New to '40's, New to forum...what to do first?

[DesertEmu]

Before you start pulling it apart think twice I pulled apart my BJ42 a few years back and it is very time consuming and money.

I am just stating the truth and for the extra money you can get a cleaner landcruiser out west.......This is if you are not willing to put many hours into a full restoration .............

 

[RAYJON]

that really doesn't look that bad, see what the fab shop would quote to fix it, if done properly it will be fine, that way you can have it safe and enjoy it this summer. welding patches and fixing frames it done alot, here out west we are lucky in that they dont end up that way but I have welded on alot of broken and bent stuff and if done properly it is just as strong..

tear it apart next winter when there is nothing better to do.. just remember when you start cleaning the rust of it will be twice as bad as you think especially on the body...if you decide to tear it down later and sand blast it you will likely find some more small spots.. but after its blasted it easier to fix..

I use the local powder coater for blasting just have to wait until they are going to change the media for the nasty suff. if you have it blasted its easier to deal with as its clean metal saves alot of time grinding and cleaning. Look around on Mud there are several frames that were alot worse than yours that have been fixed... 115 mig and a little time to wonders...

 

[archie73]

So Dessert Emu makes a good point and in a logical world he's right. And the previous poster makes a good point about the jeep being a cheaper alternative. You could also fly out west, for that matter, and pick up a $5k-12k cruiser and have an adventure getting it home for the entry price of a new jeep...
Or we could look at it as a journey. I have a cruiser I bought in college in Vermont. It looks just like you imagine it looks like from wintering there. I did some bad patch jobs on it and it moved me to the mid west and th Rockies. It shaked, it rattled. I never got rid of it. I bought commuter cars with no soul and even had a 78 or 79(I forget) for six months that drove better than mine. Thing is- all the other cars and trucks come and go- I'll never let go my of my first cruiser. I'll buy a new tub and commit blasphemy with a 350/465. It'll never be the same as it rolled off the assembly line, but it's mine. ***end poetic rambling***

In all seriousness, I have no regrets in holding onto mine and I'll dump the money(however slowly) into it to get into the shape I want. You gotta decide how long are you in the journey. I'm guessing you have the bug, you've got 8 pages here and 4 years...

 

[jamba256]

@archie73 You're right, brother, I have the bug. And you're right @DesertEmu, it will take a lot of time.

I think that a feasible course of action is to buy a new frame, coat it, and try to swap over the engine and transmission to the new frame, coat the axle housings and put a new suspension on, thereby making the rolling chassis from which I can build on over the next few months. In some discussions with one of my sailors, who's a motorhead...he assures me that I can do this swap inside of a week or so, given dedication and some friends with it, too. I just can't let it sit out for months on end and I want to know that I can make some progress. all of the other stuff, reassembly and such, I can do in my driveway, but the structural part I want to complete the most.

took the cruiser to another frame shop and they wanted to charge me 1300 for the replacement of the perches and to patch up the hole...not even getting the frame section replaced...

 

[x463]

Unless you can do most of the work yourself this truck is too far gone for a checkbook restoration to be reasonable. You can buy a better one for less once it's all done. You will probably make a few $ selling that one as-is right now.