Need Advice/Help Moving a Willy

Cornhusker · Dec 26, 2015

Own a Patriot 2011, and caught the Jeep bug. Long story short, I ended up purchasing a 1946 Jeep Willy from a family friend. My question to my fellow Patriot owners is how to bring my non-running Willy home? I live in Denver and the Willy is in KC.

- I do not have a hitch on my Riot
- My wife drives a Jetta
- I do not want to pay 600+ to have it prof transported.

Looking for any helpful advice on how to move it, or if you know anyone moving from KC -> Denver.

Bonus pictures of the "new" Jeep.

jack.allwardt · Dec 27, 2015

Can you rent a small U-Haul truck + trailer?

Cornhusker · Jan 3, 2016

Just looked that up on Uhaul. They won't rent you regular truck for a cross state move. Any of the storage trucks for movement, will run me around 500+.

jd_1138 · Jan 3, 2016

Sweet little Willys. They weigh about 2,400 pounds I think, and the max a Pat can tow is 2,000 if it has the tow package. Might get a little dicey towing it unless you take it slow. Does it have an engine/tranny in the Willys?

A hitch for the Pat would be about $300 installed. Then you're looking at about $100 in gas.

jack.allwardt · Jan 3, 2016

Now's the time to find out who your friends are--ask around, there's got to be someone with a 3/4 ton pickup with a decent hitch in your circle of friends who would be up for an adventure!

jd_1138 · Jan 3, 2016

jack.allwardt said:
Now's the time to find out who your friends are--ask around, there's got to be someone with a 3/4 ton pickup with a decent hitch in your circle of friends who would be up for an adventure!

Even a half-ton full size truck with a V6 would easily pull that Willys. Or a Dodge Dakota medium truck (V6 or V8). And also a lot of SUV's and minivans too.

jack.allwardt · Jan 3, 2016

jd_1138 said:
Even a half-ton full size truck with a V6 would easily pull that Willys. Or a Dodge Dakota medium truck (V6 or V8). And also a lot of SUV's and minivans too.

oh yeah, even my ol' S10 could have handled it...here's another idea---why not drive it? Take back roads, make trhem 45-50mp[h an adventure. I drove my old army jeep up to 100 miles for parades/events...

jd_1138 · Jan 3, 2016

jack.allwardt said:
oh yeah, even my ol' S10 could have handled it...here's another idea---why not drive it? Take back roads, make trhem 45-50mp[h an adventure. I drove my old army jeep up to 100 miles for parades/events...

He says it's non-running. Perhaps if it's something minor, he can get it running. What's wrong with it OP?

The4WDPatriot · Jan 3, 2016

jd_1138 said:
Sweet little Willys. They weigh about 2,400 pounds I think, and the max a Pat can tow is 2,000 if it has the tow package. Might get a little dicey towing it unless you take it slow. Does it have an engine/tranny in the Willys?

A hitch for the Pat would be about $300 installed. Then you're looking at about $100 in gas.

I've pulled a CRV out of a small mud hole once and they weigh around 3,500 pounds, and I didn't even have to strain the engine hard. But that was at low speed and short distance. Towing is a whole other ballgame that the Riot might slightly be out of its league in.

festerw · Jan 3, 2016

I'd fix it and drive it or pay to have it shipped. $600 isn't terrible considering you'd have to buy/rent something to transport it.

Cornhusker · Jan 5, 2016

The Willy is currently un-driveable, problems include
- dead battery
- babbitt slip issue, which has locked up the engine currently
- proficient leakage from basically all seals
- hideous Michigan Yellow paint job

Personally I like the idea of finding out who's truck I could borrow the best. That used to be my go-to move in school. Guess it's time to dust off the classic.

jack.allwardt · Jan 5, 2016

Cornhusker said:
The Willy is currently un-driveable, problems include
- dead battery
- babbitt slip issue, which has locked up the engine currently
- proficient leakage from basically all seals
- hideous Michigan Yellow paint job

Personally I like the idea of finding out who's truck I could borrow the best. That used to be my go-to move in school. Guess it's time to dust off the classic.

Don't just borrow the truck--engage the owner for an "adventure".... I went with a fellow who wanted to bid on a wrecked/crashed airplane in Utah, and we drove all nite from Monterey CA to get there, where we rented a 4x4 pickup to go into the hills to see and disassemble the wreckage--it flew 6 months later....make fun with this--and don't worry about the "yellow"...at least you'll able to be seen in the snow..

jd_1138 · Jan 6, 2016

Cornhusker said:
The Willy is currently un-driveable, problems include
- dead battery
- babbitt slip issue, which has locked up the engine currently
- proficient leakage from basically all seals
- hideous Michigan Yellow paint job

Personally I like the idea of finding out who's truck I could borrow the best. That used to be my go-to move in school. Guess it's time to dust off the classic.

Also a tow dolly, or you could rent one for about $100(?). I always have wanted to keep something around capable of towing if need be, but the last time I had a vehicle of this sort was a few years ago. It was a near mint '87 Dodge Ram D150 shortbed full size truck with a 225 ci slant 6. Only paid $900 for it, and it was built and geared like a piece of farming equipment.

And the liability insurance was only like $30/month.

Or a full size cargo van would be nice as well -- preferably a Dodge with a slant 6 or a Ford with a 300ci inline 6.

geddisleroy · Jan 6, 2016

jack.allwardt said:
Don't just borrow the truck--engage the owner for an "adventure".... I went with a fellow who wanted to bid on a wrecked/crashed airplane in Utah, and we drove all nite from Monterey CA to get there, where we rented a 4x4 pickup to go into the hills to see and disassemble the wreckage--it flew 6 months later....make fun with this--and don't worry about the "yellow"...at least you'll able to be seen in the snow..

I helped rescue a Tripacer that had engine problems and the owner and a friend landed on a abandoned railroad tracks, then they thought they heard a train coming so they pushed it over a bank to get it off the tracks. the train was over in the next canyon 5 miles away.

Cornhusker · Feb 22, 2016

Just an update for anyone that is interested. Finally getting it towed out to Denver. Ended up costing me about 450 which isn't bad. I'll post more photos when it's sitting in the drive.

jd_1138 · Feb 22, 2016

That Willys is awesome -- definitely worth the $450 tow. Actually worth about 10x that amount.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Tcj5soweM

Looks fun!

Need Advice/Help Moving a Willy

Cornhusker

jack.allwardt

Cornhusker

jd_1138

jack.allwardt

jd_1138

jack.allwardt

jd_1138

The4WDPatriot

festerw

Cornhusker

jack.allwardt

jd_1138

geddisleroy

Cornhusker

jd_1138

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