M-762 and the slippery slope

need more space? add a M416 trailer! and discuss it here.

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m3a1
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M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 3rd, 2019, 3:28 pm

Haven't posted anything of any substance for a while and since I am dodging rain squalls I thought I might just as well sit down with a cuppa and prove t everyone know that the rumors of my demise are completely untrue.

I'd been walking around my little M-762 trailer and really doing nothing with it, chiefly because the taillights were uninstalled and I thought I needed fine thread bolts for them and trips to the fastener place mean about a thirty minute drive each way. Naturally, I would continually forget to stop by there when I was down in San Antonio. So, during one of the rain sessions, I pulled out the set of NOS lights I had purchased (a really lovely light set, I might add) and thinking I might just take that long drive in the rain, I looked them over. What a surprise! The fasteners weren't fine thread after all. :oops:

So off I went to Tractor Supply for new fasteners. They did not have them in 3/4" lengths so I brought 1" home and cut them down. Easy Peasy.

But, if you give a mouse a cookie....he's gonna want a glass of milk. So after cleaning the ground spots up and putting the lights on and plugging them in (#24 hooks to #34, right ?...just kidding) I had a look at the pigtail. Not bad, but I've seen better. It was going to need an extensive clean up. Far easier to install a very nice take-off pigtail I had lucked into.

But if you give a mouse a glass of milk....he's gonna want a straw. So because I was working up there I had a look at the drawbar. Primer finish, slight surface rust, badly in need of a makeover and also in need to have those bearing surfaces cleaned and lubed with silicone grease. So that came off and I gave everything a thorough once-over. Painted parts are hanging from the shower curtain rod while the paint is curing (because that is really what shower curtain rods are for, right?)

But if you give a mouse a straw....he's gonna want a mirror to ensure he's not getting a milk mustache. So I needed the proper length bolt for the new set of towing safety chains. Off to Tractor Supply for that.

But if you give a mouse a mirror....he's gonna want a set of scissors to trim his whiskers. So while the paint is drying I'm looking around for the new square shouldered U bolts I bought for the tongue some time ago (to replace the incorrect U-shaped ones someone installed). They're lost. Zip, zilch, nada. So I have to go back to Tractor Supply for another set.

If it wasn't a rain day this would really have me hacked off. Anyway, I am alive and I am still kickin'

Cheers,
TJ
Last edited by m3a1 on May 3rd, 2019, 4:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 3rd, 2019, 4:40 pm

Ok. So, I picked up the correct square shouldered U-bolts and in case you're interested that would be Tractor Supply's -

"U-Bolt Kit 3/8"" stock number 516T.

It can be found over in the trailer parts section in a blister pack with a mainly red cardboard insert. These are zinc plated, with nyloc nuts so will require a little muriatic acid to remove the zinc before painting. A no brainer.

Now, as soon as I got back, I walked into the garage I spotted the other U-bolt kit. Like...Immediately. :roll: If I'm lying' I'm dying'... I don't know if this is because I had one in hand and my brain was programmed to recognize the other one, or what. In my defense, it was kinda blending in with, and half under another item that was also red. No matter, I have a M-416 that could also use a new set. I'm just going to have to make a point of putting the second set out where I can't miss it.

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by rickf » May 3rd, 2019, 6:58 pm

Don't you know the trick where if you drop a bolt and can't find it you take a similar bolt and drop it on the ground where you can see it and once you get that mental image of that bolt on the ground nine times out of ten you find the original. Don't ask me how this works but it does. This pertains to dirty garage floors, all bets are off on stone driveways. :roll:

And Tractor supply has fine thread bolts, supply is sometimes rather limited.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 3rd, 2019, 11:11 pm

Maybe where YOU live....but sadly, not here.

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by rickf » May 4th, 2019, 8:46 am

A place that caters to the country life and they do not carry stuff in Texas that the do have in NJ?!!! Actually useful stuff at that, albeit made in China.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 4th, 2019, 1:11 pm

Don't know what to say. Ours even has particular sizes missing (like 7/16"). Not hard to believe, though. Tractor Supply is really only a high end Harbor Freight.

