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1950 Willys Truck re-rebuild

562K views 2K replies 237 participants last post by  VoyagerXll 
#1 ·
Short history. This truck I bought in 1985, minus bed, powertrain, most of the interior, ect.
The idea was to have something to beat at the local mud hole. Then after installing a drivetrain I built the bed. Standing back looking at it I thought it would make a great truck for the street. Since then it's been hauling fire wood, driven through every winter including salt covered roads, riden in parades, hauled dirt bikes, and atv's. Basically, it's been a good ole truck.

Here we are 26 years later, it's time to redo much of truck again.

First I started with a custom bumper using a torchmate cnc machine. It's because the bumper looked so good it prompted me to start the restoration.

It'll be done in sections while still maintaining some drivability at times.

 
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#317 ·
You guys are great, the feedback is great. At my age I've reached a point to where I am happy to teach. My ideas and interests, I'm happy to pass them on and I'm sure you all will take something away from this thread and put it to use. :highfive:
I'm getting close to finishing most of the metal work, well maybe a couple more weeks anyway, then I'll prep, clean, and begin prime and paint. Alot of the priming and painting is the same as working with a car body that has been stripped to metal. I'll keep the pics coming as I'm moving along.:thumbsup:
 
#318 ·
Class is back in session..... get out the notepads, wipe your eyes and let's move forward. Ahhh this thread is getting some characters. :cool::laugh:
Last picture showed the grinding of the outer edges but before I'm finished I have to cut off the extra inch or so I left on both ends of the plate. So many choices, I can use a torch, plasma, hacksaw, 3" inch air grinder or 4 1/2" grinder with a cut off wheel. I'm going with the 4 1/2". Picture here has the cut off wheel attached.

The shapie marks the line to cut. I figured about an 1/8" extra material for grinding and shaping later.

Cutting is done. Be carefull when using the 4 1/2" grinder for cutting thicker materal as with 1/4" plate. The first couple passes are no problem, but the deeper you go you have to concentrate on keeping the cut off wheel straight and true, other wise the sides of the wheel will grab the sides of the plate in the cut zone and the grinder has the torque to jerk the grinder around unexpectantly :eek:.
 
#320 ·
Yes Endimar the flap discs are gonna clean up the grinding marks and smooth and shape the ends. This will be the last pic focused on the top plates. Let's think back a week or so..........they're leaf spring top plates........have you ever thought top plates would be something to wait in anticipation to see how they're made and the finished product? No, I didn't think so. I like to think it's the product made by two hands, something we've lost touch with in a world of quick fixes and mail order products. You all are further ahead than I, you can see what can be done with a little imagination, you've seen indetail just a few tactics on how to manipulate metal. I'm so pleased to read where some have mentioned that you're motivated to buy some welding tools and go at it. The best part of welding and fabrication is that it is an art, it is a skill, and it is practical, when finished you get a rush out of something you built.:thumbsup: Here's a before and after pic.

Suspension along with shocks and mounts are pretty well set, they just need some final welding and grinding before primer and paint. I have to get back to finishing some of the areas that the rust ate into. I still have the rust pockets that formed behind the original shock brackets. Here's a close-up reminder of what needs filling yet. I did the same with these as I did with the rusted away spot above the rear spring mount. Start welding to fill and grind flat. What sucks here is the enclosed area to work in. With a top and bottom frame rail so close it's gonna take careful grinding of I'll start grinding somewhere I don't want to.:(
 
#321 ·
this has to be one of the best, if not the best thread i have ever read through on this forum. seriously, its been a blast following all the pictures. and i have to say, it makes me happy to see you trudging through the 56k to upload all of these pictures.

really interesting to see the steps you're taking to "bend" metal without access to a brake.

keep it up!!
 
#324 ·
spyder6, yes, now you see what I was lookining for when I was looking for a thread that showed the process to get to where they got. It's a good study to see the multiple ways of accomplishing metal work.

Endimar, oh no, now people are gonna find this thread in the adult section at blockbuster.:eek: Now try to maintain control, someday I'm gonna strip the paint off the body and I may use a flap disc during the process.:teehee:

little_Jeep, good one....:p:D

I had to do some work on the lawn mower, no time for truck work, hang in there, I'll get more pics loaded. I've got more free time next week so hopefully I'll get more progress and more pics posted.:wave:
 
#328 ·
LoL adult section. It's a jeep thing. On a side note I used my flap disk to clean some rust, i went to turn the grinder off and took a minor chunk of flesh out. Maybe 2mm deep. Im not sure how but that was unpleasant. Cant wait to see and learn more.
 
#329 ·
once, i was using my grinder on my brothers cherokee and throughout the day the grinder got a light coating of cutting oil all over it. long story short it slipped out of my right hand and went straight into my left hand. through the kevlar glove, into my index finger. by the time gravity caught up with it and made it fall to the floor it had already cut all the way down to the bone.

and the irony of it? i didn't know i had done it till about an hour later when i was washing my hands. never hurt or anything. the disk cauterized the wound as it cut it.
 
