My Weekend Adventures

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

Forgot to mention - from the gentleman I spoke with at the junkyard (tons 
of IHs, from Jordan).. said he spoke with a guy that works for Navistar 
flying around to check on things at the Ford production plants (checking 
up on the IH Diesel) - word is we can expect to see an IH pickup in 2 to 
3 years.. available as a Cab/chassis and a box.. ordered seperately.  
We'll see...

Saturday we brought the '72 home and removed the front clip.

Today we almost finished the job of getting the body off.

I removed the AT shift cable and the trans tunnel cover.  We removed the 
liftgate (with good glass, but broken hinge area), and removed the doors 
(doors are in pretty good shape).  We then set about removing the body 
mount bolts..

The two rear (near tailgate) body mount bolts are carriage bolts.  They 
were turning.  So we dropped the tailgate and poke about.. to find rust, 
bondo, and riveted and/or welded sheet metal over the carriage bolts.  
Out came the air-chisel and then I tried vice grips on the bolts.. we 
then decided to try a different approach.  I put a punch on the top of 
the carriage bolts, and a few good whacks with the 3lbs sledge, and we'd 
driven the body mount bolts *clean through the floor* of the Scout.  
Right onto the ground.  So much for hose bolts!

Pulled one bulkhead connector (lights n' such) only to find the main 
(motor) bulkhead had been wired through... out came the dykes.. snip 
snip.. figure it out later..

As the day wore on, I found myself exclaiming, "MAN am I glad I'm not 
"keeping" this Scout!" as I found more and more jury-rigged fixes..

Seats came out.  Wiring harness was disconnected at the tailgate.  Fuel 
line was disconnected from the motor.. radiator removed.. p/s bracket and 
pump disconnected (let it stay on the frame with the p/s box)..

We then towed it around back.. first moved mom's old '83 Pontiac into the 
alley for the junkyard to come get.

I saw the car sitting there.. in the alley.. and I dunno what came over 
me.. but I drove the Scout up to the front of the car.  Recall that I was 
going to drive over this poor car last summer.. when it didn't have tires 
on it.. well I finally did today.  

First attack I bent the front bumper on my Scout a bit and caught the 
Bumper Thumper.. so I moved over a little, and drove up against the face 
of the Pontiac.. a little throttle, and my 33x12.50 was climbing up the 
front of the car and onto the hood!  I didn't get very far before my 
tires were spinning in the soft soil.. it might've helped to disconnect 
the anti-swaybar.. 

Naturally, I took pictures.. but I also plan on doing this again before 
it's hauled away. ;-)

So we then got the '72 Scout II into it's new home.. right next to John 
Landry's old parts Traveler.

We lifted the hardtop off the '72 and place it on the Traveler.. hmmm.. 
*I* thought it looked kinda cool.. like a "fastback" Traveler.. I could 
put a tailgate on the Traveler, then build a short "tonneau" cover to go 
forward the 12" or so to the liftgate.  Put one of my spare set of square 
doors on it... 

By now it was dark and we wanted to get the body off of the '72.  I had 
planned on running 2x6s under the body and jacking up on either side and 
setting it on some saw horses or some such.. too bad this spot in the 
backyard is too narrow (fence and a Traveler) to get my 2x6s under..

Instead we jacked the tub up on one side and stuck some logs between the 
tub and frame, then jacked the other side up.. that side got some 
strategically selected logs under the front rocker, and then a tall 4x4 
post under the (rusted) rear body stiffener (behind the wheel well).  I 
stood back.. my 4x4 was too short!  We need to go HIGHER to get the gas 
tank to clear the rear crossmember.  Not to mention the "step" supports 
to clear the mid-rear (shocks) crossmember.

Called it a night for now.

I think I'm going to measure and then go buy some longer 4x4 posts to get 
the rear up with.. but I'm not sure how to go about getting the front 
higher without using a board under the body and something tall on either 
side to support the board.  I might buy a 4x4 long enough to go from one 
side of the Scout to the other, but not so long as to hit the fence and 
the Traveler.

Then I need to decide how to support the front 4x4.. I suppose just two 
vertical 4x4s - one on either end - could suffice.  That just sounds a 
little less than sturdy...

Also thinking of just removing the rear tires to drop the frame down far 
enough that I could drag it out from under the body with it lifted as 
high as we have it now.. but since we quit for the night I have a chance 
to figure out something a little better.

I think the 2x6 under the body trick will work when we remove the body 
from Ben's '75 Scout II.. it's sitting out front in the street with 
plenty of room on either side for the boards.  

I'm open to suggestions. ;-)  Maybe I need to go buy some steel and play 
with the welder..   

Hmmm.. some 4.5" channel to go under the body and then some 4x4 posts.. 
box the end in so that it's made to fit just a 4x4 post inside and not 
wobble..

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout