GUNNERSHUSBAND
Gear Grinder
- Feb 2, 2011
- 13
- Willys Model
- Willys Year:
Hi folks, my name's Rob I've been lurking for a couple weeks and now that I'm waste deep in drive train I figured it was a great time to say hello, introduce myself and ask a couple questions. First, I have what my title says is a 1955 Utility Wagon 4x4, It has a franken-repower in the form of a 60's era for Y-block and a PTO winch that was most definately added in someone's driveway and NOT by the dealer (very poorly installed the access for the pto lever was drilled, cut and peeled open, the pto shaft has been held up with zip ties and bailing wire for the last 30 years). So here's my FIRST QUESTION: My interior, my body trim, and a few other things point to model year 55, my cross bars in the grill point to 56 (though the center could have easily been moved) heres my kicker I have the ribbed roof of a 58/59 era wagon, not smooth. I understand it was common in the 50's that if they ran out of parts for say a 55 they'd start using parts from the stack of '56 parts and call it a 1955 still. HOWEVER to have a roof that didn't come around for a FEW years seems odd. NOW, the truck was repainted (very poorly) early on in life but the original color can be seen on the the inside of the doors, my original thought was that maybe a few years into the life of this wagon some roof damage was repaired in the form of a new roof from 59 or so by the dealer. Scraping away the paint on the roof reveals the original green color and the seam sealer underneath the lip on the edge of the roof is green also. I really don't know. Oh and did I mention i didn't notice until I'd had the truck for a year that the Vin Plate was gone?!!! I ordered a blank replacement and unless I can find something to tell me otherwise I'll just punch the Vin that's on the title.
MY PLAN: I'm getting ready to move from southeastern virginia where I am currently stationed to the tiny town of Petersburg, AK in southeastern Alaska. I don't leave until May and my current plan is to rebuild from the ground up rather than frame off. I'm rebuilding to stock specs the complete drive train, axles suspension, xfer, transmission, pto, brakes, tubes tires etc. I also have a new wiring harness and other associated junk. I want to make her SAFE and LEGAL to drive before I leave town, I'll worry about the beauty contest later. I have a box of stuff from kaiser that weighs about 100 lbs of bearings shims gaskets and anything else i need to get me started. So far I have my rear original dana 44 gutted cleaned painted and ready to be put back together (i got a little heavy handed taking out the pinion and messed up the threads so bad I had to order a new ring and pinion set, no die cutter would have helped me here, $250 mistake I've been much more careful since). Transmission, transfer, pto, front axle gas tank have all been dropped also and are next in line for overhaul. I picked the truck up from Colorado about a year ago where it had lived it's whole life, it also appears that it still had a lifetime's worth of mud and grease caked on EVERYTHING underneath. I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say I spent 1 hour chipping mud and grease from the rear axle before I loosened my first bolt. Things are well underway. I also purchased a 100 percent complete 6-226 to restore and install eventually, it will be on an engine stand in the shed when I'm ready but it was cheaper to buy now than to have it shipped to AK after I move.
SUMMARY: Any opinions, thoughts, facts or other information about the year of my wagon would be appreciated, SECOND if someone could point me in the direction of some very detailed photo's of a PROPER PTO winch installation I would be crazy grateful.
I uploaded a photo but here's a link to my BEFORE photos there are like 50 more. I look forward to working with/ talking with and getting to know you all.
http://s902.photobucket.com/albums/ac230/gunnershusband/1955 Willys Wagon/
you can call me Rob my screen name is a reference to my wife's chosen profession.
MY PLAN: I'm getting ready to move from southeastern virginia where I am currently stationed to the tiny town of Petersburg, AK in southeastern Alaska. I don't leave until May and my current plan is to rebuild from the ground up rather than frame off. I'm rebuilding to stock specs the complete drive train, axles suspension, xfer, transmission, pto, brakes, tubes tires etc. I also have a new wiring harness and other associated junk. I want to make her SAFE and LEGAL to drive before I leave town, I'll worry about the beauty contest later. I have a box of stuff from kaiser that weighs about 100 lbs of bearings shims gaskets and anything else i need to get me started. So far I have my rear original dana 44 gutted cleaned painted and ready to be put back together (i got a little heavy handed taking out the pinion and messed up the threads so bad I had to order a new ring and pinion set, no die cutter would have helped me here, $250 mistake I've been much more careful since). Transmission, transfer, pto, front axle gas tank have all been dropped also and are next in line for overhaul. I picked the truck up from Colorado about a year ago where it had lived it's whole life, it also appears that it still had a lifetime's worth of mud and grease caked on EVERYTHING underneath. I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say I spent 1 hour chipping mud and grease from the rear axle before I loosened my first bolt. Things are well underway. I also purchased a 100 percent complete 6-226 to restore and install eventually, it will be on an engine stand in the shed when I'm ready but it was cheaper to buy now than to have it shipped to AK after I move.
SUMMARY: Any opinions, thoughts, facts or other information about the year of my wagon would be appreciated, SECOND if someone could point me in the direction of some very detailed photo's of a PROPER PTO winch installation I would be crazy grateful.
I uploaded a photo but here's a link to my BEFORE photos there are like 50 more. I look forward to working with/ talking with and getting to know you all.
http://s902.photobucket.com/albums/ac230/gunnershusband/1955 Willys Wagon/
you can call me Rob my screen name is a reference to my wife's chosen profession.
