maps_end
Bigger Hammer
Some people call loving these old Willys "tradition", but I'm more apt to think that it's some sort of inherited trait. I'm a 4th generation Willys owner, 3 of my 4 sets of great grandparents owned a Willys, as did both of my grandfathers and my Dad: I'm pretty sure I don't stand a chance.
I've been turning wrenches since I was about 12. Dad drove truck until he became disabled in 2004. He's been restoring old tractors as he can and we struck a deal. I can have the garage if after I help him put the John Deere 440 Crawler back together. Right now it looks more like an exploded-view drawing than a dozer. Lately I've been doing a lot of asking myself just what I've gotten myself into.
It started in June 2010 with this:
($400 - more than I should've paid given the frame, no motor, just a trans and tc.)
It was parked back in the woods behind a friend's back fields about 10 miles from my home and I pretty much fell in love when I saw it. So I did my research, found that I can get pretty much any part that I could possibly need, and decided that I wanted it. Once we got the bed off of it I found that it didn't have such a good frame under it, and the bed was pretty much shot. I was undeterred. I figured that I'd come up with a good original style bed and a decent frame sooner or later and I kept collecting parts.
It had no title so we took Dad's pickup (one of his recent projects) and drove about four hours and picked up half a truck. The previous owner had cut it off behind the cab, but it had a lot of good parts left, a spare set of fenders, a second set of doors, and a title. Dad welded a hitch on it to make it more manageable.
($200)
We went about 60 miles north and picked up another parts truck. I don't think I've ever seen so much body putty on one vehicle. The previous owner had used bondo to fix the leaking gas tank and to reattach a crossmember to the frame. The floor was road signs, wire mesh, and more bondo, it gave out about my third trip into the cab. We had a little bit of trouble getting it home, it nearly broke in half on the trailer, and once we got it there we scrapped it out pretty much right away. It wasn't a total loss: I got a L6-226, transmission, transfer case, axles, and a nearly perfect steering wheel out of the deal. We also used a piece of the floor of the homemade bed to patch the bed that was on the first truck that I got (which dad turned into a wood cart).
($100)
I lucked out with this craigslist find from a guy who was parting out a CJ about 3-1/2 hours west of where I live. There was no way I was passing it up, given what he was asking for it. (still not sure what the bell housing fits)
($300 - I felt like i stole it)
Dad suggested getting a wagon to store parts in, since everything in the front would fit the pickup anyway, so this one came home. He didn't count on it being a turning point in my project. The more I worked at making it storage-worthy (someone had replaced the panels without reattaching them to the floor. It took 3 cans of great stuff to seal it up) the more I came to like the wagon. And since I was coming up with nothing in the bed department and the kits were way out of my budget, this wagon marked a turning point. It also came with another motor and a whole bunch of other parts.
($100)
By this time, my extended family had all heard about my project and a cousin's boyfriend insisted that we come get the one parked on his farm. I don't know what I expected when Dad called me at work to tell me that he had went and picked up my gift but this wasn't it. The homemade spring hangers may make it look like it was riding level, but the floor is only a couple inches shy of the rear windows. There was a beer keg on a wooden rack in the back standing in for the fuel tank, and the lower panels had been replaced at least once, though I suspect twice, with flat sheet metal. But it had a double barrel manifold and the frame, which is currently holding up my spare axles, is going to hold my good body while I work on the frame and drive-train.
(Free - even I'm not crazy enough to have paid for this mess)
After this came home, my project sort of stalled. I was down to needing a good body and frame, but I couldn't find anything. I even took a bit of a road trip, chasing craigslist ads and junkyards through several southern states (WV, KY, TN, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD) and came up empty handed. I'd planned on taking a similar, though much longer road trip out west this spring to find my body. I'd all but given up, and then I found this one, on here, and it is every bit as good as it looks. No bondo at all. (Thank you again Marvin!!). We don't exactly live on a busy road, but the few people who went by when we were unloading it slowed down to gawk when we unloaded it from the trailer with the baylift jack and the John Deere 50. You'd think they'd be used to such things out of us by now.
($1200 - body, frame, rear axle, fenders, seats, a spare upper tailgate and a few other odds and ends - a lil bit of an "ouch" but far less than I'd have paid in gas to drive out west, find one, and drag it home)
As far as what I'm hoping to do with it, in most ways I'm a purist. L6-226. T-90. T-18. Overdrive. The fastest/best set of rears that I've got. I am going to convert to 12 volt, trade the canister oil filter for a spin on, put in an electric ignition and electric wiper motor, and get rid of the oil bath air filter. I'm going to be going with Stewart Warner gauges for a custom gauge and switch panel. I'll probably gain 3”-4” via a set of custom springs because I'd like to be able to get away with 31” tires. I'm planning on a set of 15”x8” American Racing Outlaw II's, unless I can find a 10-hole wheel with the right offset without the 'riveted' look.
So now I'm more-or-less ready to get started. I just have to honor my part of the deal that involves getting Dad's crawler out of the garage. I'm hoping to be able to start on this by early fall, so there won't be any updates for a while.
I've been turning wrenches since I was about 12. Dad drove truck until he became disabled in 2004. He's been restoring old tractors as he can and we struck a deal. I can have the garage if after I help him put the John Deere 440 Crawler back together. Right now it looks more like an exploded-view drawing than a dozer. Lately I've been doing a lot of asking myself just what I've gotten myself into.
It started in June 2010 with this:

