Chris managed to build a tough 4x4 while adhering to the classic design of the Willy's flat fender Jeep. Every part on this truck was chosen for its functionality and practicality.May 8, 2000
At first glance, Chris Olson's 1948 CJ2A Willys looks rather plain next to his brother's LJ80 Suzuki. Your first impression would be that it's another flat fender Jeep with big tires and a spring-over-axle conversion. But like his brother's Suzuki, Chris' Jeep isn't what it appears to be. In fact, it is more Toyota than Jeep. This flat fender reflects Chris' pragmatic attitude toward building a 4x4. Choices were made due to cost, availability and functionality. He has no loyalty to any make or model of vehicle and because of that, he has ended up with a very unique vehicle.
When Chris first set eyes upon the Willys in 1997, it was sitting in a backyard, partially hidden by knee-height grass. It had a seized engine, the front axle housing was gutted, all four tires were useless, the interior was a rat home, and it sported a rollbar made of old driveshafts (including the yokes!). The important thing to Chris was that the body was in pretty good condition, especially for a vehicle built half a century earlier. For $400, it was his.
Chris kept the body and horse-traded the chassis and rear axle for a Dana 300 tcase (for one of Ben's projects). The body received a new lease on life via a thorough sand-blasting and new paint. After that, it sat for almost a full year before Chris got started on it. The plan was to install it onto a CJ5 frame but that idea collapsed when it was diagnosed with terminal rust. Instead, Chris obtained a mint YJ frame and proceeded to make it fit his plans.
The standard "Jeep found in a farmer's field" beginning.
Measure twice, cut once. Chris cut the frame in such a way as to maximize the surface area for the welds.
Not many 'wheelers take 4x4-building to this extreme.The general idea was to use a full floater rear axle from a Toyota FJ45 pickup and a front axle from a 1985 Toyota mini truck. Of course, the front Toy axle's spring perches weren't going to match the YJ frame's spring hangers so Chris addressed that problem in the typical Olson fashion: he narrowed the frame by 1.5". While he was at it, he also shortened it by 10" so it would kind of match the flatfender tub. At 83", the length fell somewhere between the flatfender and a YJ wheelbase. The tub was lengthened between the door opening and the rear fender.
Getting back to the axles, the FJ45 full floater's drum brakes were tossed in favour of a set of discs from a Toyota pickup. Chris came up with a simple way to mount the S16 dual-piston calipers from a 2wd Toyota pickup. He cut up the mini-truck's knuckles so that all he had left was the caliper brackets and a portion of the knuckle to which the spindle attached. This spindle bolt pattern matched the FJ45's pattern perfectly. He attached the left knuckle to the right axle end and vice versa. This was a lot faster than fabbing a custom part and way cheaper than buying an aftermarket piece. Another bit of cool swap tech is the anti-wrap bar. A '79 F150 radius arm was used to control axle wrap. The arm connects to the chassis via a farm implement ball joint. The particular orientation of the joint is rather ingenious, resulting in a very simple joint that accommodates any movement the arm would need. The rear axle was completed with 4.10 gears and a Powertrax Lockright. The front axle received a Detroit Softlocker and was hooked up to a Saginaw power steering box.
Chris' brother, Ben, milled an extremely heavy duty steering arm from a single block of steel to raise the tie rod above the leaf springs.
There are two great budget tips here: 1) Rubber loading dock bumpers were used as bumpstops. They're cheap and durable. 2) A cut-up Toyota knuckle was used to make the caliper mount. It bolted right up to the FJ45's full-floater's flange.
The F150 radius arm provided a low-profile way to control axle wrap. A minimum of fabrication was required to build this anti-wrap system.
Here's how the radius arm adjusts its length as the axle cycles through its range of motion. The end of the arm is sized to fit perfectly into this ball joint without binding. It is free to move forward and backward but will not move from side to side or up and down.Chris was in a bit of a rush so he kept the suspension simple. Factory YJ springs with extra main leaves and stock YJ shackles sit in front. In back are an identical pair of spring packs with 1.5" shackles.
