The Woofwagon. Beginning pictures

[Woofwagon]

Some pics of the start of my Suburban project. It's a ex-USGS unit, 1989. 3/4 ton running gear with a semi floating locker in the rear diff. Get this, before auction they put in new tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust system and tuned up the TBI 350. No way I could have had that kind of work done for the purchase price of $2,200. Oh yeah, they also did a full alignment so it doesn't run doglegged down the road.

I put on a 5'x10' roof rack, front and rear bumpers and will install a 12,000 pound winch here shortly before the weather turns here. I plan on eventually putting in a Cummins 6BT or similar turbo diesel backed by a 4L80E automatic. I picked up a 14 bolt full floater with locker for 200 bucks. It came out of an '89 so it will bolt right in. Heavy sucker though, I'm a strong dude and it was hard for me to move.

I've got some LED light bars lined up, and will be installing an modified FJ80 snorkel here soon.

 

[java]

Nice truck. Always liked the old Burbs.

And another PNW Guy! check out northwestoverland.com also

 

[superbuickguy]

I'm impressed, the FF 14 bolt weighs 550 lbs dry. If you need parts down the road, there really aren't any changes between when they first (late 60s) made the 14 bolt and when they last made them in the 2005 (7?). What is cool is you got the gov-lock, what'd be excellent is if you managed to score yourself a detroit locker. gov-lock is a temperamental b***h, but the Detroit locker has the affinity to send you down hills backwards if the rear wheels lock.... still, the detroit is better off road, so its quirks are overlooked (until you're driving in your rear view mirror )

Are you going to convert to disk brakes on your 14 bolt? I did so on mine, what an amazing difference... though, I wouldn't swap unless I had to replace the drums (I did) because brake balancing is a bit entertaining to accomplish.

 

[Woofwagon]

I have no plans to convert to disc brakes. The rear end assembly has only 87K on it, it came out of a 2WD Suburban with a 454. Given the massive size of the drums, discs really wouldn't have an advantage except for heat fade resistance. Even then, the drums have cooling fins. I don't plan on doing any serious downhill rock crawling with The Woofwagon, but have it set up to handle most Forest Service trails.

 

[jonnyquest]

Can we see a full photo? Looks like you got a great deal.

 

[Woofwagon]

 

[Woofwagon]

More pics with the winch almost installed. The green boxes were US Army surplus for computers. They are water tight and will work well for internal or rack storage. I have now all the LED lights bolted on, the 32" wide LED bar will throw plenty of light ahead.

 

[Anthony24x]

Can you give me a a lead on those cases? My search returns nothing.

 

[Woofwagon]

I will try to remember to get the NSN number off them. I regularly go to govliquidation.com to peruse the auctions.

 

[Woofwagon]

Here's the winch bolted on. I still have to do the electrical connections as you can see. I need to make a stout bracket to weld to the bumper for the cable fairlead to thread through. I'll use the water jet at work to cut out the pieces, weld it together and then bolt it to the bumper with Grade 8 fasteners.

 

[superbuickguy]

I'd be interested in sourcing those boxes as well.

 

[Woofwagon]

I tried to run the NSN number on the web and nothing came up. I wonder if there was a typo on the load out form. I'll get the data off the manufacturer's plate and post it for you guys. They have a silicone seal on the hatches with 3 to 4 latches on each side to uniformly lock the lid down. One has casters on the bottom.

 

[Woofwagon]

Army surplus cases.

There were some requests for pictures of the military grade containers I purchased recently. They are about 24 x 24 x 30 and are thick plastic. I took a picture of the manufacturer's number to see if that will help any of you track these down for your own vehicles. There is a lid on each end of the case and each lid has 9 turn clamps to uniformly seal the lids. Inside, there are aluminum shelves with a rated capacity of 25 to 100 pounds of weight. These cases were apparently used to house computers and video monitors for field use.

 

[superbuickguy]

The way to find these is to search for "Hardigg" cases... lots of them on ebay for ~100

 

[Woofwagon]

Then I got a screamin' deal on them from this auction as I got all three for 200 bucks.