1959 Wagon on 79 Wagoneer build

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What will be the driver's side rear leaf spring area and frame splice getting 1/4" x 2" steel strap.

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Bridging the frame joint, bottom of frame, stess region, in place ready to weld.

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Some people stack nickles when they weld all purty. I stack gumballs, already been chewed gumballs.

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It is the underbelly of an off road rig. Never would have spent time grinding it sorta clean if I had not seen what some of you guys do.

More strapping and some other reinforcement to come this weekend.

Duane

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Got side tracked. Had this extra top cover for a Chevy SM420 granny four speed. Saved it because the pin in the side would work great for Warn Overdrive shifter.

Decided that until I get the energy to swap it with the one on my project transmission, it could be a desk lamp base.

Spending the rest of the day with wire wheel, sanders, etc prepping dirty frame areas for welding.

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Old hacked crossmember removed. New one out of 1/4 inch wall 2x2 set in with the bump to clear body floor supports and sit tight to the chassis.

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Going to roll the frame 90 degrees to improve my work angle. ARC welding.

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Rear crossmember welded in after cutting 3.5 inches off the back. Also running back over the frame and welding in brackets that were tabbed in at the AMC factory in 1979 when this chassis was assembled.

Hour here, hour there after 50 to 60 hour work weeks and trying to be a good husband. Wish I wasn't so tired while doing this stuff.

Duane

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Hour here, hour there after 50 to 60 hour work weeks and trying to be a good husband. Wish I wasn't so tired while doing this stuff.
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Keep at it bud. You're in good company and doing great. Thanks for sharing.
 
It's like that age-old question: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Thanks for posting all the picture Duane. That's a ton of work (and progress).
 
Thx for the positive words.

Dan, I hope the drive home was uneventful. I will be up that way April 1 thru 3. Visiting both daughters. One is traveling from Montana to attend some smarty science thing in Downtown San Francisco and our youngest is at Berkeley. I am unsure where our sightseeing will take us, nor what our schedule will be. If I end up with any time I will text you.

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Broken Wagon said:
Thx for the positive words.

Dan, I hope the drive home was uneventful. I will be up that way April 1 thru 3. Visiting both daughters. One is traveling from Montana to attend some smarty science thing in Downtown San Francisco and our youngest is at Berkeley. I am unsure where our sightseeing will take us, nor what our schedule will be. If I end up with any time I will text you.
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Sounds great Duane. We are about a 15 minute walk from BART and 8 minutes from MUNI (the "subway") and there is a lot to do around us (Hayes Valley and Lower Haight neighborhoods). Maybe I get a bunch of tools laid out so we can do a group work on some Willys project. Ha!

Made it home no problem. Wasn't happy about the lack of real tie-downs in the U-Haul, but I drove slowly and carefully and checked the load at every stop. The worst two things were the rough pavement in the LA basin (even at city speed) and then hitting undulations in the pavement (usually before or after bridges/culverts) at highway speeds on I5. Didn't want the load to bounce/rip the pathetic "tie downs" out of the walls of the U-Haul.
 
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Too crowded working with the body and frame in the garage. Wrapped the body up in tarps and pushed it out. Hopefully the weather lady knows what she is talking about. No rain for a few days. Going to knock this frame welding out.

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Been away from the program for a bit. Got a new roll up garage door. Had many conflicts with shelving and storage. All the machinery, camping gear, general crap, and the wagon have made it back into the garage. Got some serious welding time in today. Rolling the chassis to keep my work angle flat and horizontal for weld puddle control.

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Bet they thought today was the day they stay together. Nope it was test fit number 47.

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Frame stood up and chained to keep me from getting pinned under it while grinding and welding.

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They are both back inside where the elements can't set me back too many hours

Duane

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Strapped the top of the frame shortening joint.
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Working through the body mounts, grinding, dressing, structural welding the tack welds I made earlier.
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Going to have to buy new clamps when I return to my wood working program because I keep welding them into my project. DUH!!!

I know tack then remove.

As Forest Gump says, "Stupid is what stupid does!!!"
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Another dry fit before putting on my painter's hat.

Um...not quite...one more tweak that I came up with...then moving on.

Going to burry some .250 wall 2x2 in the lower cowl area just forward of the A pillar to later tie the roll cage into. That way there will be no tubing running to the floor taking up valuable real estate that my legs need.

Very happy with my rear fender butchery. 10.50 33 r15 BFG All Terrain fits pretty nicely. Room to flex, but not too much air.

The rear frame member sits about 1.25 inches below the rear valence. ( about 3 inches lower than two waggy frame swaps I have seen recently. Took a little extra work modifying body and frame, feeling it was worth it.

Now back to the scheduled program of home repairs lol.

Duane
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This looks great. All of your extra effort will really pay off with the more integrated look. :cheers: Looking forward to seeing what's next.
 
Cleaning the shop after completing a couple more honey do items. Still neck deep in a landscaping project aimed at world peace.(Pleasing the wife!!)

Anyways,

Adding some shelves wherever I can squeeze in more crap. Essential shop reading material. Using an AA sm465 to Dana 18 adapter casting as a bookend.

And a shop reading couch removed from my LS engine donor.

Hope to get back to the program in a couple weeks.



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Gojeep said:
Nice solid looking lathe there. :)
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1961 Powermatic model 90. Has a Reeves drive variable speed with a home brew Jack shaft 3 speed. 2 hp. I can slow it to about 35 rpms for chasing threads with special chisels. It is this wood worker's dream lathe. I have turned hundreds of things on it.

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Well I finally got the last door hinge off. One screw has been laughing at me through repeated heating, pounding, electric impact driver, sweating, swearing etc.

I won. The key was sipping iced coffee and swearing quietly.

The hinge was funky from the day I bought the truck. The pin had somehow walked up. Easy fix. Going to re-pin all the hinges. Gotta find something that will fit them.

Check out the mess of a bent up hinge hole that was created from who knows how long running with the door check sheared off. More body work seems to be theme of this everlasting project.

Grateful to have a day in the shop with my Willys.

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Way to keep at it Duane. Someone should do a detailed study on why swearing helps when working on a Willys vehicle.
 
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