53 willys pick up project

[rckjeep]

So my father in-law found this pick up from a friend for a steal, so what the heck everyone needs a new project. Not for certain of the plans but it'll be a wheeler with some style hopefully. On to the pics

[Murfman1967]

Make a Beer Buggy!

[rckjeep]

that might be above my skill level, we'll see

[Murfman1967]

You've got a nice start there, hoping to watch it come together.. I built the rear body from scratch, sing only a cirular saw, a routher, and a 12" disc sander. It is all Red Oak, and is actually pretty easy to work with. My Heep was originaly a Chassis Cowl on a wagon length frame, the sheet metal you see is all it came with from the factory. I literally built it to hold beer on ice for cookouts/parties etc.. Holds 120 cans + ice on each side. The boxes are fiberglassed and hold water. Drivetrain is all original F-head 3 spd Dana 18... Ported and polished the head, had the cam custom ground added a header and a webber 2 bbl carb to it for shits and giggles. My advice is if you want to build your truck as a trail rig, look for a cashed full size truck / ramcharger~blazer/ or Suburban, depending on the wheelbase you want to run, and mount your cab to the truck frame. You will be way ahead of the game that way, as all the stock components are marginal at best, even with a 4 or 6 cyl engine, and its easier to fab body mounts than mounts for everything else.

[wheelchairman]

subscribed-- always need more ideas for my willys

[MEANGREENCJ7]

I hope you do a build thread, I love these trucks. I own 4 of them in varrying conditions and I just bought a 5th one from a a guy in the for sale section here.
Chev frame, boxed.
350TPI
TH350
NP203/205 doubler
Dana 60's, 4.88's, detroits, 4 discs.
Avalanche Engineering triangulated 4 link front and rear. Sway Aways up front, 1/4 eliptical rear,
39.5 tires.



I am gonaa make some changes to it, just to "make it my own"
Tube fenders front and rear, paint, Boggers, bumpers, ect.

[cj5.5]

Chevy frame is cheating. Besides, these axles (stock) have held up to a 350 for 20 years of good 'wheelin. Granted, the first owner/builder was wise with the throttle, and they're open.





The tricky thing about stuffing axles under a truck is the front is really skinny, and the rear is really wide. If you don't care about fender coverage, or want custom axles, no big deal.
Good luck with it. They're bad ass trucks.

[MEANGREENCJ7]

All the power to ya! Stock open diffs aren't my thing, but nice truck anyways.

[wheelchairman]

just as long as you use the stock frame or build your own to basically stock specs. Using a chevy frame is just ghey

bonus points to ya if you use the stock axles but since I'm not doin that either I can't call it ghey

[Murfman1967]

I built a 59 CJ5 years ago with the stock frame, never again.. Everytime out I'd come home to weld up new cracks here or there, and this is after I added 3/16 plates to the top and bottom of the frame rails like the factory did to strengthen the frame when they put it under the FC models. After all the time adding reinforcements, steering mounts, spring mounts etc... I feel you would be much better off "Cheating" with a late model truck frame. When my Chassis cowl frame was stripped bare, it actually flexed if I picked up one corner of it, and it is a nice rust free straight frame! Hell, I'd argue that it would be quicker and less work to build one from scratch with box tube.

[cj5.5]

Not my thing either, but its not my truck. I'm just kind of a caretaker for it. My point was everybody doesn't need 60s or bigger to have a cool, capable rig.
And I still think tossing a cool vintage body on a chevy frame to make your build easier, or to brag about your drivetrain is kind of lame.

[rckjeep]

The idea is to take my time. I don't want to rush it. Depending on the frame condition I"ll either use it of build my own with a bit more kick up but it's all up in the air at this point. I'd like to keep the bed but I think it'll be too much to resto it so a fabbed one my be in order. As far as axles go a 44/9" or 14 FF will be used, I've got the 3/4t 44 housing with flat tops already plus the Detroit in my current part-time DD Cj7 is driving me nuts on the street so it may find it's way up front of this thing. The truck will be built with a few junk yard parts so who knows what I might find. I have been told many times about using a different rolling chassis but I'd like to use this one or build one. I"m not affraid of the work, at least until the motor goes in. I'm more of a fab guy than a mechanic.

Oh and does anyone know what the stock WMS to WMS is on these things?

Sorry to post a silly ? but we haven't picked it up otherwise I'd go measure myself. I just wanted to post up cause I'm excited about a new project.

[rckjeep]

So I went and brought the truck over to the father in laws place today until I can make room to bring it home and get a tow rig & trailer to bring it home. So originally I heard it was a '53, but the guy we got it from says it's a '58. I'm not sure he's correct because it's got a small back window, and the big reason that I doubt it is because it's got a really old looking rearend. The housing bolts together in the middle. There's no center section, or third member or even a diff cover. Where can I find the VIN or can someone give me a better Idea for what year it is.

[TrikeKid]

Originally Posted by cj5.5

Chevy frame is cheating. Besides, these axles (stock) have held up to a 350 for 20 years of good 'wheelin. Granted, the first owner/builder was wise with the throttle, and they're open.

Yeah, but with tires much bigger than that, they snap like twigs. My cousin's husband literally broke one in his Willys with a 302/C4 driving up a curb on wide 39's.

[wheelchairman]

pics wouls help the most in figuring out the yr or about the yr

[MEANGREENCJ7]

Originally Posted by wheelchairman

pics wouls help the most in figuring out the yr or about the yr

The 5 pics in his first post aren't enough?

