Well maybe I wasn't putting enough pressure on the ring gear when trying to get the pattern, but I removed the pinion shim and that made the pattern worse. So back together I put it, wondering what the hell I was going to do and decided to check it again and run a pattern check by seeing if I could put more pressure on ring gear. Wa-la better pattern, so I did it 3 more times and it looks like this, which is the best I can get.

 

here's where this thing is headed as of now:
1992 TBI 5.7 may change it over to FAST fuel injection
4L80e--may make it manual shift
NW Fab eco box and ford np205 doubler w/ JB Fab triple stick shifter and B&M tranny shifter
front diff will be a 1979 ford kingpin dana 60 with 5.38 gears & grizzly locker & revolution axles & yukon lock outs--has a truss, 3 or 4 link --knuckles Reid or gusset kit(leaning towards gusset kit)
rear diff will GM 14 bolt with 5.38 gears, grizzly locker, disc brakes, 4 linked
hydraulic assist steering
14" coilovers
39.5x16x17 Pitbull rockers and beadlocks
caddy sts seats
roll cage--exo possible
rocker protection of some sort
boxing frame since it's really good condition

 

some pics

 

came with a 307 and dana 44's out of a cherokee and a sm465/dana 18--floor pans rusted out, so we started to cut them out and patch back, but decided to wait until we got the tranny and t-case installed.

 

more pics..

 

engine is mounted, but may need to be raised up a hair and wiring needs to be done. the transmission and doubler is in, but still need plumbing and shifters installed and need to finish bolting up the mounts. I pushed the rearend under it this morning to start to figure out links and shock mounts.

Ok frame is 49.5" wide at the rear and there's no room for shock mounts outside the frame, so it's either set them inside the frame or notch the frame. To go inside the frame and depending on ride height may mean the coil-overs have to come up through the bed, which wasn't in the plans, so there's some head scratching coming up. Also not sure on whether to keep the wheel base stock or stretch it somewhere between 118-130" for departure and climb angles.

 

I did decide to do something to the rear of the cab for body mounting because those back body mounts aren't any fun to deal with--I took two pieces of 3x3x3/8" angle and put one piece under the cab(just fit with a little persuasion) and another inside the cab. The piece under the cab I welded two legs onto it and a gusset on each leg, the legs come down to the bottom of the frame. I've not decided if I"ll weld that to the frame or bolt it. I then bolted the lower and upper angle iron together. I figure this will also give me a mounting point for a roll bar, seats and whatever.

I'll also be doing some sort of rocker protection that will aid in keep the cab in place while providing protection from those pesky marauding rocks, trees and such.

At the rear I'm at a quandry of ride height and axle rotation when one tire is at full stuff and the other is at full droop. I only have about 2 1/2" between the frame/bed and inside of tire. How much will the tire rotate towards the frame and bed in this case. I made a drawing on a piece of plywood based on a 27" radius(54"/2, which is the dimension between the inside of my tires) and if I do a 5" up and 9" down set up on the coilovers I'm not sure my drawing is correct. If the axle moves in a perfect circle(and maybe it doesn't cuz how can it move up 5" on one side and down 9" on the other) the full stuff tire can only move up 2 3/4" before it will hit the bed or frame and this would suck. It's a math problem that hurts my head right now, but for now I'm just going for it and will have to adjust something I fear(again big suck factor) on the frame and bed. But I do have to do something to the bed anyway, cuz the coilovers will have to come through it I believe(need to see once I get that far which isn't far off--I hope).

 

nice, that is in pretty decent shape.
i was thinking something similar about rocker protection.
mine are toastidoed, thinking about replacing them alltogether w/ some kind of box tubing and running pieces down to the frame and mounting them w/ urethane bushings and ditch standard cab mounts.

 

I thought about that option, but mine are still in good condition, so I'm kind of leaning towards some L angle that would wrap around the curve in the back, but until I put my front fenders back on I'm not sure this makes sense or not. I do have a little body rot at the front corner where the body meets the fender that I've found so far that will need replacing. So fingers crossed there's not much more.

Plan to start building rear link arms tonight and to figure out coilover mounting and how that's going to affect the bed. Or I may just start to modify the frame, because my pea brain says I'll have to do it anyway or I may be in front of a pad and paper trying to figure out how far the tire will rotate towards the frame/bed to see if I do need to do some frame modifications. Decisions, decisions, decisions.......

 

that does look solid, dude you found the green paint hiding behind the box

 

They must've had a billion gallons of green made so every truck got it or it seems!!!

 

started on the lower links--one side all welded up on the arms and one is tacked just in case I need to shorten them. Well and a shot of how close the tire is to the frame and one of bed bolt hole placement(next post will have more pics of dimensions) as I'm going to have to cut this cross member out or notch crap out of if for the upper links. I'm not sure if I'm sitting at ride height or not, but I'm close. I know everyone says build it at full stuff, but I have a tape measure and I wanted to get the pinion pointed at the t-case at ride height and it's how I built the
'48 and I don't recall any big issues when I did it.

