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Lil' Spen - Preserv-O-Mod

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Dave Pete View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dave Pete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan. 2017 at 1:44pm
Let's talk colors. Recently, after long delay, I upgraded Lil' Willy's top from the old white Bestop DualMatic to the last commercially available black Bestop Tigertop. Yeah - it changed the look. No longer did Lil' Willy's white wheels look right. What to do?

I could go body color on the wheels, or black, neither of which I like because the darker blue and the black are not contrasting enough in my opinion. (Yes, I know blue and black are awesome contrasting colors - seriously considered a convertible Mustang in those colors not that long ago, and then I woke up.) But I don't like the black wheel AND tire. And wasn't feeling the blue wheel and body.

Then I looked at the new winch. It had grey along with the black and various silvers (zinc and stuff) and I kind of liked the grey accent look along with the darker blue and the black. Lil' Willy has silver lettering on the Willys embossing. Maybe if those were grey? And the wheels? Not light gray, no - more like this darker gray! Yeah, that's the ticket! Three tone, or two-tone plus black! Check!

And completely blue on the trailer fits a restoration well (the blue is close to it's original color, but closer to Lil' Willy's blue), but detracts a bit from that whole "modification" part. Black and blue? Well - same problem as on the Jeep. Three tone? Hmmm. Not so stark, understated, but with a touch of class? My inner Christopher was coming out. Easy fellas, you'll spill yer coffee.

So I prepped the coupler and added it to the rest of the grey gang.



Now take note of that license plate bracket. It started out cracked and really bent. It's old. Had almost as many of the same paint layers on it as did the trailer. New ones in town are plastic. Confused

I cut it where the break was, sized the smaller Wyoming (under 1000 lbs empty weight) plate to it and cut off the other side. Hammered it back into a recognizable shape. The other tail light brackets were mismatched pieces of pretty ugly, beat-up, add-on iron so I made new ones. The existing lights were those similar, but black plastic housing types, so I got these metal ones from Tractor Supply.







I had also spent part of the morning with the new sprayer and touched up several places of blue: three or four undercarriage spots that had been missed when the trailer was standing on its nose, but were more visible with the tongue in the air, one new tailgate chain hook I made out of some 5/16 round stock, the trimmed spots of the tongue ends. That was slick, and the remaining paint went into one of those Sam's Clubs mixed nuts containers and onto the under-shelf while the can went into the trash receptacle. Enough paint left for future touch-ups.

Then I fine tuned the spacer lengths on the bench grinder and got the coupler installed. Installed the jack (left it black - you know, for that whole contrast thing). Had to spread the safety chain end link for the 1/2" bolt, but it was all pretty slick. I think I need a little more jack rise so I'll probably get me one of those folding foot things in the RV stores.



The overall length of an original Spen is 105". This coupler style added only 3.5" to the length. Most short trailer tongues are cussed out by owners (can be hard to back) so many will lengthen them. I wanted to keep the shorter for both looks and compact-ability, but the additional 3.5" length will aid a bit in both backing, and towing.



Then I ran Lil' Spen over to Lil' Willy and introduced the two.





I'll get to the wheels someday. Grey.



I gotta get with Jeff and see if he still has part of the Spen logo on digital. I'm thinking just the word Spen and the emblem, not the additional wording like found on his. Then perhaps a little scroll work in a corner that says "Lil' Spen"?



Today I'm running wire and connectors. Once the lighting is done, it's road ready! Theoretically I could put it back outside and get back onto my camper project. But I might do just a few more little things first. Once I view it as temporarily complete it's hard to get back onto it. But I'm feeling the itch for something else.

I'll be back in future (days, months, years) with much more of the "modification part", especially as I have plans for some protective bed box wood, corrosion areas cover ups, filling willy-nilly bolt holes with logical attachments, mud flaps (short) for the existing holes in the fenders, original style canvas cover that maybe pops-up and out for a tent trailer (you know - for those little local trips?), etc. It would be really cool to head out of my home area and get lost in the wilderness for 3-5 days, so there's that.

Been fun sharing with you all. Hope you enjoyed it too. Smile
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Batjac65 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Batjac65 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jan. 2017 at 12:27pm
Looks great! Congrats on a project out the door.
1946 CJ2A #75375
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Dave Pete View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dave Pete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jan. 2017 at 1:18am
Thanks batJac. Lil' Spen even looked good the other morning with a skiff of snow on his fenders.
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