I learned something new today

[DaveB]

I am fixing up an old 1946 Bantam 3C jeep trailer and this morning I was swapping the tires and rims on it. The right side worked fine but the rusty left side lug nuts wouldn't budge so I broke out the big 3/4 socket set breaker bar and made them turn but they wouldn't come off. So I figured they were stripped and cut the lug nuts off with a plasma cutter. I was almost good enough at not hitting the threads but a few were damaged so I headed to Hendersons to pick up some new lug bolts. They didn't have anything that matched the originals exactly but I got some that I hope will work. The guy at the counter looked at the old ones and told me why I couldn't get them off, the lug nuts on the right side are right hand thread and the lugs on the left side are left handed thread. I have never heard of a trailer being like that, too bad I messed up the old ones:sick: . The next stop was Six States for D60 parts and I asked him about the lug nuts and he told me all of the big truck trailers are that way.

 

[57cj-5]

Good tip, I didn't realize it applied to trailers.

Had a friend use a cheater bar and break all the left side lug nuts off a cj-2a, only afterwards realizing what he had done.

 

[kent l]

Great information

I just picked up a 1943 M100 willys overland trailer I will remember that when I go to change the wheels. Here is a pic I m going to paint it OD green and put a car top tent on the box.

 

[chans]

Thats the way it was on my 67 Plymouth Cuda. It really sucked when I took it in to get safety inspected and the idiot used an impact gun on the max setting and then told me I needed to get the lug nuts off myself before they would inspect the car since the last person put that one side on too tight.

 

[Spork]

Thats the way it was on my 67 Plymouth Cuda. It really sucked when I took it in to get safety inspected and the idiot used an impact gun on the max setting and then told me I needed to get the lug nuts off myself before they would inspect the car since the last person put that one side on too tight.

Same way on my dad's 65 CJ

 

[crimsonride]

same way on my old snowmobile trailer.

 

[DaveB]

I just picked up a 1943 M100 willys overland trailer I will remember that when I go to change the wheels. Here is a pic I m going to paint it OD green and put a car top tent on the box.

Mine is the civilian version that they built right after the war, it has a tailgate, stake pockets, and no emergency brake, but looks the same as yours otherwise. I would also like to make mine into a fun camping trailer. It looks like it would be very easy to do a spring over but maybe it would sit too high and wobble with a load in it. I would also like to figure out a rack for it so I can put my inflateable fishing pontoon boat on it.

By the way when I cleaned the bearings and hubs up I discovered the the lug bolts have a R and a L on the end of them...... wish I had seen that sooner. I wish I knew where to find some lug bolts like the originals, the new ones I put in don't seat as firmly in the hub.

 

[hammerhead]

Dave - Spring over works fine on the old bantam and willys trailers. Check out the trailer section on ih8mud. You'll find some awesome trail trailers there...

http://forum.ih8mud.com/forumdisplay.php?f=98

 

[Meat_]

...R and a L on the end of them...

Yup, they always did. A LOT of things mid and pre 60's had lefty tighties, most of them on old stuff have been replaced with righties by now though.

 

[gijohn40]

1943 Mb

My old MB had the lefty and righty lugs and I broke a few off and was actually able to get them at a jeep dealership but that was like 15 yrs ago...
(Rondo) has that old jeep now and I hope he reads this thread so he doesn't do the same thing as you did....

alot of the military vehicles do this so that the wheel doesn't fall off if someone doesn't tighten them down correctly.

 

[Stephen]

Question, where would one go about acquiring one of these nifty little trailers? I've always wonder, they made tens of thousands of them, but I rarely see them.

 

[DaveB]

Question, where would one go about acquiring one of these nifty little trailers? I've always wonder, they made tens of thousands of them, but I rarely see them.

I got mine from a friend at work, it was his dad's who was the original owner. They bought it back in the fourties to haul bricks and stuff to build their cabin up in Brighton. Don't aquire one like some guys did down the street from my brothers house. His neighbor had his Willys trailer out front loaded with trash for a trip to the dump and some stupid guys thought they were "throwing it away" so they took it. The guys started arguing over who's trailer it was after they had fixed it up and painted it nicely so one of them called the real owner and asked for a bill of sale. The owner said "sure come by and pick it up", you know who was waiting for him when he showed up. The original owner now has his trailer back all nicely painted.

Hammerheads link above has lots of good info on where people are getting them now and how they are fixing them up.