Scoping out a new project, questions.....

[slander]

I have hit a crossroads with the taco, its going to be alot of $$$ to SAS this truck and have it able to drive on the street and theres no real good way to get a cage in it. So ive been thinking, either buy an IBEX buggy kit (buggy in a box) and all the bs that goes along with that, tow rig trailer ect OR take a serious look at buillding the 1944 willys mb that i am part owner of (long story), soon to be full owner of. I would keep the taco for DD duties, wheeling out of the elements, and theres no way that truck has any resale value. What im thinking is building this thing sammy style, cheap low, caged and able to go anywhere I point it. So far I have been thinking of:

• 22re
• FJ 40, 60, or mini truck axles
• Possibly keep the dana 18 tcase (offset to pax side so it would work with the LC axles easily), or a mini truck case.
• Possible wheel base stretch
• Cage, and some sort of a top
• 35-37's.
• Street legal
• reliable
• I want to keep as much toyota stuff as possbile in it, since its stout out of the box, consistant, and simple.
• Goal is to have it running and wheelable by next years PYS

What is a good, short tranny that preferably has a granny gear and is toyota?

 

[jimkyser]

Is there a way to bolt an sm420 behind a 22RE? If so, that with either a model 18 case with 3.15:1 gears or an Orion would give you a nice short drivetrain with excellent gear multiplication. If you run the model 18, I might even know someone who has a Warn overdrive to make it more street friendly.

For a Toyota granny tranny, maybe the H41. It's very similar to the H42 4-speed used in US spec 40s after 1974 except it has a 4.8-5.3:1 first gear vs the 3.5:1 of the US one. The actual ratio depends on the application, but they were used in HJ45s and HJ47s as well as some 40s.

 

[slander]

thank you jim. negative on the orion tcase, i would spend 500 more and get an atlas for that much, damn!! the more i think about it i may just drop a whole mini truck drivetrain in there and stretch the frame and tub. i like wheelbase anyway.

 

[booty]

Sounds like a cool plan. If you need any LC axles I have some empty housings of both ends of a 40. Just let me know if you need them.

 

[jimkyser]

Turns out there used to be a plate adapter to bolt an SM420 or an SM465 to the W56 bellhousing. Actually two separate pieces because the index bore on the SM465 is bigger than the SM420. But the manufacturer, Ott Industries, seems to have disappeared. Maybe you can find a used one out there somewhere.

 

[slander]

thanks mark and jim. ive been doing research on registering this heep and i think illinois dmv redtape may kill this project before it starts. the heep is a 1944 body, has what i assume is the origional frame but a steel plate is welded over where the frame numbers are. the drivetrain is from a 1952 cj2 that was swapped go knows how long before i bought it. in order to register this thing all the numbers have to match (body frame tranny engine) or i have to have the titles/bills of sales from the donor vehicles which i do not have. further complicating things is that its an out of state title which from what ive read come under additional scrutiny. i would have to get the jeep running in its current state to be inspected since it was built pre 1948 which is additional time and money. One can only imagine the confusion if it came in with an engine and drivetrain from a 1980 something mini truck. On top of that it looks like they are trying to hit people up for back taxes and fees based on their (the states) apprasal. Apparently this has all started last year when this bankrupt s*** hole became even more of a bankrupt s***hole. The other option is to build it as a trailer queen, but i used to have one of those and thats another mess of BS that i dont want to put with and am trying to avoid.

Anyone have any 80 axles laying around for my SAS?

 

[4rnr]

No leafs with an 80 axle.... If that matters to you.

Well not with out a ton of cash...

Honestly, a 60 series axle with long fields is stronger than a stock 80 axle. And an 80 axle alone usually runs more money than 60 series longs. Plus you get a 9.5 rather than the cute 8".

 

[tonyota]

Dunno what's so bad about the "trailer queen" rig? I have my first one that I tow & I like having a designated trail rig that I don't have to worry about driving back home. Also no plates or insurance is nice & I try more obstacles when out wheelin. In the words of LLoyd Christmas, "I like it a lot"

I flat tow mine so I only have about $100.00 in my tow bar & lights set up.

While I did enjoy some aspects of driving my wheeling rig, I more enjoy it the way it is now.

 

[booty]

I enjoy both cases. The 40 is trailered to most all wheeling events, which as Tony said, gives you an extra feeling of safety. Just gotta drag it to the trailer so go for broke.

But my 40 is also street legal, and there is something great about getting it out and driving it around town.

Your info on the BS of your BMV, adds another reason to be glad I live in Indiana.

 

[jimkyser]

Wow, when I registered my CJ-2A, nobody saw it. I took the Virginia title into the Illinois DMV and walked out with an Illinois title and plates. The VIN on the title matches the L-head 4 that was in it when I bought it. That's long gone now and a Buick V6 sits where it used to. I have the original frame and body tags, but the body is a Filipino reproduction that was swapped on by the PO in Maryland or Colorado. The frame was sold and I bought a new one from Matkins.

As a side note, Willys vehicles never had engine serial numbers that matched the body and frame serial numbers. The body and frame usually matched, but the engine number was almost always higher. I think it might have been due to taking engines out of the production line for replacement stock. The offset between the numbers got larger as production continued. My engine was 22092, my body and frame numbers are 21361.