#330 ·
Yikes!

I once slipped with a rotary wire brush that burned through my jeans and left a very nice deep gouge in my leg.

If it had been up a little higher, I'd have gone from a rooster to a hen.

I don't know the safety answer on this, but maybe leather chaps should be worn at all times?

Wouldn't look so cool.
 
#332 ·
Endimar, it must be true....love hurts.:kiss: Seriously though, lots of grinding usually has a touch of flesh sacrifice mixed in. I can remember many times of the friction scratch and I felt that if I didn't look, it wouldn't be too bad. Then a minute or two later a bit of red shows up on the tool I'm holding, grrrr I hate when that happens.

I did take a closer pic of the weld to no where, it is pleasant to look at.:cool:

I mentioned that now the shocks and plates are pretty well settled I've got to get back to the rusted out areas. It's back to filling the rusted away material. I begin the fill.
 
#334 ·
I did sandblast the welded area.
I can't think of a way to clean the metal and get right down to the bottom of any pits as well as sand blasting. We've talked about alot of tactics along this thread and I'm surprised no one has mentioned paint over rust products. The idea of spraying a liquid over rust and it will convert rust into a paintable surface.
I haven't expressed any opinion either way on the product. I have seen a couple threads where guys have used it. Just like any any other spray on product I'm sure preperation is a huge factor determining the outcome of the products ability to do what is advertised.
As for me, I'm a bare metal and start over guy and nothing gets me there better than sandblasting.
Now that we're here look also at the same pic. Looking closely you'll notice the new metal that I welded in has a black or darkened apperance. That area has to either be sandblasted or surface ground til the darkened area is removed. When you buy metal in large sheets there is a very thin left over layer of something from the making of the sheet. This layer, although it is well attached, will not stay after sometime. If in the future it decides to lift off, so will the primer and paint you sprayed on it. So before I'm ready to spray, I'll give one more blasting to ensure I've removed enough of it so I won't think about it later.
Now that we're here again.. I have seen, and many of you also I'm sure have seen where someone puts many hours, days, weeks, months into a project. Then finish the project only to find something fails way sooner than they thought. Sometimes the project is a huge experiment, trying something new, a new design, ect. I applaud that person for stepping out of the box. Now there's the other person who puts their heart and soul into a project of restoring. Everything is done right for the first part, then a bell rings in their head that it's taking too much time, we've all been there. Now it's a battle, do I keep on as I was or do I cut corners. Everytime I've cut corners in the back of my mind I'm thinking and watching the areas I cut corners. I now don't have the piece of mind in the end result that I wanted and why I started the restoration in the first place and that is to drive it with no worries.

Just a little insight and though from an old man,:)
 
#335 ·
I feel the same way with my jeep. I have been at it about 2 weeks, and I started out not caring about paint because every piece is rusting or needs some serious work. It is taking forever and today my dad tells me today he has sandblasting equipment. I have been grinding, sanding, and everything else on these parts. A sandblasted would save me hours.

My problem is I am tired of having to drill bolts out because they are stripped or rusted through and break. If I could make new hinges and parts I would. I'm going to end up buying half a jeep in new parts though. I can tell lol.
 
#336 ·
Endimar the sandblasting equipment will be a big help. Note to all... having sandblasting equipment is good but it has not power behind it if the air compressor can't keep up. Sandblasting has one of the largest consumption of air so if your air supply isn't up to the task all you'll do is push sand out of a hose without results.
Going back to the shock mounts to the cross frame for a bit. I always think things look better when corners and edges are rounded off, it gives a finished look to the project. Here's a pic of the bottom of the shock mounts. I still need to finish the welding here. I'm gonna finish the weld before I round off the edges. If I rounded the edges first I'd be removing material that can help absorb the heat of the weld and possibly do more burning away of material than welding. Here's the cross frame flipped over, still needing welding and grinding round.

Now the welding is done around the outer edge of the shock mounts. I can take the 4 1/2 ' grinder and round the edges. Nothing fancy on the welding I know, these will never be seen later.:shhh:

Now the finished product.
 
#337 ·
This level of fabrication skill is absolutely on par with the crazy talented Pakistani guys over on Pirate 4x4 who have been building hand-fabb'd one-off awesomeness for years. I probably have every tool they've ever had access to and more yet still can't hold a candle...you, however, are showing us what skill AND tools can produce!

On a more personally positive note, I laid my hands on my Lincoln AC-225 welder for the first time this weekend. Built a small cart for it too! Going to clean it up and paint it this week.
 
