# BOV trailer



## bunkerbob

Well if you have been following my endeavors to get a BOV trailer, yesterday was the day. I bought this 1948, yes that's right 1948, Willy's jeep trailer from a fella that restores military vehicles. He bought this and went through it and repainted it, added non-stock tail lights, oh well, newer tires and checked the greasable bearing surface on the leaf springs. It rides and pulls very nicely. According to him Willy's Jeep fashioned these after the M101 1/4 ton military trailer as the story goes, can't confirm but it is a really nice light weight rig. It now has a 1 7/8 ball hitch, not standard on the military type, which if I decide to can be unbolted and replaced with a lunette ring for a pintile hitch setup.
I purcashed new wheel bearing seals and plan to repack them next, when I talked to a off-road mechanic yesterday he said the bearing are oversized and most likely still good.
Can't wait to get this on the trail behind the Jeep Wrangler now.


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## NaeKid

Love those trailers. 

I have that design on my computer so that when I have room I can build it. A little bit of time with the laser and breaks I can have the sides and floor all formed up. I have a couple of ideas for the drop-gate and am aiming towards a 3500lb axle on airbags with Rancho5000 shocks.

I would also put a "multi-hitch" on the front that will allow me to choose 1 7/8" ball, 2" ball or pintle-hitch just by pulling a simple pin. Wiring would be 7-pole and I will use the electric-brakes.


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## JeepHammer

I went the aluminum route.
Had some aluminum sheet left over from a project, and I used it for a trailer.
Axle is spindles/brakes off another front Jeep axle, so the tires are all the same size, and it's REAL light weight.

Worked good.

I've seen a couple locally built that are using 50's Chevy step side beds from the reproducers,
they look SWEET! with the old step side fenders, straight sides and chain hook tail gates!


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## bunkerbob

Jeep send some photos, maybe you have some additional ideas.


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## sailaway

Hey Bob, I bought a trailer just like that 2 months ago, it has a Bantam Plate on the front of it. Does yor tailgate go down?, mine does. I think the orrigional color of mine is red. Several people have seen it and want to buy it. They are rare, keep it put away.


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## nj_m715

Great little trailer. You probable drug it out of that bat infested bunker didn't you  Those pics reminded me of one of the terminator movies.

I don't know if you care enough to go through the trouble, but having the wheels match your bov can be a big plus. If they don't match now, you might be able to fit a different hub to the spindle. There are "adapter bearing" out there. A good supplier can look up bearings by sizes and find ones to fit mismatched parts. I ran 1/2 ton ford hubs on chevy spindles bolted to scout axles so I could have stronger locking hubs. It was all stock parts, no machine shop needed. Or weld a new spindle to the axle or swap the whole axle. Again the work might not be worth it to you, but I like redundantcy. It's nice when one spare part can repair a few things.

They have trailer hitches that lock on by turning an over sized screw instead of pushing down the latch. They can seat on a 2" or 1 7/8" ball. My pop has an old harley trailer like that.

Looks like his tailgate has hinges and pins so it goes down.

We had a junkyard near Ft. Dix that had mutt trailers stacked like cord wood, but they've been gone for years. The shame is they were probably crushed.


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## bunkerbob

These are hard to find and that is why I drove about 100 miles one way to pick it up. It has been in the high desert for years also, so almost no rust. The tailgate does go down when you pull out the top retaining pins.
I thought about the axle swap to match the jeep tires also, but, it came with a spare. Because of the rarity of this I don't want to modify it too much, only with bolt on accessories, such as a gas and water can rack. I plan on having a spare set of bearings for it, even though the mechanic said these were so over engineered that it would be improbable for them to fail. The axle tubes on these were also very heavy duty, same as the early 40-50s Jeeps, same bearings and seals.
Even after driving about 150 miles in a round about way back home, to pick up a receiver hitch for the Jeep and seals for the trailer, the hubs were just barely warm to the touch.
We have a nice large plastic camp box with wheels and another for sleeping-bags, clothes and other items that need to be kept dry. I will fashion a tarp to go over the trailer to keep out some of the rain if encountered, restoration companies want $125 for a replica tarp with ropes attached, yea right!


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## sailaway

You must have been in touch with Beachwood Canvas for tarps .


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## HozayBuck

NaeKid said:


> Love those trailers.
> 
> I have that design on my computer so that when I have room I can build it. A little bit of time with the laser and breaks I can have the sides and floor all formed up. I have a couple of ideas for the drop-gate and am aiming towards a 3500lb axle on airbags with Rancho5000 shocks.
> 
> I would also put a "multi-hitch" on the front that will allow me to choose 1 7/8" ball, 2" ball or pintle-hitch just by pulling a simple pin. Wiring would be 7-pole and I will use the electric-brakes.


YO NK, build 2 I'll buy the other!!!...


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## NaeKid

HozayBuck said:


> YO NK, build 2 I'll buy the other!!!...


Deal. If possible - it will be one of the winter-projects that I would love to complete before next summer.


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## Desertrat1

*trailer*

Dude put a swiveling lunette on it with a pintle hitch, you wont be sorry.


