1. Have a trailer and tow rig ready to go. It's helpful if you have a winch on your trailer or at least have a Hi-Lift jack you can use to help you load a non-running vehicle. If it's down to you and your trailer or another potential buyer with no way of removing the project Jeep, guess who the owner is going to cut the better deal?
2. If you don't have a trailer, make sure your AAA or other towing membership is in good order and the company you're hiring can pick up your new purchase for you.
3. If you're serious about buying, keep your cash handy. Hide it in your house or somewhere safe in case that killer deal pops up when the banks are closed. Having your cash at hand also helps ensure you're the first one to the prize.
4. Bring along a compressor or Powertank to air up flat tires, a selection of hand tools, some lube spray, and whatever else you may need to loosen seized brake shoes, reaffix steering components, or inflate flat tires so you can move and/or drive your new pile away.
5. Be flexible. This can mean anything from meeting the seller after their 2nd shift job lets them off work after midnight or being willing to take away extra junk parts. However, more often than not it means conceding certain parts of sentimental value that the seller may not want to let go of, such as vanity plates, shift knobs, or even seats, wheels, or other trinkets.
1. Well, I didn't have a trailer, but I did have UHaul. I hate using them for anything but the most desperate of circumstances. I could have driven up and back in the Big Jeep, but that would have cost a few pennies in gas and I wouldn't have been able to bring back all of my loot, just the rig flat-towed and what parts would fit in the back. So I reserved a Uhaul 14 footer and auto trailer for the Little Jeep and its extra pieces, which I knew would be numerous. Charlie (the second owner who sold it to me) was able to arrange for a few of his kin to help out. They were great people. Friendly, helpful, and funny.
2. N/A.
3. I had gotten cash out to purchase an M38A1 in Rialto that was the classical example of the "good from afar but far from good" cliche. It was slathered with olive drab house over diamond plate, a Ford 200 Inline Six, and a large gas tank for a back seat. No sale. But I kept the cash out (at my wife's suggestion) to keep handy for when the real purchase would be coming.
4. I was loaded with most of these tools, but I didn't need any of them. I did bring extra axle straps to hold the rig down on the auto trailer. I used one to hold the body tub more securely to the frame. I used one to latch down the front axle to the trailer tongue, and another to firm up the rear axle to keep it from bouncing (much). (Apparently as Kim followed me south on the way home, she saw the trailer itself catch air on a few dips, as well as possibly the body and/or rear axle.)
5. I was happy to being flexible, but the truly flexible individuals were my wife and kids who enjoy--and simultaneously tolerate--this Jeep thing from which I suffer. The window of opportunity was right for us to go get this thing. This was the last weekend without soccer games until Thanksgiving, it was a four-day weekend for me without grading, and Charlie's asking price was at my price point, no haggling required. I kept in contact with Charlie for over the course of the week after we struck our deal. He wanted someone who would rebuild this thing rather than part it out, and I wanted something I could piece together/resurrect.
Charlie had kept the Jeep pieces in a side/rear lot of sorts that had a fifth wheel RV trailer in it, as well. The parts were scattered about. I think Charlie had kept it all in there since 2005 when he took ownership from the original owner for whom he had worked (and driven the 3A) since high school.
Unloading was interesting, to say the least. I'd never towed a trailer before, and I certainly had little skill at reversing. I actually looked up UHaul's advice on trailer driving the morning of our trip up to the Central Valley. I read the reversing section twice, and it didn't help much. Of the entire hauling/trailering experience, getting the CJ3A off the trailer and in the garage was my biggest preoccupation. Would Kim and I be able to push the Jeep up off the trailer? Would we need to get the kids to help? With no functioning steering linkage, would it have a mind of its own?
Draft one, which left the truck in the street in its entirety and the trailer on the steeper part of the driveway.
After a bit of wiggling that reminded me of that great scene in Austin Powers when he tries to U-turn the golf cart, I got it up the driveway in such a way that I wasn't even blocking traffic. But it was still slopped towards the truck and not the garage. I would overcome.
I had to get it over the steel bars that held the front tie-down straps to the trailer (you can see one of them in the above pick just behind the passenger side front wheel). My system, which worked well, was to use two heavy duty ratchet straps. I'd crank on one to pull the Jeep uphill. Once it was fairly maxed out in terms of the amount of strap looped on the ratchet itself, I'd stop, switch to the other one, and repeat. Through this alone, I was able to move it uphill about four feet, enough to give me and Kim room to push it that last bit. It balanced well with the rear wheels on the ramp and the front on the trailer. Then came the messy part.
