A little project update on Chug A Lug

Looks great, I don't have a little brother but I have 3 grown sons and they do a good job. The middle one just moved into his first house a week ago so my stuff is leaving here every day. They bring most of it back over time. I was just there and they wanted to make a deal for my 3 year old granddaughter, apparently she's acting up today.

WOW that was a scary lesson to learn. Seams cheap orange ratchet straps will ratchet tighter just fine. But have a FRECKIN tendency to let out 6+ inches of strap at a time when trying to ratchet out.

I managed to get the tub down on to the frame (well some wood blocks set on the frame) without any thing to terrible happening though I do have an area on the top of the frame where it meets the right rear cross member mount to repaint.

Now I have to wait for someone to wander by I can trap into giving me a hand lining it up and getting one of the boards I used to protect the frame and tub from each other out. Just to much to try to lift and wrestle the board out at the same time.

OH and leecar you will be happy to know the insides of the rear backing plates are totally Safety Blue like they should have been all along. Boy was that fun to mask off.

The thing about the Blue is neither would match the body color which will be Kirker Paints Pacific Blue so unless I were to paint the backing plates and the Shocks the same 3 different shades of blue is better then 2 or so the wife says LOL.

As to the size of the space I agree. I have almost 34' linear but no more then 10' in width and with crap stored around the perimeter even less.


 

Looks good Thx 4 sharing.

berettajeep wrote: Wow wow wow!!   Looking forward to seeing the tub on Mark.

OH CRAP its all ready back in the shop I'll get a couple as I work out the mounting hole stuff.

OK update time. I have the Rear Cross member body mount holes drilled. I also drilled a couple holes on the bottom side to attach a Jack stop (to keep a high lift jack for slipping off an angled rear cross member) I then removed all the Sherwin Williams Chassis Black paint off it and redid some of the spot putty. I then put 3 coats of VHT Epoxy Satin Black on it but even though I knew it was way to hot out I did it anyway. The result was a crappy finish as the paint set up to fast. SOOOOO I then waited a couple days and hand sanded it out smooth on the top and back side and a close to smooth on the bottom with 400 P grit paper. I'm waiting a couple days to reshoot it.

I got the fancy domed head grade 8 bolts that will hold the rear cross member made and painted.

I collected up and organized all the body mount pads and bolts, nuts and washers that will hold the tub to the frame. I think I need to buy 10 more of the 1/4" pads (I'm padding the bolt head or nut when possible)

I made the 4) Bolts that will attach the body in the front floor, under the tank and in the Tool box. They are grade 5 Carriage Bolts with the heads re domed flatter and got them painted.

SO at this point I still need to drill the 4) Front floor body mount holes in the Tub (I'll do that once its off the Frame again) And 2 of the rear cross member bolt holes in the frame work that makes up the rear valance panel.

I took a break from Body mount stuff and masked off the area under the dash to be painted. I am painting that area with a Anti Rust Enamel with a brush to work it into all the crevices.

WOW that was so fun laying on my back on the Tub floor with a 1" brush painting everything from the Toe Board to Firewall joint up as well as the back side of the dash. My left hand is asleep! And I only get to do it one more time. I setup a small fan to blow air under the dash so I wouldn't pass out from fumes !

Sure brightens up the underside of the dash I'm using the same LT. Ford Gray I used in the Tool box. 

First time I have been in Chug in a dozen years LOL.

This week at work was a mess I had until Wed. Night at 8:00 off for the Holiday and then Worked a short 7 hour night paving on one of the Bridges over the Willamette River in Salem. Did the same Thru Night except a full night of 9.5 hours. Had Friday off but of course slept till noon. And then Sat hauled rock to a Landfill (they are building a new pit) and got in almost 10 hours. SO with the Holiday pay last week was a bust. No Willys money from last week.

Hopefully this week will be better I am trying to save up a nice nest egg to buy the Aluminum for the hard top this Winter. Not much left to buy for Chug proper I got like 1000 parts on shelves and piled up around here just waiting to be assembled.


 

WOW another killer 60 hour week. This one left me with even less time to work on Chug then usual. I worked until 5pm Sat and now at 6:30pm Sun I have to leave for night paving.

So this is whats new wedged in between to much dump trucking.

First up The underside of the dash is a nice Lt Ford Gray. I figured it would help with rust prevention as well as when I am under there with a light the lighter color would help illuminate stuff. I used a big artists brush with very fine bristles and a little 3" roller with 3/8" nap to reach everywhere.



Next up I got the Tub lined up on the frame and drilled some holes in the Rear Cross Member last week to get the Body mounts ready. Today I actually bolted the Tub down via the two mounts on the Tail Light Panels and the Riser. I double checked the Square and then drilled the Two inner Mounts on the Rear Cross Member.

I had to make a pair of Micarta Spacers to add to the Polyurethane mounting pads I am using at the Riser mounts I must have put the 2A body mounts lower then I should have when I transferred them to the CJ5 frame. At any rate I wanted to use a 7/16" thick pad at each location and making a .310" thick spacer did the trick.

This Photo shows an overall rear view of the Tub mounted.



And a view of the Rear Cross Member Mounting brackets from the Wheel House. You can see the Body mount from the other side in this one.



And a pair of photos to show the little brackets I made that will support the tierod like braces I will use for my Box extension. Normally these braces would go to the Draw bar but as I have no draw bar this is my solution. Also since my Box Extension is only going to be 15" instead of the 24" I figured I didn't need quite as much angle to the support. Oh it should be noted here the Bolts are Grade 8's I reshaped the heads on to make them a little more attractive.

Outside view left side bracket



Inner view left side bracket



I still need to drill the body mount holes in the front floor, tank, and tool box areas. I'm trying to decide just how I want to do that. I am planning on using a carriage bolt in these positions so I will have to drill a pretty tight 3/8" hole so I can file out the square for the head to fit into. Since my "Hat Channel" is actually .090" x 1" x 2" rectangular tubing I'll have plenty of meat for the Square to lock into. Going to be a PITA doing all that filing.

Looks like Night work all this Week so depending on when I can wake up I'll have a couple hours to work each day before Dinner and leaving for work.





Edited by Mark W. - 17 July 2017 at 1:03am

This Willys is looking amazing Mark!  I can't wait to see it at next year's Spring fling!

Very nice work. I love it when the chassis is that clean and square.