63 Wagoneer Rebuild

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glake
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

jsinajeep wrote:I did not know there was a different in the front of the frame. Keep us posted.
The 63 had bell and crank steering, thus the different front crossmember.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Stripped everything from the Super frame and cut off the rear bent portion yesterday. Gave it a thorough cleaning with the pressure washer this morning, then stripped and cut the frame of the 63 and two frames become one!
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The initial welding is done. Next I plan to box in the rear portion from the round crossmember all the way to the back. Also, I want to add some triangular piece from the crossmember to the new boxed in section.
Last edited by glake on Sun Nov 01, 2015 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Quick update: Finished boxing in the rear rails and got the first coat of paint on the frame. During the frame clean-up, I found a number of stress cracks, primarily on the steering box mount and the front spring hangers. So I spent a lot of time welding this last weekend.

This is the first part of the new boxed in section. It then continues to all the way to the back.
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Got the day off tomorrow, so I'm headed to Hesperia to pick up my 700R4 from Bowtie Overdrives.
Last edited by glake on Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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twisted frame
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by twisted frame »

glake wrote:Got the day off tomorrow, so I'm headed to Hesperia to pick up my 700R4 from Bowtie Overdrives.
Man, that sounds like a perfect day off: middle of the week, fresh parts to go pick up; enjoy, man, enjoy!

The frame also looks real good. In the places were you found stress cracks, I understand you welded them up but did you reinforce with plate or what? Just curious. I've never done it.

Did you change front spring mounts to be under the frame or had that already been done?
73 J4000. 360, MC 2100, T18A, D20, stock closed knuckle Dana 44 front, 60-2 rear. Warn Lock-O-Matics, Warn/Belleview electric winch, true duals with glasspacks, old-school front diff skid plate, used 265 Toyos on 16" AR wheels.
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

twisted frame wrote: Man, that sounds like a perfect day off: middle of the week, fresh parts to go pick up; enjoy, man, enjoy!

The frame also looks real good. In the places were you found stress cracks, I understand you welded them up but did you reinforce with plate or what? Just curious. I've never done it.

Did you change front spring mounts to be under the frame or had that already been done?

Going to make a day of it with a buddy of mine. We plan on leaving early so we can get up there and check out one of the high desert junk yards. Then we'll grab the trans and head home via Bass Pro shop for lunch.

For the cracks, I used the grinder to get a nice groove in the cracks to lay a good weld in. Most should be fine. There are a couple of places I may add some reinforcement.

The spring mounts are original. There are two small holes on the outside top where they meet the frame where small cracks formed. I just welded the holes up.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Got the frame all painted. Also cleaned up the springs, removing the surface rust and giving them a coat of paint. After cleaning I found the spring numbers. Turns out to be Rancho lift springs from sometime in the past when they offered a lift for early Wagoners. I did a little research on old posts, and found that not many people were overly impressed with ride quality of these lifts, but I'm going to keep them anyway. Maybe with a good set of Bilsteins or Rancho RS9000s they'll be acceptable.

Final coat on the frame.
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"New" springs
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I had a couple of cans of Chevy Orange on the shelf, so I gave the drivetrain a base coat. Final coat will be Chevy Red-Orange.
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Last edited by glake on Sun Nov 15, 2015 5:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Final coat of Chevy Red Orange put on.
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Put the springs on and set the axle underneath. This is the rear Dana 44 from a 97 Isuzu Rodeo.
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And the front from a 79 Wagoneer.
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Today I set the body back on the frame and prepped for the "butt" transplant. As I cut out the metal, there was quite a bit of stress relief happening. The rear end collision did a bit of number on it.
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The transplant begins tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it all goes well. I guess if I mess it up, I can always make it into a pickup!
Last edited by glake on Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:17 pm, edited 4 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Today I can say that I am thankful for the fact that I now, once again, have one complete body. The butt transplant (as I've dubbed it) turned out to be quite a process. Once I got it in place, there was a lot of shifting, grinding, measuring, trimming, and remeasuring, until I got everything lined up. The two bodies weren't the perfect match I had visions of. 45+ years of twisting made it a challenge. It took about a day and a half just to get it tacked into place and another day to get the first welds on the pillars. Today I finished up the floor and the initial welding on the pillars. It's not pretty, but tomorrow I should be grinding and cleaning them up.
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A bit of redneck engineering to coax the floors to line up. The front portion had a bit of a dent, while the rear seemed to pulled itself up after I cut it out of the original body.
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Here's the "Band-Aid" for the floor.
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And the pillars
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Caught my father-in-law sneaking around for an inspection in the last photo. I'm anxious to get started on the grinding tomorrow so I can really judge how well it came out.
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Last edited by glake on Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:31 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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jpswapmohn
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by jpswapmohn »

