Where was your Willys today?

The Official Maiden Run

The weigh station was just sea trials. The Ranch Truck is registered for the road. I'll post more details in my build thread. But, I just got back from a shakedown run. Yeah, stuff shook off. :D :oops:

A run that I've wanted to explore for awhile are the roads that connect Loch Lomand CA to Hwy 29. So off I went this evening. Cooling down here but still in the mid-eighties right now at 8pm.

So up Hwy 175 to Loch Lomond I went. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic there. Turn left on...what else, Loch Lomond Rd. Thru the twisty alpine scenary I bombed away.
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After a number of miles, we descend the mountain territory down to the relatively flat land in the bottom of the valley. Greenery now changes from firs and pines to oaks, manzanita and scrub. There's a wee creek bed down off to the right.
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Loch Lomond rd tees into Seiglar Canyon rd. We want Lower Lake direction.
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Down that road we go like a bat outta heck. A whole 30mph or so. :p
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I don't know why but my cell is dropping pics. I had one of the intersection of Seiglar and Hwy 29. Turn left.

Up the Glasgo Grade the poor ol' Super Hurricane goes. Like the little engine that could. About halfway up my brake pedal falls off. A continuing annoyance. So I pull over to reattach on Jago Bay rd. Here's a sample of the wine grape vineyard explosion in Lake Co.
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That's about it. Hwy 29 took me to a local rd which gets me near home.

Several things I took away from this drive:

-the brakes are fine. The parking brake needs more tightening though.
-the steering ratio is quite slow. On the twisty roads you are very busy sawing that steering wheel back and forth.
-LOTS of heat coming from the engine room. Might be time to install all the floor plates and shifter boots.
-the tranny or t/c is making a heckuva racket above 35mph or so under light throttle. At 50-55mph it was super loud.
-that ol' Super Tropical Storm engine still has enough hoots to climb hills and hit 55. Scary when ya get there but doable.
-not the kinda vehicle you check your phone messages or get otherwise distracted while driving. It demands ALL of your attention.

Overall a two thumbs up trip for a first one. I'll continue to tinker. Might also have the alignment checked. Thanks for going along with me.

Joe out
 
Lookout Ranch said:
Congratulations, great to see it. I have to ask, what’s with the handles on the hood? Someone riding up there shooting rabbits?
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Back in the seventies, Dad used to take family up into Mt Hannah behind our property to Boggs Lake. Us kids used to ride on the front fenders. The handles are what y'all hung onto to keep from falling off. Yes, less litigious times. Fun stuff though and I feel badly that many kids now grow up in a bubble wrapped world.
 
Stakebed said:
Back in the seventies, Dad used to take family up into Mt Hannah behind our property to Boggs Lake. Us kids used to ride on the front fenders. The handles are what y'all hung onto to keep from falling off. Yes, less litigious times. Fun stuff though and I feel badly that many kids now grow up in a bubble wrapped world.
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Sounds like great fun. Don’t ever take those handles off.
 
Lookout Ranch said:
Sounds like great fun. Don’t ever take those handles off.
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You know I can't. You've been reading the build thread from the beginning. Too much sentimental stuff in that truck. I'd forgotten about those handles until I dragged the truck out of the bushes. That's why the old accelerator pedal is there, the brass door knob shifter handles, leprosy paint, welded exh manifold, etc.
 
Nice job! Love the truck and your memories attached to it. I’ve got tons of memories growing up and always riding in the back of dad’s rig. Dad had a 72 Datsun pickup so my sister and I always had the “back seat” so to speak. Times were a lot different then for sure.
 
Rustynuts said:
Nice job! Love the truck and your memories attached to it. I’ve got tons of memories growing up and always riding in the back of dad’s rig. Dad had a 72 Datsun pickup so my sister and I always had the “back seat” so to speak. Times were a lot different then for sure.
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Amen
 
The Ranch Truck visited the exhaust shop today for a new head pipe and tail pipe.

But, this post is not about my truck. When I arrived I saw this is the garage bay. I asked the owner if today was Willys day.

It's a CJ2a with a small block Ford, late model steering column, Saginaw steering box and dual masters for brakes and clutch. As I wrote earlier, it is not everyday you see a genuine Willys.
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New post but also not about the truck and it's not so much about where was my Willys was today but where was it no longer.

After 26 months, my M38a1 is finally out of transmission jail.
Here it's attached to Dad's truck via the tow bar.
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and back at the ranch as the westerns used to say.
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The all important gov't plate.
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After two years of inactivity, the nice 11" Ford brakes no longer work and one of the mechanics said the engine won't idle. Plus the seat cushions are sun weakened and the top as well. It spent all that time parked outside. Poor thing. I've got a lot of work to do now. And Don thought I was running out of work. HAH!
 
