On New Year’s weekend last year, Gerald and his brother towed home a Craigslist find.  One year later, they are almost done with a great looking budget build.  Gerald tooks some pics and tells the story.  Thanks guys — and I agree with you on those tires.  They look great!

Gerald writes, This started as a Craigslist ad for a 1948 Willys CJ-2A basket case.   He wanted alot more, but after a month of trades and low balls he took the 1000 dollars offer for the lot. Much of the dirty work was done and lots of parts were included.  The jeep finally arrived home over new years weekend, January 2009.

Because we didn’t trust any of the work done thus far, our first task was to take it apart the rest of the way.  Once apart, we first focused on fitting the body correctly, which was a 10 + year old MD Juan generic (m-38 / mb) body, along with the stock hood and grill.   We also fabbed up a rear crossmember and hitch.

As we examined some of the running gear parts, we discovered the rear axle was shot (which we replaced from a spare beater jeep out back) and decided to add new 11 inch brakes for the front (from craigslist). The springs were new, so that saved time and money. We tore down the motor, transmission and transfer case to make sure they were in good shape, and then refit them properly to the frame, including fabbing up some motor mounts.

Then, we went to work on the roll cage, which was partially built out of some bar from our old family jeep along with some new tube. After we got everything mocked up, we tore it back apart to get ready for painting.

There was stripping and sanding, more stripping and sanding, and then, finally, we sprayed it a deep blue.  We took the time to paint the underside of the body first, along with many of the parts. Then, we assembles the body to the frame and gave it a final coat.

Next came the small stuff such as gauges, wiring, linkages, fuel system, windshield and exhaust.  BTW, I have never seen a head with a fixed rear outlet.  Does anyone know if this could be from a truck?

One of the most critical steps occurred this week, almost one year from the start date of the project:  The Jeep gets the right set of wheels and tires.  As you could see in the earlier pics, the jeep came with some new tires, but we felt they weren’t right (700 15), so my brother sold them on Craigslist.

Instead, he went with these Interco Super Swamper Radials 265 80 16.  They are mounted on 8 inch wide alum wheels, which was another Craigslist find.  I think these are perfect tires for a Willys in my estimate.  He picked them up today in Wheeling, West Virginia, at National tire.