1949 International/Jeep Wrangler Rock Crawling & Overland Build

[GoldiesGarage]

amazing work. Love how you kept the 'patina'

Thank you, it has been a long road and still got more to do. The patina should be able to hide future body damage ?

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Volunteered at the Mint400 Desert Race. Had a good time and meet some great people. I was able to be right next to the track. These guys are flying. Helicopters are like 30 feet off the ground. Super cool to see this in person.


This was the last lap for the overall winner 4WP truck.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Since I made a 4 way deflator/inflator for Shaine's Jeep. I really don't like doing one wheel at time anymore. So I made this 4-way for myself. Unlike the one I made for Shaine, I made this one to be universal. Took me about 1.5 hours to cut and assemble this 4-way. After using it, I will add the quick disconnects back for the left and right side. This will allow it to break down into 3 parts and no more kinking when trying to read the gauge. Besides that worked great.

 

[ITTOG]

Any idea what that cost you? Where did you buy the parts? I am curious because I almost bought one that is pre-built and I think it was about $150 to $175 if I remember correctly.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Any idea what that cost you? Where did you buy the parts? I am curious because I almost bought one that is pre-built and I think it was about $150 to $175 if I remember correctly.

I too was looking, what I was seeing was a about $225 and up. With the difference, I figured why change the theme and just build it myself.
I bought all my parts off Amazon.
The most expensive item is the valve chuck. If you change the chuck you can make it cheaper.
Price 183.85
Valve Chuck x4
4 Way x1
50ft hose x1
Hose ends x10
Gauge x1
Brass tee x2
Ball valve x1

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Took the truck on its first off-road trail test. Just so happens that a Jeep badge of Honor trail, Rocky Gap Trail is near by. This is my 1st time doing anything with large rocks or anything this hard.

 

[NORCALROOTS]

Just spent a bit of time reading through this whole build. Excellent work. I can relate as I'm doing something similar. And yes, learning it yourself is very gratifying, even if it isn't perfect.

Here's a video of the progress of my 1953 Willys Wagon on a 2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ frame and running gear.



Keep up the awesome work.

Brian

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Just spent a bit of time reading through this whole build. Excellent work. I can relate as I'm doing something similar. And yes, learning it yourself is very gratifying, even if it isn't perfect.

Here's a video of the progress of my 1953 Willys Wagon on a 2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ frame and running gear.

Keep up the awesome work.

Brian

Brian, your Willys is looking fantastic. Keep it up.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Finally able to do an overlanding trip with my truck. My buddy Tim wanted to go check out Anza Borrego again. We have 2 days to check out some points of interests we didn't see the first time we where here. Goals of the trip was to see the Serpent (again), Bailey's Cabin, Mud Caves, enjoy ourselves, general off-roading, and find a camp spot. Tim and I met up at the Serpent and from there we went to Coyote Canyon. The canyon had a nice water crossing and we played in there for a bit and took some pictures. In the end Coyote Canyon turned out being a bust for driving to Baileys Cabin, it turns into a foot trail only. So we turned around and headed over to fish creek to look for the Mud Caves. When using Fish Creek to get to the Mud Caves you have to go up Devil's Drop off. It's a nice steep sandy climb with lockers, it is nothing crazy. With that tackled, Gaia was showing a primitive campsite near some mud caves. We took advantage of the convince and setup camp. Once setup we explored the cave. Is crazy how the mud caves are a natural phenomenon. It is really neat to see. This is how we concluded Day 1. For Day 2, we had a lot of time to kill. So we went down Devil's Drop off. It's fun in either direction. Together we decided to shoot over to Slab city. The last time I was in Slab city was October of 2016. Slab city 2021 was a huge disappointment for me. Salvation Mountain is blocked off and you can't walk on it anymore. Slab city turned into a Tourist destination. The is more trash then ever, especially burn vehicles. Beautiful art has been covered by graffiti. But one enjoyable thing we found was a SUPER sketchy 360° 2 person swing. It was fun but couldn't be trusted to do the 360. With the let down over with, I know last time I was here I was able to drive on the Salton Sea. So that was the next plan of attack. Well with the years having past thing here have also changed. You no longer can drive up to the waters edge and they also put cameras up too. So we just chilled for a little bit and and this is where Tim and I parted ways.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

1st overland trip for the truck.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Got part 2 finished.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

I need to start making the bed more user friendly. I don't have any tie down spots and still want the retro wood look. Original ideas are hard to come by but I think I got one. These are L tracks, used in aircraft. You can put different attachments in the rails. This is an expensive addition but I think with the plans I have it should work out perfectly. I bought the stud, ring attachments and the L tracks from US Cargo Control. The wood is just some plywood I stained and cleared. I still have some fit and finish to do. Also, since these are meant for aircraft, they use a 45° countersink bolt. Standard is 82°. I bought a 82° bit and drilled out each hole. 82° bolts are cheaper, if I choose to do this again, I'll save money and now I have a 82° countersink bit set. More tools?



Still working on building a new tail gate. So I can finally take advantage of the bed being able to come out.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Went to King of the Hammers with my brothers and Shaine. Camped out for one night and explored the second day. We went ripping (fast for me but not Pre-runner fast) through miles of dirt roads out there. Later that night, we went to Chocolate Thunder and it was wild. There were hundreds of people spectating, fancy rig ripping through, others breaking stuff and the select few who rolled.

Me trying to do donuts with my front locker on...




Second day we went to Cougar Butte. This was fun, the rocks are different from Chocolate Thunder. They are big but easier to navigate and I wasn't fearing for my life like I was going to break anything. I did my biggest rock which was about as tall as me.






Great 2 day trip, Good company, everything work and nothing broke. What more can you ask for?

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Newest Modifications.

Tailgate fabrication
Nothing fancy, just bought some tubes that fit the factory parts and some EXPENSIVE 1/4 sheet ($509). I needed the 8x4 sheet because the tailgate is 51 inches wide and I wanted it to be 1 piece. I am thinking about mounting the spare tire on the tailgate. To keep the bed space and I don't know where else to put it.



I changed my front spring out from the Teraflex 6 inch to the Metalcloak 5.5 inch. I did gain a 1/2 inch but It will settle. I was having a problem with the springs "S-ing" and touching my sway bar. Teraflex said the springs could be tired. So I went shopping. I went with Metalcloak because they had a sale which made the springs $180 out the door. I also moved my axle rearwards to try and get the sway bar off the front coils. Not too sure about everything I change but I have like a 1/8 inch of space now but I do not like my front pinion angle.



I ponied up and bought the last parts to complete the steering...Hydro assist piston. Install was straight forward weld some tabs on the front axle, put the clamp on the tie rod, check lock to lock, connect the hoses, and refill the lost fluid. Drives great. Side Note... steering wheel doesn't re-center while driving anymore. I really like how the wheels don't move any without input from the steering wheel, it feels more controlled.


Modified the Metalcloak front skid plate. The drain hole was in the wrong place for the oil drain bolt and it was blocking the oil filter. It looks terrible but once it gets some paint it will look better. I needed some front mounts, so I made some and the front plate feels solid. Still surprised it has no surface rusted that the zinc coating is still doing things even after being touched by fire.

 

[tyler.armijo]

One of my favorite builds on this site. It’s old school cool and home built. You don’t see much of that anymore


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