Binder Weekend..

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

I drove over to the junkyard around 11:30am this morning.. while we're 
getting the '72 Scout II out to tow home, a beautiful '79 SII pulls up.  
"DOC DAN" says the plates.. the guy jumps out, and asks, "Got any 
'Binders in your lot?".. my jaw dropped.  Naturally, I started talkin' to 
him..  and then showed him around the junkyard to where all the IHs were 
while he told me (and Ben) all about *HIS* collection.. he lives in 
Jordan, MT and has NINE Scout IIs.. and then a bunch of pickups and 
Travelalls and such as well.  He mentioned his mint 20k original mile 8' 
box Travelette.. and everything else. He has 7 running 392s sitting in 
his shop for "spares".. and he was looking for more!  He had plenty of 
tips on rebuilding the motors and all kinds of stuff.

I blew 2 hours at the junkyard getting that Scout.. ;-)

Hopefully he's headed to RMIHR this summer.. so there might actually be a 
"Montana Contingent" this year (and it'll be larger than "Tom").

Finally towed the '72 home.  Body is in worse shape than I thought 
(sorry, Mark).. 

We tried to get the motor running by hotwiring it.. and had it running 
momentarily before it'd sputter and spit n' die.  Oh yeah, I set the 
engine on fire again, too.

We gave up on the motor and just went to work stripping it.. front clip 
is all off.. 

Tomorrow we'll disconnect the fuel line, the bulkhead connectors, the 
steering column and the brake lines (to the frame).  Then I'll tow it 
'round back, unbolt the 6 remaining body mount bolts, jack up the body 
(tips?  I was going to put a floor jack with a wood block under it and 
lift it until I could slide some 2x6s under the tub and then set it down 
on some saw horses and do the front too).. then hitch back on and tow the 
frame, axles, motor/trans/transfer case out the front and around to the 
front of the garage.

I'm going to rearrange the front of the shop and move the racer to the 
car port.. and maybe get MY '72 moved into the back for the time being..

In any manner, I hope to latch the shop hoist onto the motor/trans/xfer 
combination, lift it up, then pull the frame and axles out from under the 
hoist and set things down.

Then it'll be time to do about the same to Ben's '75.. get his drivetrain 
out, roll his frame out from under the drivetrain, then unbolt the 
springs and lift the frame up n' away.. then swap the frames.  Put his 
drivetrain back into the frame, then roll the frame back under the body, 
drop it down, and put things back together!

Sounds easy, doesn't it? ;-)

How would I tell the 727 from the BW auto?  This Scout was manufactured 
2-72..

The new Dana 30/44 combination has drums on all 4 corners and 3.73 
gears.  They'll make good running gear for a street driven daily driver..

-Tom