($400 - more than I should've paid given the frame, no motor, just a trans and tc.)
It was parked back in the woods behind a friend's back fields about 10 miles from my home and I pretty much fell in love when I saw it. So I did my research, found that I can get pretty much any part that I could possibly need, and decided that I wanted it. Once we got the bed off of it I found that it didn't have such a good frame under it, and the bed was pretty much shot. I was undeterred. I figured that I'd come up with a good original style bed and a decent frame sooner or later and I kept collecting parts.
It had no title so we took Dad's pickup (one of his recent projects) and drove about four hours and picked up half a truck. The previous owner had cut it off behind the cab, but it had a lot of good parts left, a spare set of fenders, a second set of doors, and a title. Dad welded a hitch on it to make it more manageable.


($200)
We went about 60 miles north and picked up another parts truck. I don't think I've ever seen so much body putty on one vehicle. The previous owner had used bondo to fix the leaking gas tank and to reattach a crossmember to the frame. The floor was road signs, wire mesh, and more bondo, it gave out about my third trip into the cab. We had a little bit of trouble getting it home, it nearly broke in half on the trailer, and once we got it there we scrapped it out pretty much right away. It wasn't a total loss: I got a L6-226, transmission, transfer case, axles, and a nearly perfect steering wheel out of the deal. We also used a piece of the floor of the homemade bed to patch the bed that was on the first truck that I got (which dad turned into a wood cart).

($100)
I lucked out with this craigslist find from a guy who was parting out a CJ about 3-1/2 hours west of where I live. There was no way I was passing it up, given what he was asking for it. (still not sure what the bell housing fits)

($300 - I felt like i stole it)
Dad suggested getting a wagon to store parts in, since everything in the front would fit the pickup anyway, so this one came home. He didn't count on it being a turning point in my project. The more I worked at making it storage-worthy (someone had replaced the panels without reattaching them to the floor. It took 3 cans of great stuff to seal it up) the more I came to like the wagon. And since I was coming up with nothing in the bed department and the kits were way out of my budget, this wagon marked a turning point. It also came with another motor and a whole bunch of other parts.

($100)
By this time, my extended family had all heard about my project and a cousin's boyfriend insisted that we come get the one parked on his farm. I don't know what I expected when Dad called me at work to tell me that he had went and picked up my gift but this wasn't it. The homemade spring hangers may make it look like it was riding level, but the floor is only a couple inches shy of the rear windows. There was a beer keg on a wooden rack in the back standing in for the fuel tank, and the lower panels had been replaced at least once, though I suspect twice, with flat sheet metal. But it had a double barrel manifold and the frame, which is currently holding up my spare axles, is going to hold my good body while I work on the frame and drive-train.


(Free - even I'm not crazy enough to have paid for this mess)
After this came home, my project sort of stalled. I was down to needing a good body and frame, but I couldn't find anything. I even took a bit of a road trip, chasing craigslist ads and junkyards through several southern states (WV, KY, TN, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD) and came up empty handed. I'd planned on taking a similar, though much longer road trip out west this spring to find my body. I'd all but given up, and then I found this one, on here, and it is every bit as good as it looks. No bondo at all. (Thank you again Marvin!!). We don't exactly live on a busy road, but the few people who went by when we were unloading it slowed down to gawk when we unloaded it from the trailer with the baylift jack and the John Deere 50. You'd think they'd be used to such things out of us by now.



($1200 - body, frame, rear axle, fenders, seats, a spare upper tailgate and a few other odds and ends - a lil bit of an "ouch" but far less than I'd have paid in gas to drive out west, find one, and drag it home)
As far as what I'm hoping to do with it, in most ways I'm a purist. L6-226. T-90. T-18. Overdrive. The fastest/best set of rears that I've got. I am going to convert to 12 volt, trade the canister oil filter for a spin on, put in an electric ignition and electric wiper motor, and get rid of the oil bath air filter. I'm going to be going with Stewart Warner gauges for a custom gauge and switch panel. I'll probably gain 3”-4” via a set of custom springs because I'd like to be able to get away with 31” tires. I'm planning on a set of 15”x8” American Racing Outlaw II's, unless I can find a 10-hole wheel with the right offset without the 'riveted' look.
So now I'm more-or-less ready to get started. I just have to honor my part of the deal that involves getting Dad's crawler out of the garage. I'm hoping to be able to start on this by early fall, so there won't be any updates for a while.