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## bunkerbob

Desertrat1 said:


> Dude put a swiveling lunette on it with a pintle hitch, you wont be sorry.


 Not sure if you were replying to my post or not, the plan is to put a lunette ring back on the trailer, I have the pintile hitch already. My neighbors father has a bantam trailer with lunette ring, sitting in his back yard not being used and may want to part with it. One obstacle to replacing the standard hitch that it came with is cost, could run as high as $700 for the parts, these wouldn't even be stock, replicas from overseas. Luckly, whom ever added the standard hitch just welded it to the bracket not the frame so the relacement will just bolt on.


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## 101airborne

Mine is in prosess, 1993 jeep comanche pickup bed and frame, 4" lift, camper shell, roof rack to haul boat/canoe. When finished it will have a full length drawer in the bed for supplies, dual deep cycle marine batteries, solar panel to charger batteries, 3000 watt power inverter and 1500 w generator, external ( side) spare tire carriers on both sides ( the tires will also fit my 92 XJ as well. 31X10.5 all terrain tires. Pintle hook to tow it. Awning on rear to pull out for shade. external fuel tank ( factory one from truck) underneath for an extra 25 gallons of fuel witha pump/siphon electric pump so I can either use the pump to pump fuel out of or into the tank. among other items as I go along. I'll try to post pics when it's done.


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## ajsmith

oldsoldier said:


> Mine is in prosess, 1993 jeep comanche pickup bed and frame, 4" lift, camper shell, roof rack to haul boat/canoe. When finished it will have a full length drawer in the bed for supplies, dual deep cycle marine batteries, solar panel to charger batteries, 3000 watt power inverter and 1500 w generator, external ( side) spare tire carriers on both sides ( the tires will also fit my 92 XJ as well. 31X10.5 all terrain tires. Pintle hook to tow it. Awning on rear to pull out for shade. external fuel tank ( factory one from truck) underneath for an extra 25 gallons of fuel witha pump/siphon electric pump so I can either use the pump to pump fuel out of or into the tank. among other items as I go along. I'll try to post pics when it's done.


Hey Oldsoldier, please do post some pics when done. Some pics of the build-up would be great to. Sounds like you're building something close to what I'm building. I have start pics on another thread, need to up date with more pics soon. I'm building a trailer out of a 78 Ford pickup long box to pull behind my F-350 crew. Later I'm building a scratch built trailer to pull behind my Jeep Wrangler, will post pics of that to!


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## ajsmith

Bunkerbob, your trailer looks great! Keep the pics comming as you fix it up. Help me feed my addiction, I just love cool utility trailers.


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## RoadRash

Never thought of loading trailer in a get out of dodge scenario HMMMMMM
Rethink what I can take and what I can hold in it. My Garage is organized in plastic totes tools camping gear? Off to army surplus !!!!


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## ajsmith

roadrash said:


> Never thought of loading trailer in a get out of dodge scenario HMMMMMM
> Rethink what I can take and what I can hold in it. My Garage is organized in plastic totes tools camping gear? Off to army surplus !!!!


The home built trailer I plan on building for my jeep I plan to keep loaded and stored in my garage. Just back up to it with my Jeep, hook up and go!! Think of it as a large storage box on wheels.


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## bunkerbob

Added fuel and water cans to front of trailer. I spent a little more money and got the Sceptor cans PLASTIC MILITARY JERRY CANS, they are very rugged and heavy duty and last almost forever, the black one on the right I've had for about 15 years sitting in the sun no shade, still flexible and watertight. I also added a cable to the back modified tailgate, this will give us a shelf like place to setup the stove and water.


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## 101airborne

roadrash said:


> Never thought of loading trailer in a get out of dodge scenario HMMMMMM
> Rethink what I can take and what I can hold in it. My Garage is organized in plastic totes tools camping gear? Off to army surplus !!!!


The thing about a BOT is if like mine will be you can lock it up, when you get it together and loaded you can have it ready to just hook and go. BTW I forgot to add I'm also adding a trickle charger for the batteries and a couple of 110 outlets to plug in handheld radios and such. I have a couple of outside plug ins on the front of my garage so I can just pull out the electrical cord and plug the trailer in.


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## RoadRash

Mine is just an open box trailer heavy duty 3500 lbs, But I have been thinking of getting an inclosed cargo trailer for camping. Get rid of my pop up an box trailer. In the event of get out of dodge I would have to drive 30 minutes to get pop up trailer may not be feasible to get. The plans are already being drawn up in my head but that will have to waite for more$$$$.


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## sailaway

I currently have a 1964 4 seasons travel trailer set up for AC-DC and a Bantam Trailer like B Bobs, currently being restored. My primary transportation vehicle is a Jeep Patriot, I've been thinking of getting a small trailer for it, maybe a motorcycle trailer. My four seasons trailer will be moved to my sales territory for lay overs next year and possibly as a stopping point before moving on.


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## ajsmith

Hey BunkerBob, any up dates on your trailer? Haven't done much with mine, it's to cold


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