Resurrecting the '57 ranch truck

Stakebed

Stakebed

Well Oiled
All-Star
Mar 4, 2020
11,821
Northern California
First Name
Joe
Willys Model
  1. Pickup
Willys Year:
  1. 1957
My Dad bought this stakebed in the late sixties for use on our Lake Co property. Until the early eighties we had no electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. Our land is on top of a hill accessed by a dirt road that gets eroded badly in the winter. Throughout the seventies and eighties, this was our only 4wd. This is how it looked after using the backhoe to drag it out of it's resting place in the bushes.

Joe20200207_093806.jpg20200207_093813.jpg20200207_093824.jpg20200207_094157.jpg20200207_094202.jpg
 
Got the engine to turn over. That was pure luck. Perhaps it's so worn that the clearances aren't tight enough to seize. Had some electrical issues. Mainly the wire inside the distributor that leads to the points was ragged and making intermittent contact. After making a new wire and buying a new electric fuel pump...it ran. I was even able to move the truck forward and backward. Drivetrain moved, clutch released, just no brakes. Here's also a pic of Dad's exhaust manifold repair from back in the day. He was an accomplished stick welder. Old school all the way. From the look of it, the weld seems to be from high nickel content rod. It's lasted for decades and o have no intention of changing it. What is now my avatar shows the engine running off the "auxiliary" gas tank.20200220_084306.jpg20200222_105155.jpg20200222_173723.jpg20200220_084306.jpg20200222_105155.jpg20200222_173723.jpg
 
Around this time I emailed Paul Barry some pics of the truck. He informed that I had a '49 cab on a '57 chassis with '57 front sheetmetal. He also advised that the '49 cab would not fit a Super Hurricane engine and to be on the lookout for mods/aka hack job. Well, he was correct. The '57 was originally Transportation Yellow. The '49 seems to have been dark green. Here you can see how someone "integrated" the '57 firewall into the '49 cab. There will be more pics of the hybridization when we get to the floors.20200219_164754.jpg20200219_164814.jpg
 
So now it's brakes time. I actually thought I could knock out a brake job in one day. Hah! Weeks later it's still up on jack stands. The brake areas were disgusting, wheel cylinders crusty, shoes worn out, springs mismatched, drums rusty, and all fasteners seized. Naturally I bought new wheel cylinders, new springs, rebuilt brake shoes, and new shoe clips. I liked the old clips better so they got reused. Also took the drums to a local shop and had them turned. The tears are at the max now at .060" oversize and the fronts are .020 & .040. Everything got media blasted and painted except the inside of the backing plates. A MAP gas torch became my best friend. Literally had to heat nearly all hardware to get it loose. Most survived, some died a valiant death. The right front bearing nuts were REALLY tough to remove and the inner bearing just wouldn't come off. I found out my spindle was cracked. New spindle time.
I had to stand it down with Emery paper to get the inner bearing to slide back on. Tedious and time consuming job.
On the rear, I was told the order of assembly is bearing preload shim, retainer plate, brake backing plate, axle seal and seal retainer. I placed a gasket between the seal and seal retainer. Does that seem correct?
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Stakebed said:
Got the engine to turn over. That was pure luck. Perhaps it's so worn that the clearances aren't tight enough to seize. Had some electrical issues. Mainly the wire inside the distributor that leads to the points was ragged and making intermittent contact. After making a new wire and buying a new electric fuel pump...it ran. I was even able to move the truck forward and backward. Drivetrain moved, clutch released, just no brakes. Here's also a pic of Dad's exhaust manifold repair from back in the day. He was an accomplished stick welder. Old school all the way. From the look of it, the weld seems to be from high nickel content rod. It's lasted for decades and o have no intention of changing it. What is now my avatar shows the engine running off the "auxiliary" gas tank.View attachment 68942View attachment 68943View attachment 68944View attachment 68942View attachment 68943View attachment 68944
Click to expand...
Always great to see a truck that was clearly used for its intended purpose. Do you have any pics of it "back when" ? Pics are hard to come by. Growing up as a kid we didn't own a camera and if we would have, I am sure we wouldn't have stopped to take a pic while we were working. Have fun with your project.
 
As best I can figure, someone must have rolled the truck and crushed the original cab. A '49 cab was likely available and the truck was new enough that it was worth fixing.

Yeah I agree. Amazing that the engine was willing to turn over after sleeping for over twenty years. As best as we can remember, we retired the Willys some time in the early nineties.

There may be pics in the old family albums. I have to find the albums first and then go thru them. I'm curious as well.
 
