Features Research Archives

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A Jeep for the Grandkids

August 18, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, toys This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Colin contacted me a few days ago.  As a tech article writer for the Willys Overland Jeepster Club site, a restorer and owner of multiple willys, and, as you can see below, a very creative guy, Colin has a wide range of Willys experiences.

He’s been kind enough to share images and information from both his restorations and a friend’s as well.  I’ll be publishing them over the next week.  Tonight I thought I’d share this unusual project. Thanks  Colin!

Colin writes, “Here are some photos of a little Jeep I built for my middle son and grandkids.  It is a 1/2 scale Bemak 1941 Willys MB Slat Grille body mounted on a 1980 John Deere 111 lawn tractor chassis and powerplant.  It has an 11 hp Briggs and Stratton engine with 5 speed manual transmission.  I had to do a little cutting on the body to get it to fit the chassis, but most everything worked out pretty easily.

It has a 12volt electrical system with working headlights from Harbor Freight, WW II blackout lights for the front parking lights, and a WW II blackout lens with red LED for the taillight, a Harbor Freight 2000lb winch and a trailer hitch and receiver on the rear.  I fabricated the front and rear bumpers to match the Willys stuff.   I used EZ Go golf cart front hubs to get 4 bolt pattern for the  Harbor Freight wheels and tires.  I modified the rear axles to accept the 4 bolt wheels.  I mounted a spare tire on the rear and fabricated a “jerry can” mount for the 1.5 gallon jerry can that is the fuel tank.  I used the old clutch and brake pedals from the CJ3A and fabricated the shift linkage for the 5 speed transmission.  The seat is a 1950s Willys station wagon driver’s side seat that I modified to do a double fold forward, where it covers the 12 volt battery. The windshield has Lexan inserted and a buddy made me a to scale WW II rifle mount for the back of the windshield.  He also has restored WW II Jeeps, one MB that he just sold and the other is a 1944 Ford GPW US Navy Jeep.  I painted it in WW II US Navy paint scheme, as our son is retired USN.”

See many more images by following the link below ….

Continue reading →

 
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Sebastian Returns from Colombia

August 17, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, International, Reader Stories • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I hadn’t heard from Sebastian for several months, so it was a nice surprise to get an email from him.  It turns out he just returned from a trip to his native country of Colombia.

Among his exploits on vacation was a 2 day trip in a CJ-3A with his dad that took them from Medellin to Bogota, covering nearly 400 km (about 250 miles) with elevations varying between 1300 ft to 8500 ft.

Sebastian provides images from his trip as the Flat Fender Club of Butler’s website.  I’ve linked to a couple below.  I’m hoping to sneak into his luggage on his next trip to Colombia — it’s a beautiful place.  Thanks for sharing Sebastian!

 
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The ‘CJ-5′ Overlander at earlycj5.com

August 17, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, CJ5, Features, Willys Wagons This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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The earlycj5.com site recently published some great brochures about a CJ-5 truck called the overlander which was available in Australia.  Check it out! (Thanks Dan).

 
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Installing Rack and Pinion Steering on an old Willys (4 hours)

August 16, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE:  Sam has provided some detailed instructions (which will replace mine) and will also be sending some pics when he completes his next installation.

One idea Sam has shared with eWillys readers was the rack and pinion steering modification he has been doing.  He describes this as a pretty straight forward installation that can replace the stock steering in any flattie.  Sam says this takes him about four hours to complete. Pics are forthcoming on this modification.

Sam describes the process as follows:

1) Remove Steering: Take out the existing steering mechanism and the mounting plate.

2) Remove Drag Link: Remove drag link from old box to bell crank

3) Layout Straight Edge: With front wheels straight ahead, use a straight edge  (anything will do, I use a piece of conduit) and lay one end on the passenger side tie rod from the spindle and the other side on the frame rail directly above the drivers side tie rod end at the spindle  This will give you the approximate location for the rack and pinion.  DO NOT USE original box location as this will put the cross link through the engine block.

