Willys Trailer

I'm sure you ladies who read my blog won't appreciate this post, but there are some manly men out there who need to hear this news and see the pictures. Since I got my Land Rover, I've been thinking it would be cool to have a 4x4 trailer to go with it. These were popular in Kenya with Overlanders - folks who were traveling around Africa or just going on safari as they could pack all their gear in the trailer leaving the vehicle available for passengers or just free to drop the trailer and go exploring. Often the little 2 wheel rigs had a tent that folded out on top of them and you could leave everything set up and go exploring without breaking camp. They are full of little nooks and crannies for storing things - water jugs strap on the side, kitchen utensils - everything you need for camping. Plus, you can just leave it all packed up in the trailer when you get home and it's ready to go next time!



The only problem with these commercial rigs is that they are very expensive. And, I've not seen them for sale in the USA. That doesn't inhibit me, though! I'd seen some on the web that were homemade and got to figuring I could do the same. About this same time, there was a community farm sale near Abernathy where a neat little green trailer appeared. It was just perfect - small, lightweight, high off-road stance and had lots of little extras like tarp hooks, parking break, swivel hitch, shocks, etc. It was very old looking and had lots of rust damage in the bed. One of the tires still had the tread on it, which was the old military tread from way back when. It was a purpose built military trailer obviously. I went to the farm sale intending to buy it - if it was cheap. Only one other person bid against me and I won it for $100. I also happened to buy some good mud tires for it at the same auction - $2 each.



Happy with my bargain, I brought it home and got on the Internet to do some research. It turns out this trailer was built by Willys specifically to go behind the M38A1 military Jeeps from WWII. It uses the same axle as the Willys Jeep so the bearings and tires would be interchangeable for easy maintenance. I discovered my trailer was missing several features - such as the parking brake handle, a fold down jack, a fitted tarp and the orignal pintle hitch has been replaced with a farm type hitch. The original trailer also didn't have the tailgate that somebody made in mine. The little trailer was originally watertight and would float with up to 500 lbs of gear inside. Judging by the design and features on mine, it was actually a post-war model produced in the early 1950's. Good restored models bring over $1500 on the net these days, so I got a steal!





Now for the pictures. It's not pretty, but it will be a good little trailer once it's fixed up a little.

The rims are 16" , which match the Land Rover for now. I'd like to change the LR to 15" because tires are so much cheaper for that size.


Notice the little hooks all the way around it. You can buy a fitted replacement tarp for it that had bungee sewed into it to match these hooks.


The hitch is actually on upside down. That bracket on the top should be on the bottom and holds the kickstand jack. I'd like to cut off the farm hitch and replace it with a 2" ball.


It's really rusty inside. The kicker is that whoever parked it with the tongue on the ground could have opened the built-in drain plug in the floor and prevented this!


My trailer had a custom-built tailgate. I think that makes it much more functional. You can see the tires I bought inside it. They look pretty cool mounted, though that little project cost me $60 for mounting and new tubes!

The little trailer pulls real nicely and I think will be perfect for hauling camping gear to the mountains!