More brake work. All but one hard line were really crusty. As I hope to drive this truck on the highway and brake hydraulic pressures can reach four digits, hard line replacement seemed wise. My local vendor was out of stock on hard line kits. Soooooooo, time to suck it up and make new ones myself. I bought straight brake tubing from NAPA and O'Reilys. Nice stuff because it's poly coated. That should ensure they will last for the next couple of owners. Some years ago, I helped a friend build a Model A hot rod. When it came to brake lines, we used ten foot sections of hard line. I had made double flares by hand before then but that project was going to be too much. So at the time I invested in a Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool. Lemme tell y'all, that kit is the cat's ass. The double flares for the Willys project were soooooo easy and fast. An assortment of tubing benders is also handy as the factory hardlines have an assortment of bend radius'. The back brakes lines had already been replaced and they were not cut to proper length. They were ugly. On a visit to Willys America, I was allowed to take pics of their restoration projects in the shop. Referring to those pics, I made the rear lines in my best interpretation. Don't think that this project went as smoothly as goose poop. I made numerous errors. At least three lines I made did not pass personal inspection and were remade. Also, first purchase from NAPA taught me to pay attention to the labels as the four lines I bought were all metric thread. Lots of driving back and forth to Lakeport which is 14.6 mi each way. Look carefully at the workbench pic. Zoom in on the top of the trash can. You'll see some hardlines. Couple are the oldies and a couple are the new rejects. I regret not taking any pics of the rear lines fellas. Maybe when I return to the ranch.20200309_163126.jpg20200309_172026.jpg20200309_172037.jpg20200309_171154.jpg20200309_172044.jpg20200312_155252.jpg
 
vintagetrk said:
Cast iron weld repair is a soon to be lost art glad you kept the manifold.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. Dad taught me to preheat the cast iron and use cast iron rod. Then during apprenticeship school, they taught more specifics to that skill. I was usually in awe of the pipe fitter's welding skill while at work.
 
More brake pics I left out last night. One shows how thin a brake shoe was. Another is blurry but you can see the corrosion inside a wheel cylinder. I'll keep them, disassemble and inspect. If there's no pitting, they'll get honed, rebuilt and set aside as spares. Another cool pic is of this brake tool Pops owns. I didn't use it on this brake job but Bendix style brakes need tools like this. Old tools are so cool and are made to LAST.

Joe
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So when I crawled under the truck to replace the master cylinder, I was faced with rust, rust, rust and s'more rust. The master cylinder bolts broke off at the head. In retrospect, I believe the bolts were rusted to the master and not necessarily seized to the threads in the frame. I was able to pry the master away from the frame about 1/2" and get Vice Grips on the shank of the bolts. About 1/8 of a turn at a time. Several lifetimes later, I had the bolts unthreaded from the frame and could remove the master entirely. All of the brake and clutch linkages were severely rusted. Decided to remove it all for thorough cleaning, media blasting and painting. I'm not trying to restore this truck. Just make it safe to drive on the local highway. But, I like to clean and paint those things I touch. Anyway, really glad the linkage and arms came out. Linkage was worn. Linkage rods were worn through, holes were elongated and the bushings in the brake/clutch arms had rotated enough that the holes no longer lined up with the zerk fittings. The clutch cross shaft was also worn badly enough to warrant replacement. The ball studs had elongated the holes in both ends of the shaft. Some drilling and sleeving "could" fix that. I blasted and painted the old one in case it's needed by me or someone else someday but bought a new cross shaft for this job. Still waiting for my second pedal arm bushing to arrive. First bushing is installed in the clutch arm. I beat out the clutch arm during disassembly but it looks like I'll have to loosen the steering box to lift up the column for clearance to reinstall the clutch arm....correctly that is. Right now all parts are blasted, painted and patiently waiting to be reinstalled. After new master is in, then FINALLY I can bleed the brakes. Will feel SO GOOD to get off this "one day" brake job which has consumed about a month.

Joe
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Keep at it, you are almost there, and dependable brakes are a must have imo. Do it right, do it once.
I like positivity. One day !:p

When I started on mine, I figured a week, even with a lot of pre work, and springing for prebent lines. After 9 days, all day, every day and late into the eve, I was “close”, but not done. I’m still not done.

You’ll get there, and be happy it’s done
 
As soon as the second bushing is in my paws, I can really hit it hard.
I agree, brakes are nothing to skimp on for highway vehicles. That's why I replaced nearly everything. Only bearings, backing plates and drums were reused. Even the front bearing preload nuts and washers were replaced.

Your tale looks very familiar.

