Re: Tom's new Travelall project

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

"J. Grammer" wrote:
> Tom, Tom, Tom..... you're getting as bad as me. No less than 3 trucks have
> followed me home to Bindertown in the past month, with 2 more pickups
> awaiting transport....then there's the tentative deal for 2 Loadstars that
> are just sitting with my name on them.... ;)

Wow!  *bowing* "We're not worthy, we're not worthy".. 

Lemme see.. brought home a '72 SII and a Traveler last month.. this
month a '69 Chevy 1/2T 4x4, and now looking at this T'all.. but the '83
Pontiac is leaving SOON and I'm about to put my '76 Luv "parts truck" on
the block.  Later this summer the '69 GMC 1/2T gets parted out..

> T-all I've ever seen outside a junkyard. But....this one sounds worse than
> min, even! 

Sure, I stopped to look at it again last night, and then went onto
BinderChat, and I was feeling pretty good! ;-)

From the outside, it doesn't look bad.  A few minor dents here and there
- like I'd expect out of a used truck.  Overall straighter then the '77
SII I drive.  It does have that misshapen overall "sad" look of a worked
truck tho'.  IMO, my Scout looks sharper overall.

The grille is a little tweaked, bumper a little tweaked.  Driver's front
fender has moved a little - driver's door binds when you open it.  I
opened 3 of the 4 doors (Pass front was locked I think) and aside from
the driver's door catching on the fender a little, they all opened and
closed very nicely - much nicer than my Scout's doors!

Stand back 10 feet, and you might notice the rust behind the rear wheels
on the lower part of the quarter.  Otherwise, it *looks* rust-free.  (On
my Scout, you can see the rear fender lips, and in front of the rear
tires with big holes)

Again, the cab corners when I looked were rusty.  And when standing at
the driver's rear quarter, or at the tailgate, I can see pavement where
I assume the spare tire goes - between the passenger rear tire and the
tailgate, right?

I looked underneath a little late last night.  the rockers are dented,
but they're *there*.. not rusty.  

Odo read 47k or so.. 147?  Could be.

> The bottom of the tailgate is probably gone, and will require
> reinforcement so that you can sit/stand on the tailgate safely. Sounds like

This would be the tailgate itself then?  It *looked* fine from the
outside.. 

> you spotted most of the usual stuff. I bet the bottom of the cowl vent
> boxes(behind the rear edge of the front quarters) are gone, that'll pass
> engine compartment fumes to the interior. 

Oooh.. engine fumes.. yuck.  I suppose this isn't an easy thing to fix
"right".. though I could always just patch up the vents, right? ;-)  I'm
doing that to my SII racer project.. since it won't have inner fenders,
and it's open topped/doored/windowless, I don't think I need the floor
vents.. or the heater vent hole. ;)

Of course, if it's going to tow, it MUST have a working heater around
here.. I did notice it lacks air conditioning.. drat.. ;)

> safety/structural integrity standpoint is all the body mounting points,
> esp. the main front ones. 

Are these the cab corners, or behind that area?  I wasn't dressed to
crawl underneath it last night.. and won't be tonight when I go over to
buy it.

> T-all bodies fromt the '70's are REAL heavy, you
> wouldn't want a panic stop to leave you hanging, so to speak(I'm serious).

Hmmm... I guess it's time to buy a tubing bender to fab up an interior
roll cage for the T'all!

> It's all a PITA, everywhere there's rust there's 2 or more panels
> sandwiched together. I'd start with the sandblaster and see what was left,
> then go in with a cutoff tool followed by some 14g plate and the MIG
> welder. Yeah, it'd be ugly... ;)

OTOH, for what they're asking.. I could just drive it 'till the body
fell off from rust.. and hopefully by then I would've found a 3/4T
Travelette, and gut the T'all when it gets to that point..

> I'd be cautious about using this truck as a regular tow vehicle for a Scout
> II, car hauler, and all your race gear 'cause in my mind it's not quite
> stout enough(hard to believe, eh?)

To hear everyone talk about these Travelalls, how could it NOT tow my
mobile home *and* my race car? ;)

> Biggest reason is the lack of a full
> floating rear end. Must be a 1110, right? 

Yep.  Fender badges say "1110"... but... I can fix the full floating
rear end bit if that's an issue... how does a late 70s Ford 3/4T Dana 60
sound?  I'd then convert the front end to 8-lug discs when the time
comes.. 

The '60 has 4.10 gear though.. a match for the Dana 44s in my '77 Scout
II.. and NOT a match for the 3.73 front '44 in this T'all.

