____________________________________________________________________
May 2014
Seen here atop another trailer loaded with more loot.
Here we are on the ground more or less hooked up to 6033. Note that the ride height is a little off and there is not that much clearance to the fenders. We'll need to fix that.
We'll flip the axle over to the other side of the spring to get the ride height we need plus of course use the opportunity to replace these U bolts with some that have a bit more steel in them.
Ball hitch is of course going to go since we have literally NOTHING that it can hook to. We'll dig for a suitable lunette ring for it.
Bed, it is pretty beat down and rusted. Likely we will end up making a completely new floor for this one.
Underside of the bed showing one of the reinforcement ribs that has come loose.
Wheels are the same style as the WW2 jeeps. Tires are ancient even by our standards.
Lucky for us we still have some spare M151 wheels kicking around that can be repurposed...
Pop!, off go the fenders, if we sell the Gaz we can throw them in so the rednecks can make fender flares out of them.
Boink, off go the sides.
That makes things a bit easier.
Now about that floor...
That's better...
And in no time at all, we are down to the frame. Now the tedious part, cleaning this bit of it up and fixing all the bad bits in there.
Did I mention we were going to change wheels? Oh ya... Not really since the center holes on the M151 rims do not clear the hub. Likely we'll be modifying the 151 rims though, the bantam rims are a little rough... Yes, it is rusted through the rim, yes you are looking at the tube in there...
____________________________________________________________________________________
Aug 2014
More progress on the Bantam Menace today:
After Curfman welded up the torn up rim, David took it to his work and put it in the robo sand blaster then I painted them up. We finally got around to slapping on some tires today so we can actually get the thing back on it's wheels again at some point.
Stagg cut off the old u-bolts and we got the axle removed then after a bit of prep...
Reinstalled it in the new flipped position. Bearings and seals are already done although we do need to go get the specific socket needed to set the bearings then close it all up for good. We'll likely cut the excess off the tops of the U-bolts obviously but aside from that, this part is now right as rain. (or at least as good as it is going to get)
Now finally on it's own wheels rather than leaning against the side of the shop.
Now it just needs some paint!
No damn it! paint on the trailer, not paint on the ground! You know what they say, don't cry over spilled 34079 Forest Green.
That's getting better!
Temporary lunette ring added, landing gear extension added, latch pin manufactured for the landing leg and safety chains installed.
Floor manufactured.
In addition to the rolled parts on top, Stagg added ribs to the bottom.
Prepping the frame.
Sides set back up on top of the frame.
Now just need to get the sides tied in, add the back end, then build some fenders and we're off to the races.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Dec 2014
Been a few months, time to update everyone on the Bantam Menace.
Stagg and Curfman stuck with this one pretty well. The remaining bits of the body (sides and front) were prepped up and welded in place with new tabs along the bottom edges to tie in with the new floor. A new back panel was built and tied in along with a top bead to match the rest of the trailer.
Yesterday Stagg got the whole thing slobbered up good with truck bed liner (hides the icky better and makes a good durable coating)
Today I ran out for a while and rolled on a coat of Forest Green. The hope is that over the Holiday weekends ahead we'll be able to steal Trucker or Z to do the pattern paint on it. After that, just need to add in the electrics and lighting and then stencils/data plates and this guy is ready for the road.
Pics:
Merry Christmas!
From: Santa (Curfman)
To: Stagg
Tail lights installed, one more step!
Flipped it up on end today to work on the underside a bit. I wanted to make sure that we got everything sealed up well and undercoated so that this monster will not instantly turn to dust on us. At least this way, it will be truck bed liner coated dust...
Will it fit upright in Allan's garage? Survey says: Yes!
Good thing Stagg bought plenty of truck bed liner...
A "real" 416 costs too much $ to be worth fiddling with. This one is close enough and cost a lot less $$. We are not into this for the collecting, we wanted a little wagon to go gather firewood with out at East Wind and this guy will fit the bill perfectly.
