Newbie here looking to buy a Travelall.

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wesfab1

Goin' Commando
Hello all, I really hate doing these new member introductions, here goes.
Im a life long off-road enthusiast and have been into Jeeps since before i could legally drive. I am also an avid camper, unfortunatly day to day life has kept me from having any real expeditions.

My current "adventure" vehicle is a '63 IH Scout 80 AWD. It is pretty much stock as Scout 80s came pretty capable from the factory. All i did to mine was ad a CB, fullsize aluminum roof rack, and 31x11.5 directional tires. I used it all of last summer as a fishing rig. The longest trip i went on with it was 200miles to the Moose River Plains in Inlet NY. Loaded with four large guys, gear, and two kayaks you could tell it was severely overloaded.

I am currently searching for an International Harvester Travelall 4x4 to revamp into an expedition rig. If anyone has seen one for sale on their local craigslist or auto trader please let me know.

Thank you
 
Martinjmpr

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
You're insane.

Just wanted to note that. :p

(But, as Malcolm Reynolds on "Firefly" said, "You're my kind of stupid." :D)

(Of course, with you driving a nearly 50 year old rig like the 80 with four adults inside it, I'm probably not telling you anything you didn't already know.)

Seriously, my very first two rigs were Travelalls, a 57 (first year of factory 4wd, I believe) and the other was a 67 I think (last year of the "rounded" body style. For a 17 year old kid (I got the 57 in 1979, it was 5 years older than me!) and then a 20 year old kid (got the 67 in '82) they were probably not the best choice, but they were unique, that's for sure!

Anyway, good luck on the quest. You can find a lot of rust-free vehicles in the Rocky Mountains and Southwest Deserts. Anything on your side of the Mississippi is probably going to be either expensive (because it was restored) or rusted all to hell.
 
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wesfab1

Goin' Commando
copy that,

I will most likely be purchasing something out West and having it shipped in. I am getting very tired of rust repair.

The Travelall is top choice because you NEVER see them here. Heck, i've only seen one other Scout on the road besides mine. Second choice would be a FSJ Cherokee or Grand Waggy.
 
I

ihatemybike

Explorer
You are in luck, I've been playing with Yahoo Pipes to pull listings nationwide from CL and the Travelall is an excellent search test subject. As of this post I've found 48 listings. Another bonus, you can subscribe to this using a RSS reader and see when new ads are listed.

CL Nationwide - International Travelall
 
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Linus Tremaine

Linus Tremaine

Adventurer
too bad

I just sold a great one.
For expedition use, I suggest you try to find a 60s one with the barn door or ambulance style rear doors rather than a tailgate with the electric window. I have always had (3 times) the electric rear window and its just annoying to always have to roll the glass up and down whenever you need something from the back.

Mine was 4x4 with two tanks... you need two tanks. The 304 is a great engine but small for a fully loaded t-all. The 392 is too big. Get a 345 woth a two barrel. You should also try to find one with power steering if you can as they are very hard to steer off road. Power brakes is a great idea as well.

They are great engines, no timing chain, hydraulic lifters and can be fairly good on fuel for a big v8 of you are light on the throttle.

Here is the #1 item on your wish list which will be hard to find: t-34 overdrive five speed.

Travelall- best truck ever!
Good Luck.
 
Martinjmpr

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
Linus Tremaine said:
I just sold a great one.
For expedition use, I suggest you try to find a 60s one with the barn door or ambulance style rear doors rather than a tailgate with the electric window. I have always had (3 times) the electric rear window and its just annoying to always have to roll the glass up and down whenever you need something from the back.

Mine was 4x4 with two tanks... you need two tanks. The 304 is a great engine but small for a fully loaded t-all. The 392 is too big. Get a 345 woth a two barrel. You should also try to find one with power steering if you can as they are very hard to steer off road. Power brakes is a great idea as well.

They are great engines, no timing chain, hydraulic lifters and can be fairly good on fuel for a big v8 of you are light on the throttle.

Here is the #1 item on your wish list which will be hard to find: t-34 overdrive five speed.

Travelall- best truck ever!
Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Interesting - you sort of described my last one to a T. 60's model (rounded), 345 V8, 4 speed (never heard of a factory 5 speed on the Travelall, although I think it may have been possible to special order one.) Mine had the roll down window and you're right, it was a PITA because mine was broken so if I wanted to open the tailgate I had to remove the panel on the gate, and manually lower the window. That's one of the reasons I sold it. Mine had the dual tanks as well, although IIRC they weren't all that big - I think the one on the left side was 10 gallons and the one on the right was 20, so 30 gallons total.

Funny thing about the tanks, I didn't know how to use them. There is a knob on the dashboard that both pulls in and out as well as rotating. Rotating the knob switches the gauge, but you have to pull the knob to switch the tanks. I ran out of gas once on a full tank because I didn't realize I had to pull the knob out (towards me) as well as turn it in order to switch the tank controls! Doh! :eek:

Anyway, the only other problem with my Travelall was that it had manual steering. Real PITA to park in the city!

Other than that, it was a rock solid truck. I was stupid for selling it but I wanted something cool and shiny, so I traded it for a badly abused '71 Blazer that was a total POS. I probably put twice the cost of that Blazer into fixing it in the two years I owned it.

In my defense, I was 21 when I sold it, so I was pretty much an idiot.

Photos (sorry for the poor quality, they're from slides):

Here's my '67 Travelall (yes, it is a 4x4, even though it sits low to the ground):

69TRAV02.jpg


Here's the POS Blazer I traded it in for:

71BLAZ01.jpg


Both photos from about 1983-84.
 
Desert Dan

Desert Dan

Explorer
I like the old IH and Willys stuff too but be realistic about parts availablity, rust etc.

Do you want to work on your rig or drive it?

A newer 3/4 Ton Suburban is a much more common platform and parts are easy to find.
 
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wesfab1

Goin' Commando
Desert Dan said:
I like the old IH and Willys stuff too but be realistic about parts availablity, rust etc.

Do you want to work on your rig or drive it?

A newer 3/4 Ton Suburban is a much more common platform and parts are easy to find.
Click to expand...

In all honesty, I would probably swap out most of the stock drivetrain eventualy for something that has parts more readiliy available. Im pretty good at wrenching. The IH just has "that look" if ya know what i mean.
 
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wesfab1

Goin' Commando
Here are some current pics of my scout. I want the T-all to be set up like this, but on a larger scale
 

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casioqv

casioqv

Dr. Diesel
I think the rare turbo diesel Travelall would be the ultimate expedition vehicle if parts for it were more readily available.
 
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