Alright folks, so this past weekend was the Bantam Jeep fest. Which I already wrote about the experiences loading Flossy on the trailer. So the next day we pulled out and headed for the show, we had flossy towed by my friends gladiator Mojave, his 97 TJ and my dad's 06 Rubicon. We set up camp that day, (the day before the event officially starts) we decided to drive flossy and one TJ down the road to get gas and drive through the local state park. Which was really neat running Flossy through paths snaking around giant boulders. Then basically just hungout at camp that evening. Then Friday started the event, now they require drivers to be 18+ so I got to be swamper while my brother drove. We did the obstacle course with some steep hills a log bridge (which was a little sketchy since they made it wide for them modern jeeps) and some rocks. Then we did a couple trailrides through the woods. Flossy did absolutely phenomenal, we didn't do any super technical offroading but I will say the capabilites of a willys are really good. It ran good, had plenty of traction and with those new shocks actually had a decent ride. I put less then a pint of oil in it and then it stayed full all weekend. So the Lucas stuff really worked. Flossys previous owner showed up, who hasn't seen it since I bought that then piece of junk old woods jeep. And he was amazed with how far flossy has come. Then we hopped in the newer jeeps and rode to town for the invasion. They block off over a mile of main st and line 1200 jeeps down each side of the road, with about 20,000 people it's just a big street party. So up until know nothing had broken yet, one weld on the battery tray broke and it was squeaking so bad. I put a ratchet strap on it and that didnt help sk I sprayed some aerosol canola oil cooking spray on it and presto, the squeak went away. But Saturday we were just coming out of a trail and went to upshift and the clutch pedal went to the floor. So we killed the ign and drifted off the path. Turns out the clutch link rod came lose since a cotter pin sheared off. I didn't put a washer on it so it was just wearing right on the pin. Someone passing by said they had some pins back at camp and brought some over. So It was fixed, then there was a weird clicking noise. Turns out the terribly jerry rigged exhaust started scraping the drive shaft, but that just took a bungee cord and that was the only issues all weekend. The show had a cti flex trailer so I decided to put flossy on it. And I (including the operator of the trailer) was amazed at how well it did. A stock willys has 14.5 inches front and 13.5 inches rear suspension travel. For a total CTI score of 560, better then a stock 2018 Wrangler unlimited. And nothing broke or got tweaked in testing, it still sits right it and everything is good!
The epic Willys adventure left from there, which they left earlier then I thought so I didn't get to see the jeeps up close much. But we did pass them on the one trailride and saw them go down the road.
I'll continue some more photos on this thread but please watch this video I made, it basically shows the entire event and everything that took place. https://youtu.be/ZWT-opMYFf4?si=wj4ywkNdAll3-k-b
I am super fired up with how well the old jeep did. My confidence level got a lot higher this weekend. And it did alot of running and hardly leaked oil, only broke a couple minor things, and I found out how capable it is. I hooked up a temp guage but I don't think it's accurate, it never went above 140. I had a heat gun I checked it with and the thermostat housing was about 160, the top of the rad about 180. Oil pressure would drop to about 15 at idle, but it was idling alittle low rpm, and with any throttle input would get better. So yep, I am super happy with Flossy and had an absolutely amazing experience at the Bantam Jeep Fest!
More pics. Some Bantam concepts made right in Butler where the event was. A FC fire truck, an m677 with original cerlist diesel, a jeep a trench a flat fender on a cj7 chassis, and a cj6 with a Kubota engine.
Fantastic outing 56"! That is what its all about man. The camping out, comradery and the walking around is something you wont forget. Fixing little things "out in the wild" is the best part. It sounds like Flossy is doing just fine. Great pictures! Some nice rides at that Fest!
Outstanding '56. You did very well on getting Flossy to the show and able to participate! When I get some more time, I'll watch your video of the event.
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