New guy here

[Truckedup]

Well,got me a 51 Willys pu a month ago.Very solid Arizona truck with lots of small dents and mechanical diasters.Me and my wife have been working hard on it,got it running with a bottle of fuel strapped to the spare tire carrier.Seems the original fuel tank got lost in the desert. Replaced the complete brake system,dropped out the front differential to replace inner seals,brandy new steering knuckles,some bearings,replaced the all the seals on the funky Timken rear axle.The wife made a new seat cover,cleaned up the gauges and did a lot of cleaning.She even fixed the cable wipers,well sort of,I had to help.Last Friday the Willys came out of the garage on it's own power and ran around or property without leaving a trail of fluids or running over the crankshaft.Damn,even the 4 wheel drive works! Still lots ot do,get a fuel tank,replace cracked glass are the big dollar itmes.
We are what some of you call older people,as in we have a 17 year old grandson who drives a jacked up Cherokee.Our daily drivers are both 99 Cherokees, 4.0 5 speed 4x4's.And the wife says this beat up Willys is going to be her daily driver 7 months a year.

 

[pavel6]

Truckedup: don't worry at all about about being an "older person"... we were well made just like your old Willys. It is delightful to hear your Lady is working on and enjoying the vehicle... the reality of parking the Willys on pavement with the original 'Ross' steering may push you towards an upgrade; then there's the original brakes. It never ends of course.

Pictures please...

Cheers!

Pavel

 

[Truckedup]

We've had a few old Chevy trucks from the 40's-50's so drum brakes and manual steering is part of the game.The the brief test ride the Willys didn't seem to steer any harder than the 50 Chevy Pu my wife drives almost every day except for the winter months.Yes,an endless list......

 

[Pete]

Hey Tony-

Welcome to the forum. I'm a Chevy AD truck fan too, I've had a '53 daily driver for 29 years....

Looking forward to your truck updates.

Pete

 

[Eric B]

Welcome to the board.
I might be "younger" however my wife and I still have a great deal of respect and enjoyment in the older vehicles.


Let's see some pics when you can.

Eric B

 

[Truckedup]

I've had a '53 daily driver for 29 years....

AD Chevy,timeless beautiful styling and the first real modern PU truck .The Willys is ugly,has 4 wheel drive,it's compact,crude and lightweight and that's why we like it.I'm used to old GM trucks built by the largest automaker with unlimited engineering budgets.Willys was a much smaller company with a lot less.In some ways the Willys has some interesting design features,and some bad ones.............The XJ Cherokees are the last real Jeeps,a tribute to the original Willys design.