3 month owner of an 81 Waggy

[ZiRiu]

Hey guys, just thought I'd introduce myself. My old car had a meltdown in the hot Montana summer so I was in the market for a truck when I stumbled across a Wagoneer and just couldn't resist. She's a 1981 with the 360, 727, and NP-219. Surprisingly the power rear window, cruise control, stock radio + speakers, and all the random vacuum controls work. Got new shoes and I'm gonna slowly work on her over the winter. No rocker or floor pan rust but the rear wheel well seams are split. Not too bad, just needs some love.

Weirdest thing I ran into so far is getting a new stock oil cap boosted my oil pressure by around 10 psi.

[8man]

Welcome, and nice Waggie.

[joe]

Nice, with the no wood grain, tripod mirrors and good mech stock condition I'd think it may be an ex fleet rig.

[ZiRiu]

Nice, with the no wood grain, tripod mirrors and good mech stock condition I'd think it may be an ex fleet rig.

Might be. It has mileage records on carfax going back almost 20 years which is surprising for an old rig. Some company had to be taking care of it. I also believe it has a stock towing package with the bar and plug for lights.

[Carnuck]

Check the frame for rot by the fuel tank. Now may be the time to save it!

[ZiRiu]

I do see some rust where I guess the skid plate bolts onto the frame. Not like total frame rot but the paint is gone near a few holes and I swear I see the start of a crack on a bolt hole. You got me paranoid so I checked the whole length and the frame is solid and still has the original black paint on it. No rust except near the tank. Would something like this solve it?

[Carnuck]

There is a plate kit for repairing that area if it made it's way into the "dogleg" going over the axle.

[joe]

Some surface rust is normal. If there's no rot, I don't yet see a need for double plating it. If you're seeing a crack forming somewhere(not uncommon), I'd just stop drill it, valley out the crack and run a bead of weld in the valley. Frame rot at the tank mount is a prob on the 80 up rigs but usually mostly just in the rust belt states or with the folks who like to play on ocean beaches. In MT with neither salted roads nor ocean beaches shouldn't be anything to fret over.