Builds Research Archives

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Builds — Brian’s working furiously on his CJ-3B

July 14, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, CJ-3B, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Brian sent me some updated pictures of his CJ-3B project.  He just finished reversing the springs in the front.  As a part of that reversal, he had to replace the front of the frame.  After conquering this task, he turned his attention to the rear differential, only to discover a big problem (which he'll update all of us about as he progresses through the issue).  

Brian explains more below about his spring reversal experience below …. 

"I wanted to do a spring reversal so I started by getting some universal after market parts to make things a little easier. Then I bought a early Cj5 frame for the front 8 inches then sold off a chrome bumper and ring and pinion at a small profit.

Here's what I did to lengthen the frame.

I cut a block to use as an template to cut off the front of the 3b frame. (Stan H. — from the Wandering Willys Jeep Club — always said to cut at a 45 degree angle though the frame.) I did the same with the pieces to be added. They lined up really nice.  

Continue reading →

 
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Builds — Irwin Arnstein’s 1947 CJ-2A

July 13, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, CJ-2A This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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When some one gives you a jeep for free and you have to pull the jeep out of the mud to start rebuilding it, you know you are going to have your hands full.  Irwin Arnstein nicely revives this old Jeep.

"When my brother’s neighbor T.J. generously gave me his old 1959 1-ton truck, I felt that I ought to do a good job with it and show it to him. As you could see on my Gallery page, it brought T.J. a bit of pleasure to see his truck ready for another 46 years of work. A few months later (and I think after his wife got on him to clean the place up) he gave me his 1947 CJ2A Willys Universal Jeep.

When I got the truck, I had no idea that the Jeep would soon get so lonely that it spoke to T.J. about rejoining its old compatriot. I wasn’t so keen to do the jeep but when my brother offered to help, I decided "Why not — if it wasn’t a complete junk pile."

See all the pics of Irwin's rebuild. 

 
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Builds — 1944 MB Build

June 28, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, MB This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This site contains information and a variety of pics about a 1944 MB Build.  It's worth a look.

"Here it is a small collection of the finished jeep throughout the summer of 2003. I logged over 2200 miles in "Phoebe" since her restoration was completed this early spring. I hope that everyone enjoys these pictures as much I do, I had a blast taking them. I had a great time and will forever remember this experience, its kinda like having a child I guess. I have one on the way so i will find out shortly what that is like. Everyone says its like owning a jeep, when you first get your jeep home everything is ah's and oo's. After a while it starts to bear down on you…. you get the picture. Enjoy the pictures and if you have any questions please feel free to email me."

http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/my44mb/index.html 

 
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Builds — Craig Ellis’ M-38

June 6, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features, M-38 This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I don’t know whether Craig is finished with his jeep or not, but he certainly had some terrible rot to deal with.  I’ve linked to the ‘Golden Triangle Jeep Club’s’ bulletin board for this Build story.  Below is the pic of Craig’s M-38 body:

“you could draw a line down the middle of the body and replace all of the driver’s side floor to be safe. i’m gonna avoid catalog bought floor panels and construct my own from 16 gauge sheetmetal along with new crossmembers. i got a pair of Wagoneer Dana 44s last weekend and am working on the suspension, which will be stock waggy leafs in the front and YJ leaves out back. I picked up a Chevy 4.3 V6 to use and can’t decide on which tranny to go with, but i’m thinking SM465 b/c Novak offers a really short adapter to the Dana 18 case….”

View all the rest of Craig’s pics and related comments (10 pages) as he works through various issues.

 
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Builds – 1942 GPW

May 23, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, MB This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This 1942 GPW has been extensively rebuilt into a rock climber.  No hack job here as the builder documents his efforts through a series of words and pictures.  The builder writes that the jeep was featured in the December 2006 issue of 4 Wheel Drive & Sport Utility Magazine; however, I couldn't locate the article nor the builder's name.  

 "I stripped the Jeep down to the bare frame and started work. The frame was a stock GPW frame that had some previous 'fixes' done to it and it had a few cracks. I completely boxed and strapped the top and bottom of the frame. If I were to do it again I would definitely make my own frame from scratch using 2"x4" box tube. To strap the frame I used 2"x1/4" steel and stitch welded it along the length of the frame. I made cardboard templates of the sections to be boxed and then cut them out of some plate steel."

Learn more about the details of this rebuild here. He also details how he turned a Pro Tools 105 HD bender into a hydraulic bender.

 
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Builds — Chris Olson

May 14, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This is a build done by Chris Olson that I found at the BC4x4 website.  He found a beat up '48 CJ-2A, made a variety of mods, and ended up with a highly modified, but ordinary looking, CJ-2A.

"At first glance, Chris Olson's 1948 CJ2A Willys looks rather plain next to his brother's LJ80 Suzuki. Your first impression would be that it's another flat fender Jeep with big tires and a spring-over-axle conversion. But like his brother's Suzuki, Chris' Jeep isn't what it appears to be. In fact, it is more Toyota than Jeep. This flat fender reflects Chris' pragmatic attitude toward building a 4×4. Choices were made due to cost, availability and functionality. He has no loyalty to any make or model of vehicle and because of that, he has ended up with a very unique vehicle.

When Chris first set eyes upon the Willys in 1997, it was sitting in a backyard, partially hidden by knee-height grass. It had a seized engine, the front axle housing was gutted, all four tires were useless, the interior was a rat home, and it sported a rollbar made of old driveshafts (including the yokes!). The important thing to Chris was that the body was in pretty good condition, especially for a vehicle built half a century earlier. For $400, it was his."