Impressive work!
That would have been the perfect time to build a roll cage inside before closing it up..
One day I will wake up and realize that my jeep is complete...one day, I just know it.
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Got the motor mounts tacked into place. These are Advanced Adapters mounts.
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Last edited by glake on Sun Dec 06, 2015 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

I just found a great Gladiator and bought it. So the Wagoneer will be put on hold while I work on the truck. The plan was for the Wagoneer to be my wife's daily driver, but the lease on her current car is up in April. Since the J truck should be a quicker build, I'm putting the Wagoneer on hold while I work on the Gladiator. Hopefully I can get it drivable by April and my wife can start driving our LJ. I'll get back on the Wagon as soon as the truck is done. I've started a build thread for the Gladiator.

In the meantime, he are some final shots before she was tucked into the house garage so the Gladiator can take over the barn. I finished up mounting the engine and transmission. The SBC and 700R4 were a perfect fit. I was even able to use the stock transmission crossmember in it's original location.
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All tucked in for a little nap.
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Last edited by glake on Tue Dec 29, 2015 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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nightglide
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by nightglide »

Looks great!
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glake
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

Now that the Gladiator is done, I'm been thinking about the Wagon. Here's my current thought. During the summer my friends and I picked up an 84 Wagoneer for parts. We all chipped in and called dibs on the parts we wanted. One friend wanted the axles, another took the drivetrain, and I was just going to take the power windows and window trim pieces. The rest was going to be dismantled for any other usable parts or scrap.
I was looking at it today and a thought came to me. The body is in pretty good shape, and it's a newer frame. The front fenders rad support and hood are toast. What if I used the frame, body and doors from the 84, and put my good front fenders, hood and rhino grill on it. I would also gut the interior, using my 63 dash. Would I be a bad person for leaving behind the 60's sheet metal and post mount suspension and create a 63 Wagoneer out of an 84?
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az chip
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by az chip »

Not a bad person. Save what you can, cobble together for structural integrity, and or save money. Make what you want.
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mud89
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by mud89 »

Nice.., do you have the VINs for the rigs used as parts donors ?
J10 81, J10 77, CJ7 80, Gladiator 64, Wagoneer 65, ZJ 5.9
parts vehicles : wagoneer 63, cherokee Golden eagle

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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by SJTD »

You'd loose the tasteful early sixties tail light trim.
Sic friatur crustulum

'84 GW with Nissan SD33T, early Chev NV4500, 300, narrowed Ford reverse 44, narrowed Ford 60, SOA/reversed shackle in fornt, lowered mount/flipped shackle in rear.
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glake
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

SJTD wrote:You'd loose the tasteful early sixties tail light trim.
I was thinking I would swap the tail lights.


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tedlovesjeeps71
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

glake wrote:
SJTD wrote:You'd loose the tasteful early sixties tail light trim.
I was thinking I would swap the tail lights.


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Of course you will... what's a little more metal work. Haha. You sure have drive!!! Can't wait to see this thing in final paint! Image


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glake
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Re: 63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

mud89 wrote:Nice.., do you have the VINs for the rigs used as parts donors ?
A couple of friends and I bought an 84 for parts. It has the VIN, not sure if we got a title with it.
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glake
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63 Wagoneer Rebuild

Post by glake »

I'm scrapping the 84 body idea and sticking with what I have. Since I brought home a 72 Wagoneer, I'm going to shift the way I build this one. The 72 is going to be the restore for the street and light trail use. The 63 is now going to become the more trail oriented rig. I headed to the pick a part with some friends yesterday and pulled a TH400 and NP 208 from an 85 Suburban that I'll mount behind the small block. I'll save the 700r4 for the 72.
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Other than being extremely greasy, it appears that this transmission may have been rebuilt or replaced.
Last edited by glake on Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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