The small rear window was from 1947 - 1952.
From 1946 - 1949 the fenders were flat on top and front, as well as the grill wasen't "V" shaped.
What throws me off is only 3 bars on the grill. 1950-53 had 5 bars, so 2 could have been removed. But instead of door handles inside, it has buttons. I thought that was only available 1946-1950. My guess would be the truck has been pieced together over the years. Possibly a 1946-1950 cab with a 1956+ front clip.

here's a good link to model year changes
http://www.public.asu.edu/~grover/willys/id.html

[rckjeep]

Originally Posted by MEANGREENCJ7

The 5 pics in his first post aren't enough?

The small rear window was from 1947 - 1952.
From 1946 - 1949 the fenders were flat on top and front, as well as the grill wasen't "V" shaped.
What throws me off is only 3 bars on the grill. 1950-53 had 5 bars, so 2 could have been removed. But instead of door handles inside, it has buttons. I thought that was only available 1946-1950. My guess would be the truck has been pieced together over the years. Possibly a 1946-1950 cab with a 1956+ front clip.

here's a good link to model year changes
http://www.public.asu.edu/~grover/willys/id.html

So what year did the buttons happen? I read the link info and it doesn't mention them.

Also, I picked up 9" for free from a buddy. It's 68" wms and wondering if full width is too wide for these old trucks. I'll be sticking with leaf springs for simplicity. I'll probably SOA the front since the Chevy D44 housing is already SOA but to keep srping wrap to a minimum I might SUA the rear. Which is actually something I'm considering changing on my CJ7.

off topic:My CJ is SOA F&R now and even with a Sam's style anti-wrap bar it still seems to wrap a bit and the flex out of the rear sucks. I've got 10" shocks in the back, set up for 4" of up travel and 6" of down and hardly use the 4" up and maybe 4" down.

Back on topic: Maybe I'll use the CJ rear springs on the front of the Willy's and get new springs for both rears. But what could I use that would give me about the same ride height? Oh the CJ springs are the JC Whitney CJ7 HD rears.

[MEANGREENCJ7]

I think the buttons were 1946-1950

My truck has full widths, and they are really wide for the truck, especially in the front. The rear of the truck is wider so the fenders cover more. But it depends what you are going for, and what tires you're gonna run.
I would run some long leaf packs in the back since there is tons of room to mount them. That will give you a softer ride and better flex. You could play around with some chevy springs and build your shackles and mounts to get the ride height to match what you put in the front. I wouldn't use the CJ springs because of how narrow they are, but if it's on a budget and that's what you got then use them. You could find some waggy springs to use up front which will be stronger, softer, and flex better.

[rckjeep]

I used rear CJ springs on all corners of my CJ7 so they are 2.5" wide. I was thinking about chevy springs in the rear.

Maybe I'll shorten the D44 on the long side 4" to bring it down a tad and narrow the 9" a bit too. I'm not sure on tires yet. At first I was thinking 34x9.50 swampers to keep that old 4x4 look but then full width would be way too wide. Whats stock WMS?

[cj5.5]

I'd measure the rear before you do anything. I think stock truck rears are ridiculously wide; wider than typical full widths. I know the frame flares out a lot; unlike the wagon frames. The truck I posted pretty much leaves 4 tracks in the dirt.

[rckjeep]

4 tracks? what a trip

[rckjeep]

Well it's been a few years and it's time to get going on this project. I picked this up last week and the truck is coming home from storage now that my garage has room for it. So let it begin, let it begin.

Here's a few pics



The plan is to strip the truck down to the frame, repair any issues, box the frame and clean it up for paint. Then attach the above cab with a new floor and firewall, once the motor is decided. The chassis will get a 9 inch(background) a 3/4 ton 44 front, leafs in the rear, maybe linked up front. But Craigslist will decide ultimately.


I'll post more later, my kid's out of school for the week and bored

[rckjeep]

ONe of the things I noticed that I need to fix is the the door frame at the hinges. Seems like the doors flew open driving backwards on the freeway at 60mph. The outer edge of the hinge pocket has ripped. After searching here for "Willys pickups" I've seen a few others with the same problem.

Anyone fix this and how'd ya do it?

[rckjeep]

Well the truck is now spending it's first night in a garage instead of out in the cold. I plan on stripping the axles and suspension out from under it soon. hopefully the guys that drive around asking for scrap metal will come by after I'm done. Then the bed will go, but I may keep it for a trailer it's just about the right size. Then the extra fenders & hood will go up for sale along with the cab after I take what I want from it. Here's some pics of todays rescue.

loading up


the bed full of spares & junk


scored a second Willy's Overland hood badge


Here's the extra front clip - minus grille


strange rear end with small leaf pack


door hinge problem I spoke of above


stuffed in the garage


what do you think, not a bad start

[rckjeep]

Well started taking the Willy's apart tonight. But first I had to fumigate. Found a few black widow webs this evening. SO I broke out the torch and a flashlight and went Widow hunting, got 2 for sure and maybe a 3rd. Had 2 small fires since it has been in a grass field for 2 years it's got lots of grass in nooks and crannies. Gor the front wheels off, which took longer than I thought id would. I tried to break the rust loose with PB Blaster and a torch to no resolve, but then it dawned on me, left handed threads! Also took off the front bumper which was a pain due to all the rusted bolts. They all snapped making it a bit easier. Next is the front axle and suspension, then the front clip. Then the rear axle, suspension and bed, which may become my new utility trailer. So far the frame looks decent, but only removing the body will tell for sure.

I also took a bunch of measurements that may help others with their builds.

Front frame width outside 31.5"
Front frame width on center 29.5"
Front axle WMS to WMS 58"
Rear axle WMS to WMS ??
Rear frame width outside 49.5"
Rear frame width on center 47.5"
Wheelbase (roughly) 117"
Front spring length (weighted) 36"
Rear spring length (weighted) 49"
Front track width (stock) 63"
Rear track width (stock) ??
Bed dimensions inside; 79.5" length x 48" width and 16.5" depth(at top of bed rail)