M1101 1102 thread for conversion to 12V and matching Land Cruiser spares

[JamesC]

Hello all,

A friend asked me for a few details on our M1101 and since I sent this in email anyway - why not post it. These details are all available from various sources online but are hard to confirm in some cases and are difficult to verify as actually working. This is after all of our trial and error. I hope this helps others as a single source because it took us a couple of months to track everything down, swap parts and make things work We wanted to convert practically everything and also match the Land Cruiser 200 series bolt pattern for spare usage in the field. Everything is easy enough to bolt on.


As it was advertised on craigslist, in TX we have a lot of surplus release:



Got it home and started disassembly:




First was pulling off the hydraulics and converting to electric. From this:






to this Made in USA Dexter electric with Parking brake assembly:





Drive train Parts:

LH Side electric conversion with parking brake that bolts up to the m110x back plate (reuse the parking brake cables already on it):

http://www.etrailer.com/p-23-112.html

RH Side:

http://www.etrailer.com/p-23-113.html

Next you'll need to decide on hub/drums and bolt patterns. I found one 5x150 fitment in Australia to match the Land Cruiser but lack of response and uncertainty on bearings led me to a commonly available Toyota fitment that I could easily adapt. I used 6x5 1/2 from FJ Cruiser, etc

x2 of these hubs: http://www.etrailer.com/p-8-201-9UC3-EZ.html

Then to match our 5x150 bolt pattern on the 200 I used these well made adapters: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009N3JTQQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

We mounted the same rock warriors and tire size as the 200, here is a trail picture:




Trailer Electrics:


I pulled the 12pin NATO all the way to the under trailer junctions and ran this to each of the wires that we needed instead:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044YQAPW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Here is the junction box mounted:

This is the wire cross reference you'll need for a 12 NATO to 7 RV conversion: They also make adapters but I did not find them to be a clean install so soldered, shrinked and wrapped everything myself.




Next I converted all 24V halogens to LED with these, they fit every type of small bulb on the trailer (hard to find this info as shows two bulb types are shown t ype 67 and 97) You can use a :

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W566NZ8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

I converted the 24V tail lights to some military take off's on ebay like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/new-grote-l...ash=item3f5c0b8745:g:oa8AAOSwuAVWt4yX&vxp=mtr

With the above plan you can reuse all the standard wiring runs that were on the trailer and just focus on wiring between the junction and the tow vehicle - easy enough!


We pulled the pintle and all hydraulics and had a shop fab the only part we didn't do ourselves. We used an industrial welding shop and this was the best design we came up with considering that we would have a large tongue box with fridge and solar generator, etc.


We used a max coupler instead of the pintle :








That you can find here: http://store.adventuretrailers.com/products/Max-Coupler.html


Here is a view of the new steel bracing run from the airlift loops out to the tongue and also the trailer side of the max coupler:





Next we wanted to ditch the drop leg jacks and use something 'infinitely' adjustable instead for uneven ground. These are the only c-jacks we could find with enough height:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VAUUG0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

In use:




Stored:




Mounting points beam to beam:

 

[JamesC]

I saw an idea on steel soldiers that we used, a full size truck rack. We looked at a lot of different ones and decided on this one:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085W0E8S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage


The rack overall is pretty nice for us and the height adjustable allows it to lower to help keep the dog kennel stable or raise it so an awning (not yet chosen or installed but probably a Howling Moon RTT with annex room and half-moon awning)

It uses c-clamps and would normally mount inside a truck bed - for an M1101 it mounts outside. So far tree/branch strikes have done nothing to them. We chose this rack because it is height adjustable. There is one area where the c-clamps have no where to mount so we used GR8 hardware through the trailer walls.

Here is the normal c-clamp mount

Here shows the GR8 through bolt (12"?)

Once all that was done we used Linex over the CARC in places.