 

[slander]

No leafs with an 80 axle.... If that matters to you.

Well not with out a ton of cash...

Honestly, a 60 series axle with long fields is stronger than a stock 80 axle. And an 80 axle alone usually runs more money than 60 series longs. Plus you get a 9.5 rather than the cute 8".

Yea i ment 60 axle, steering on an 80 axle will not be fun. Its damn near cheaper to buy a set of pro rock 60s than what some of these sellers want for those damn 80 axles stock... DAMN!!

Dunno what's so bad about the "trailer queen" rig? I have my first one that I tow & I like having a designated trail rig that I don't have to worry about driving back home. Also no plates or insurance is nice & I try more obstacles when out wheelin. In the words of LLoyd Christmas, "I like it a lot"

I flat tow mine so I only have about $100.00 in my tow bar & lights set up.

While I did enjoy some aspects of driving my wheeling rig, I more enjoy it the way it is now.

Ill pretty much try any obsticle within reason now with the DD... I used to have a trailer queen jeep, the extra cost of the trailer and tow rig is just not worth it IMO. I absolutely destroyed that thing, and yes it was fun wheeling with the "as long as i get it to the trailer" mentality, i spent more time wrenching on it on the trail due to that then actually wheeling, granted it was a heep yj. I missed driving it around town as well. Now if i had a pole barn and some place to store the trailer, and tow rig, then game on its buggy time.

Saying all that the taco has been trailered on three wheeling trips lol....

Wow, when I registered my CJ-2A, nobody saw it. I took the Virginia title into the Illinois DMV and walked out with an Illinois title and plates. The VIN on the title matches the L-head 4 that was in it when I bought it. That's long gone now and a Buick V6 sits where it used to. I have the original frame and body tags, but the body is a Filipino reproduction that was swapped on by the PO in Maryland or Colorado. The frame was sold and I bought a new one from Matkins.

As a side note, Willys vehicles never had engine serial numbers that matched the body and frame serial numbers. The body and frame usually matched, but the engine number was almost always higher. I think it might have been due to taking engines out of the production line for replacement stock. The offset between the numbers got larger as production continued. My engine was 22092, my body and frame numbers are 21361.

I guess they just started doing this late last year. Try explaining that last paragraph to Schaniquwa the beurocat between breaks, or to the State Police officer inspecting it who automatically thinks evreyones full of s***. I am going to talk to a good friend of mine who is the king of shadyness and dealing with the DMV (used to own a trucking company) and get his take on it before i abandon all hope.

 

[slander]

An update on this: Stareing at semi built flat fenders and in my endless quest to drive my wife further into insanity has caused this project to be resurrected. I went over to where the heep was stored with my FSM in hand determined to make a parts list that i need to get this running. So me and my buddy were standing around staring at it comparing the engine to diagrams like some dumbasses when his 75yr old neighbor who used to own one of these wanderd into the barn and was asking about the jeep. "you fellas need to get that started" and the proceeded to talk old man s*** to us for the next 4 hrs while we asked stupid questions like "what are points and where does the laptop plug in. Condenser?!?! its a WW2 military jeep there's no AC..." Needless to say we got the 60yr old flat-head to fire up on a concoction of ether and watery 8yr old gas we found in a can in the barn. Only 40 dollers in parts from NAPA and it was running... We tried to get video but the starter seized up which is apparently normal for these. So we know the oil pump works since it spewed oil out of one of the disconnected oil filter lines, it actually runs pretty good with very little smoke, the jeep is already wired up for 12 volt (SWEET) and 90% of the parts are there to get it driveable with all the stock parts. The plan is to get it road worthy and registered and go from there. I decided F it, I'm fighting the man at the DMV and plowing through red tape and see what happens when i go to get plates for it.

More pics to follow, i should have gotten a pic of the old guys face when we showed up with NGK spark plugs... "What the heck.. get that jap crap away from this thing"

I think a set of 40axles with some 34X9.5 Swampers would look quite nice under this.....

 

[Scott_sFZJ80]

Nice

 

[slander]

 

[Gappy]

That is just stupid cool....love it

 

[joez]

Is that in Ron's shop?

 

[tonyota]

So is it all original? Restored to original or did someone just make it look like an army jeep?
Either way it is cool !

 

[slander]

Is that in Ron's shop?

Yup for the past 12yrs when we brought it home from mn.

So is it all original? Restored to original or did someone just make it look like an army jeep?
Either way it is cool !

The frame, axles and most the body are original from 1944, they did some bone head s*** like skin the tub with newish panels and cut a tailgate in the back as there is not supposed to be one. The engine, trans and tcase is from a cj2 which is a slight upgrade from the army jeep parts. It supposedly had a v8 at some point in its life so the firewalls all hacked up. The paint is brushed on and I looks like it used to be a hideous gold flake color. Not a resto worthy heep which is why i would not mind putting some yota parts in it and wheeling it.

 

[joez]

Nice, it sure looked like it in the pics.

 

[slander]

What gave it away, the piles of scrap metal, the overloaded mezzanine full of old semi parts, or the random gas powered stuff surrounding it in the pics?