yoke (receiver) with a modern ball hitch. I crawled under the trailer and took the following two photos.

It is hard to tell from these shots because I had to make them so small to fit side-by-side but I was able to discern the shape of the brackets. The following three sets of pictures show the three views (top, front, and side) of the drawings I made for the parts I was going to have fabricated alongside equivalent views of the purchased brackets.

The point is the similarity.

This view of the bracket shows the NOS sticker on the bottom with the part number along with a lot of other information. The information on both stickers (as best as I can interpret) is:

G529 75 61955    BRACKET

PT NO 7561955

QTY 1 EA  M?1  BOND 1

PKD PU 5/55 LDG 550

This view shows the top of the stud threaded with a cotter pin hole at the bottom of the threads, a little unusual if one is using a castle nut. I'm thinking one can put a large washer next to the shock absorber and either use a cotter pin or a nut to hold the shock absorber in place. There is no way of securing the shock absorber to the bottom stud by the axle.

Finally this last picture shows the bottom of the bracket with its hole. A threaded nut is welded inside the bracket. So I will have to bore a hole in the bottom of the frame and screw a bolt/lockwasher into the bracket.