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New to me T3C

Militarymetal

Militarymetal

Gainesville, FL
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Joined
May 30, 2024
This Bantam T3C is in rough shape, but I love it! I don’t plan to restore it. Rather, make it roadworthy and use it behind the 67 CJ5. I’m just now learning about these trailers. It looks like mine is missing the Fulton Ball Hitch and now has this cobbled together lunette. I dragged in home from a neighboring city and it towed flawlessly behind our camper van. I will probably maintain the lunette setup. I need a source for parts. Hub seals, Axle U-bolts, Shackles. If someone can suggest a place to buy these, or their equivalents I would be grateful. I paid $500 for it. The serial number is 16733. Comments would be appreciated.

Bantam 1 Medium.jpegBantam 3 Medium.jpegBantam 2 Medium.jpegBantam 4 Medium.jpeg
 
bearings and seals are cj parts for a 2a I believe as are the shackles. ubolts from napa or a spring shop.
 
Nice trailer. I have one that is in the 1700 range for serial number. They are very handy, and cool to have and use. I removed my Fulton hitch, and saved, so I could have a lunette, because my jeeps all have pintle hitches. So, I would say leave the lunette, unless you have a desire to restore it. As far as parts, all the wheel hub and axle parts are just jeep, so you should be able to find pretty easily. I have bought from Army Jeep Parts in the past. George is great to deal with.
 
Geat find. I love these trailers. I bought our first one just to have a Jeep trailer for photo ops, but we have ended up using all the time around the place for yard cleanups and other stuff. That are really useful for small jobs.
 
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I’ll be painting it Geyser Blue like my 67 F134. I think it should look pretty spiffy. I tore it down to the chassis and repaired several places that had rust or were abused. For 80 years old it’s in pretty good shape. I rebuilt the hubs. After cleaning them the bearings looked like they were placed yesterday! I replaced the Left hand studs on the one hub with rights. I also replaced the shackles and inserts. The springs are still serviceable. The floor was pretty beat up so I bought some diamond plate steel to replace it. It added a little bit of weight but it’s nice and sturdy and looks great. The tailgate is missing so I am using an extra CJ5 tailgate. I will have to fabricate supports. More pictures to follow.
Bantam 12aprilA Medium.jpeg
 
Militarymetal said:
The tailgate is missing so I am using an extra CJ5 tailgate.
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I always thought that would be a cool mod. Will you be using the CJ tailgate hinges and grafting the center section into a fabricated outer frame to keep it in proportion (level) with the upper tub rails?
 
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Chris Insull said:
I always thought that would be a cool mod. Will you be using the CJ tailgate hinges and grafting the center section into a fabricated outer frame to keep it in proportion (level) with the upper tub rails?
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That’s my plan. I have hinges and the tailgate. The CJ tailgate is now quite as tall, so I plan on sloping the sheet metal down to the tailgate. Pictures soon.
 
I made some good progress today. I was able to get the sides of the trailer reattached and I fabricated a tailgate using an early CJ5 tailgate I had. It’s lower than the sides of the Bantam, but I think it works just fine. The sheet metal was full of holes where it attaches to the chassis so I just threw a piece of flat stock over it and skip welded it. It’s not the prettiest repair, but it’s strong. Fenders tomorrow and maybe a little bondo to smooth things out.

Bantam 18aprilA Medium.jpeg

Here’s the tailgate. I cut some pipe to smooth the transition from side to tailgate.
Bantam 18aprilD Medium.jpegBantam 18aprilC Medium.jpegBantam 18aprilB Medium.jpegbantam 18aprilE Medium.jpeg
 
Yesterday was metal work ALL DAY! Today I got the thing painted. I only had a little bit of blue paint leftover from my jeep build. I was able to get two thin coats on the body but none left for the fenders. So, they are black. Good accent. The tailgate turned out great in my opinion. I need to wire it, add lights, work on the hitch, and make some chains for the tailgate. Any good sources for tops? I used the Raptor coating and it works great. Hides many sins!

Bantam 19aprilb Medium 2.jpegBantam 19aprilc Medium.jpegBantam 19aprila Medium.jpeg
 
Found a M100 trailer a while back. Still haven't got any work done on it but it's in fairly good shape. Need to replace bearings, a bit o' bodywork, repaint & rewired with LED lights. Also need new tires..the ones on it now have great tread but are at least 25 years old.IMG_9427.jpgIMG_9428.jpg
 
Looks good!

I had a custom tarp made for my Bantam that worked well. It was fitted with sides that came down a couple inches. The sides had a sleeve that went all the way around. The sleeve had openings right by the trailer tarp hooks. I fed a single thick cord of bungee through the sleeve. At each opening I looped it out to engage the hook. The bungee ends were at the back of the trailer and I had plastic hooks that were able to cinch up tight on the bungee and hook on the tailgate hook.

For bows it was a plastic PVC frame, made just a bit wider than the trailer. By wedging it down into the trailer sides the PVC would naturally arch up to support the tarp.
 
Boyink said:
Looks good!

I had a custom tarp made for my Bantam that worked well. It was fitted with sides that came down a couple inches. The sides had a sleeve that went all the way around. The sleeve had openings right by the trailer tarp hooks. I fed a single thick cord of bungee through the sleeve. At each opening I looped it out to engage the hook. The bungee ends were at the back of the trailer and I had plastic hooks that were able to cinch up tight on the bungee and hook on the tailgate hook.

For bows it was a plastic PVC frame, made just a bit wider than the trailer. By wedging it down into the trailer sides the PVC would naturally arch up to support the tarp.
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Sounds like a nice top. I was thinking about a top that just laid flat on the bed—like the military version. However, your description with bows may make the trailer more versatile. Thanks.
 
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