So I took my machine shop into the woods…

[jhe.1973]

Hi Everyone,

This is what I used as my shop while building our homestead in the mountains of West Virginia 20 years ago.



I had to plan carefully so that the machines went in only once. First came the 16 inch South Bend lathe


Then a Hardinge ESM spit bed turret lathe, an Elgin horizontal mill, a Burke horizontal mill (not pictured) & then this Bridgeport ended up angled across from the service door so long items would stick out the door while I worked on them.



Finally there were 2 work benches, a TIG welder & oxy/acet. equipment. The compressor had to sit outside on a couple of shoring timbers.

All a tight fit, but it worked.

More photos here: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/sho...39202&page=145

& here: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/sho...39202&page=146

[Alan Smith]

Stunning!!

What is the truck? Looks useful.

[jhe.1973]

Hi Alan,

The truck was a 1952 Dodge M37 which was the military version of Dodge's Power Wagon.

It was rated for 1 ton on road & 3/4 ton off road.

Very, very useful.

Wish I could have brought it to Arizona w/me.

[justanengineer]

Very nice "shop" and I really like the method of leveling the floor. Reminds me of home.

Also very nice Power Wagon btw. Its one of those vehicles on my "to own someday" list.

[Highpower]

I have a friend with one of those. It's a beast.

Nice job on the "move" BTW.

[Chris S.]

Hi Alan,

The truck was a 1952 Dodge M37 which was the military version of Dodge's Power Wagon.

It was rated for 1 ton on road & 3/4 ton off road.

The US Army was still using them from 1963 -1966. We just called them 3/4 ton's but I never made the connection to the Dodge Power Wagon.

Chris

[Alistair Hosie]

your shop can be anything in the world solong as you have fun !so have funAlistair

[jhe.1973]

The US Army was still using them from 1963 -1966. We just called them 3/4 ton's but I never made the connection to the Dodge Power Wagon.

Chris

I'm pretty sure that Dodge supplied the military with these into the early 70s.

Here are some photos to compare the civilian version Power Wagon to the M37.

I found the old logging truck in a junkyard as is & I needed a shim for the front of the trailer, so it was useful even w/no engine.

[jhe.1973]

your shop can be anything in the world solong as you have fun !so have fun Alistair

Thanks Alistair,

We did enjoy ourselves & I deeply miss the rural life we were working towards.

It wasn’t all fun though. Plenty of setbacks such as this one w/my other M37. This one had been in better shape than the yellow one until I rolled it over the edge of the state road & down about 300 feet.



It took a week of scouting & clearing to get enough access to it. Top view is as I was starting to upright it. Bottom is just about back on its wheels. This was by hand w/come-alongs & chains.



Next views are halfway up. My yellow one was chained to a tree at the top & all the rest was winch work.



A well deserved rest, moments from victory. The red one is just out of sight on the right & ready to return to a level road.



I’m particularly pleased with our kids (Angela 9yrs. Jesse 11yrs.) for staying w/us for 11 straight hours! Because the red one was out of view when we started they relayed hand signals to me at the top, from my wife at the bottom. Lots & lots of stop & go & hiking up & down. But, we functioned as a team.

It was years before they discovered video games. By then they had developed a work ethic that it seems is hard to find these days.

[jhe.1973]

Very nice "shop" and I really like the method of leveling the floor. Reminds me of home.

Also very nice Power Wagon btw. Its one of those vehicles on my "to own someday" list.

Where's home?

[x39]

jhe.1973.... Man alive! M-37s, K-models, machine tools, homesteading.... WOW! I'm glad you're on this board, great stuff! Thanks for posting.

[sasquatch]

Very interesting posting Jim,,Thanks much for that.

And YES those kids have leaned some GREAT lessons,, good for you and your'e wife for being in the position to raise them that way.

[Weston Bye]

Jim,
Thanks for the photos. Reminds me of the machinery my folks had and I spent a lot of time around as a child, though not in such a hardscrabble environment.

[gary350]

Cool............... It too bad you live on the side of a cliff you need to find some flat land.

[jhe.1973]

If you liked my other stuff, how's this?

jhe.1973.... Man alive! M-37s, K-models, machine tools, homesteading.... WOW! I'm glad you're on this board, great stuff! Thanks for posting.

This photo was taken about 2 years before the others.

We lived across the road from our property while we worked on it. It took 3 years to plan, layout & cut our road through 1100 feet of woods.

This was my primary vehicle & I was setting it up to be the dual purpose vehicle for all the work in store.

I installed a slant 6 engine & heavy duty 4 speed out of a 65 Dodge 3/4 ton truck into the Willys. It already had a Warn overdrive that I could use as a splitter.

So, when finished, I had 16 speeds forward & 4 in reverse. In 1st gear & low range at almost full throttle you could get the speedo needle to start bouncing off of zero.

I hauled an awful lot of heavy loads up the mountain w/this rig but then I got my first M37 & this Willys became our highway vehicle.



gary350: You'll be glad to know that now that I'm in Arizona we have to drive about an hour to find some cliffs to roll over.

All of you are most welcome for the photos & I thank you for your interest!

I SOOOOO appreciate being a part of this group of people. It reminds me of the daily contact I used to enjoy when I worked in various shops through the years.

Those are are only 2 children we had & when my son committed suicide 6 years ago, finding people to pass on as much as I can has become more difficult.

Although my daughter sincerely likes working w/her hands & is good at it, we are having a tough time getting together regularly for me to feel like I am accomplishing enough.

So, like it or not I've adopted ya'll.