I bought a set of 7.00×15 vintage military truck tires by Coker Tire. I had decided against lifting the trailer or flipping the axle in order to stuff large tires under it. I like the stock profile of these trailers and prefer a low center of gravity. I will be adding some military-ish accents and the slightly larger than stock STA Super Traxxion tires look great and have lots of tread. These meats can be run with or without a tube (I went tubeless). Damn, I love the smell of fresh tires delivered to my door.
The ol’ Bantam got shocks too. Not OEM on the civilian T3C. I picked up spring plates with lower shock mounts for it’s military cousins, and built my own upper shock mounts. A set of Monroe shock absorbers completed the necessary parts. I found it difficult to locate upper shock mounts for the old WWII / Korea era trailers and they didn’t include studs anyway. So, two lengths of 2″ angle iron bolted together with generic parts store shock studs formed a nice homemade upper mount.
I’m not a big fan of the bottom of the shock being held on by a cotter pin, but we did win the Big War doin’ it that way. The job took three times longer than it should have because I insist on keeping nothing but dull drill bits on hand at all times.
I found a new 20 gallon RV water tank and pump on Ebay. It’s mounted at the front of the tub to put the bulk of the weight near the tongue. It’s cradled in foam and contacts no metal so I don’t wear any holes in it. I built a couple brackets toward the rear and one side to hold it in place up against the front and driver’s side tub walls. A length of strap steel over the top to hold it down. There’s enough room for the pump and fittings beside the tank and it only takes up 10″ of bed space. More details to come as I plumb the tank, sink and shower. In the last picture you can see the kitchen sink, stove and BBQ in place where I was taking some measurements for the slide out kitchen cabinet. The roof rack rails are for mounting the tent.
The tent: I’d been looking for a deal on a used Roof Top Tent. I figured it would be the last piece of the puzzle but a good one showed up for sale locally and I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a 4-man Mombasa in great shape. The cover is ripped at the seams and it needs a new mattress pad but that’s small stuff considering this tent was about a thousand dollars cheaper than brand new. It will also (think “sardine can”) fit the four of us. A new 4-man RTT is pretty pricey and my boss needs this project to come in way under budget. The mounting rails and roof rack were situated to mount the tent, as the previous owner did, length wise ACROSS a full size truck bed. So, I had to drill some new holes. Plug some old ones. Re-mount the rails and cut the roof rack down to the width of the jeep trailer bed. More on the tent later.
I mounted the rear landing legs. The location I chose, along the frame behind the spring perches, would not allow for long enough legs to reach the ground. I will use leveling blocks to fill the gap. The front legs have a longer length of frame to bolt them to, so they will be long enough to go all the way. I had a feeling that if I mounted the rear legs to the back of the frame, I would eventually rip one off on a rock or ledge.
With the shocks installed and the water tank in place, I needed to tow the trailer around some rough roads to make sure everything works and stays put. This may be one of the last opportunities to cruise around topless anyway. I noticed that even empty, the trailer does not hop and skip and rattle down the trail as much as it did pre-shock absorber. The water tank seems to be mounted pretty solid but the real test will come when it’s full of water.
The ride height is nearly perfect with the pintle hitch mounted upside down on a drop hitch, just as I found it on craigslist. I rewired the entire trailer with a round 6-pin plug (vs. the old 4 pin) to accommodate the future back-up light and for a line to eventually charge the trailer battery off the Jeep. There is a lot more to be done, including building the slide out cabinets. It’s not work if you love it, right?
1946 American Bantam Trailer Build 