M416 Restoration

[Cobra5]

Well, I don't, so that type of damage takes some real effort on my part.

Whoa, take it easy on the effort. Wouldn't want an old timer like yourself to throw out a hip or something.

[SEABEE62]

OK Rainman......just let me know if you want me to do something to protect your honor......Seabee

[Floyd]

Francis: With all the effort you are putting onto that 416 I bet it comes out looking good.

Floyd

[rickf]

rick, Please send me a detailed explanation of your jacking method.

OK, Detailed would probably involve a phone call since I type about five words a minute!
What you need to do is bolt the tub back on the frame using good bolts, Cut some 4 X 4's to fit the bottom of the trailer front to back. Snug fit. Side to side. Railroad ties would be even better. Now cut some to go side to side, you do not have to cover the whole bottom this way but if you have the lumber it just means you will not be moving boards later. What this has accomplished is to build a good SOLID base for Jacks to push against and spread the force over the whole bottom of the trailer and frame. As far as a jack, any good bottle jack at least five ton or even your floor jack. Body clamps, Good heavy C-clamps will work, no more than 6 inch spread because above that they will flex a lot. Now you will have to most likely visit the scrap yard or metal supplier for the the next piece. You will need a piece of steel to jack against. I suggest a 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" Heavy wall square tube about 6 feet long. It needs to be long enough to overhang the trailer be a foot corner to corner.
That is your materials list.
When ready to actually do the work you will put a clamp on the dented area near the top and run the tube through the clamp. The other end of the tubing will be attached the same way, in your case I would try to clamp it at the top of the other damaged area.
Safety hint here. Drill a hole all the way through the tube close to the ends in both directions. Drill one hole about a half inch up the tube from the other. This way you can run a couple pieces of 3/8 threaded rod through the holes with a couple of inches sticking out of either side and put nuts on it. This will prevent the tubing from sliding out of the clamp under pressure.
Put the jack under the tubing close to the section you want to jack up and go to it. Be very cognizant of what you are doing!!! This is NOT the time to have a couple of beers. There will be a lot of pressure on the tubing, always watch to see if the jack is slipping, the clamp is not holding, etc. Personally I would weld a cup on the tubing for the jack to sit in but I do not know what your resources are. Once you have a good amount of pressure on the panel take your body hammer (not a ball pien or claw) And lightly tap at the raised creases. Note that I said lightly, do not wail on them and do NOT back it up with a dolly. WATCH THE JACK! If it is going to slip it will do so with tapping. If the jack slips off of the tubing nothing is going to fly, It will make a hell of a bang and you will have to go change your shorts. If the clamp slips off things WILL fly! I just stay away from the tubing when I am doing this type of work but a good safety measure would be to wrap a ratchet strap around the trailer and tubing at each end. Do not crank it up real tight, leave room for your jacking operation but do keep it snug. This way of the camp fails then the tubing will by trapped by the strap.
Do not try to get it all at once. You do not need to put ten tons of force on the jack! Use common sense, C-clamps were not made for this type of use so do not try to imitate a body shop frame machine! Jack it and tap it, release and check, repeat.

Common sense, common sense, COMMON SENSE! If you are not comfortable at any time with what you are doing then STOP!

I hope this helps because it took me 45 minutes to type it! Thank goodness for spell check.


Rick

[Francis Marion]

Rick, thanks a bunch! I took my time and made sure I read it all right and your description makes sense and is written well enough for me to feel confident enough to try it on my own. Everything has about 3" of snow on it right now so it may take a few days before I can get to it. I'll be sure to take plenty of photos to document it.

[rickf]

PHEW! I was never much of a teacher so that is a relief.

Rick

[Rainman]

Geez Rick,
At 5 WPM, maybe you could have made an instructional video tape in the same amount of time. Nobody has ever explained it any better without step by step pictures, and FM might be able to add those when he gets done. This site is one of the best thing that ever happened to the M151 hobby. Making Rick a grunt was a big mistake for Uncle Sam. He should have been the MMFIC of motorpool maintenance for the whole dang'd Army.

[Francis Marion]

OK, I gave Rick's directions a try while I was home and persuaded it about half an inch but still have three inches to go. Due to 8" of snow, the work was attempted in the garage so I didn't dare give it a full effort. I'll try again with more force and some heat when I get home.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to find someone with the proper equipment to see what it would cost for someone else to do it right. I sent a couple of the previous pics to a local body shop and their reply gave me quite a chuckle. "Sorry but wont be able to help you. I think you need a new one…" I'm thinking, "Sure, I'll just place an order with my local Stevens dealer." I think that each of you could agree with me, history isn't disposable.

[Francis Marion]

I just couldn't generate enough force with Ricks method so I cheated and found a local shop with the big power tools. I am told that this thing still drew blood in the process. They got it pretty straight but it needed a lot of work with a hammer and dolly. I now need to find a torch to apply some heat to shrink the metal back where I worked it smooth.

[rickf]

What a wuss! Looks good, I do not doubt it drew blood, that was a lot of straightening to do.


Rick

[Francis Marion]

I'm just about finished sand blasting (I would have been painting if I hadn't spent half the day fighting the sand blaster) and I found this under all that paint.


Apparently the original lettering paint caused the primer underneath to harden more than the rest and these letters appeared. Did trailers have 4 trailing numbers like the vehicles or just 3? I can clearly make out the U.S. Army and 6P 575 but cannot seem to identify a 4th number; the only possible additional letter would be a 1 but I have to use my imagination to identify it. Also, note the different fonts.

[moose53]

it does look like 6P-5751 to me. what about other areas? the US Army and Reg# would have been on both sides and the rear...

Jim

[Francis Marion]

I'm an idiot! I should have just looked back through my old photos.

[toptiger]

and the Moose comes thru again!

[rickf]

[quote="Francis Marion"]I'm an idiot! I should have just looked back through my old photos.
[/quote]


And you are running for office.........................


(sorry, I couldn't stop myself )