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As of today, the engine and tranny win two rounds of trying to stab it in from underneath. I’ve been at it since 8am. I’m beat. I can get it close, but not close enough at the angle required it is too steep and the unit starts to slip.

The PS pump and carb had to come off.

I’ll be researching “lifting the engine” options tomorrow (motorcycle lift, building a cradle for the whole package, etc.). It’s not over yet, but If I can’t get her in, then I’ll definitely have to rethink this dang 401 pipe dream!


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Bummer, that's a frustrating feeling, for sure. Any chance of lifting it up in a 2x4 skid bolted together to help hold it from sliding and give you a little lift platform to put a jack or two under? Fingers crossed for better luck on try three (Third time's supposed to be the charm, right?).

It's telling you something. It wants an inline engine, prolly a Diesel.

Chubbinius wrote:Bummer, that's a frustrating feeling, for sure. Any chance of lifting it up in a 2x4 skid bolted together to help hold it from sliding and give you a little lift platform to put a jack or two under? Fingers crossed for better luck on try three (Third time's supposed to be the charm, right?).

The cradle/skid idea is really on my list of options for sure. It has to immobilize the engine and tranny combo for sure. Metal, wood, ???

I’d go with metal for sure. It would have to lay flat on the ground, while keeping the engine /tranny at the 40-45 degree angle.... but allow the engine to be lowered once it is up, over and past the axle so it can be maneuvered into it’s final prefect position.


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SJTD wrote:It's telling you something. It wants an inline engine, prolly a Diesel.

I’d love that, but can’t afford it. In this area of the NW just mentioning the word diesel jacks the price up by 10k!


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Diesel, diesel, diesel! Boom now my diesel M715 is $30k more.
I would probably make something out of metal that you can reuse and will bolt the engine/trans somehow. Or be like the new Ford pickup guys and pull the cab.

shortbus4x4 wrote:Diesel, diesel, diesel! Boom now my diesel M715 is $30k more.
I would probably make something out of metal that you can reuse and will bolt the engine/trans somehow. Or be like the new Ford pickup guys and pull the cab.

A diesel m715 sounds pretty cool!

I bought a HD tranny Jack (2k capacity) with a thick plate that can tilt. So I’m 1/3 the way ready. 1/3 to fabricate something to brace the engine-tranny combo to it and 1/3 getting it up into place.

I will also be using the HD Jack in my m715 to pull the sm465/np205 combo to replace the TO bearing.


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With the cost of lumber its probably not much different in cost to do wood vs a steel frame. Can you not get just the engine in and then bolt the tranny up later? It would make your cradle a bit simpler if it just mounted to the engine mounts and maybe tilted the engine with a ratchet strap set up.

TurboJ4000 wrote:With the cost of lumber its probably not much different in cost to do wood vs a steel frame. Can you not get just the engine in and then bolt the tranny up later? It would make your cradle a bit simpler if it just mounted to the engine mounts and maybe tilted the engine with a ratchet strap set up.

I did buy some scrap and built a cradle to bolt to the HD tranny lift, then strapped it all down at the motor mounts.

I supported the tranny with the old tranny jack and 2x6 wooden braces screwed together with decking screws (same one I made to support the front axle).

That was also strapped down to that lift and the transmission was strapped to it as well with it’s own strap.

Roughly two days of cradle-making, strapping, lifetime, adjusting, measuring, and using the angle finder to get it all aligned properly and the engine/tranny combo is mocked up.

It’s frickin hot AF here in the Pacific Northwest and I’m done for the day- after cleaning up of course.


















She’s centered in the space, and aligned front to back, but still needs to be aligned side to side (left to right), and the AC has to come out, too.

Once that is done, then it’s on to motor mounts, and the tranny mount.

Edit:

Tranny x member is nearly done: notched for the front driveline, side mounting brackets installed, cradle welded up to bolt up to the t case adapter, and the first coat of black engine enamel.

Just need to burn in the frame mounts and weld up a tab for the t case support bracket/bushing. The t case itself is just mocked up so I could get the notch dialed in.



I’ll wrap it up tomorrow- including the 4 wd shifter mechanism.

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Whew.

On to the motor mounts... after fully boxing in the frame where the motor mounts will go.


Umm, nope.


CAD (cardboard aided design) time:


“Dang 66 you don’t you ever sell off anything!?” Say a lot of other jeepers.

This is why:


Sawzall for the main cuts (my favorite tool!). Then the angle grinder to fine tune the shape.



This part of the frame is where it narrows down for the engine bay and leaf springs, so tack-weld, hammer, clamp, tack-weld, repeat until you can burn it on w/o too much distortion.



I’ll definitely make better use of the magnets to keep it in place when I go to weld it up, but not a bad fit for 78 J20 frame bits in an FC170.


Oh yeah, my tranny cross member (Dana 20 is just mocked up so I could notch the member for the front driveline).



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Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I killed my rigid drill and at least four bits. But she’s in!

I used the step bit 1st, then gradually increased the bits until the desired length to get to the other side of the frame, and the right circumference for the grade 8 bolts.






I’m ahead of schedule, too! I just expected to get it mocked up in into place, not installed.
Now the long painful process of fluids, and wiring, and drivelines, and brakes and gas lines, and steering, and worrying about cooling... just to name a few things.


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Have you fired this up yet? Hope it's still going well.

twisted frame wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 6:37 pm Have you fired this up yet? Hope it's still going well.

It's been a few minutes since I've been on the forum, but yep, she's ready running and starting with the key. I still have to adjust tranny shifting linkage, bleed the brakes, but I am sooo close to driving her. The final stages are slow and tedious.

How are the final stages going? Driving yet? I've only driven Iveco and Isuzu FCs so I'd love to hear how this on is!

twisted frame wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:24 pm How are the final stages going? Driving yet? I've only driven Iveco and Isuzu FCs so I'd love to hear how this on is!

Yeah, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted updates, she’s almost ready for sure: brakes are plumbed, shifting linkage it dialed in, so there’s not much left to do, but it’s all tedious work to get it right. I lost my father and my brother this past year due to cancer, so there’s been a few complications woven into the backdrop of the pandemic. I am hoping I can carve time out over the holidays to tackle the last main three hurdles and complete it: 1) bleed the brakes, 2) driveline(s) 3) 4wd shifter.

Thanks for checking in!

Oh my. Sorry to hear about deaths in the family. I too knew a relative who recently died of cancer. Long battle.

Yeah, it’s terrible to watch them go it that way. I’m sorry you’ve had a loss as well.

The brakes are all plumbed front and rear, the one wire alt. is hooked up, so naturally I am setting the brake dual master cylinder reservoirs into place as the next step.




For clearance purposes, I removed the flares and uncovered nasty rust:



Fab is require... as usual. : (




It’s a balmy 12 degrees and the shop door is wide open.



On to fabricating brackets and a box to camouflage the brake reservoirs. Then the driveline(s)- especially the rear.


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The rear driveline is in, the accelerator cable linkage is plumbed. The brake MC remote reservoir mounting bracket is fab’d and paint is drying... the hour is getting close to a shakedown run.

But in the middle of adjusting the accelerator cable, the gas pedal broke.




Cut off wheel, misc spare parts and some strategic welds and it’s “as good as new”?

It should hold for now.

However, the Ross Steering box is leaking enough to cause me some worry.



Yuck. I’ll dig through my stash of parts and see if I have a spare Ross box. It looks pretty close to the one on my Willy’s truck and the early Wagoneers.


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Those back ends look great in the shop, especially with the little touch of snow! Isn't that the unlisted "self-applying rust-proofing" feature of the steering box?

Can't wait to hear about the shakedown run!