What do I have?

What I know:

It is registered as: Bantam trailer number: 17407

I bought it in the late 70s for $ 650.00

The right hub still has "wrong" (clockwise to loosen) hub nuts.

I had it painted in early 80 to match the CJ-2A

It is in need of a new paint job. New springs wouldn't hurt either.

I did a brush / roller bed liner to the bed, after wire brush wheel.

I added the 2 foot extension to the front of the tongue to clear a kool-can rack on the back of my CJ-2A which on tight rocky rides would collide with the trailer, so I needed more length.

I changed tires to slightly skinnier ones for clearance, years ago.

It has 3 hooks on each side, one in the front, and none on the changed? tailgate.


What I think:

I think the PO in refurbing it changed the tailgate somewhat.. can only guess as it was rotten.

I think the PO also changed the hitch to what is on there now.

I have put some pictures up on the wild wild web in hopes someone can tell me what I've got.

http://www.pantheus.com/trailer/trailer.html

My guess is that it is a "modified" BTC-3 Close?

Ken

 

I'm sure it's a Bantam
and a lot of items have been changed
the LH thread lug nuts are correct
the hooks are factory
the tailagte, shackles, front receiver, leg/lunette, have all been changed/modifed as you know.
I also see what appear to be brake drums behind the wheels.
Don't know about hand brake on this model.
anyway, that's all I know (or I think I know)

looks like a decent little trailer, it's a keeper

 

You have a Bantam T3-C civilian trailer. Although the hitch,landing leg, spring shackles, tailgate and rear skirts have been modified, the tub with stake pockets and the single hook on the front identify the trailer as civilian. The hitch casting is also a civilian piece. Your axle with the brake drums is hard to explain. It looks like the drums are there but there are no backing plates and I can't see any evidence that there were ever brake cables, brake lever or pivot ever mounted. Looks like the drums were installed by a previous owner, but why? (Some Bantam civilian trailers marketed to agriculture came with lunettes and and military axles with parking brakes, but your hitch casting is for the Fulton hitch used on civilian trailers not a lunette.)The tailgate with "creases" in the sheet metal is reminiscent of tailgate modifications popular in the mid 1960s for early CJs.

I see that you have a California plate. What do you know about the trailer's history? Where did it come from? Was a previous owner in a jeep club? Various Southern California jeep clubs in the 1960s favored setups using flat fendered jeeps and Bantam trailers, most notably the Drifters in Pomona, the Hemet Jeep Club and the Chuckawalla Jeep Club. The modifications to the tailgate suggest that it might have once been owned by someone in the Hemet Jeep Club or inspired by a trailer from that club.

Unfortunately, there is no reliable information to help date your trailer from the serial number. My best guess, from the data base I have compiled of T3-C serial numbers, would be that your trailer was assembled in late 1947 or early 1948.

Robert Bills
Orange County CA
'46 Bantam T3-C #9466

 

Excellent information, greatly appreciated

This trailer did come from an agricultural area for sure. Lodi, Ca (more later on the PO). I bought it when I lived in the Bay Area. I left there in 1990 for the mountains of further north in California.

I know I bought it from a club (and CA4WDC) member who was a member of the Joaqquin Jeepers, but I've forgotten his name. Too long ago. Though I do remember a member of that club Tom Banyard ;-)

Unfortunately I don't know the history of this one, back beyond when I bought it from that guy in Lodi. I understood at that time that he'd done all the refurb that was done to it then, but I'd not be surprised it came from Hemet or Chuckwallas. Or that they had it further back, and did some work on it.

Also being a really old fart, I also remember some of the Hemet area club members, Bud Hammers, Harry Buschart (who invented and later sold to Advance Adapters, the chain clutch linkage get up they still sell to this day.) and several of the other old timers.

I've found out my 2A was built in 1946 although not apparently registered until 1947.

What might be neat (if anyone had time and inclination) to start a Bantam registry like R. Harold West has worked at on http://www.thecj2apage.com/ for the CJ-2As . But I find him losing interest on anything that isn't restored rust chips

I use my stuff... and modify it to suit those needs rather than restoration.

This trailer gets a lot of use. I frequently go up into the High Lakes for Monday through Friday fishing / camping trips taking far more stuff than I need in the trailer. I also haul out firewood in it. I make dump runs and agricultural waste dumps with it too. Its hauled gravel, and rocks, and anything needing hauling.

Thanks for your help!

Ken

 

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/HubbardTrailers/Bantam.html