Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

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timsresort
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by timsresort » Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:25 pm

I might need you give me a lesson on that. Nice work.
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zepher11
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:16 am

timsresort wrote:
Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:25 pm
I might need you give me a lesson on that. Nice work.
Thanks. I only know enough to be dangerous, but I usually go in with the mindset that I can't really make it any worse...
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Boyso » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:59 am

Great work Zeph, I see it the same way too! Can't make it worse than it used to be when I picked it up!

I don't know if its due to the media I use in my small sandblasting cabinet but I do not have flash rusting, at all :S

I sandblasted some bits 2 years ago and they've been sitting on my shelf unprimed and they look just like the day they came out of the cabinet. And it can be quite humid here.

I use a rust preventive primer, it says on the can its fine to paint over small rust as long as its not loose stuff.

Keep it up!
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:11 am

Boyso wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:59 am
Great work Zeph, I see it the same way too! Can't make it worse than it used to be when I picked it up!

I don't know if its due to the media I use in my small sandblasting cabinet but I do not have flash rusting, at all :S

I sandblasted some bits 2 years ago and they've been sitting on my shelf unprimed and they look just like the day they came out of the cabinet. And it can be quite humid here.

I use a rust preventive primer, it says on the can its fine to paint over small rust as long as its not loose stuff.

Keep it up!
Yes, the items I blast to clean white metal never rust when kept in the shop. I guess paying someone to use water to blast metal is not a good idea. I don't think I will have anything else blasted with water in the future. I should have listened to myself before I did so. Learned my lesson.
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:30 pm

Received the floor for the trailer. One would think that with the cost to ship it that it would arrive in halfway decent condition. No. This thing took a beating from one end to the other:

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I guess I should be thankful it wasn't folded up like a tri-fold wallet.
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sun Oct 08, 2017 4:52 pm

Time to remove the old floor and try and figure out how to install the new one. Here one can see the original floor is a little Swiss cheesed:

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Using the plasma cutter, so wanted to be careful and not cut any cross members:

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I should probably blast all of the cross members as it is a lot easier to get to them now. Lots of little clean up still left to completed before I figure out how the floor goes in:

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by 1942GPW » Tue Oct 10, 2017 8:40 am

Who did you source the floor from? There’s one in my future also and I’ll be curious to hear how accurate it is and how it fits. Nice work so far! Eric
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:27 pm

1942OregonGPW wrote:
Tue Oct 10, 2017 8:40 am
Who did you source the floor from? There’s one in my future also and I’ll be curious to hear how accurate it is and how it fits. Nice work so far! Eric
Thanks Eric. This floor comes from Midwest Military. Always appreciate the work they do to bring us restorers top notch replacement parts and pieces. So far, the floor has passed all my preliminary measurements, so I feel confident it'll fit. I will find out for sure next weekend I hope.

Cheers,
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sat Oct 14, 2017 5:35 pm

Well, I shot a little video before I moved forward with separating the tub from the frame. Not really happy about having to go deeper and deeper into the unknown, but it is what it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBoXT0G4bS8

Had to cut out all of the welding I did when I installed the rear panel. This was a little tricky through here:

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Lots of little welds to knock loose both inside and outside holding the tub to the frame. We have clearance Clarence:

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Frame removal complete:

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Good news is that I don't need to grind the floor tab from the lower section of the front panel. Bad news is that I need to replace the front panel now as it is severely rotted with gaping holes. It became apparent after removing it from the lower angle iron support:

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Now comes grinding the floor tabs from the lower bed sides they are sandwiched in between the bedside and frame. Very tedious work as there is an inordinate amount of spot welds along the whole of the tab. Good times...
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:45 pm

Finished grinding the bed strips from the bedsides. That was the most work I have ever had to do to separate spot welds or what ever they glued these together with. Basically had to grind every square millimeter of metal off. When they said these would float, I am a believer. There is not doubt that they were well sealed.

Anyway, I was able to get a quick test fit of the new replacement floor. Not really sure how to proceed. I know the floor has to be welded to the bedsides, but worried the frame won't fit correctly when I get to that point due to the floor so out of shape from shipping. I tried to get it as straight as I could, but it is still not up to snuff. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging along:

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by timsresort » Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:21 pm

So do you think you could insert the frame and just weld through both the side and the floor flange?
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:41 am

timsresort wrote:
Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:21 pm
So do you think you could insert the frame and just weld through both the side and the floor flange?
Yeah, I was thinking maybe I could fit the floor to the frame and then set the tub down on it and get it aligned and then tack weld the tub to the floor. Then pull if off and plug weld the other side along both the bedside floor tabs.

I could probably get away with maybe eight plug welds on the bedsides (outside) to tack the floor to the bedsides once aligned which would make clean up a little easier. I'll need a lot of plug weld holes on the floor bedside tabs. Those will take a lot longer to clean up before I can reinstall to the frame and weld the whole assembly back together. Sounds like the beginning of a plan...
Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Chuck Lutz » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:26 am

I'd suggest you assemble the tub/floor as a unit and then attach it to the frame....however, the problem is seeing if the FRAME is trued up and then being able to set the tub and floor on a jig or something to insure it is trued up when the two components are welded together.

But...we'll see how this goes together.

By the way, unless the front panel is nearly rusted through or beat half to death...rather than trying to replace the whole panel, have you thought about just removing the section that is damaged and replacing that? It is behind the angle iron front lip/edge anyway. That way the tub assembly stays together better.
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:05 pm

Chuck Lutz wrote:
Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:26 am
I'd suggest you assemble the tub/floor as a unit and then attach it to the frame....however, the problem is seeing if the FRAME is trued up and then being able to set the tub and floor on a jig or something to insure it is trued up when the two components are welded together.

But...we'll see how this goes together.

By the way, unless the front panel is nearly rusted through or beat half to death...rather than trying to replace the whole panel, have you thought about just removing the section that is damaged and replacing that? It is behind the angle iron front lip/edge anyway. That way the tub assembly stays together better.
I took another look at the floor and it is so bent up from shipping I don't think I can fit it to the tub and have any reasonable expectation that I could fit it to the frame for welding. I think I'm going to see if I can fit the floor to the frame and then try to message it a bit so that it sits flush on the frame so I can get it to touch the frame for welding. Then I can match the tub and tack the floor on to the tub and then pull the frame and finish the plug welds on the inside. At least that is the plan for now. I can tell this floor will never sit flat on the frame due to all the damage from shipping. I just hope it doesn't look too hokey when done.

On the front panel, it was pretty bowed out from carrying one large boulder or something similar for 70 odd years or so. The tow vehicle must have had really good brakes to make sure the boulder slammed into the front panel with authority over and over again. I was going to live with it, but this now gives me an excuse to replace it. I think I'm already north of $5,000 on this scratch and shoot project, so whats another $250? Willys Acres has 20% off on every single thing they carry at the moment, so the panel was originally $271 now $217. Shipping? Probably double that. 8) Hopefully, by the time I'm done, the trailer will be worth at least a third of what it cost me to put it back on the road.

One can see how bowed out the front panel is. This is a view with the tub upside down. The top part is where I already cut out the rusty stuff. Probably bowed out at least an inch or so:

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Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:07 pm

Worked on the MBT a bit today. Had to remove all of the welds I made recently on the lower rear panel. Thankfully, my work isn't of great quality. Drilled out the welds:

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Next, the rear bed sides seemed to bow out more now that the floor was removed. This is the passenger side:

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Using the acetylene torch, I spent an inordinate amount of time heating, hammer and dollying, and then applying cold water:

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Turned out pretty decent:

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Here's the drivers side section of the rear portion of the bedside. Pretty warped:

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Turned out pretty good as well:

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Then sandblasted the frame. I blasted for an hour. This is the first time I used the blaster with the new compressor. The compressor never went below 100lbs. I blast at 90lbs, so never had a drop off. Figured it would have been twice the time with the old compressor. Pretty happy with the performance of the compressor.

I then painted a lot of the weld areas with weld-through primer:

Image
Zeph

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