#338 ·
This level of fabrication skill is absolutely on par with the crazy talented Pakistani guys over on Pirate 4x4 who have been building hand-fabb'd one-off awesomeness for years. I probably have every tool they've ever had access to and more yet still can't hold a candle...you, however, are showing us what skill AND tools can produce!
Yes yes yes, that's the idea. I'm sure we've all seen episodes of American chopper and many other shops of rebuilds. The closest show I've seen that comes to what I want to see is Gears with Stacey what's his name:confused:. Anyway he gets the closest to showing how he does the fabrication, that's what I want to see.
I compare it to a magician, if he tells me that something is going to dissapear, I believe him, nothing special. Now if he shows me the mechanicals of how the act is done, now I'm impressed.
 
#339 ·
Once again I have to reassemble to check the fit of all the pieces so far, plus it lets you know the project is moving forward. After so many weeks you have to do what ever it takes to find motivation. My dry time is about the time I've done the diassasembly and been working on the repairs for a couple weeks, after a while it gets a little tiring. Point is, I know there are thousands of started projects that never get done, gotta keep moving forward. Here's a shot of the pieces in place.

Back to progress. I already showed the pic. This will be the next focus of fabrication. I've mentioned the process of filling and grinding and refilling. I tried to get a better pictorial display of the process. Here we go.

It is alot of filling. The tough part is working within the frame rails. This next pic is the first grinding.
 
#340 ·
Last picture showed the first grinding after the first fill. The picture showed a pretty good fill yet there were a few pits still remaining. This next pic is one that shows I got ahead of myself, oops:eek:. I filled the pits and started to grind then I stopped and said "I forgot to take a pic" soooo I took one and here is the result.

After the grinding I filled again, this time I remembered to take a picture. As mentioned before, this is a repeat process, fill and grind, fill and grind. This picture is the third fill. I already seen the end of this fix, it's gonna look great.:wave::thumbsup:
 
#341 ·
I've got a couple days off work so I'm finally making some progress.:D
Let's finish this rusty frame section with the fillin and grinding. The picture says it all, it looks great.

Next on the menu is this hole, or what ever it is. I've looked at it for years now, it's time to do a dissapearing act. Lesson time...It looks butt ugly, I don't even know how it got there. Sometimes to our eye something can look confusing as this hole is. We have to simplify the mess so we can construct a plan on how to fix it. Here's the hole.
 
#346 ·
spyder6, if it's a heart thing, something that never leaves your desire. With all the temptations and stuff to redirect your attention and you always fall back to working in the shop, invest in your shop. God gave you a talent, if you know it, fulfill it. I craved working in the shop as a teenager, then life happened, I got missdirected, wasted time chasing quickies and short pleasures. I probably lost about 10 to 15 years, aaarghhhh. Now, obviously, I'm back in the saddle again, a few things have tried to redirect my focus lately, but my past helps me see the red flags real quick and I'm back to my passion, the workshop.:highfive:
I'm gonna finish the "hole" real quick tonight. I have one metal working lesson to pass on. This first picture is the lesson. This filler piece is 3/16 thick, it takes some grinding to remove the amount of material to get to the sharpie mark. Always try to grind at an angle, the cut will be more agressive. For example, the grind in the pic is working with an angle. There is a second benifit also. Take the angle down to the sparpie mark, this way when you grind the rest of the material you grind the srurface flat and your done.

This next pic is the piece made to fit and the surround is "v" cut and ready for welding. The clamp you see next to the hole is holding a small steel plate that is covering the back side of the hole. This way the new filler piece has to stay flush with the rest of the frame.

And the weld. We've seen enough of the grinding, so after this we move to the back of the frame, got a couple uglies there also.
 
#347 ·
Been focusing on all the welding and grinding, let's move to something new. Before I can declare the frame ready to prime and paint I have to settle the springs and their mounts on the frame. Since I had to replace the frame sections where the front mounts bolt to the frame I have to be sure when the painting is done I don't have a missalignment situation. Always, always, check your fits before paint, nothing worse than having to force parts together later, this pre-check will save time and headaches in the long run. As compared to todays suspensions where we have rubber bushings that have some miss-alignment forgiveness, these old Willys use solid bronze bushings, not much give if things are off from spring mount to spring mount. Picture shows how close the frame is to looking done and clean. Also it's the first time I had all the bushings pressed into the springs and rear shackles. Before this I haven't had the bushings pressed into the suspension yet. This gave me the freedom of assembly and disassembly without abusing the new bushings yet, but now it's time. The next set of pics will go though the removal, lathe work, pressing, and reaming of the new bushings.

These shackles really show their age. A couple places has new ones in their catalogs but none in stock. I have no choice, gotta use the old ones. This pic shows one old bushing removed, it's shackle cleaned up a little bit. The opening where the bushing fits in is badly eaten away:(. I have no choice, I have to fill and grind. (and I thought I was gonna get away from welding and grinding, ha) and the one I have'nt touched yet.

Here's the filling process. I can't do one continuous weld, I have to do short stitches. If I did one continuous weld I'd start to burn into the material too much and distort the hole. After this I used the, yup you guessed it, 4 1/2 inch grinder. Using a caliper and checking the measurement continuously I got a pretty accuate resurface. Here's the fill.
 
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