Crossing the River
CJ-2A
- history
'48 Pickup
- history
- rescue
Each winter, we try to get a group of people together for a snowmobile trip up at our log cabin in northern MN. The winter of '99-'00 was the first trip we were able to put together in 3 years due to poor snow conditions.
This truck had been sitting here for about 20 years!
Before the trip, I asked Ardie if he were at all interested in getting his Jeep across the Ash River. We'd have a big crew and plenty of help to do any grunt work necessary.
Ardie's grandson, Ben, is all smiles.
We decided to give it a try on the final day of our trip. The temps were soaring close to 50 degrees. Snow wasn't great this year either which made it easier to drive Ardie's 4x4 across the river and get it into position to pull the Willys.
Extra weight in the rear of the tow vehicle and a repositioning of the tow chain. Ready for another attempt.
It turned out that ice frozen in the transfer case wouldn't allow the wheels to turn. They were locked up. So I crawled underneath to detach the rear driveshaft. The front drivehaft was too difficult to get at, so we left it on.
Attempting to pull up an incline off of the river. Not easy, but we made it.
Several people hopped inthe back of the tow vehicle and a chain was hooked up. A few yanks and we were cruisin' across the frozen river. The front tires were in tatters, while one rear tire was still holding air. It wasn't too difficult to tow until we came to the steep bank getting off the river. We lengthened the chain to allow the 4x4 to drive onto some tar to gain traction. A little helping push, and she was up on the other side.
Grrrrrrunt!
We parked the pick-up near a resort where it stayed for a week or so until Ardie returned to load it on a trailer and transport it home.
Another Willys awaits restoration.
4x4 pick-ups sure have changed over the years!