Recently, I bought a 10x10 chain link dog enclosure there. Got it home and found one of the chain link panels was not fully laced. I don't know how that happens but it had obviously happened at the time of manufacture. Someone had simply taken some aluminum wire and put some gathers along the part that wasn't laced and kept right on trucking. Is that the American way? Not the America I get up in!

I remember hardware stores where there were wooden drawers containing every conceivable fastener, nail, you-name-it and those cabinets went to the ceiling for the entire length of the store. If they didn't have it, you didn't need it. I'm sure you experienced the same. What a sad state of affairs nowadays. Just bloody awful.

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by rickf » May 4th, 2019, 1:31 pm

Yup, we had one of those stores in town. It was the goto place for every contractor in the area for lumber and every building supply you could think of. And once they knew you you had free reign in the place, just go find what you need. It is sad but the oldest brother of the family that owned the place decided he wanted to get rich quick and closed the place up and auctioned everything off. The old (And huge) building was even heated with a giant wood stove. The building still stands, it never sold. The one hardware store left in town was here back when that place was also open and now he has it made since he is the only game in town and he charges like it. Next nearest place is a Lowes or Home Depot that are both 15 miles away. If you need something small it just does not pay to drive that far and he knows it.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 13th, 2019, 11:18 pm

Things are coming along nicely after a rather lengthy interruption by rain.

With the fenders and floorpan off I'm finding someone did a pretty fair job on the chassis and undercarriage! You know who you are and, THANK YOU! :D

I have spent some time getting the wiring cleaned up (where it matters) and properly secured. Drawbar eye is back on it (painted and properly secured) along with a freshly refurbished pig tail with new dielectric grease on all connections and at all ground points (particularly those for the tail lights.)

Fresh hardware everywhere I'm working, including square shouldered U-bolts. Have the parking brake bracket installed and getting back into the hand brake guts to ensure all the adjusters are working. Took a stab at the pivot bolt for the parking brake's bell crank and made that serviceable (a bit dog-eared, but serviceable).

In that the hand brake is off the M-416A1 I will scavenge the brake cable as well and put it on the M-762. After all these parts are made ready, fitted and proven they will be taken back off and run through the blaster cabinet and re-coated.

Got this headed in the right direction!

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 27th, 2019, 10:47 pm

Well, this is coming right along. I had the deck and fenders off, leaving the bare bones of the M416 trailer chassis. This allowed me to get to everything quite easily. Retainers for the wiring harness were all put in their proper places and secured. Grabbed the hand brake cables and associated hardware off the other trailer (luckily someone had the presence of mind to keep all the bits there for later use) and moved them over to the M-762 after a good bit of PM lubrication.

This trailer is a M-762 in name only as it is an amalgamation of 416 (below) and 762 (above). I find there are some differences in the chassis, not the least of which is the large lunette mount that allows the trailer to be towed by a much taller vehicle. I had to drill a few new mounting holes for the 762 fenders as they bolt exclusively to the frame. I found that I couldn't use all the bolt holes in the fender mounts as some holes terminated right where a chassis crossmember was so I contented myself with using only the most obvious locations, which I found to be altogether suitable as the fender is now on there very solid. I laid the deck down yesterday and bolted it in. No more loose sheet metal clanking around back there and all new fasteners throughout. Tech tip: Install floorpan first, fenders second. Can be done the other way but it becomes a very tight fit.

I'm looking for a few items. First are the brackets that encompass the tail lights (one of which mounts the blackout lamp on the passenger side). The other two provide a location to mount the rear, side reflectors. I am also looking for the small data plate (four holes) that is located beneath the large data plate (mounted on the inboard face of the left fender.)

Still have to get that hand brake refurbishment finalized as it needs a sandblasting and we are still in that time of year when the humidity is very high. I am content to wait till we have a few Texas-hot days.

I put a couple flags up and took the whole shebang out today just for a MUTT-strut around town. Pulls like a dream.

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: M-762 and the slippery slope

Unread post by m3a1 » May 31st, 2019, 11:42 pm

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