1971 Thing arrived!

[Bucko]

I picked up my 1971 Thing from the Jacksonville port today and brought it home. Now comes the "road worthy" phase. I have lots of extra doors, fenders, and bumpers (even an extra gas heater) that came with it.

I still need an ignition switch tough.....

I'll post some pics in the next couple of days.

[droppedbox]

Bucko,

so you recently picked up your 71 at the Jacksonville, FL port, huh? I recent picked up the 1970 i bought for my wife at the same port. Her car came over from the UK, what about yours? I'm out of Orlando, Florida, so i'm sure we will see each other around. Does your 1971 have reduction gears? My wife's 1970 does, which i thought was odd. I never knew they came that way.

[Bucko]

Interesting! My 181 was originally a German military vehivle. It has the olive drab color under it's painted over tan color (interior is still olive drab), and the top is original but in ripped/poor condition. I plan to replace it with a black reprodution one, and the color will change as well. My wife won't ride in it if I were to keep it as it's military color. I am not sure if my '71 has the reduction gears. It does have the "swing axle" setup (CV joint at the transaxle, but solid into the rear wheel plate). How can I tell visually if I have reduction gears? I did crawl up under the rear and checked the axle to wheel connection. All I can really see is that there's a large what I'll call a "trailing arm" from the center of the wheel/axle to the front torsion connection. Wrong terminoligy at best! I will say that this vehicle is built to run over tanks, houses, or whatever would get in it's way. I have not yet driven it on the streets here, as the brakes are bad (master cylinder is plugged). Once they are repaired (parts are on order from Things Unlimited), I plan to take it for it's maiden voyage.

I thought that all military 181's would have reduction gears due to their heavy military possible use. However, the previous owner runs a hotel here in Germany (where I'm staying right now), and he told me he's had this "Thing" running on the autoban at 120 to 130 KPH. I did not think that reduction gears would allow those speeds. If my KPH to MPH converstion is correct, that would be around 75 to 90 MPH right?.

We will need to meet each other no doubt, as I'm sure we will have some"thing" in common.

[droppedbox]

To tell if your car has reduction boxes you will notice a large metal box type piece against the back of the rear drums. The trailer arm you speak of is probably your spring plates. if the connection of the axels to the rear drum is smaller, then it doesn't have reduction gears. From the sounds of what you explained, it sounds like you might have them. 75+ miles per hour is quite fast for a car reduction gears. i'm sure it could handle that, but it had to be screaming.

I love the military look. If i had my choice, i'd have mine military, but as with yours, my wife would have nothing to do with it. I bought it for her, so i guess it really should be what she likes. It's cool the way it is also, so i'm not complaining. If I ever get one for myself, it's gonna be military all the way.

So have you ever come up to the Sonic on 436 and Lake Underhill Road? The second Satuday of every month, there is a VW gathering. We sometimes get 30+ cars. You can get a lot of good advise and meet some pretty cool people. Sometimes you'll find someone with parts you are looking for. The next gathering is this coming saturday. My wifes car will be there if you get a chance to stop by. I'll be there in one of my cars as well. People usually get there about 7:30 pm and stay until about 10:30 to 11:30 pm.

Take Care,

Marvin

[Bucko]

It will be about three weeks before I can get to the Saturday gathering, as I'm on a business trip in Germany until the end of April. I'll show up though at the earliest oppertunity.

As to the reduction gears, I don't think I have them, based on your "box" explanation. I can visibly see the swing axle going right into the drums, with no "box" in it's path by the drums backing plate. I have been reading that some German military vehicles were used for other applications that did not require "rock crawling" movement.

Hope to meet you soon.

[pjmacua]

As to the reduction gears, I don't think I have them, based on your "box" explanation.

Reduction gears look like this:
http://www.181spirit.com/tech_transmiss ... 181_01.jpg

Regards
Pierre-J MACUA

[Bucko]

Thanks. Now I know I do not have reduction gears on my Military 181. I read in some of the history links provided by Kubalman that not all military 181's had reduction gear setups.

This explains why the previous owner was able to get speeds above 60 MPH !!!

[pjmacua]

[quote="Bucko"]I read in some of the history links provided by Kubalman that not all military 181's had reduction gear setups.
quote]

It is true. But 1971 Type 181 (military or not) should have the reduction gears.

If your Type 181 has a swing axle suspension without the reduction gears (like a bug), it is not the original set up.

Olders Type 181 have swing axle with reduction gears and later ones have IRS.

Regards
Pierre-J MACUA

[Bucko]

I read in some of the history links provided by Kubalman that not all military 181's had reduction gear setups.
quote]

It is true. But 1971 Type 181 (military or not) should have the reduction gears.

