Our new Bantam pics and questions

Bought yesterday from Boise craigslist. Straight sheetmetal and just a little surface rust underneath. Feeling very lucky! Thanks to Cliff in Pocatello for info on Bantams and for saying “go get it!”

The ID tag is painted over. Along the top row from left to right I can barely see an “L” and a “3 -“. I can clearly see “Serial – 11629”. Underneath that I can clearly see BANTAM and the rest of the writing on the 1” x 3” tag. The rivets holding it on look like the original rivets I’ve seen in pictures.

Even though it is a civilian model, there is OD green paint under the current paint on the body and the wheels, it has brake drums and a lunette. So, I’m wondering if this may have been used by the military or if a p.o. modified it? The owner I bought it from got it at an auction up near McCall, Idaho about 1 ½ years ago and had no info on it.

Here are pics and questions:



Tailgate is bolted shut.



No, fender isn't dented, just a shadow.





The word "Bendix" is stamped on the brake drum backing plates along with some numbers.



This looks like a farm implement wheel to me? Where wheels like this ever used by military on these trailers? The wheel has the same shade of OD green paint under the white as the OD green that's under the metallic green currently on the body.



Is this a military style brake drum, or just some trailer house drum that a p.o. added?



The trailer came w/ a pintle mounted on a stinger. The letters TH are stamped into the side of the hooks.

 

Yes looks like a T3-C that was restored as a military trailer in the past and then restored again using civilian colors. The WWII T3 and MBT parts as well as the M100 parts are bolt in swaps. Most likely a fellow with a thin budget and a restored MB/GPW/M38/M38A1/CJV35/M606 series jeep needed a 1/4 T trailer and didn't want to pay the price of a T3/MBT/M100. I have seen quite a few of these. Still a very nice solid trailer and the brakes and lunette would make great trading material for a Fulton hitch and correct tailgate chains.

 

Thanks to Tumbleweed and Wes for the replies and good info. Here's what I've found so far.

I know that all this may not be interesting to very many, but for those who enjoy figuring out the little mysteries that come with the stuff we drag home, read on.

While crawling around under the trailer this afternoon I noticed that the number on the back of the right hand backing plate ended in an "L" and the number on the back of the left hand backing plate ended with an "R". So, I went searching for pictures and found some good clear pics of Bantam military trailer axles. Whoever put the hubs on my trailer put them on the wrong sides, so they are upside down. The brake levers are on the bottom, below the spring, instead of on the top, above the springs. With the levers on the bottom, the brake cables could not be run to the levers.

Since this trailer would never have brakes, this didn't matter because no brake cable would ever have to run to the brake levers.

This could have been done at the factory. I understand that the civilian trailers were often assembled using surplus parts. Maybe my trailer was made on the day someone opened a box full of surplus brake drums.

Or, as Wes suggested, maybe some p.o. had a set lying around and put them on.

May never know which it was, but, I've had some fun figuring this out and learned some things about our new trailer too.

Now, what about those big ugly wheels? I haven't found any pictures of anything like them on other military trailers. Looks like someone on a budget robbed some implement wheels for their trailer.

As for the lunette, it's a big one. I read that the Bantam lunettes were thin and the later (M100?) lunettes were thicker. So, again, someone on a budget bolted what they had to the trailer.

Trading material? Maybe. Cliff over in Pocatello has already spoken for the lunette, and he's got good stuff to trade for. But I kind of like it, especially since the trailer came with a pintle on a stinger. I think the lunette stays for a while.

The wheels? They've got to go. It's a Bantam trailer, not a hay wagon.

 

Here's the ID plate after some DOT 3 and very light steel wool. With a little imagination you can see "Model T3 - C - Serial 11629".

 

Jack,

Very nice trailer...congrats!

I got your email with pics and hope to have you added to the database and website over the weekend if I get caught up.

 

The rims look like they might be the Kelsey Hayes option for your Jeep of the late 60's early 70's.

 

I wondered the same thing, and hoped that they were, but when I compared them to the pics that Patrick posted 2 years ago of K-H 15x8 I could see the difference. Here's the link to his pics: http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?66031-Kelsey-Hayes-15x8-pics