I’m in the process of flying to Oklahoma today. From there, I plan to ride ‘shotgun’ with my sister back to Washington State. She’s doing most of the driving; I’m there for comic relief and to drive occasionally. Looks like we’ll be heading west along Highway 40 and then north on I-5. There won’t be any stopping for jeeps though; my sister puts her foot to the pedal and goes and goes . . . . Therefore, I won’t have a chance to do updates until yesterday afternoon some time.

Speaking of comedy, you might get a good laugh at my antics yesterday. Sunday morning my car’s alarm went off twice. I suspect it was not to ward off thieves, but to gain sympathy for having to endure the frigid temperatures. Sunday evening (having already burnt my pizza dough, forcing me to make more dough from scratch) I decided to pull the battery out of my car, a ’97 BMW with 200k miles I rarely use. That way, the alarm wouldn’t go off again and drain the battery (which I’d just recharged).

Now, some German genius decided to put the battery in the trunk. To pull out the battery out of its recess requires two hands, an awkward stance, and a little profanity. To make it even more fun, the trunk lid doesn’t stay open on its own, so I have to lean inside the trunk and hold the lid with my back.

When it came time to pull the battery, I put down the flash light and everything else in my hands, grabbed the battery and yanked with the appropriate words. Out came the battery. I moved away from the trunk and placed the battery onto the ground. Just then I heard the trunk clink shut.

“Oh shit,” I uttered. That’s when I realized one of the things in my hands was the car key. “Oh shit,” I repeated. As I went through the mental checklist I realized this was going to be a problem. Sure, I have a back up key, but that only opens the door and turns on the ignition. With the battery out, I can’t use the button near the driver’s seat to open the trunk door. I do have one solution, but that will require me to reach through the back seat and fish around for the key through a small hole.

Rather than fish for the key, I left the key where it was and decided to fly to Oklahoma. While I’ll miss my traveling partner Ann (she’s so jealous) on this trip, it’s better that I get away from that car for a while before it REALLY makes me mad.

I was trying to crispen the top of the dough, while watching the Seahawks game. I guess I was never made for multitasking! Even the dog didn’t want anything to do with it.

For those times when the driver’s legs go to sleep, this modification shared by the folks from Jeep Village might just be handy to have. This jeep, which is being restored, had a white band on it, indicating (according to the Jeep Village folks) that it was a French Army driving school vehicle.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=692283917457177&set=pcb.692283944123841&type=1&theater

Last weekend Hugh and his father enjoyed the last bits of good weather in their jeep. As you can see, they found a fun hill to climb and photograph. Hugh reports the cold has engulfed the midwest and, as of Friday, there was a foot of snow at his dad’s place.

Marc spent some time looking for an inexpensive Bending Brake when he ran across a set of free plans from Dave Clay.  http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf

Dave Clay’s Bending Brake. Photo is from Dave’s website.

Marc built the brake and shared his experience. He reports:

It does work well, but the I find the radius a little to large, I will make another top part once it has been machined square so I can reduce the radius. The standard angle iron edge does not give a tighter radius no matter how I filled it.

I used a smaller angle (2-inch x 2-inch x 0.650-inch) than what is called for in the plans but as I see it one can use what suits your needs.

I mounted mine on a section of square tubing (3-inch x 3-inch x 0.060-inch x same length as bending brake) with a angle welded to it for clamping the vice, the total length of the one I made is 47.5-inches.

The piano hinge remained the same except that I used 3/16 AD airplane rivets instead of steel pop rivets and doubled up on the rivets using a 1.250-inch rivet pitch.The adjustable top part (adjustable with slots to change the set back when bending) I made with slots cut into like the real thing would have (okay the real one has removable sections that look like teeth) but cut slots work just fine as well.

Please see attached jpeg of my version of this, called the “Marc 1 Field Bending Brake”.

The brake will work well if treated properly and not pushed by bending material that is to thick or to hard. I have bent 0.020-inch mild steel, 0.040-inch mild steel, 0.060-inch mild steel and some 0.40-inch T3 Alclad Aluminium.

I certainly would not go above 0.080-inch mild steel with the “Marc 1”.
The only weak point as see it is the piano hinge, the rest is put up with use.

Here are photos of Marc’s finished brake:

Glenn has run into an unusual insurance issue. He writes, “I was informed today by my MAJOR Antique Auto Insurance Co. that my newly purchased CJ3B is not acceptable under my Antique Auto Policy because it has a factory installed winch along with a trailer ball. I have been with this (Unnamed right now) company for about 25 years. I have insured several Willys vehicles over the years, never with a problem until now. To quote the underwriter employee:

Glenn,
We appreciate your longevity with (hidden), but although it is a collector vehicle, given our low rates we need to be sure the vehicles we insure are not be used for work purposes, i.e. to tow or haul anything, plow anything, pull anything with a winch, etc… We insure many types of vehicles, but the usage of each vehicle is the primary concern. This is why when we see vehicles with the type of equipment that is included on this Jeep we require the items be removed.

You can read more about it here: http://z4.invisionfree.com/CJ3B_Bulletin_Board/index.php?showtopic=5351