If your Type 181 has a swing axle suspension without the reduction gears (like a bug), it is not the original set up.

Olders Type 181 have swing axle with reduction gears and later ones have IRS.

Regards
Pierre-J MACUA

I know the previous owner replaced the single port engine (1500 ?) with a dual port 1600; I'll bet he also had the swing axle/transaxle changed as well, as he bragged he could run the Autoban at 120 KPH for hours....a "feat" that I don't think could be possible with reduction gears. Also, I do not see these reduction gear "boxes" at the axle (drum side) at all. The swing axle goes right into the brake backing plate.

[radioman]

Bucko: What's up with your 71 military 181?? Got pics? Progress? suprises?

[Bucko]

Bucko: What's up with your 71 military 181?? Got pics? Progress? suprises?

Found that the brake lights were on constantly. In doing a complete brake inspection, I found that the right rear, and left front brake shoes were locking up against the drums. In removing the master cylinder (after removing the gas tank), I found it to be in sad, 30+ year old shape. Replaced it, along with all the metal and rubber lines (waiting on two F/F rear rubber lines from "ThingsUnlimited"). Two of these rubber lines were swelled shut. This will give me new, up to par braking. In removing the rear wheels, I did see that I still have the reduction boxes too, so that part of my initial confusion is resolved. The gas tank was full of 30+ years of gunk, as the previous owner left about a gallon of old gas in it. Flushed and resealed that, got it installed, and removed the carb. Cleaned and rebuilt that. Installed a new fuel pump (old one may be alright, but replaced it none the less). Replaced the plugs, wires, dizzy rotor, points and condenser. Got the engine started, runs like a champ!

I removed the speedometer to replace it's broken glass, got that done and reinstalled. I started on some of the body work; removed the left rear fender, as this area had the most surface rust. Broke 4 of the fender bolts, but I drilled and retapped them. I'm waiting on "KUBELMAN" to get some used fenders together and send them off to me, as the ones I have are either too rusty or bent out of shape beyond repair.

What has amazed me is that the floor pans, and main body are in great shape! No major rust, no holes, no previous owner "butchering". The wiring is damn near perfect, with no previous owner tampering or splicing.

I travel quite a bit these days, so my time at home between trips is spent working on this project, along with some quality time with the wife and 17 year old son.

My goal is to get it on the road by years end in it's "unpainted" condition, until I can decide if I want to paint it back to it's original olive drab color (this interior is still this color and in great condition), or go a different color. I'd really like to keep it in the military color, but the $500.00+ price tag for a replacement military green top is spooking me. This is NOS, but as the vendor states, they are old, and they (the vendor) would prefer I send my top assembly to them and have them install it, then ship it back. This would be the most expensive part of the project.

As soon as I get a new digital camera, I'll post some pics, as well as the military first aid kit picture I still owe "KUBELMAN".

[radioman]

Excellent, Bucko! Sounds like a good repair approach. I am REAL big on Stop...go can come later. Incredible that the floor is in such good condition.Please tell us story of how you came to find this. And post photos.

[Bucko]

Since my job has me traveling to Germany often, I became ggod friends with the local caretacker of the german hotel I stay at. We started riding motorcycles in Germany, his family visited us in Florida, and I became the "uncle" to his kids. Anyhow, he knew I was doing some heavy work on a 73 Beetle for my son, and he told me about the two military "things" he had. He used to drive the one I now have in the woods and hunted with it. He said he drove it around for about 3 years all over the Mannheim area. He eventually got married, had two kids, settled down and bought "normal" family cars. He parked the two things in a storage building and began to pile hotel furniture and supplies around them. After getting tired of me bugging him to see them, he finally took me over to see them. He had one he painted purple (his old girlfriend wanted that color), and the one I eventually took was repainted a light tan color on the outside (interior is still olive drab); he said he wanted to imitate Rommel's vehicles, the German general in South Africa during WWII. He decided he no longer wanted to keep paying for this storage building, and offered me one of them for free; I only had to pay shipping. It took the two of us two years to get it shipped to the states; he lost the original title and had to file for a new one, the first shipper we hired went out of business (we never gave him money though), I was traveling there and in the states quite a bit, etc. Finally got it shipped the beginning of this year. It's an original German army vehicle, with the original ax, shovel, and various covers (outside mirrors and windshield) still intact. These covers were used to block radar from the glass I'm told.

Sorry for the lengthy story. Hope it was interesting.

[radioman]

No, No. Very interesting. My story is not as exciting as that, but I have sort of written out my trip down Thing Lane. You should do the same.