Finally,

In use Phase 1 hubs/brakes/rack shake down:





Phase 2 more stuff added:










Next:

We plan for an oversized tongue box to roughly mimic what they did with the xventure to house a large fridge, yeti 1250 and other accessories:

We want water and heated water. We need to find an appox 40gal custom tank maker and use PEX and pumps for sink/shower/hot water. The tank will need to be built as saddle so the center alu under brace doesn't interfere + bash plate. I feel kind of stuck on what to do about a tank + pump + fill fittings + filter + plumbing + water heater:

http://www.tank-depot.com/product.aspx?id=162

 

[JamesC]

Few Use shots

 

[RagnarD]

Well done. This is the first time I have seen a successful hub only swap on a military trailer. I drag a 101A3 around with a Tundra so this has me thinking... even have a spare set of wheels and tires in the bone yard.

Great trailer and tow vehicle build/combo.

Thank you for posting the info for the hub swap parts. Were you able to get the parking brakes connected and functioning with the new hubs?

 

[Rocinante]

Thanks for posting, this is brilliant! Great to see all of these ideas field tested and consolidated in one place.

 

[JamesC]

The parking brakes were connected with ubolts for cable splicing but have been removed in preparation for the tongue box fab. We also have to relocate the parking bake handles and reorient them to horizontal under the box.

The ubolts are OK and secure but I'm hoping to find something cleaner once we have the length of the levers set.

 

[Titanpat57]

Great build...thanks for sharing....truck looks awesome too!

 

[Texas TT]

Thanks for taking the time to document this.

I have been looking for the correct hubs to swap out my M1102.

 

[JamesC]

Thanks for taking the time to document this.

I have been looking for the correct hubs to swap out my M1102.

No problem. If that bolt pattern doesn't suit you can explore other options - use etrailer's site to investigate the Dexter or 'Dexter type' 12" x 2" drums for the bolt pattern you need. I can confirm the adapter type I sourced has been solid on rough Texas desert for thousands of miles now. They are well built but some are not. Source carefully there IMO if you choose a different fabricator. There are many opinions on adapters but we chose to compromise and use good parts to enable identical wheels/tires for sacrificial spares if ever needed. The drums you find should be at or around 6000lb mentioned for that size.

My wife did much of the conversion while I was out of the country. She relays that the install is very straightforward once the correct parts are sourced. The old military parts need force to remove. YouTube videos on etrailer for each part clear up any small points.

It pulls very smoothly at all speeds we've seen when loaded. In TX that includes posted limits of 85mph. Sometimes I think that quality can be undervalued in terms of gear wear and in our case for dog fatigue. Unloaded when empty is predictably rough and over sprung feeling with such a light trailer. We use a tekonsha prodigy as our controller on the m1101 and it calibrated easily.

 

[rbaz]

Thank you!

I am building up a trailer that I tow behind my fj80 and have been hoping to find info on the hub swaps. I knew it had to be simple. Thanks so much.

 

[Treemite]

Very nice setup Tex, any shots of how you mounted that spare? Also did you sand the CARC before you applied the liner? Thanks

 

[cyclic]

rbaz, I'd like more pics of your rack please.

 

[Markimus58]

Nice job. Can you tell me how much time and greenies you have into this build as of this point in your post?

 

[JamesC]

Nice 80 and trailer setup @ rbaz!

@ Treemite No unusual prep on the CARC.

I think the trailer was 1100 titled and tagged - 7hrs rt to pick up. Hubs and brake conversion 450 and 3hrs. 5x150 adapters 150 and 20mins. Fabrication of tongue changes 400. Max Coupler 250. Linex 1k. Wheels/Tires were part of a set of 8 but probably 1800ish with the forged TRDs and KO2s for (3). Rack 500 and 2hrs. Wiring/lights ~100 and probably 4hrs the way I solder/shrink/mount and wrap.

Running gear aside looks to be 3500ish and 12ish hours. Really great trailer.

 

[sgthawk]

More excellent ideas to add to my trailer. Can you show more pictures of how you did the tongue extension and how you connected it to the air lift points? Did you slide in a section of square tubing and bolt it in place , then weld it to the tounge extension? Can you provide the measurements you used for each piece?