Midwest Willys Fall Reunion in Jefferson City, MO

[macrisel]

This last weekend me, my Dad and Scotty (my friend/painter) loaded up my 3A and went to Jeff City for the Fall Reunion.


Since it is about a 5 hour drive there, Scotty and I both took off work Friday and we left the house about 11:30........plenty of time to make it there in the daylight and get set up.� Well, about an hour into the drive, we make a pit stop for gas and lunch.� As I pull off the road into the truckstop, my truck dies!� Not a sputter or anything.� We coast over into the gravel lot and the truck won't even turn over with jumper cables.� We pull the battery off and a very friendly stranger gives me a quick ride about 2 miles to the local parts store to test the battery.� The battery is testing good with no bad cells......hmmmmmm.

Back at the truck, we start checking all the grounds we can find.........no luck there.� We pull the belts off thinking that a pulley froze up.........no luck there.� Finally we decide to pull the starter off and check it........which is awesome fun laying in the gravel and the engine/exhaust feeling like it is 900 degrees hot......and we have nothing but shop towels to wrap around our hands to protect us.� Scotty thinks this is a great time to snap a few photos of me......at least he found my good side...


Well, what better way to go get parts than in a Willys?� Scotty also felt the need to point out that this was ONLY time the jeep had to go get parts for something else....(I know, I have a great friend)..


Long story short, the parts store couldn't test my starter and could only sell me a new one.� New starter in hand, I headed back to the truck and we got it installed.� I hit the key and what do you know....it fired right off.� While I have never heard of a vehicle dying due to a bad starter, I have now!

[macrisel]

When we did finally make it to the show, it was great!� I met some great people and all three of us had a blast.� Here are a few photos..


Since we were only a block from the capital building, I decided to drive the willys down there to get a photo or two.



I REALLY, REALLY wanted to drive the jeep up the stairs (there is an old photo of some senators driving a jeep up the steps of Congress) but felt it probably wasn't in my best interest to do so!

Great weekend!

[Ryan_M]

Great story, great pics. And a Willys fetching parts for another vehicle, wow. Tanks and tractors excluded, I think that may be a first!

What are you using to tie your windshield down while trailering it? I've been hesitant to use anything there as I was afraid it would really chafe the paint. I don't trust the windshield hold-down strap at highway speeds. As a result, I back the Jeep on to the trailer and tow it that way.

Next time, give 'er hell and climb those steps 

[calvinhunt]

Yes, a really great post.  Fun story.  Thanks for sharing.

And I agree with Ryan, I think you would have had a super photo if your Jeep would have been parked at the top of the steps.

[bretto]

Glad you were able to make it to your destination.
Did you ever get your other starter tested?  As you said, seems odd to have the trouble be the starter given the symptoms.  I just hope it doesn't show back up.

[F Bill]

Mark has really set the bar high with the paint job on his jeep. His painter was at the show and if I understand his pricing scheme I think someone needs to buy the beer for the next 50 years...It is one sweet looking jeep, close up as well as from a distance.

This was the first Reunion where the SUN was too much that I can remember. Those who had the foresight to bring along an EZ up tent really were able to enjoy the nice weather more than those who did not. One group went and bought one during the show. Folding chairs and coolers were also a must this time.

The only thing about the location was that it didn't really lend itself to going for a group trail ride or even a ride to dinner. I missed that...although I guess a trail ride up the capital steps would have been neat too. There was a labor day parade going on too, and a whole lot of classic cars and motorcycles drove by all day.

Someone drove a barn fresh looking old (30's)Ford there Saturday and it was incredible. Did anyone get pics of it??

[macrisel]

What are you using to tie your windshield down while trailering it? I've been hesitant to use anything there as I was afraid it would really chafe the paint. I don't trust the windshield hold-down strap at highway speeds. As a result, I back the Jeep on to the trailer and tow it that way.

Next time, give 'er hell and climb those steps�

Ryan, I'm not sure what the "official" name is, but we have always called it "mule tape".  It is what telecom and cable companies use to pull fiber optic cables through their lines.  The lines are hollow plastic tubes that come on HUGE spools....probably 500 ft of the tubes.  The mule tape is inside the hollow tubes.  The tubes are then buried underground with the tape inside them.  The fiber optic cable (or whatever) is tied to the mule tape and pulled through to the other end......and is then discarded.  My father worked for AT&T for many years and we had the stuff everywhere for as long as I can remember.  It is more clothlike than rope and it rated at 1500 lbs.  I have used it for almost everything over the years and I have some in every vehicle, tractor, ATV, house, office, backpack, tool kit, etc., I have ever owned.  Seriously...it ranks right up there with ducktape.  And....it didn't chafe the paint.

Did you ever get your other starter tested?� As you said, seems odd to have the trouble be the starter given the symptoms.� I just hope it doesn't show back up.

Brett, I wanted to test the starter, but the parts store needed it for a core.  We were anxious to get it truck running and get back on the road.  I was anxious the rest of the trip (because I couldn't believe it was a starter issue either) but we didn't have any other issues.  Since I have been home, I have checked several other things on the truck and have not been able to find anything else.  With the amount of electronics on newer vehicles, nothing really suprises me anymore.

[macrisel]

For anyone looking for mule tape, just stop and ask just about any telephone or cable repairman or installer.  Like I said, most all of them throw it away after they pull their cables through and are usually more than happy to fill up a trash bag for you.  The stuff is so pliable, a 30 gallon trash bag will hold probably a mile of tape.....

[PaulS]

Yeah it wouldn't surprise me if the computer detected a problem with the starter and shut the whole thing down...  Dang new technology.

I learned (the hard way) a year and a bit ago that new vehicles don't have throttle cables anymore.  There's a sensor on the pedal that tells the computer how far you're pressing it, and a servo and sensor on the throttle body that moves the throttle plate accordingly.  Unfortunately, the sensor that tells the computer exactly where the throttle plate is can fail, and then the system goes into "limp mode", and you lose almost all power.  (And for some reason I don't understand, when this happened to me, it was shaking pretty badly, too.  I thought something had broken.)

I have CAA, the "plus" version, and that covers 160 km of towing.  I was 163 km from the nearest Chevy dealer.  And they charged me $20 for that extra 3 km.  I can't imagine having to pay for the full tow at that price.  (I'm sure a city tow would be less, but there's only one tow company in the mountains, and they have a captive audience...)

-Paul

[Ryan_M]

Lookee here! Some nice pics of Mark and his Jeep grace the pages of the newest Kaiser Willys Blog:

http://blog.kaiserwillys.com/2013-willys-reunion-offers-a-learning-experience-for-jeep-owners

Mark, I offer my congratulations to you, however, I still think it would have made for a better pic if you had climbed those steps......

[macrisel]

Hey! Very Cool!!!!  The last photo in the article has my Dad on the far left claiming all the credit for the "work" he did on the jeep!  The "Crisel" license plate on my jeep was an old custom plate he had on his vehicles in the late 80's and early 90's.  The black plate with yellow letters looks so much better than MO's current plates.....sadly after the show he quickly unscrewed the plate and took it back home!

There is also a picture of the one and only FBill looking over some parts (8th photo down, Bill is the center person).

Very fun event!