4) Where to Mount Vega Plate: Take the Vega box mounting plate (The plate Sam uses is this plate from Unisteer.com) and using a large C-clamp, attach to frame with the top of the plate even with the top of the frame.  This will put the mounting holes in the right place.  You will notice the top two holes are inside the opening of the frame and the third hole is below the frame as it should be.

5) Temporarily Mount Rack: The rear edge of the Vega plate should be ONE inch ahead of the line from the tie rods towards the front of the vehicle.  NOTE….at this point, it is very important to temporarily mount the rack (You may use longer bolts to clear the C-clamp).  Once mounted, move the wheels all the way to the right and make sure you have at least one inch clearance between the cross link from the Rack and the oil pan.  Do the same with turning the wheels to the left.  If you have the proper clearance, you have the right location for the mounting plate for the Rack and Pinion.

6) Weld Plate to Frame: Weld the Vega plate in place and be sure to use the supplied gusset ( I use two of them, as I have found that with one gusset, there is a chance for mount twist under harsh conditions such as four-wheeling……strongly suggest you do the same  grin grin)

7) Attach Rack and Pinion: Bolt the Rack and Pinion in place and attach the cross link to the Rack and with the Rack centered and the wheels dead ahead, mark the cross shaft for cutting allowing for the length of the tie rod end.  Now you may cut, thread, and install the tie rod. The unit Sam uses is this cross steer rack from unisteer.com (that link is dead, but this may be the one).

8) Determine Steering Rod Length: Using the conduit, determine the route from the bottom of your steering column to the Rack and Pinion.  This varies with engine and frame variations but is very simple.  Usually all that is required is to determine if the column needs to be shortened or if a double joint is needed.  At this stage, determine what your shaft is…..splined, D shape, square, etc.  This will determine which joint to use.  If round, (with roll pins) I strongly suggest you modify it to D-shape for strength. Sometimes you have to use TWO  rods from the column to the box.  If so, USE ROD SUPPORTS before and after middle joint.  You can get everything you need from Borgson Joints.  If you choose the shorten your column (to use One Rod) you can can get the necessary seal and bearing from them too.

9) Double Check Everything: Double check everything for tightness and clearance and YOU ARE DONE — smile, have a beer.

This sounds simple and it really is, I’ve done soooo many of them, that I can do it start to finish in four hours.  If anyone still needs help, just call me or Dave and I’ll be more than happy to walk you through it.  The last one I did cost $612.42 for everything,  Somewhat cheaper than regular boxes and a whole lot better looking and steering.

If properly installed, you’ll notice the steering much tighter while driving and capable of easily turning under the weight of even a V8 when parked.

 
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Dexter finds a pretty complete, 1943 MB at a good price

August 15, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, MB This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Dexter is pretty excited about this find!  No bad mods, though there appear to be a few things that need to be changed to make it closer to original.  He should get an excellent stock MB out of it with some time.  Below are a few pics and here are many, many pics.  You can see a discussion about his find at the G503 site.  Congrats Dexter!

 
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Me and Dad Circa 1982 near Milk Lake, Wa

August 15, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Biscuit, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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From the scrapbook archives comes this image of Dad and I readying ourselves for another day of jeeping.  I believe this was in 1982 (which would make me 17 and dad 49).  I remember the overnight at Milk Lake because we slept in the lean-to (see the blue tarp in the background), which was the first time I can remember doing that.

In the pics you can see the aluminum storage units with some supplies in them.  Dad built those from Boeing Surplus leftovers, rivets and a rivet gun.  They were light, easy to pack, and stored over the wheel wells, between the roll cage bars, so they were accessible on the trail as well.

 
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Odd CJ-5

August 13, 2010 • CATEGORIES: CJ5, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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While looking for a clean example of the Willys Overland script, I came across an auto-created page, a page of complete jibberish that attempts to make the owner money by getting hits and advertising google and craigslist ads (therefore, I won’t provide a link).  However, on this same page I found this odd CJ-5.  It looks like the picture is somewhere in southern Utah.  Anyone seen this elsewhere?

 
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2 Webpages: Early MB Differences & British Airborne Jeep

August 12, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, MB, Website This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I was looking up something for a reader when I stumbled upon these two webpages.  One page documents some of the differences between very early MBs and later ones.  The second page provides detail pics of a British Airborne Slatgrille in Signal Configuration. I thought both pages have nice detail pics and explanations.