In keeping with the Toyota theme, Chris procured a 22RE EFI 4 cyl motor from a 91 4Runner. It was fitted with a 22R exhaust manifold and an old style valve cover. It pumps out a modest 114 hp. Thanks to the efforts of Rick Gammie, an '82 Toyota's wiring harness was used to hook up all the sensors, gauges and other electrical bits. A 100 amp Delco alternator was added to provide power for the 8274 Warn winch.
The 22R was a very clean installation. The wiring job was first rate. This motor was later replaced with a 22RE.Behind the motor, things get really interesting. A Toyota L43 4-speed with (3.83 1st) is first in line. Behind it sits a T90 3-spd (2.72 1st) with a modified input shaft. Yup, you read that correctly. This flatfender has dual transmissions. The shaft was turned down and re-splined to match the Toyota coupler. The factory Toyota adapter was welded & machined to fit the T90. The final piece of the reduction gear train comes in the form of a Dana 18 transfer case with a 2.46:1 reduction. In 1st-1st-low, Chris gets a 105:1 reduction ratio. That's a very respectable ratio but it gets even better. The reverse gears on the transmissions are even lower than the firsts. You might think going backwards with an even lower crawl ratio is of limited use but think about it for a second. If the first transmission is in reverse, it's output shaft is turning in the opposite direction for forward motion. But if the second transmission is also in reverse, it reverses the output shaft rotation again. That means that reverse-reverse-low will drive the Jeep FORWARD. With both trannies in reverse, Chris gets an astounding 182:1 crawl ratio. With 24 gear combinations to choose from, he should have no difficulty finding one to suit any kind of terrain. Of course, there is also the possibility of adding an overdrive unit to the Dana 18...
A Toyota 4-spd, T90 3-spd and a Dana 18 transfer case.
Shifters galore! 4-spd, 3-spd, hi-lo and 4wd/2wd.Like the drivetrain, the interior of the Willys is also chock full of Toyota parts. The steering column came from an '85 Toyota and is fully operational. If you've ever mucked with a newer vehicle's steering column's wiring before, you would appreciate just how much difficult that was. The seats were pulled from a Tercel and the heater is a rear unit from a Toyota Land Cruiser. Even the tub has been Toyota-ized. The rear floor had rusted out so the floor from an FJ45 pickup's box was welded into the tub.
Having a stretched Willy's tub pretty much eliminated Chris' options for buying a soft-top for the Jeep (or should we really be calling it a Toyota?). At least that was my assumption when I saw the vehicle. However, it turns out that the top is a standard YJ piece which utilizes YJ channels mounted on the body, just like a stock YJ. The side curtains are stock, as is the rear window except that it uses buckles instead of the aluminum bar on a factory Jeep. He also improved on the stock YJ rear bow by replacing it with a heavy duty frame that can be extended by adjusting some turn buckles, thus allowing him to easily tighten the top once it's up. For the doors, Chris resorted to a do-it-yourself approach. He build himself a pair of soft-door frames using CJ7 and YJ soft-door frames along with some home-made pieces. Then he rented an industrial-grade sewing machine to cover the doors with soft-top fabric and windows.
Chris' hand-made doors, cobbled together from YJ and CJ7 soft-doors.
These turn buckle struts allow Chris to easily tighten the top.
The rear window flap is attached with buckles.What amazed me the most was that Chris built the Willys in a mere six months. That's VERY fast by my standards. That didn't include the soft-top which came later. The last day he spent building it lasted until midnight. The next morning, he drove down to the Rubicon with a bikini-top on the Jeep and zero testing done on the drivetrain. That he didn't have any breakdowns or suffer any breakage on the trail is a testament to his considerable fabrication and vehicle-building skills.
The day after the flat fender was built, Chris drove it down to the Rubicon.
Not bad for six months' work, eh?...lars
