Truck based woody

[GB SISSON]

Got my 3" maple a couple weeks ago. Have been mapping out my strategy from here. Today I got a rare break to finish up steel brackets and measure all the angles and lengths for the body pillars. During the last month I have been scouting up grille bars for most of the hulks I hauled from Twisp because if my property is gonna be covered with a bunch of jailbar trucks, they can at least have their jailbars. Work has stayed really busy in the furniture realm and that pays the bills so I guess that's a plus. Next weekend we will be going to Shelton Wa while helping my wife's son and his family move to a new job. Hoping to looking at the '40 ford woodie that resides there for inspiration, but also understand I won't be working on mine til after Christmas (or to some 'the holidays')

 

[Fordors]

GB, somehow I missed your post about visiting the Sportsman Shop, and I couldn't agree more. It is not the shop or equipment that accomplishes tasks, it is the builder. The truck is coming along nicely and that table and chairs ain't half bad either!

 

[VeryTangled]

Work has stayed really busy in the furniture realm and that pays the bills so I guess that's a plus.

Yes to that!

 

[willowbilly3]

Did you ever get your jailbars and windshields from the post office? I might have another jailbar ton and a half front clip next time I go to ND. He wants 2 bills but I can do some trading. I have a plan for 2 sets of those fenders to get cut up and make one set of rear fenders for an imaginary dually project. Anyway, any straight bars I find will have your name on them.

 

[GB SISSON]

Did you ever get your jailbars and windshields from the post office? I might have another jailbar ton and a half front clip next time I go to ND. He wants 2 bills but I can do some trading. I have a plan for 2 sets of those fenders to get cut up and make one set of rear fenders for an imaginary dually project. Anyway, any straight bars I find will have your name on them.

Though I mentioned that I finally made the 2 mile drive to the post office and picked them up. I already straightened the 3 bent center bars and painted and installed them along with six of the other ones. Only six left to go. That's on my tonner pickup project. I feel like a juggler with all these projects, all this work and a family with grandkids that want wooden toys from Grandpa Walton. Sheesh, I just want to work on the woodie again tomorrow.... And thanks again for the Christmas box!

 

[willowbilly3]

I must have missed that.

 

[GB SISSON]

After work I roughed out the rear posts and set the laminated roof stringers on top for the first time. Next I will shape the stringers to fit into the square recess on each side of the windshield header, then shape the wooden 'V' piece over the windshield and cut out the steel header panel to accept it. I think after that I will rabbet out the other 4 posts for doors and set them up to the stringer. The panel truck door that is temporarily installed on the passenger side sits 5" above the running board so That is my benchmark for the bottom of the wood structure. My 4 rearmost floor to post brackets are 3x5x 3/8" angle which is quite heavy, but a neighbor had it and he also has a power hacksaw so he cut them for me last weekend. They are in for now with lags but will be replaced by # 14 flathead screws and stainless carraige bolts when I get to town. The 3/4" t x g fir decking will be routed out to cover the bottom part and I plan to radius the top of the brackets and paint them before I fasten them in for good. The rear posts at the front doors are connected by a piece of 2x2 square tubing with gusseted straps. The 2x2 spans the rear of the cab and fortifies the cab floor in the absence of a rear cab wall. As little as is there, it feels pretty rigid. Yes it's a bit overbuilt, but it's a truck.....

 

[GB SISSON]

I pick away at this when I can. Unheated shop, cold today but my employee took a half day so at noon I switched gears and did more work on the woodie...

 

[RalphM]

Looking good! How did you tie the header in place?
I just noticed in the second set of pics, second picture you've got a tool I have. It's hanging on the post, nearest I can figure it's to bust down tires, off wire wheels.
Am I right?

 

[GB SISSON]

The header has 2 wood 'biscuits' , two dowels and a 6" x 5/16" star drive construction lag into each maple post. I have the steel now to fab the welded interior brackets as well. It will also have another wood member approx 2" x 5" attached to it at at near 90 degrees that will be routed for the ceiling slats. The front header will be similar in most respects. My truck woodie was never intended to look anything like the Ford built station wagon. It will look a bit like a '40 Ford woodie wagon, but not a whole lot. It would never get points at pebble beach, that's for sure....That tool is a tire bead breaker. I would be lost without it. I have broken down countless truck tires on split rims with it, as well as modern tubeless tires. I use a cheater pipe often on the lever. Beads come loose with this thing. They have to.....