My plan didn't allow me to have much of a way to stop the Jeep once it started its way into the garage. We moved everything back and to the sides, but the Jeep wasn't aimed quite right. It rolled hard and pulled me with it; I slipped on the dusty garage floor, slammed my right knee/quad into the left tow-bar bracket, and landed on my ass. I'd like to think that I slowed the rolling chassis down a little, but I'm probably delusional (or attempting to justifying the pain I felt and still feel just a titch).
Like a glove, with room to spare. I did have to move my unicycle, which kept getting caught on the roll bar as Kim and I moved the Jeep forward and backward, turning the wheels by hand (no steering linkage yet, remember). If you look in the above pic, the Jeep initial rolled straight back into the green dolly and wood pile. It was a thud and a half, but we got the job done, and nobody else got hurt.
Next we had to get all the parts out of the truck itself, including a full tub. The kids, Kim, and I did the unloading. Sorry, no pics of the kids. They grabbed headlight bezels, exhaust manifolds, grilles, seats, CJ5 rims, fenders, and more. Studs, all. Once it was tub time, they cleared out. The eldest took the camera, and Kim and I went to it. We used an old piano dolly I made in 2003 to get a piano out of our Irvine apartment and into our first house. If you could have possibly doubted Kim's commitment to me and this crazy project, look at the next few pics. She's simply unreal.
We pivoted it around a few times rather than slide it. But when we got close to the gate, we had to slide it.
We put it on the whiteboard material I use when working under the Big Jeep (which used to be our weekly calendar in the dining room). Its slick surface allowed for a smooth shift. Then we just muscled it the rest of the way home.
2. N/A.
3. I had gotten cash out to purchase an M38A1 in Rialto that was the classical example of the "good from afar but far from good" cliche. It was slathered with olive drab house over diamond plate, a Ford 200 Inline Six, and a large gas tank for a back seat. No sale. But I kept the cash out (at my wife's suggestion) to keep handy for when the real purchase would be coming.
4. I was loaded with most of these tools, but I didn't need any of them. I did bring extra axle straps to hold the rig down on the auto trailer. I used one to hold the body tub more securely to the frame. I used one to latch down the front axle to the trailer tongue, and another to firm up the rear axle to keep it from bouncing (much). (Apparently as Kim followed me south on the way home, she saw the trailer itself catch air on a few dips, as well as possibly the body and/or rear axle.)
5. I was happy to being flexible, but the truly flexible individuals were my wife and kids who enjoy--and simultaneously tolerate--this Jeep thing from which I suffer. The window of opportunity was right for us to go get this thing. This was the last weekend without soccer games until Thanksgiving, it was a four-day weekend for me without grading, and Charlie's asking price was at my price point, no haggling required. I kept in contact with Charlie for over the course of the week after we struck our deal. He wanted someone who would rebuild this thing rather than part it out, and I wanted something I could piece together/resurrect.
Charlie had kept the Jeep pieces in a side/rear lot of sorts that had a fifth wheel RV trailer in it, as well. The parts were scattered about. I think Charlie had kept it all in there since 2005 when he took ownership from the original owner for whom he had worked (and driven the 3A) since high school.
Unloading was interesting, to say the least. I'd never towed a trailer before, and I certainly had little skill at reversing. I actually looked up UHaul's advice on trailer driving the morning of our trip up to the Central Valley. I read the reversing section twice, and it didn't help much. Of the entire hauling/trailering experience, getting the CJ3A off the trailer and in the garage was my biggest preoccupation. Would Kim and I be able to push the Jeep up off the trailer? Would we need to get the kids to help? With no functioning steering linkage, would it have a mind of its own?
Draft one, which left the truck in the street in its entirety and the trailer on the steeper part of the driveway.
Next we had to get all the parts out of the truck itself, including a full tub. The kids, Kim, and I did the unloading. Sorry, no pics of the kids. They grabbed headlight bezels, exhaust manifolds, grilles, seats, CJ5 rims, fenders, and more. Studs, all. Once it was tub time, they cleared out. The eldest took the camera, and Kim and I went to it. We used an old piano dolly I made in 2003 to get a piano out of our Irvine apartment and into our first house. If you could have possibly doubted Kim's commitment to me and this crazy project, look at the next few pics. She's simply unreal.
Here's the stash. I'll more precisely inventory it in another post.