The British Airborne Slat Grille in Signal Configuration:

The Early MB Differences Page:

 
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A Reader Files a report from Thailand .. sort of …..

August 11, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, MB, Reader Stories This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A reader named Bob was vacationing in Thailand when he spotted this pair of nicely restored MBs (one is a slat grille). An intrepid reporter, Bob captured the jeeps on video (download the video here — 11MB) which shows closeups of both jeeps and with a still image (seen below).  He also talked briefly with the owner, Pete, who has two blotspot websites devoted to his Jeeps (the 1941 slat grille MB & the 1944 MB & Video of both Jeeps by Pete).  Thanks for sharing Bob!

Bob filed this report, “I just came across these MB’s on the side of the road, as I was touring the island on a motorbike.   I’m sorry I don’t have much info about Pete. I met him in the small bar across the street ( see in video with balloons across the front ) and we talked a little about the Jeeps.  Pete emigrated to Thailand from the UK.  He’s a really nice guy with a Thai wife and some kids.  He claims you cannot import any of these Jeeps to Thailand anymore.  I’m not sure if it is because of the Left Hand Drive or not.  He said they are very valuable there too – worth over 1,000,000 Baht each ($31000 USD).”

 
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Willys Jeep driven around Killymoon Castle in Northern Ireland

August 10, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, videos This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Randy forwarded me this video about a recreation of a 1943 drive in a Willys Jeep around Killymoon Castle, Cookstown, Northern Ireland.  The folks at the Wartimeliving History Association helped make this video. The video is dedicated to the men of the 505th regimental combat team 82nd Airborne Division United States Army, Stationed in Cookstown Northern Ireland 9th December 1943 to 13th February.  I don’t have any history about the original drive.

 
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Original Bobcat Ad – and Bobcat Examples

August 9, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features, Tires and Rims • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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As I have mentioned a few times, I grew up in the Wandering Willys Jeep Club.  In 1971, the club lead an effort to record all the members from Clubs in Region one of the PNW4WDA, their names, addresses, phone number,  jeep types, jeep names, their jobs, and assorted other info.  As far as I know, this was the first and last directory of its type created.

One of my favorite finds in the directory was an early Ad for Bobcat Fiberglass bodies, complete with the watermark logo of a bobcat (which I didn’t notice until I scanned the ad). Below is the Ad with owner Fred Weis listed as the contact person.  Apparently, sometime later Bobcat products were owned by H.C. Van Wagner, as shown by this business card embedded in one of my fenders (yes it is still there).

Below is the original Ad, followed by a later business card. One interesting bit of info is that I haven’t seen any Bobcat CJ-3B bodies (that I know of).

Here are some Bobcat Products:

This is supposed to be the first Bobcat body produced:

Here is an example of a raised hood:

Here’s a body .. note the wide rim around the rear edge of the body.  Also, the step doesn’t cut in to the body at the end and there are no drain holes by the step. (similar to mine)

Here’s an example of the body that I purchased, which was a light body racer.
“Note the much wider edge (maybe 2” wide).  This body was hacked up a little bit,
but hopefully cleaned up nicely for the guy who purchased it:

 
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You Know We are in a Recession When ….

August 9, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Kevin forwarded this to me (note the generator is sitting on a carrier behind the jeep) …

“The owner said to fix his factory installed a/c unit would cost more than the Jeep was worth…He had the generator for his work and used scap 2×4’s and screws from the job site,.. went to Brandsmart and bought the AC Unit for $88.00.”

 
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The 135 MPH Jeep Test

August 8, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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As I mentioned a couple days ago, a reader named Dave spotted this article and wanted to share it with readers.  The article published in the 1960 edition of All American Word follows the All American Engineering Company Testing the air drop of a jeep by a pallet rather than via a parachute.  To test this concept, the AAE built a special vehicle to mimic the landing of a jeep atop a pallet at speeds of 135mph.  As you can see, the test was successful (at least the one captured in the photos).