Would 3.73 or 4.09/4.10 be a better ratio?  The Travelall has 235/75R15s
on it now.. they need replaced (anyone say, Dry Rot?).. but I have a set
of new 235/75R15s.. actually two sets.. that came on two of the Scouts I
bought.. I was thinking 3.73 would be a good compromise even if I went
to 31s.. 345/auto should have the grunt with smaller tires and 3.73s to
do tow duty, right?

> a '72) and the 1200 is like night and day. Of course it helps that the 1200
> has 4.09 gearing and a 392 :)

My daily driver towed pretty well when I flat towed a Traveler from
Seattle home.  304/close 4spd/4.09s and 33s.  Power to hold 75mph stable
(brakes?  No, this was in the wide open country of central Washington
with plenty of time to react) and 85mph at one point.. 65mph up the
grade.

> >Price?  $200.
> 
> Buy it! My rule is if it's $200 or less, it's following me home. Beware,
> though, that kind of thinking will get your vehicle inventory up real
> quick(I lost count at 15.....)

We're still short of 15... in the yard today.. 3 1/2T pickups, two Luvs,
Suby Brat, MercTracer, Traveler, Scout II *tub*, 2 Scout IIs, plus the
one I have at work.  Is that 12?  Daytona on the way.. plus a camper
trailer, utility trailer, etc.

> Brakes....esp. if you need drums, 'cause they basically don't exist.

Fronts or rears?  I bet drums for that Ford Dana 60 can be had..

> But.....you should be able to do a 'generic' closed knuckle disk brake swap
> using GM backing plates/calipers and maybe F$%*(?) hubs/rotors, grinding
> the knuckle flanges for caliper clearance. Also possible is a complete
> Dodge disk brake front end swap....

A disc brake swap would be on my "list".. but not until later in the
summer.  I (naturally) didn't plan to acquire another rig like this, so
$$$ is already allotted to the racer.. 

I said I went back.. and poked around a little more.  Found a 2bbl
holley 2210 in the back (I think that's what it was).  Headliner is
there but not nice.

Of course, the big smile on my face came from looking closer at the
receiver hitch and light harness.. and then spying the trailer brake
controller already wired up to the underside of the dash, right next to
the auxiliary oil pressure gauge n' such.. 

This thing was used to tow before... and it looks like it's ready to tow
again.

Interstingly the door tag says... 6,000lbs GVWR???  That's the same as
my '72 Scout II, and less than my '77!  And the Travelall MUST be closer
to that figure unladen!

OK - near term, I want this T'all to run, and to flat tow my Scout II
racer (figure ~3500lbs, maybe less, in the chassis.. but I'd haul some
off-road tires *in* the T'all, plus tools, etc) to races about 300 miles
or less away.  This would let me tear down my daily driver '77 Scout II
for some things I want to do to it (knuckle twist, spring over, revese
shackle).  Currently the '77 is my "tow rig".. it's the only one that's
running that's mine and has the Umph.  Though as everyone says, it's not
ideal.  But I *need* something to tow the racer with.

Now, in the future, I see a single car trailer - maybe a flatbed, or
maybe an actual car hauler - for the racer.  10' flatbed.

Now, a little further down the line, I'd like to see about a 25'
flatbed/car hauler.. build one if I can.. a car trailer big enough to
haul TWO Scouts on (or, for wheelin' trips, one Scout and a friend's
EBronco).  Would this Travelall be up to the task?

If I'm going to go to *that* point, and I haven't acquired a Travelette
by then..

For lotsa towing, I guess I'd roll that Ford 3/4T Dana 60 under it.  Do
I swap the '60 to 3.73, or swap the front '44 to 4.09s?

Convert the front to disc brakes using Ford n' Chevy parts.  If I roll
the full floater in, that would mean some 8-lug Ford 3/4T (or Chevy,
right?) rotors.

Change out the m/c to a disc/drum setup.  

Any advantages to ditching even the jumbo drums on the Dana 60 for
discs?

So.. "as-is" (assuming the brakes work), it should be suitable for a
3500lbs flat-towed non-braked Scout II racer, with a set of race tires
in the back of the T'all, plus camping gear, etc.  Does that sound
reasonable?

*Can* I beef up this Travelall to haul 12,000lbs of trailer n' load?  Is
it worth the effort... or will I be looking for a 3/4T T'all or
Travelette?  In which case, I suppose *this* T'all could become parts..

5 o'clock.. probably means not much racer working tonight.. I need to
get that Pontiac moved out to the "big junkyard" so I have room for this
T'all!

Thanks, Jim.

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
How do I stop this IH Addiction?