From Tom in Michigan to John in Connecticut: '57 Pickup

I mention how my wife takes care of horses, 4 of them with a fifth coming soon. Manure management is a constant, keeping the paddock and meadow clean and she’s been handling most of that with a bucket on wheels. Where she used yo work they had a John Deere Gator with a dump bed and she’s been pining for one at the current place and yesterday, with our older son’s help, she found one. It’s a 2011 855 DSL (i.e., diesel) and was at the low end of the price scale because “ridden hard and but away wet, dented and somewhat unloved”, but that was the budget. The bones seem good and it’s pretty cool. Hydraulic tilt bed, good for dumping dung onto the pile. It should be fun getting back into a more beloved condition.

John IMG_3915.jpegIMG_3916.jpeg
 
Re Willys grill: would certainly be hardier than JD plastics. My priority with this one needs to be NOT making it perfect. The parts may be available but they use a fist with sandpaper around it when it comes to pricing. I will shop aftermarket against Genuine.

One of the first jobs will be fixing the parking brake, which uses a wet clutch pack to engage against the transaxle. No hand brake skidding recommended.

John
 
jjeffries said:
Re Willys grill: would certainly be hardier than JD plastics. My priority with this one needs to be NOT making it perfect. The parts may be available but they use a fist with sandpaper around it when it comes to pricing. I will shop aftermarket against Genuine.

One of the first jobs will be fixing the parking brake, which uses a wet clutch pack to engage against the transaxle. No hand brake skidding recommended.

John
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I own two JD products plus Case and Cat. I'm fully aware of the plus sized pricing for OEM products. You walk funny for days after visiting the dealer.
 
Indeed. When I think about the work I’ve done, taking up where you left off then the time comes more into focus. If I remember correctly, it was about in this order:
- rear axle seals, new rear shoes, new rear hubs (originals should some cracking on keyways)
- new leaf springs and shackles
- improved clutch linkage with dandy Heim joints
- restored the heater (Ford accessory) and had the heat exchanger recored.
- installed seatbelts (coincidentally also FoMoCo, ex 1998 Ranger)
- (somewhere around here Walck’s closed)
- rewired headlights, added relays and H4/9003 housings
- new wheels so I could use 16” tires (ex Suzuki)
- made my big bumpers and added 8500lb Warn winch
- rebuilt the T90 and added Warn overdrive
- installed a bench seat, ex Nissan Hardbody
- replaced the engine after #2 holed its piston
- replaced damaged rear frame cross member
- replumbed fuel system with metal piping (mostly)
- replaced/added some engine monitoring gauges
- maybe some more but that’s what comes to mind.

Good times!
John
 
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I did the parking brake repair on the JD Gator this weekend. But - shocker - it didn’t go as easily as the guy I watched on YT had it. His parking brake clutch housing (sounds odd, right?) came apart easily. Ours, being an East Coast beater, previously owned and abused by people of poor character, has that “corrosion” thing going on, so five of the seven Torx 30 screws snapped (dissimilar metals plus 13 years of weather).

My son came to the rescue - a lovely thing to be able to say. At age 30 he’s gotten significantly better at many things than 59 year old me ever was. Working together we seem to have managed to save the alloy case with the use of his big old Craftsman drill press, a surprisingly effective hardware store drill but and some 1/4-20 Helicoils I had from some other long-since forgotten project.

I used new 1/4-20 cap screws and yes, anti-seize although I hope to never have to do this again. Once the case was repaired the actual clutch plate and friction disk stack replacement was fairly straightforward. I spilled more J20 hydraulic oil on the barn floor than ideal but no one’s paying me so …

The clutch kit and front & rear brake pads - all Genuine JD and obtained by said son at a trade discount still cost $406. “Thank you Sir, May I have another?”

I’ll try to get back to some actual Willys content soon.

John
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Hello Friends,
I’ve been distracted with things less fun of late but do have some (kinda) Willys content here. On Black Friday I steered well clear of the greedy masses and instead took my brother, son and USAF-retiree neighbor to the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport, aka Hartford/Springfield, aka BDL. I’ve been going to this museum since 1983, during which time it’s gone through many changes but the draw on 11/28 was that they were opening their restoration and storage hangars… and that’s where much of the really good stuff is located.

The first pics, to keep this relevant, are of a little airplane tug with a familiar engine. Then I’ll show more of the shop and the hangar’s occupants.

John
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OOOOOO...
I spot the intermeshing blades of a Kaman Huskie!

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If our plans go as expected (yeah... riiiiight), me and my Cookie will be taking up a new permanent residence about 3 miles northeast of that museum in the first half of 2026.
 
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Joe, I’m 30 mins away. You’ll be back in the world of good pizza again.
You’ll know that Husky (and the Sea Sprite) were made 15 mins from there in Bloomfield.
Cheers, John
 
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