 

For future reference here's some more pics of bed bolt hole dimension on the crossmember. sorry about the sideways pics. I'm not sure why it's doing that, because they're not like that on my phone.

 

Little progress which is par for the course when you are a one man shop....

I jacked up one of the tires 10" off the ground to see how it rotated towards the frame and bed and it looks like if I do have to do some bed modifying it won't be much, but the shock hoops are going to come up into the bed that's for sure.

 

Sweet truck! Subscribed for sure. Nice to see yet another Willys PU build. Still working on mine too.

 

Metalguy---thanks--the trucks are the "in" thing it seems!!

Everyday I walk by the truck I think I should do you like you did or maybe make it a crew cab, but money says that's not going to happen unless I fall into something cheap.

So I've removed that crossmember but cutting and grinding off the rivets, damn those things are in there tight when you go to pound them out. Just a bit different than when Ian on Xtreme4x4 does it. This also includes the front rear spring hanger as it's riveted into the cross member also.

Last night I made a couple of frame plates, so maybe tonight I'll get them tacked into place and this weekend I'll finish welding them and probably make plates for the very rear of the frame. Then I'll work on the rear shock hoops. I'm kind of tossing around running a piece of DOM inside the frame and building the hoop off of that and the reason is if I do have to cut the original frame out I'll be ok to do it as I'll already have the frame tied together and the hoop can double as the inside wheel well if I decide to skin it, which will probably be the case at some point. Oh well lots to do and think about that's for sure.

 

A little progress.. I decided to cut the cross member out that supports the front of the bed for now. I'll put it back in or build a new one--probably build a new one. I will be tying the hoops together at the bed height--I may have to notch the frame a bit to clear the springs, but until I flex it out my math says I'll just clear, but math and reality don't always work. The coils are 16" x 225lb's and they compressed 2" just in case someone was curious. I'll do the calc's once it's altogether to see what springs to use and then make some decisions

The fuel tank that came with the truck is a 50 gal tank--I didn't think it was that large, but the calculator says that is what it is. 38 x 23 x 13, so in the back of my mind I'm kind of thinking I'm going to cut the floor out of the bed and raise it up, this will allow me to use the fuel tank and keep it from hanging down in the back further than I want and also make the inner wheel wells not as tall, but that's all thoughts for now. Plus I like having lot's of fuel on hand, but we shall see.

 

Looks good Chris. My son is in the middle of his Willys truck build also. Nice to see you back at it

 

MOVING ALONG! looks great man.

 

pulled the front axle off and cut the front rear spring hangers off --front ones are still on, until I figure out what I'm going to do to the front--extend it with round tube or 2x4x3/16" or ¼" after I cut the existing cobbled up stuff off and I'd like to position the front axle under it also. My brother bought the 3 link system so that's coming, so that will help to get that going.

I also started on the rear fuel tank placement with a ¼" diamond plate skid plate for protection, now we need to figure out if we really want to use the 50gal tank or not. At 13" tall, plus another 1 ⅜" for the bottom 90* fitting for total gravity feed and another 1 ¼" on the top for the return line spacing and some structural steel and it's getting up there in height and I'll have to raise the floor of the truck bed around 4". But this helps in fuel pump placement and hose routing. I can shave the 1 ⅜"- 1 ½" off the bottom by cutting a hole in the bottom of the skid plate and building a small skid plate for the gravity feed outlet. This will knock the truck bed floor raising to around 2 ½" , but I'm not sure I like the hose routing and fuel pump placement. Looking at a 20-22 gallon tank that's 11 ½" tall plus another 1 ½-2" on top for vent and return line. This will mean about a 1 ½"-2" truck bed floor raise. This would mean pretty decent fuel line hose routing and fuel pump placement. So really I don't think buying another tank makes sense. I just have to decide what to do. Another thing is the ground clearance at the tank will be around 29" if I do notch out the skid plate and around 31" if I don't, if I'm thinking correctly(I'll have to double check that tomorrow or Wednesday).

If I decide to keep the existing rear bumper I'm leaning heavily on raising it 4", which will keep it pretty close to the level of the fuel tank skid plate. Pretty much a no brainer in my eyes to raise it if I keep it.

Woke up this morning with doubts in my head about the 50 gal tank gravity feed location--may be on a junk yard hunt for something, but regardless I got more noggin scratching to do!!!

 

I used 2x3 for the front frame of my willys pickup, slid into the existing frame perfectly where I chopped the old frame.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

RWassink--thanks for that tidbit of knowledge, I'll look for some 2x3 to rework the front.

chris

 

I'm glad to see you're at it again. I liked the 2A and this one is looking good too! The trucks are really cool, and it does seem they are becoming more popular.

 

Nice looking shop too!

 

little progress....