I'm just trying to figure out why you would have put it in Transmission Jail in the first place!?! Does that mean to get transmission work done on it? Why in the world would you let somebody ELSE play with your transmission (and PAY them) - instead of having that fun for yourself?
 
Vintage Don said:
I'm just trying to figure out why you would have put it in Transmission Jail in the first place!?! Does that mean to get transmission work done on it? Why in the world would you let somebody ELSE play with your transmission (and PAY them) - instead of having that fun for yourself?
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This will be TMI for most people but you asked.

During Summer of 2016 my Godfather became very I'll. Eventually the diagnosis was meningitis of the brain....I think. It's a long time ago. Anyway, I was appointed health care representative and DPOA. For about 3 1/2 years he was my responsibility along with work, elderly parents, maintaining the apt bldg and trying to have a life. Yeah, silly me to think I should have a life.

So flash forward to 2018. Dad gets a burr under his saddle and wants the M38a1 refurbished to represent his old carrier, the USS Shangri La. I reminded him the trans popped out of 2nd gear and it hadn't been run in about 10 years or so. I didn't have enough bandwidth left in my life to help Dad. So he took it to a local garage. The owner worked on the engine and brakes and got it running decently but he retired and closed up shop before performing the tranny work. So "Frank" sent the Willys over to the local
transmission shop. Aaaaand, that's the place it sat at for 2 years and 2 months. The trans shop owner said the T90 case was "out of spec" and he suggested buying a new transmission. Yep, it's now got a $h!+ Omix Chinese tranny and then he said he wouldn't install the old and worn Warn OD because it commingles oil with the new trans. Then the new trans had a defective gear on the mainshaft(?). So he argued with Omix, sent the part back, they argued and sent the part back to Lakeport. So said shop owner somehow found another new shaft, took apart everything again and supposedly made the transmission good. Then, he said, the transfer case housing was leaking. So he replaced the housing too which required more R&R. All this because my life was too full in late 2017 to handle shop assignments/do the work myself.
Sadly, now Pops is so disabled from age that he will likely never ride in the Jeep again.

Like I wrote Don, TMI but you asked.
 
Stakebed said:
This will be TMI for most people but you asked.

During Summer of 2016 my Godfather became very I'll. Eventually the diagnosis was meningitis of the brain....I think. It's a long time ago. Anyway, I was appointed health care representative and DPOA. For about 3 1/2 years he was my responsibility along with work, elderly parents, maintaining the apt bldg and trying to have a life. Yeah, silly me to think I should have a life.

So flash forward to 2018. Dad gets a burr under his saddle and wants the M38a1 refurbished to represent his old carrier, the USS Shangri La. I reminded him the trans popped out of 2nd gear and it hadn't been run in about 10 years or so. I didn't have enough bandwidth left in my life to help Dad. So he took it to a local garage. The owner worked on the engine and brakes and got it running decently but he retired and closed up shop before performing the tranny work. So "Frank" sent the Willys over to the local
transmission shop. Aaaaand, that's the place it sat at for 2 years and 2 months. The trans shop owner said the T90 case was "out of spec" and he suggested buying a new transmission. Yep, it's now got a $h!+ Omix Chinese tranny and then he said he wouldn't install the old and worn Warn OD because it commingles oil with the new trans. Then the new trans had a defective gear on the mainshaft(?). So he argued with Omix, sent the part back, they argued and sent the part back to Lakeport. So said shop owner somehow found another new shaft, took apart everything again and supposedly made the transmission good. Then, he said, the transfer case housing was leaking. So he replaced the housing too which required more R&R. All this because my life was too full in late 2017 to handle shop assignments/do the work myself.
Sadly, now Pops is so disabled from age that he will likely never ride in the Jeep again.

Like I wrote Don, TMI but you asked.
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Come to Kansas and pickup a well used t90 and 18 transfer case off my original 1957 wagon frame.

They need a full rebuild but they are yours if you want them.
 
Flinthillsben said:
Come to Kansas and pickup a well used t90 and 18 transfer case off my original 1957 wagon frame.

They need a full rebuild but they are yours if you want them.
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I did insist on receiving the old parts. I'm going to have someone look at the trans and send the old OD to Herm.
Thank you for the offer. I'd like very much to take advantage of that but I can't leave Dad alone that long. Getting really old sucks.
 
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