 

[GB SISSON]

I was thinking about this last night.... The header is tied into the rails with biscuits, dowels and another 6" lag. It is the roof stringers that fasten down to the rear pillars. All the joints are also fastened with 3M 5200 marine adhesive sealer. Very tenacious and stays rubbery for flex. For 25 bucks a tube it ought to. At the forward header the stringers are mortised into the windshield posts with the 5200, but I couldnt be sure I had all the voids filled so I drilled a 3/8 hole from the inside and through the steel and the stringer and pumped in a half a tube of the adhesive like you would a grease gun. Messy, but it cleaned up ok. Well, back to the paying work in the shop.....

 

[nospartsman]

When you get your Woody done you will be swamped with orders to build more.
Back in the day(they still do) Ford offered "drive away: chassis with just a cowl. The one without a windshield was often used on moving vans with large overhang above the windshield of their own design. The cowl with the header would lend itself to another Woody. Although these are not for sale. There should be a few more stashed somewhere.

 

[GB SISSON]

I have a nice example of the cowl without windshield. It is exactly like the one you show. Today I mounted the wood header over the windshield into my woodie. After that it was the one larger curved roof beam at the B pillar. I will post a pic later, but my wife just got home from the mainland with 'take-out mexican food'. We don't have anything like that on the island. Thank God for microwaves. (and smart wives)

 

[GB SISSON]

The header has more curve than the beam behind it. I felt much better when I looked at the similar interior shot of a correct 47 woodie station wagon. My header has a curved bottom instead of Ford's vee shape. That just evolved through the build. It will have a valence covering it's rearward face so we don't see the unsightly spaces and gaps. I'm hoping to cut the other six roof beams in the shop tomorrow morning before we resume regular 'for pay' work because I'm all set up for the radius ..... The last photo is from a barner that build a correct ford style woodie wagon, not a renegade 'off the cuff' commercial job like mine. I am basing my version roughly on this and the youtube video by Alec Guerreo and what I think a small shop in a small town would have built from a pickup for a local resort to pick up their guests at the train station. I'm thinking in 1947 there were a lot of skilled woodworkers in the US job market. They got their training building wood airframes, boats and during the recent war would have been trained in the building of d-day gliders, pt boats and all manner of complicated wooden conveyences.

 

[1952henry]

Nice job so far!

 

[expavr]

Your vision and the woodworking skill required to pull it together is mind boggling. I'm trying to understand how you are tieing all the components together. Did you dovetail the stringer at the point of connection with the roof beams? Its hard to tell from the photo of that joint. Do you plan to tie the stringer, roof beam and B pillar together with a steel angle brace like that shown in the photo of the 47 woodie?

 

[GB SISSON]

Your vision and the woodworking skill required to pull it together is mind boggling. I'm trying to understand how you are tieing all the components together. Did you dovetail the stringer at the point of connection with the roof beams? Its hard to tell from the photo of that joint. Do you plan to tie the stringer, roof beam and B pillar together with a steel angle brace like that shown in the photo of the 47 woodie?

Not a dovetail, but a pocket cut made with a router and a wood pattern. It will be glued, scerwed and tatoo'ed. This beam is larger in size than the intermediate beams. This first one is 1 3/4 x 1 3/8. Above the top of the beam I will rout down a 1/2 inch to accept the roof slats. I have already made and installed the steel brackets at the floor to hold the base of the posts. 3/8" thick angles. The tops are held by one 'construction lag' with a star drive washer head. This goes through the pine stringer and 4" into the 3x3 maple pillar. There is also a beech wood 'biscuit' that us woodworkers have used for about 30 years to replace dowels and sometimes mortise and tenons. At this point the posts are in dry for removal if needed, such as easier mortising door hinges/latches etc. On final assembly I will drill through the stringer and add a 5/8 hardwood dowel down into the post. Lastly I will add the T and L steel brackets which I just bought the steel strap for. Where needed I will place a stainless carraige bolt through the pillar and steel bracket. 3m 5200 marine adhesive will fill the joint, biscuit and 5/8 dowel. Before putting fabric on the roof I will fill all holes that pass through the radiused longitudinal stringer. I know these joints will need to stay strong while experiencing considerable stress. The 3m adhesive goes a long way towards achieving that goal with it's tenacious grip and flexible properties. Ok, now I'm late to work......

 

[nospartsman]

Before you go any further, make two of everything. Someone is going to want a Woody like that when you're done. (easier to do now)

 

[GB SISSON]

Been making plywood patterns and jotting down notes on them. Tonight after work I got the beams finished and routed into place. Next I will rout the stringers down a half inch in a rabbet so the roof slats will lay on the beams.

 

[GB SISSON]

We started a big cabinet job yesterday but today my employee called in with a 'personal day'. What's a guy to do?.... I worked on the woodie.