Dave writes,”I was in Georgetown, DE recently which is a small town on the DelMarVa peninsula, and I ran across this very interesting use for a VEC CJ2A! I think it might fit your recent “museum” series of posts and I’m sure that your eagle-eyed readers will immediately recognize the historical relevance of this column shift speed demon! Apparently, this was a precursor to what is now known as LAPES or the Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System which is still taught, practiced and used today by our Military for forward area resupply missions. I watched C130 crews practice this (with varying levels of success)! at Whiteman AFB in western Missouri in the late 80’s. Fortunately by that point they were only destroying HMMWVs and military pickup trucks! The 8 of 10 or so operations that were succesful were really cool and you could certainly see the advantages of this type of operation.”

Click on the link below to see some closeups

Continue reading →

 
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How and Why Was this Jeep Traveling at 135MPH?

August 6, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Dave captured a variety of photos about an unusual use for a VEC CJ-2A.  I’ll post more about this tomorrow night. For now, here’s a preview pic.

 
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Prunedale, Ca $600

August 6, 2010 • CATEGORIES: CJ-2A, Features, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $600.

This is how NOT to stretch the front of the jeep to accomodate a longer frame ….

 
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Paul Spots the Ultimate Radio Flyer

August 5, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Just a couple updates tonight.  The kids have me sufficiently worn out, so I’ll wait until tomorrow to add some listings.

Paul sent this awesome pic of the most unique radio flyer I have ever seen.  Paul reports from Alaska, “Sunday, August first, I went to an outdoor car show even though the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall.  Naturally, with the low lying gray clouds and the expected rain the turnout was less than in years past but with the summer season drawing to a close there were still quite a few interesting cars, trucks and motorcycles but what caught my eye wasn’t any one of these.  I’ve attached a picture of this impressive ehicle, just looking at the picture causes me to grin and when I watched it being driven down the road to the show I about fell over I was laughing so hard.”

 
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Santa favors the Willys MA over the Red Sleigh

July 23, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Library Collections, Old Images • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE:  Brendan noted that this is indeed a LOC image. Here is a link to this image and others http://www.history.army.mil/photos/Holiday/wwii.htm.

I suspect it was just easier to stick the tree in the MA rather than his sleigh?  It’s a great pic.  I found this during an image search, but I could not locate the source.  It looks like a Library of Congress type of image.  If anyone knows of the source, please let me know so I can properly credit it.

 
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Aberdeen US Army Ordinance Museum, Aberdeen PRV GRD, MD

July 21, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Museums This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Continuing with our museum series, Bill Maloney has captured a couple pics of this nicely restored 1943 GPW.

 
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1946? CJ-2A Millsboro, De **SOLD**

July 16, 2010 • CATEGORIES: CJ-2A, Features, Unusual, Wood bodies • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.

(06/29/2010) The serial number of 130476 suggests this is a 1947 rather than a 1946.

“This is a ONE OF A KIND Vehicle.  Its a 1946 CJ-2A Willy Jeep.  It is tagged In Delaware as an antique vehicle.  The body is handmade wood.  It is the perfect vehicle for the beach.  V-6 with extra transfer case and extra transmission.  Tow bar so it can be towed behind your RV.  In and out Locking Hubs.  Sucicde Doors .  Clear Title.  Also log book of all work done and dates from original owner.  Selling for a friend.  Seller has the right to refuse sale and end auction at any time sitting for sale out side of residence.  This is One of a Kind vehicle.”

Continue reading →

 
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Beer Can Flattie (and others)

July 13, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Models This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE:  Lylito pointed out that more information about these models and their New Zealand designer, Sandy Sanderson, can be read here.  Plans are available, too.  Jalopnik has also did a story about Sandy that includes details of the original drawings.

Randy forwarded me these amazing models.  I’ve got more pics of the others and will forward them as an email.

Here are some other models (again, I have more pics of these if you are interested.

Keywords: Aluminum Cans; Beer Cans;

 

 
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Cadillac Ranch Motorsports

July 8, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, News This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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When I was a kid, jeep play/race days were held all over the Pacific Northwest.  Whether at the sand dunes, in the forest, under some powerlines, in a boggy area of Everett or at an ORV park, it seemed the places a club could sponsor a playday were unlimited. For a variety of reasons, those days have passed and options for holding 4×4 events are limited.

