by Progress on Willys Jeep
Several years ago I built a mini road grader using an old Wheelhorse riding mower. It was fun to drive around but so long. Last fall I decided I was going to make it into a much shorter, flat fender Willys Jeep. Wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it but that’s what makes these projects fun and interesting.
To start, I made cardboard patterns of the rear side with plenty of room for the large tires. Once I was satisfied with how that was going to look, I needed to attach the sides to the existing fenders I had made years before. I figured that out and then connected the rear tailgate piece to both fenders. The next step was to start building forward, allowing plenty of space to enter and exit the jeep. I needed to join the front cowling/windshield support sheet metal together. At this point, the steering wheel and pedals were all wrong. I abandoned the inside details at that time and continued to work on the exterior. I started eyeballing where I wanted the front axle to be and decided to make it a bit long, as it looked very cool that way. I built the front fenders and slapped red paint on the bare metal in case I put the product aside until spring. However, no other projects jumped in to sidetrack me so I continued to work.
I was able to push the in-progress Jeep into my small workshop and kept working. At that point, I needed to build a hood to fit the fenders before I cut the front frame in half. I worked on that a bit, getting it to look just right and then moved on to cutting the frame in half with the plasma cutter.
Once everything was cut out and lined back up, I welded it all back together. With the most challenging parts of the body out of the way, I started working on making it look like a real Jeep and adding detail. Building the grill finally gave me that Jeep look, with the vertical tubes and cute round headlights.
After finishing the grill, it was time to address the issue with the petals and steering. That was a big job figuring all the steering linkages out but I eventually did so. I then moved on to building the front and rear tube bumpers. I then built and attached the windshield frame. The final big project was making and adding the rollbars, giving it a cool Jeep look along with the big tires. As I got closer to the finished project, I added a rear hitch, some tow hooks front and back on the bumpers and a cute little winch on the front. Last thing to do was add lots of lights, especially the four big spotlights on top. I finished the inside sheet metal dash and floor work and added three fake shift levers to get more realism inside. Before calling it done, I added tail lights, side steps, grab handles, a side fuel opening, fake wipers, and hood latches! I am very happy with how it turned out. Another crazy fun project completed!
To see photos of this process and a YouTube video, please visit the links below!
Thank you for checking out my page and for all of your support!
