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Family Size Rat crawler build

Home_brewd

Home_brewd

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2020
Member Number
1034
Messages
105
This is a build I have been wanting to do and planning for a while now. We decided we needed a pre smog 4 door truck to fit my whole family on our rock crawling camping trips. Willys were easy to find in Northern Ca and reasonably priced so we bought a wagon in 2020 and a truck in 2022 with the plans to turn them into a 4 door truck.
We picked up a running 2002 GMC 2500 with LQ4 and 4L80e for a decent price. I had hoped I could use the frame but it’s way too big IMO so I will have to build my own.
The running gear will come from our previous family wheeler.
Front axle : 92-97 Ford Dana 60, 5:13 gears, ARB, Yukon Hubs chromoly shafts but will probably upgrade to RCVs and BJ eliminators for this build.
Rear axle: 14bolt, older style, 5.13, disk brakes and Grizzly locker but plan to upgrade to the 14 bolt from the 02 with factory disk brakes and e-brake, and go with an ARB in the rear.
I have 4– 14” ORIs that I will probably rebuild and reuse. And I currently have a NWF/205 doubler that I will sell and either go with an Atlas II or maybe ORD magnabox. I plan to run hydro assist steering so the front suspension will be either 3-link or parallel 4-link and triangulated 4-link in the rear, maybe use trailing arms for this build??
The plan is to keep it as low as reasonably possible and try to keep the wheelbase under 140”. I’m still not sure on tire size or gear ratio I guess. But I will set it up with the 42s I have on my Grand Cherokee to start and probably go to 42-45 range in the future, depending on what is available. I know plans will change as it goes.
I finally started cutting into this thing a few months ago so I will play catch up to where I am now.

Here are the donor vehicles.
 

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The wagon is a 61 and the truck is a 49. I cut them both in half and realized the pitch/taper of the cabs are slightly different both vertical and horizontal so I had to cut the back in half and do my best to square them up

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I had to widen the rear by 4”. Fortunately the lady I bought the wagon off of threw in a few extra doors because I needed every bit of them.

Just so you know what I’m working with here, my garage slab is probably 70 years old and has cracked down the middle and started to slide down hill. So trying to get things level and square is a lot more fun and time consuming.
Anyway… I squared up the bodies enough so it looks good to the naked eye and I can get the doors to swing and the lines to match up.
 
badass! I have been a fan and watched your WJ for years. Sad to see it get parted out but excited for this
 
06h3 said:
badass! I have been a fan and watched your WJ for years. Sad to see it get parted out but excited for this
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Thanks man! I have been dragging my feet on parting out the WJ mostly because it’s been my family fun rig for so long it’s hard to let go of. My kids are not happy with it either. That is kind of a hold up right now because there is nothing wrong with it but I know if I sell it I won’t get enough out of it to fund the parts I need to finish the Willys… I really don’t want to take the axles and ORIs off just to scrap the rest of it… I could give it to my son but it will take much longer to fund this project. Decisions Decisions. Anyway, the whole process is bittersweet, I am excited to build the Willys but hate losing the WJ for it.
 
Next I worked on a fresh B pillar and top plate with 3x1 .120. And hung up some suicide doors. I have always wanted suicide doors and it looked like it might be a little easier to build them this way so that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to use some simple weld on hinge pins so the doors will be easy to take on and off.
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Awesome--I so wanted to do this with mine when I was building it, but money at the time wasn't there and by the time I had money I was too far into it want to cut it apart. Again looking forward to your progress.
 
SMI17 said:

GrandWillys Project - All MetalShaping

GrandWillys Project Automotive Projects
allmetalshaping.com allmetalshaping.com

Check this one out from downunder
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I actually have a few pages saved from that build. His skill level and detail is far beyond what I’m capable of but I love seeing good work get done.

csutton7 said:
Awesome--I so wanted to do this with mine when I was building it, but money at the time wasn't there and by the time I had money I was too far into it want to cut it apart. Again looking forward to your progress.
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csutton7
I’ve been creepin on your build for a while now, it looks great as it is. I will definitely have some questions for you when I get to the 6.0.
 
I’m new to body work but it’s been fun learning. I had to get my old 110 Hobart out. The pitch of both rooftops didn’t match so I had to hammer out some bends and piece it back together. Due to my lack of experience I definitely have some gaps to fill in. And in true rat rod fashion I used an old No Smoking sign I took from work to fill the rest of gap in the rear.
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If you don’t want to part out the wj, don’t. There’s plenty of motors, transmissions, transfer cases, and axles out there. You can’t rush a masterpiece.
 
Pickuptrucker said:
Looks pretty dang good! Cool too
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SLOWPOKE693 said:
Very freakin cool! :smokin:
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Right_side_up said:
Looks friggin sweet! Keep going!!
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Thanks!


BustedCrank said:
Awesome! I thought at first you were gonna just throw the bed behind the wagon body. This is much mo'betta!
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Haha, that would look weird, it might have saved me some time though.

_stucky said:
If you don’t want to part out the wj, don’t. There’s plenty of motors, transmissions, transfer cases, and axles out there. You can’t rush a masterpiece.
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All I really need off of it is the front axle and the ORIs and the doubler. It’s just time and money. Maybe I will keep it around. IDK
 
The next thing I did was waist a day prepping the factory Pickup frame to use. Pressure wash, clean off 70 years of grease and road grime, cut off all the brackets, press out a nasty bend in the frame, cut out and repair some rust and finally spray a couple coats of rust oleum primer. And then after putting the body on it I decided it was going to be easier to build my own frame. Oh well it was almost cheap education.

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Wow. Awesome metal work you've done. The finished product is going to be badass.

Looks like you could have used some clecos. The screws worked fine, but clecos do a little better job of holding things where you want them.
 
Projectjunkie said:
Looks killer! Keep the pics coming:smokin:
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Thanks!


gt1guy said:
Wow. Awesome metal work you've done. The finished product is going to be badass.

Looks like you could have used some clecos. The screws worked fine, but clecos do a little better job of holding things where you want them.
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Thanks! I honestly never heard of the Clecos until right after I finished getting the body tacked together. Maybe I will get some for the future though.
 
I did my best to level and square some frame rails on an unlevel floor without a jig table. Just using 2 eyeballs and a 3ft level, it seems ok. Then on to boat sides and body mounts. I cut about 6” off the bottom, and I think I like the way it looks. I’ve always felt like the bodies on these are too tall and they look funny chopped. I still might do a small chop, im undecided …. I really need to clean up my shop, it’s small enough already.

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Home_brewd said:
I actually have a few pages saved from that build. His skill level and detail is far beyond what I’m capable of but I love seeing good work get done.


csutton7
I’ve been creepin on your build for a while now, it looks great as it is. I will definitely have some questions for you when I get to the 6.0.
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Home-brewed--thanks, and fire away when you get to that point of needing some info on the motor or anything else.
 
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