Joe
 
So new subject area. The floors. They were an awful mess. Combine rats with rust and tar floor mat backing, mix liberally with age and you get a mess.
When first recovering the truck, I literally used a square shovel to scoop out most of the rat gatherings. Twigs, sticks, acorns, dog poop, rat poop, rust, floor mat pieces, etc were shoveled out. Then I used a leaf blower on the floor.
After the truck was in the garage, and the engine & brake work stalled, I took a more careful look at the floors. I knew the pass side was the worst as I could see a BIG gap between the trans tunnel and the floor. I used a scraper blade on a Sawzall to scrape up the remaining tar stuck to the metal. Oh of course I was wearing an activated charcoal mask and safety glasses. For those that don't know, breathing dried mouse/rat faces is really unhealthy. Okay, so the floor is scraped. Then I used a knitted wire wheel on a mini-grinder to remove heavy rust and anything else loose. That exposed a few holes on the driver's side but really showed the passenger side was toast. Total swiss cheese. At that point I vacuumed up both sides to get a clean workplace. Oh, I should mention that while wire wheeling the driver's side, I removed the floor plates that surround the steering column and pedal arms. Numerous screws resisted. Resistance is futile. Mr Vice Grip showed 'em who's boss.
So a decision was made to retain the driver's side floor. The holes are minor. I'll possibly seal the holes with some miracle plastic and paint over it. Buuuut, the passenger side is beyond salvation. Although I didn't want to open a third front on the battlefield, the passenger floor had to be replaced.
So far I've spent money where needed, primarily on the brakes. As the truck body is a hybrid and someone bastardized the floor to make it fit a 6 cylinder chassis, I wasn't going to invest heavily in this cab. FYI, the '49 cab is the right now cab. It's not the correct cab, not necessarily the forever cab. Just the "get the truck running and have some fun" cab. That being written, I'm a retired sheet metal worker. Sheet metal is my thang. Been retired since end of Dec so skills are still sharp. Dad said he knew I could replace the floor and would be disappointed if I didn't do it. Can't let the Old Guy down can I?
So on to the swiss cheese. I laid out some cut lines that surrounded most of the cheese. Using a combo of cutoff wheel/mini-grinder, Sawzall and sheetmetal snips I cut out most of the cancer. I'll make one large panel for the footwell and one little patch for an area next to the seat riser. Had to hammer and dolly the floor cross members after the carnage of removing the old crap. Then I ground/sanded down the faces of the cross members so I could spot weld the new floor to them to retain strength. Also used a flap sanding wheel to try and clean up the edges of remaining floor that I will weld to. Man that floor is rusty. Can't sand/grind too much or it will be too thin to weld to. Nasty.
I still have all my S/M hand tools and numerous power tools Plus, I bought two S/M brakes and one shear from a previous employer. I don't have bead roller tools though. Phoned a local fab shop and they're willing to bead roll my new floor panel.
20200312_181355.jpg20200312_181220.jpg20200314_161727.jpg20200313_181441.jpg20200312_181346.jpg20200315_170720.jpg20200314_163529.jpg20200315_170731.jpg That'll give it strength.
So I was all ready to start welding the little patch. Following the pattern where the other areas I was working on had problems that delayed me, the MIG welder started acting up. Long story short, it won't feed the .023 wire continuously. Feeds about an inch and stalls then feeds an inch and so on. The drive roll seems to oscillate up and down and therefore loses tension on the welding wire. I took apart the wire feed assembly and the drive roll shaft seems to be straight. Ordered a new drive roll and will see if MIG welder behaves. If not, well that would be a problem. Worked just fine with the .030' wire.

So that's where we're at. Small patch ready to go in. Large patch blanked out but not cut to final shape yet not bent up either. It will have two brakes in it. One to roll up to the trans tunnel and another to roll up to the toe board. Oh, actually a third brake to make a flange to spot weld to the kick panel. In the City now but upon return to Lake Co work should recommended. Carb float is waiting for me. Bushing and other clutch linkage parts should be arriving today or Monday. Welder drive roll? Not sure when it arrives. I'll update when more work is done.

Joe
 
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Your doing good work. My 53 is in similar shape. My brakes are going to get a complete overhaul too. The old timer buddy that had I inherited it from, never had the breaks working.

If you have time, could you take pictures of the rocker braces front and back connections? Mine are totally gone and I need some detailed pictures.
 
Body works. The second to the last picture shows a cross brace that goes from the rocker support, to the center “hump”. The piece I’m interested in is the “brace or rocker support that goes under the door. How it attaches at the front of it and the rear, by the cab corner, and again, the front up toward the firewall.
 
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