Fire Extinguisher

Today I added something I hope I will never use. The fire extinguisher seems to fit nicely up front with the fuel cans. Its a tall commercial type cylinder so this was about the only place I could find to mount it. It sits on the angle bracket that butts up against the tub. Then I just added 4 eye bolts and used some old bike rack rubber straps along with some carribeaners. It is held solidly in place, but is quickly accessible.

Electrical Box - Tounge Storage Bin

Since I decided to mount the AT fuel can holders up front, that didn't leave much room for the store bought plastic truck box that I planned to mount to the triangular tounge space. I used some tape to mark off the approximate limits of where I could mount gear before it would interfere with sharp turns on the trail. The space I was left was about 11 x 18 footprint which is enough to house the battery unit.

With 1/16" thick plate steel I had in the shop, I used a circular saw and metal blade to carefully cut out the sides, top and bottom.

In the next photo you can see the box taking shape and how the battery unit fits nicely inside. On the driver's side of the box, I mounted two electrical junction boxes. One will house a weather-proof outlet which will be wired to the outlet in the battery. The second is a weather proof light switch which will operate the LED lights inside the lid.

Here's a look at the box mostly finished sitting in place. I made the same height as the AT fuel can holders.

The last picture here is of the mostly finished box with the lid in place. I welded hinges on. The large gap in the back of the lid is unimportant since I welded a piece of angle iron underneath to form a tight seal. Later I'll be adding automotive weatherstrip.

Spare Tire Mount

After various design iterations I decided to mount the spare tire on the back of the trailer, similar to a jeep wrangler. Due to the weight of the 33" tire, I decided against a fold-down tailgate since my wife would be unable to close it. The other draw-back to a tailgate would be sacrificing the "tub" concept of the original military trailer which allows the trailer to float when doing deep river crossings. My fabrication skills are not precise enough to make a water tight tailgate. The first step in creating the tire mount was to welt two 1/4" thick sections of steel flat bar together to create an 8" square. I bought bolts to match the thread pattern of the stock trailer wheel studs. (boltdepot.com) I dipped the heads in muratic acid (available at home depot for pool cleaning). This allowed me to drill holes in the plate and then weld the bolt heads in place.

Next I began working on the spare tire mount frame. I decided against welding it directly to the tub since it would make things easier later if it was a bolt-in-place unit. I can change it out if I ever change wheel diameters, tire thicknesses, or have problems with the trailer balance etc..

After the frame was fabricated I bolted it in place with six 3/8" carraige bolts. I made the depth of the frame equal to the depth of the tire with the wheel's backspacing so that the tire rests snuggly against the frame and lip of the tub. Hopefully there will be enough clearance for the tub lid since the tire sticks up higher than the lid.

Relocating the Hand Brake

As I mentioned in my last post, to mount the jerry can holders up front, I had to relocate the hand brake. This is a nice feature since it keeps the trailer from rolling away when you have it disconnected at camp, so I wanted to keep it intact. I just unbolted the original mounting bracket and moved it out to the side of the trailer. You can see the old location where its rusty in the photo. The j-bolt was now too short, so I used a turnbuckle to extend it. This assembly now sits underneath the jerrry can holder frame.

Mounting the Jerry Can Holders

This is the location I originally wanted to mount the jerry can holders. This frees up space on the traingular tounge area for a dry box to house my electrical components. These projects were my inspiration: Pic 1 Pic 2

However, I'm not sure how they accomplished this. When I tried mocking it up, I was having alignment problems with the metal strap that holds the can in the holder. The holder physically fits in the spot along the tub in front of the tire, but when you try to get the can out, the metal strap hits the lip of the tub that hang out over the holder. See the green line below. I didn't want to try to mount the holder titled since it would difficult and would look strange. Plus it would be hanging out there... an easy target for rocks and trees.

I decided to sacrifice the space up front and mount the cans back to back standing vertically. This keeps them safe and easy to access. By redesigning my dry box using steel (rather than a store bought truck box) I can still make it fit.

I had to relocate the hand brake to fit the cans in this orientation. To allow the brake cable to sit under the cans, I had to elevate them off the tounge rails using 1.5" steel tube. Then I welded a frame to separate the jerry can holders (the can't be mounted back to back since the metal straps hit eachother at the top of the holder where the pad-lock hole is). The frame also provides stability to keep the holders from wobbeling/vibrating too much.

Reinstall Drain Plugs

I decided to reinstall the original drain plugs. They were totally smashed when I got the tub from the guy's field it had been sitting in. But, I was able to bend them back into shape and bolt them back on. This will keep water from spraying up from the tires on the road on the underside of the tub and getting inside. I could have just welded the holes shut, but I thought it would be nice to have a way to drain the tub on the off-chance water ever gets inside.