Read more at the BC4x4.com website

 
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Builds: Brian’s CJ-3B resurrection cont.

May 12, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Brian from Michigan sent me some updated pics from his efforts to bring his CJ-3B body back from the dead. Here are several body pics (some I’ve posted before).  Below the body pics you’ll see his latest unexpected issue, the engine he’s dropped into the jeep has an oil pan that hangs too low — a problem seeking a solution (note his clever use of some plastic pipe in place of a yet to procured front drive line).  Finally, he shows a picture of his unabashed stripping of a parts Blazer.

 
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1948 CJ-3A Randy Lawson’s Build

April 29, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds • TAGS: , , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This article about Randy Lawson’s build appeared in the 1994 Off-Road Magazine.  It took Randy 15 years to redo his CJ-3A.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a before picture.  Some of the details not mentioned in the short article on this page include the following:

  • Randy has added a second little window below the wipers on the windshield.  I assume this is custom as I’ve never seen it before.
  • Randy changed the look of the cowl on the engine side by placing a chromed or polished plate across it.  It makes it look very clean.
  • It appears Randy padded the dash (you can see this here and here ).
  • The Jeep may be registered as a CJ-3A, but the cutouts on the passenger side suggest an M38.

Continue reading →

 
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Builds — Bumble Bee

April 21, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Louis Dawson recounts, in this four page article on code 4×4, his 12 year building process for Bumble Bee, a 1947 CJ-2A.  Started as a restoration project, Louis discovered he'd rather focus on trail performance.

Louis sums up the experience with the following quote:  "Our ensuing 12-year restomod of "Rumble Bee" includes a huge amount of fun, plentiful stupid and expensive decisions on my part, and a final result that retains the flat fender look and feel, while being competent and safe enough on the trail to peg the fun meter. This "retro" project includes little of the latest tech — it's mostly older solutions that reached their peak a number of years ago, but it works."

On additional feature I like is the "what we did right" and "what we did wrong" on page 4 of the article.

Read the entire article and see the pictures. 

 
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Builds – 1951 m38 Glendale, Az on Ebay — The Rhino Hunter

April 12, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features, M-38 • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This build is for sale on eBay.  There are plenty of pics.  Note the m606 in the background of one of the ebay pics.

“This is a really unique combination of old and new and we’ve had a ton of fun in it. This rig started it’s life as a military M38 until the previous owner started modifying it as a back country rock crawler. When we got it, it had wasn’t much to look at, was missing a windshield but ran and drove so well we had to have it. It is heavily modified to be a safe, comfortable, go anywhere ride. We call it The Rhino Hunter as it has effortlessly shamed a few ORVs in the mud and rocks…”

 
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Builds – a Build from the MYCJ3A.com website

April 8, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Many of you may have seen this site already, but if you haven't it's a treat.  The author nicely details the experience of rebuilding his titled 1953 CJ-3A (which he discovers to actually be a CJ-2A).  One of the more interesting details, to me anyway, was his write-up of the swing pedals.  This is the first time I have seen these type of pedals (in my 1st jeep I used a swing pedal set from a Vega — with significant mods — and in my current jeep I've modified a set of pedal set from a jeep cherokee.  

See all the different pictures and write-ups at the author's website (The author never mentions who he is). 

 
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Rebuild in Ohio — from offroaders.com

April 7, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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mike-cj3aHere is a rebuild from Ohio as seen on offroaders.com.   It’s a very nice, clean rebuild that resulted in a playful looking flatfender. The before picture is on the left and after on the right.

Mike writes, “The Jeep had a rough  life for some 8 years wheeling the local 4×4 haunts of southern Ohio and it was looking pretty rough and was needed some serious TLC. In early 2005. I stripped it down to the frame and this is the end product after nearly 2 years work.“

SEE THE FULL WRITEUP FROM MIKE AT OFFROAD.COM

mike-cj3a6

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CJ-3B Fiberglass Bodies

April 2, 2008 • CATEGORIES: Body Parts, Builds, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: Since I wrote this back in April of 2008, I have learned that someone in the Seattle Area purchased the Parkette molds, but I still haven’t learned who.

In April of 2008 there was an ad from a buyer looking for a CJ-3B Fiberglass body.  Frankly, he was the only person I have come across on Craigslist looking for a fiberglass jeep body other than I.  The CJ-3B bodies are very rare.

I did search and found a guy named Rick in the Northwest who says he has a CJ-3B mold (looks like a parkette mold with the side stripe).  Here’s a website that show’s a variety of pics of him building his CJ-3B. (see more of his pics below)

According to the CJ-3B Page, there are no sellers of CJ-3B fiberglass bodies.

To the right is a fiberglass CJ-3B body I found for sale back in 2008.

“This is a Willy’s Jeep that i got off a friend in a trade. it was sitting in his field for years. it used to be covered but the tarp blew off a couple of years ago. someone put it together in the 80’s with a fiberglass body tub and fenders. they didn’t do such a good job, the wiring is atrocious and it needs alot of other work, but they did put lockouts and disc brakes up front, thats a plus. it needs to be completely stripped down and re-done.”

Here’s more pics of Rick’s Fiberglass CJ-3B with a Parkette (?) Fiberglass Body.  You can read more about it here:

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