Building a 61 Willy's Wagon Rockcrawler

First, swap out the wire in your machine to the thinnest you're able to run. Most hardware stores sell little spools of .025, .030, etc.

Then, get a helper to hold a flat piece of aluminum on the back side of the sheetmetal you're welding. The aluminum absorbs most of the heat and helps keep the thin steel from blowing out.

When I tubbed my Ramcharger I had Cappa hold a Chevy 350 piston. The piston wound up working well since it was a forged flat top. The flat top was good for butting up against the floor, etc and the round sides were good for curved areas.

Just a though if you want another stab at fully welding. Then, follow up the weld with a bead of silicone.

 

ya know its the little things that really get me all jacked up and happy.

A buddy came over the other day and helped me get my clutch working, and now I can shift gears. It was fun to cycle through all the gears in both 4hi and 4lo...the rig crawls like a mutha at 128:1 and can really move quickly in 2nd gear 2 high. I love my atlas already, and havent even got it on the trail.

I got the passenger seat tied into the cage the other day, so now 2 can ride. Next up are fabbing up harness mounts for the front seats, fabbing in the rear fold-down seat mounts, and wiring.

getting closer....

 

Thats going to be a sweet rig, to all the work you have put into it!

 

Got all the mount tabs for the harnesses for the front seat fabbed and welded. Now the driver and passenger are secure.

On to the rear seats...

 

Ok pictures for you all

All the tabs welded into place and primed



closer



closer still



Seats re-installed and all the harnesses bolted in



lap belt tab bolted



Shoulder harness tab bolted

 

Looks good except for the shoulder straps. There needs to be a bar running rougly shoulder blade level with the straps going to them rather than the floor. Like you have it will cause your back to compress and will injure you possibly in a roll over..

 

can you explain how there is a difference between the straps going all the way down the back Vs.tying in behind at shoulder height will make a difference.

I don't doubt you, I just don't know.

 

This will help explain it.

http://www.jegs.com/instructions/471/471harnessinstall.pdf

 

This one also..around page 22 or so..

Granted they are talking about race cars mostly, but the same principle applies.

http://www.schrothracing.com/docs/Competition_Instructions.pdf

 

dunno but it takes ~15 mins to add a bar in and not be the guinea pig to find out imo.

 

ok that makes sense...I will probably relocate them...However just for arguments sake. Isn't there a big difference between the high velocity impact of a racer car doing say 100+ mph and a rock crawler impacting at say 30 mph?

 

:iagree:

 

I see a lot of spinal injuries from low speed crashes. I wouldn't risk it. If you're gonna rock crawl you could have any number of different roll overs and they won't always be just rolling over on your top. We've all seen the ones that start at the top of a hill and end at the bottom w/ all kinds of twists and turns on the way down. An extra tube and fifteen minutes are a small price to pay to save your spine.:v6:

 

Its the back seat access that is gonna bother me as well. The wagon is a two door and I am going to have adults and kids riding in the rear seat.....

Its hard enough to crawl back there without having to go under/over another bar.

keep this discussion rolling...

 

Shouldnt be an issue with the 3pt belts, since they are above your shoulder on the high side. Its not like the wrap over your shoulder and back to the floor, they are essisentaly anchored above/level with you shoulders. What happens when your in a front end collision (and the straps are bolted to the floor) your body goes forward causing the straps to shorten in length and in turn compresses your back.

 

Ok got a lot of little things done today and drove it around the hood with the kids.

Also have a few short videos that i will figure out how to load.

anyways here are a few pictures