1949 International/Jeep Wrangler Off-Road & Camping Build

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Goldies

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Enthusiast III

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Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Eli
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G
Hello Everyone,


Just wanted to post here a build I've been working. Reason why I started this was My 06 D-Max is meant for towing and not the dirt. I was tired of getting left behind and force to skip obstacles. Something more capable was required. I hate Smog checks and expensive registration fees so I decided to build an old rig. The bones of the build is a 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. I bought this off of CoPart for the sum of 2500 dollars. I didn't realize it at the time of purchase but it had over 10k in upgrades but more on that later. The body that will sit on the JK frame is a 1949 International Harvester Kb2. I pick this truck up for 1000 Dollars.

I recently started dabbling in YouTube, so I will post my videos but be warned I suck at this and any advise for this YouTube thing will be appreciated.

My 1st Jeep Wrangler : )
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My 1949 International Kb2
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Eli
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G
This video is how I got the Body and Frame together.



In this video I made what I call the FloorSlide



The donor truck I chose and test fitting the new engine



The Struggle of trying to get the engine to start.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

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Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Eli
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Was able to do some more work on the truck.
I install my driveshafts
finalize my steering setup
work on making brake lines for the truck.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

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Eli
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G
I finally was able to design the floor for the truck. I used a Flow Master Muffler and an bunch of screws. The floor was holding up me from installing the seats. The seats I'm using are from a 2005ish Volkswagen Golf/Passat.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
First Name
Eli
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G
My front locker was stuck on due to a factory sensor. I took it out, cut it and put it back. Spread some sealant around and threw the front cover back on.

 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Eli
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G
Made a video of my nonsense wiring job. Engine to LED headlights & taillights. Every time I wire a vehicle, I try to step up my game. I want the cleanest install possible. I started buying grommets from the junk yard to make things cleaner/easier. Installed a GM key to start the truck. Took awhile to get it all functioning and it is still not 100% done. 100% LED vehicle is new to me.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Eli
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G
Okay, getting this back on track,
Over 2 months dealing with the DMV, I got a bonded title for the truck as a 1949 International KB2. Nov 2 2021 it became legal to drive. Since then I have taken it to Mount Charleston, The Mint400 Desert Race, Jeep Badge of Honor trail in Red Rock (Rocky Gap Trail), Gone on 2 Anza Borrego camping trips. As of right now I have 2199 miles on it. MPGs are somewhere in the teens. Nothing crazy has happened. Just some bolts needed to get tightened and that seemed to fix the leaks. I drove 4 hours one way to get some new to me wheels and tires (17" AEV Borah DualSports with 37 inch KM3s quantity 5) really changed the look of the truck. BFGoodrichtires did a Instagram post on the truck.:blush: Overall really happy with it. Can't wait to take it more places and just enjoying the company.

Future plans...
DO MORE wheeling and camping.
Work on the camping gizmos and gadgets for the rig.
Camp out at King Of the Hammers 2022 and watch people roll their Rigs. :fearscream:
Volunteer at the Mint400 Again.
Volunteer at the Overland Expo again.

Had a power steering whining problem, in the end I was starving the pump creating the noise. The fix was ordering a PSC kit which has the pump tapped to accept -12 an fitting. Had a custom fitting made for the tight space and ta-da the noise is gone. I did buy all the PSC components because I wanted them all to play nice with each other. So far everything is working great. I plan on adding Hydro assist in the very near future.
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Mt. Charleston
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At the Mint400
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Anza Round 1 - Borrego Springs, Ca
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Primitive Campsite near the mud caves
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Anza Round 2 - Hanging out with some Toyota boys
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SandStone Canyon
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if you are curious, I have about $32,000 into this truck. I did not count man hours. I have an spreadsheet on all my parts. If you have a question just ask or if you want to go off-roading let me know. I'm always down.
 
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Goldies

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Eli
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I need to start making the bed more user friendly. I don't have any tie down spots and still want the retro wood look. Original ideas are hard to come by but I think I got one. These are L tracks, used in aircraft. You can put different attachments in the rails. This is an expensive addition but I think with the plans I have it should work out perfectly. I bought the stud, ring attachments and the L tracks from US Cargo Control. The wood is just some plywood I stained and cleared. I still have some fit and finish to do. Also, since these are meant for aircraft, they use a 45° countersink bolt. Standard is 82°. I bought a 82° bit and drilled out each hole. 82° bolts are cheaper, if I choose to do this again, I'll save money and now I have a 82° countersink bit set. More tools
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Retro and functional.
 

Goldies

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Went to King of the Hammers with my brothers and Shaine. Camped out for one night and explored the second day. We went ripping (fast for me but not Pre-runner fast) through the miles of dirt roads out there. Later that night, we went to Chocolate Thunder and it was wild. There were hundreds of people spectating, fancy rig ripping through, others breaking stuff and the select few who rolled.
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Second day we went to Cougar Butte. This was fun, the rocks are different from Chocolate Thunder. They are big but easier to navigate and I wasn't fearing for my life like I was going to break anything. I did my biggest rock which was about as tall as me.
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What a great 2 day trip.
 

dp454so

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Excellent work! My father and I restored 2 1960’s iH 1 tons when I was in high school. They won’t get you there fast or in comfort but you can’t kill those old corn binders! 345 v8, 488’s, Dana 70 front and yuuuge Eaton rears on 36” Buckshots, lock-in-lock-out hubs! These things would crawl anywhere. And of course the classic, bare bones simple American aesthetic. I’m looking for another to build up now and would love to do a modern duramax swap. I’ll share pics of the builds when able.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
First Name
Eli
Last Name
G
Excellent work! My father and I restored 2 1960’s iH 1 tons when I was in high school. They won’t get you there fast or in comfort but you can’t kill those old corn binders! 345 v8, 488’s, Dana 70 front and yuuuge Eaton rears on 36” Buckshots, lock-in-lock-out hubs! These things would crawl anywhere. And of course the classic, bare bones simple American aesthetic. I’m looking for another to build up now and would love to do a modern duramax swap. I’ll share pics of the builds when able.
Thanks, Sounds like you built some monsters. Good luck with your next build, the D-max is one heavy monster.
 
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
First Name
Eli
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G
I took the opportunity to volunteer at the 2022 Mint 400 desert clean up. They are supported by Republic Services and they bring out a lot of garbage trucks as well as some rolloffs. Most of the trash comes from people shooting in the desert and the dumpers. Many hands make light work. The 1st truck load was from a dumper and the 2nd was walking around and picking up trash in almost every bush. It was super windy and that didn't help things. But all together we got a lot of trash out of the desert.

International truck doing truck things.
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Goldies

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Las Vegas, NV, USA
First Name
Eli
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G
I got tired of having a half finished bed floor. So I decided to do something about it. This will be version 2 and version 2 will have a L-track border. I figured it would look nice and make it more functional. I went to Cali for my brother's birthday and in the down time I took the floor out and apart. LOTS of bolts. Ish and my neighbor helped me. Underneath the wooden planks a lot of debris was found. It was a good thing I decided to finish it. With all that cleaned up I had to cut all the wooden planks shorter and also shorten the main L-tracks. Drill out over 120 new holes and put all the hardware back. I like the way it came out and it is one less thing for me to do. The hardest thing of this was getting the floor back in the truck. For some reason the floor wouldn't fit back in the rail. Some dimension change just enough to make it a pain. This part alone took about 45 minutes and this floor weighs a lot.
Before
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Looks like the wood from my King of the Hammers trip.
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After
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I'm contemplating replacing the edge pieces with a solid one piece for aesthetics but these L-tracks are expensive so I'm in no rush.