This is why I was surprised to see a new area that allows some PNW racing (and motorcycle, trucks and atvs as well) called Cadillac Ranch MotorSports.  From the website, “Cadillac Ranch Motorsports was started by three brothers who had some unused land that they decided to turn into a destination for excitement. Bring your ATV, motorbike, or truck to our track for a day of outdoor fun.”  Check out some sprint racing pics here and some cross country pics here.

From the pics I saw on the website, a few friends and readers have already ventured down for some their outdoor fun, though I haven’t heard any feedback thus far.  Even better, it’s only a stone’s throw from my sister’s place in McKenna, so I’ll have to swing by and check it out!

Here are some images from the Cadillac Ranch Motorsports website. This image shows the area in general, which looks great for spectating — you can see an entire run.

This is a pic from a sprint race:

And here are a couple pics from what I assume is a cross country course of some type.  In the second pic you can see there is a pretty good line of racers ready to take their turn.

 
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Some Updates …

July 5, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Biscuit, Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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For the Fourth of July, I celebrated by heading back to the formerly snow bound roads near Boise’ only ski area, Bogus Basin.  As you can see in this pic, the snow is gone (see snow pics here), the mountains are now in bloom, and more progress was made.  More on that tomorrow ….

A 1950 CJ-3A: Today, Darrel had to talk to me.  So he stopped next to me, while I waited at a stop light, rolled down his window, and started asking me questions — what year was my jeep, who did my roll cage, and more …

Now, I had no idea who Darrel was.  However, in the time it took for the stop light to finally change colors, Darrel had explained through his passenger side window that he A) liked what I had built, B) had a 1950 CJ-3A, C) wanted his jeep rebuilt for his daughter, D) had his jeep nearby, and E) wanted me to follow him there.  If I learned that much at a stop light, I wondered how much I would learn about him once we stopped to see his jeep.

True to his word, he lived very close and had a 1950 CJ-3A that needed some work — hadn’t been run in 15 years.  It had a V-8 conversion, solid body, rotted top and plenty of potential.  And, to my surprise, based on my jeep, he asked me to do the work (and will pay me). I don’t have pics of this just yet.  I’ll share more about this if we go forward with the project.

Brian wrote to me late last week to share a sad tale.  As a part of the continued testing with his new build, he learned the hard way what happens if the oil in the front pumpkin housing gets too low AND the 4wd somehow gets accidentally shifted into gear (how that happened is still a mystery to him).  The result:  his front pinion started freezing up, resulting in some ugly sounds and a twisted driveline. See the pics to the right.

The good news is that everything else continues to behave well.

 
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1973 CJ-5 Super Jeep Battle Creek, MI **SOLD**

July 2, 2010 • CATEGORIES: CJ5, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE:**SOLD** Was $15,000.

Wes found this unusual, old school CJ-5 for sale at the Great Lakes Forum.

“1973 Super Jeep RARE BARN FIND 1 OWNER ,All the papers and doc.360 front and rear dana 44, 28,960.0 original miles Bought new and raced by factory employee.At the jeep proving grounds. Just very cool piece of history.check this out.$15,000. Or Make me a offer.”

 
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I found this on Flickr ..

July 1, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Features, Unusual, Willys Wagons This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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My question: is all this stuff keeping this old willys truck together?

 
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Upgrading a Single Master Cylinder into a Dual set up

June 17, 2010 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A reader ask me about replacing the stock single brake master cylinder, found on many early jeeps,  for a dual master cylinder.  Can it be done?  It turns out there a variety of threads and pages on this alteration.  Here are some of the links I found if you are interested in this mod.

1) http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/dual-master-cylinder_topic14193.html
2) http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45099
3) http://cj3b.info/Tech/BrakesDualMaster.html
4) Herm’s conversion kit: http://www.hermtheoverdriveguy.com/id2_dual_reservoir_master_cylinder.htm

OTHER BRAKE UPGRADE OPTIONS HERE

(Image from the CJ-2A Page)