M101a1 redo

Just purchased a M101a1 off ebay not to long ago and want to start fixing her up. Been searching the interwebs for quite awhile and have found some helpful info along the way but not all the info I'm looking for. SS seems to be the go to place for any Mil spec info. Please be patient with my noobness with these things and please give some helpful pointers insight and whatnot. If it has already been asked I'm sorry in advanced but I tried the search.

I plan on turning this trailer into a expo/tility trailer that I will tow behind my 07 jku. First things first is an axle swap for it, 3500lb electric brake axle. I think I measured correctly with a 64" axle width and the spring perches 43.25" on center. Brings me to my first question, Does the axle measurement sound about right? To make this trailer friendlier to me I am getting the lug pattern changed and run Jeep rims. During my search I have found the jk rims wont fit with the axle dust cap, to combat that I plan to run 2" spacers to clear the cap. So If I did my math and measured right I would need an axle width of 60" with the spring perch centers at 43.25" If I am correct the axle will be ordered within the week and the m101 axle wheels and brake cable will be sold off.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated

Brian

It's all going to depend on the backspacing of your wheels of choice. Since you're having an axle assembled you can choose the width best suited to you. Select your wheels and tires, lay them out and measure between them for an overall width. Subtract the width of your wheel spacers of choice and you will end up with the width WMS to WMS.

Welcome to Steel Soldiers Brian! The best place for you trailer questions is the Trailer Forum a little further down the page. Trailers are kind of a blank slate and lots of people have done lots of different things with them. You will also find lots of photos.

Good luck with your project!

Storm 51

I'm going to be using stock jk rims 17x7.5 with 6"bs. On other forums people said the jeep rims dont allow the axle to go all the way through... those folks used 2" spacers and cleared the dust cap for the rim to fit. I'm going off that as to why I would need the spacers.

Dust caps on the dexter axles are the problen with small hub wheels.
Check on expeditionportal.com for some mad trailer builds and answers.

See my build on my M101A2 andM116A2

Brian,

I am working on a build very similar to what you describe to also pull behind my '11 JKU. You are correct in needing 2" wheel spacers to clear the dust cap in order to run the Jeep rims. According to my measurements, the last time I rotated my tires, the JKU axle has a 65-1/2" wms to wms. Yours may differ because of year model, but it should be the same. I also run 1-1/2" wheel spacers on my Jeep which puts me at 68-1/2" wms to wms. If you are running similar spacers and want your trailer to have the same track width then your trailer axle should be 64-1/2" wms to wms. If your not running spacers on your Jeep then 61-1/2" would be the magic number. I would suggest you measure your Jeep axle and build off that measurement.

Joe

From a jeep forum, Trailer build. This is what they said about useing stock Jeep wheels.

I used 1.5" spacers on the hubs, so I planned my axle length accordingly, found that certain dust caps for the hubs were better shaped to use in conjunction with the center caps (more conical, rather than flat-topped). Then, shaved the inside "teeth" from the Jeep wheel center cap by first using a pair of side cutters, then, running it on my belt sander to flatten/true-up the back side.

GI Joe and Harley thanks for the replays. I'm leaning towards getting the axle 61" and with the 2" spacers be right at 65" width which looks pretty even to the stock axle width of the trailer. So when I order this axle I would need the width at 61" spring perches 43.25" on center with a 3" axle tube right?

Trust but verify. Even though folks have been coming up with measurements, I'd grab a tape measure and co out and confirm the perch width and tube dia on my own trailer.

Recovry4x4 said:

Trust but verify. Even though folks have been coming up with measurements, I'd grab a tape measure and co out and confirm the perch width and tube dia on my own trailer.

Click to expand...

Trust me I measured like 5x. I just want to confirm my measurements are correct.

TTT...

Can anyone verify the axle measurements that I have are good? I want to make sure when I order my axle I only have to do it once. Also can you verify for me that the tub uses 16ga steel for the skin? Ive got decent area of swiss cheese on the front of the tub that I need to replace. Don't know how to weld but this project is going to make me learn and fast.