Old Granny (gone, but not forgotten)

Granny - in the beginning (1998) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

In the beginning, a close friend of ours who owned and operated a body shop had acquired Granny as part of a package deal. In other words, he had to take Granny, along with something else, in order to get what he really wanted to buy. She didn't cost him very much and all he wanted was to get rid of her and break even. He offered her to us early in the spring of 1997, but we really didn't want her at that time. Over that summer it became very apparent that I (Don) could not live with the idea of abusing Lil-Red again, and old Granny was still patiently waiting on a new owner... and I don't believe I need to say any more. Anyway, Granny got a new home, a major overhaul, and became a full-fledged Trail-Jeep. In the process, she retained her original 258 cubic inch in-line six cylinder engine, but the rest of her stock driveline quickly became history. Her original T-14 three-speed transmission was swapped for a T-18 four-speed (6.32:1 low gear). It came out of a Ford 3/4-ton truck and was adapted to a Dana 20 (2.46:1 low range) twin-stick transfer case. The power was transferred to the axles by a pair of 2" x .120" wall driveshafts. Her narrow Dana 44 rear and Dana 30 front axles were both swapped for a set of wider Dana 44 axles (with 4.56:1 gears) from a 1979 Scout II. The stability difference was unbelievable and body damage was practically eliminated due to the tires extending out past the body. She also had LockRite lockers in both ends, and a Warn 8274 winch mounted on the front end in case the lockers need some help. She retained her stock spring-under suspension and ran a set of 35X15.50-15-6 Super Swamper TSL/SXs on 15"X10" steel rims. A York on-board air system quickly re-inflated the tires at the end of a trail ride. The original Carter YF (flood-a-matic) carburetor was replaced with a hybrid Motorcraft that virtually eliminated all flooding. Other important, but less significant modifications included electric cooling fans, front disc brakes, 120 amp alternator, electric booster pump on the fuel system, full roll cage, heavy-duty skid plates, and numerous other smaller modifications.

Granny - before the upgrade (2006) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

During those early years, Granny served us very well, but as the sport evolved, with bigger tires, bigger rigs and more challenging areas to ride, there came a definite need for an upgrade. That being said, in the summer of 2006 a project began... Basically, the upgrade began by converting the suspension from a spring-under to a spring-over with the end result being considerably more ground clearance. The clearance under the axles improved by moving the springs and all related hardware to the top of the axles. The clearance under the chassis also improved by lifting the vehicle nearly six inches higher off the ground. A body lift which was originally slated to be lowered remained unchanged. A "stretch", which followed, was accomplished by cutting the frame just forward of the rear spring hangers and adding a 19-1/2" section back into it. This extended the wheelbase from 84" to 103-1/2", and greatly improved the ride and handling. It also made the rig considerably more stable on steeper inclines. I spent approximately six weeks on the upgrade and did all the work myself with the exception of the welding. Other modifications accomplished during the upgrade was the addition of a five gallon air tank which also served as a crossmember, an in-floor toolbox, a rear storage compartment, and a rear passenger seat. A small cargo bed was also added to the rear directly behind the tailgate which served to haul anything from the foodbox to firewood.

Granny - after the upgrade (2006) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

In the fall of 2009, by both coincidence and invitation, we become associated with some folks in the Steel Soldiers military vehicle community, and we attended one of their rallies held in the mountains of Virginia. Not owning a military vehicle, we didn't know what to expect. We were really hesitant to go, and we worried as to whether or not we would actually be welcome when we got there. Well, all that worry was for nothing. Granny, being old iron, seemed to fit right in, and a few of the guys jumped in for a ride. We had a good time, and were invited back for the next one. Since then, we have attended several of their rallies, and we hope to attend many more. In 2010, as a result of our involvement with these folks, we decided to give Granny a long overdue facelift. The original plan was to give her an Army look using olive-drab paint, but an error in the color mixing process produced a near battleship gray. Having served four years in the Navy myself, I decided that rather than throw a gallon of paint away we would continue the project using the gray paint. Since the Navy did very little stenciling of their vehicles, plus there were very few, if any, Jeeps in service during the seventies, we opted to use decals and create a Navy theme on Granny rather than try to make her look like something that never existed. We found some very nice decals of the ship (USS Boxer LPH-4) that I served most of my hitch on, plus some other decals of the Army and Marine units that the ship transported during the Vietnam era. The paint mixing "mistake" actually worked out very well and we were quite pleased with the end result. At our last Steel Soldiers rally in Virginia our newly painted "Navy Granny" was very well accepted.

Granny - after the facelift (2010) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

In June of 2011 we loaded Granny up for a Trailblazer's ride in Harlan KY. We loaded on Wednesday so we could head out early Thursday morning as it is a 6-7 hour drive for us. We had all but finished on Wednesday evening and I was putting a few last-minute items in Granny's cab. As I went to step up on the trailer something caught my attention. Looking closer, I discovered a crack going almost half way around the frame. My first instinct was to unload and call the whole trip off, but decided that since we had planned for this trip since January we would go anyway. We arrived at our destination on Thursday evening. Friday morning a small group of us headed for the trails. This was a hardcore group, but they all wanted to go easy so they wouldn't break anything before the main ride on Saturday. We had a very enjoyable day and returned to camp that evening without incident. Later that evening the other club members started rolling in. Saturday morning the club formed a group and we headed back to the trails. We started off at one of the rock gardens where everyone likes to play. Darlene and I had crawled part of it on Thursday so we opted to just watch this time. We probably spent a couple hours there and then it was time to move on. There was a trailhead at the end of the rock garden called Killing Time. No one seemed to know anything about it, but it was decided we would ride it. Well, if Killing Time ever comes up for a name change, Killing Granny would be very fitting. Back at the rock garden I had taken the can opener on my knife and made a mark at the end of the crack in the frame. When we got to the top of Killing Time the crack had grown 3/8" and Darlene and I announced that we would be avoiding the hard stuff for the remainder of the day. As it turned out, we had a new member with a stock vehicle that day so we kept him company for the duration of the ride. That was Granny's last ride.

Granny - her last, and final photo (2011) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

A couple weeks went by after we got back home before we decided what to do next. Closer inspection of Granny's frame revealed cracking in many different places, and it was perfectly clear that any attempts at repairing her old frame would be a waste of time. Upon accepting that fact, it was time to start shopping for another trail rig. Soon after, we found a 1995 Jeep Wrangler YJ with a bad driveline and we began the project of removing old Granny's components in preparation to install it in our newly acquired YJ. Our new trail rig will be known as Granny2.

Our 1995 Jeep YJ will be known as Granny2... (she will be following in old Granny's tire tracks) (click your mouse on any picture for a larger view)

This web page was last updated on: December 15, 2011 All of our web pages were created and edited using HTML 4.01 and the Bluefish editor. They are all W3C compliant, and should load and display properly with virtually any browser.

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