just bought a 1959 cj6

i just bought a 1959 cj6. been wanting one for quite some time so i can have leg room. the seller said the engine was rebuilt (showed me the paperwork) back in 1999. he states there have been less than 1000 miles on the jeep since the rebuild. shifted through the gears nice, low and hi range worked, has a vented windshield but the body is toast. drove around on a lawn chair and almost went through the floor a time or two. he bought a brand new gas tank but never installed it.
now comes the questions....did the factory do "strapping" on the underside of the frame? it goes all the way front to back with the spring hangers on the outside. meaning spring hanger, strap, then frame. my '71 does not have this so that is why i ask.
next question...what trans was installed in 1959? it has a 4 cyl in there that just runs like a top. anything to look out for? and weren't these in '59 6 volt?
here are some pictures for those who want to see them.... well i tried..looks like i'm going to try the old way until i can resize them....

 

plan is as follows.... i will be pulling out the drivetrain and putting in the dana 44 and 30 from my cj5 with the powr-loks, installing the sm465 that was just rebuilt and having the transfercase gone through before putting it all in. removing the overdrive from my cj5 and putting it in the 6. the engine i'm thinking of putting a cummins 4bt so the fuel mileage gets better. i've seen guys here put them into '60's, '70's full size trucks and get 20mpg so this should get even better because it's a heck of a lot lighter. or i might go the route of a 4.3, sm465, dana18, overdrive with my 4:27 geared axles. i'm leaving in the morning to pick up a new, never installed, fiberglass tub. i think i will leave it the stock height and run either 30" or 31" tires. i think it has 235's on there now. when i start tearing this apart i will put everything up for sale in the classified section.

 

now that's interesting jeep and trailer almost have the same wheels . good luck with fiberglass tub . you just don't see stuff like that around here

 

I watched that one on CL for a long time. I'm glad someone finally picked it up!

 

Love the windshield. Wish I could fond one around here.

 

As Patrick noted they were strapped as shown in this photo of a Stock CJ-6 Chassis in a Bone yard here in Cally.................Hopefully that chassis on yours fared better "Rust Wise" than the body did.

 

tarry, the frame is just a little worse than that frame but not bad. the strapping has come loose in a few spots so that will need some attention. i just don't like how the strapping is between the hanger and the frame. i will weld the hanger better to the frame because it looks like it barely penetrated the frame like shown in your picture. the frame will get blasted down and look better for cracks. i only seen one and it wasn't even where they normally crack.

 

yeah mike i've been watching this for a bit as well. i drove it right on the trailer. it runs like a singer sewing machine let me tell ya. the clutch felt good but it was in low range so of course it will act nice. i couldn't get the passenger side lock out to move so i will need to dig into that. it is the same sears (selectro) lock outs i have on the '71. you by chance didn't go and look at it did you? if so i have some questions for you about the seller and the jeep.

 

yeah the jeep's rims are ford and cut out with a torch to open it up to fit over the hubs...the trailer's are chevy 4x4 rally rims i got from a friend i just didn't put the caps back on.

 

i'm going to assume that the front axle is a dana 25? the front cover has the vent tube on it. going to pull the covers and see if there are any powr-loks in there. i doubt it but i should look to make sure.
went and picked up my fiberglass tub today as well. going to try and use the steel front clip. the tub is of an older vintage and needs a few repairs but otherwise it has never been installed.

 

anybody have some pictures of stock roll bars for these?

 

Pardon my ignorance here--but in 1959 did they make plans to roll a jeep, or is that just something we expect to do now?

 

LIKE

 

watched old videos of people rolling older jeeps with no roll bar..scary!!! i like that cage dave

 

I would guess that strapping was some engineer's solution to adding and extra 20 " of wheelbase while using the same basic sized C-channel as the CJ's. I believe some of the War time version's , similar to the CJ-6 that carried wounded , fuel or radios had a deeper C-Channel frame in places.

Welding was never there strong suit.........Rust normally did them in long before the rivets and welding combination gave up............

 

Rancho manufactured the one that was in my CJ6. More at this link:
http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/north-texas-cj6.82253/page-2


I didn't know I would miss the length until I started driving my DJ5.

 

No, unfortunately I never got the chance to check it out. I did talk to the seller on the phone a bit. I don't have access to a trailer, so I offered to just buy the windshield off him, which he didn't go for.

That steering gear is from a pickup, isn't it?

 

There is no "factory" rollbar for a CJ-6. Usually the Smittybilt roll bar was used, but that was an aftermarket part.