Got That Jeep Thing and I Still Don't Understand

[OnlyOneDR]

Since I was eleven I have wanted a flat fender Jeep. I can remember the summer vacation trip that started it all where I saw one at this ski resort we stayed at. It has been in the back of my mind ever since. Over the years as I built and wheeled my Nissan my oldest friends and family still remembered my affinity for Jeeps and would ask me why I never built one. Well it finally got the best of me this summer.

I randomly searched around in June for "Willys" on Craigslist and found a chassis for sale in Raleigh. I always have too much crap laying around in the garage and the driveway so I told myself "no". That lasted a few weeks and when I searched again the price had dropped but it was still for sale. I contacted the guy only to find out that it was just a few miles from my home and that the guy was pretty motivated to sell it.

Here's what I came home with, a 1950 Willys CJ-3A:

The chassis had already been sandblasted and many major chassis items were already refurbished or replaced including all the brakes, new front leaves, etc. He handed me a book of receipts and a reproduction Willys repair manual. It was quite a deal.

He did not advertise a body but when I went over to look at it there was a tub and all the major parts (front fenders, grille, hood, windshield frame) there as well that he let go with it. Tub has the usual issues in the floor pans, floor supports, and rear corners, but overall gives me a good basis to start repairs:

Sadly the guy was really a kid and did not do a few important things like seal up all the entry points for water into the engine so even though he sourced this one and put it in a couple years ago it appears to be locked up. And all the major accessory parts were missing (air cleaner assembly, radiator, etc) and I think it is from a CJ-2A, not a 3A.

So I went hunting for a donor vehicle and ran across the Jeep that is the basis for @YJJPWrangler and his Project Tetanus Shot up in Pennsylvania. One well orchestrated work trip and I was able to drag that home:

This is the donor for the engine and all the accessories. The rotating assembly still turns and I will take both engines somewhere to get one good one built out of it. The radiator still held fluid so I will get that restored soon.

My plans are to do a basic restoration on the Willys and bring it back to some form of former glory. I will find an overdrive for the Spicer 18 so it will more comfortably drive on the highway and I will probably mount up a spare M8274 winch for fun but I really do not have much intention of taking it on the trail when it gets done (that could always change).

All I have done so far is spend far too much money on RockAuto getting a lot of the "normal" replacement parts that I was going to need anyway. The bodywork will take a ton of time and I will be learning on this project as I have done a ton of structural but next to zero sheet metal repair work.

 

[YJJPWrangler]

I was wondering when this build was going to begin. Looking good bud.

 

[Black Bear]

What are your goals for this? Light wheeler / ice cream getter or something a bit wilder?


I have an old 5 that I am trying to get together, if you need info just let me know.. the old 5's and 3's share alot of parts.

 

[orange150]

Envious! I've always wanted to build one of these with low lift and big(ish) tires.

Kind of like this:

 

[OnlyOneDR]

What are your goals for this? Light wheeler / ice cream getter or something a bit wilder?


I have an old 5 that I am trying to get together, if you need info just let me know.. the old 5's and 3's share alot of parts.

Cool, thanks. It will be on the "light" side of builds as I really wanted something stock-ish. We'll see where it goes...

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Here are a couple better pictures of the chassis. It is really amazing to me how small these things are:

 

[NickMaul]

Jealous of this. Once I finish up my Cherokee I wouldn't mind doing a small resto/mod on a willys. I began wondering through the willys page on pirate and was blow away at peoples' creativity with these platforms. Sub'd

 

[Black Bear]

Here are a couple better pictures of the chassis. It is really amazing to me how small these things are:

They are about the same size as a SxS, but with a shitty suspension, and half the power but street legal.

For now i have similar goals, light duty wheeler thats streetable. Im going upgrade to disc brakes on the front and some other safety items and thats it. The drums on these are not the greatest, if your lucky you'll have the 11" drums, if your not lucky then its 9" drums either are manually adjusted which isnt the greatest.


Do you have the e-brake?

 

[OnlyOneDR]

They are about the same size as a SxS, but with a shitty suspension, and half the power but street legal.

For now i have similar goals, light duty wheeler that is streetable. I'm going upgrade to disc brakes on the front and some other safety items and that's it. The drums on these are not the greatest, if your lucky you'll have the 11" drums, if your not lucky then its 9" drums either are manually adjusted which isn't the greatest.

Do you have the e-brake?

I have a rusted-out e-brake in pieces. Was hoping to get the one I sold Zach with that rolling chassis he bought since he decided not to re-use the trans/tcase. We have not been able to work that out yet.

I was concerned about the brakes as well but at the moment these are all re-done from the previous owner so I will leave them as-is for now. Your question prompted me to go out and finally measure...these are the 9" brakes.

 

[Black Bear]

I have a rusted-out e-brake in pieces. Was hoping to get the one I sold Zach with that rolling chassis he bought since he decided not to re-use the trans/tcase. We have not been able to work that out yet.

I was concerned about the brakes as well but at the moment these are all re-done from the previous owner so I will leave them as-is for now. Your question prompted me to go out and finally measure...these are the 9" brakes.

Herm the overdrive guy has a kit for the e-brake, but i think there might be a better solution than another drum brake.

http://hermtheoverdriveguy.com/brakes/e-brake-assemblies

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Herm the overdrive guy has a kit for the e-brake, but i think there might be a better solution than another drum brake.

http://hermtheoverdriveguy.com/brakes/e-brake-assemblies

Thanks! I have been on that website before but never thought to look for the e-brake parts.

 

[OnlyOneDR]

So a few years later I am circling back around to this. Met a girl, got married, started and now almost finished with a house addition, etc. Time flies but the Willys still waits...

I did run across a drawing (attached) I did when I was 11 on a family vacation in New Mexico. We were staying at a small ski lodge and I was enamored with this little jeep I saw there. Being the nerdy kid I was I had a notepad so I drew a picture of it. Apparently it was a CJ-2A with a Koenig front winch based on my own drawing. So after doing some research on the tub/chassis I figured out that this CJ-3A was the 2nd one off the line for the 1950 model year. The VIN is 37751 and 37750 was the first S/N for 1950, so this Jeep is kind of "special" if for anything else than it may be the first one left for 1950.

I decided that as before it will be a stock-ish restore but I am going to build it into a Farm Jeep/Agri-Jeep with a bunch of the accessories that they were sold with back in the day to make them as useful as a contemporary tractor. They had 3-point implement lifts, rear PTOs, etc. My wife and I plan on getting some property at some point so this will be a fun way to get a workhorse for that dream.

Nothing has changed from the pictures in 2016 but I have amassed quite a few parts now to do the build and upgrades/accessorizing. I have the PTO/shaft/rear gear box/guard, a right-angle belt pulley attachment, Warn overdrive and PTO adapter, front counterweight, a Monarch hydraulic pump, a King-Seeley single-speed engine governor that I will convert to variable speed, a sweet pair of Kelly locking hubs, an original under-dash heater, a PowerLock for the front D25, and other odds and ends. Unfortunately none of these parts are found locally; there really is not a strong base of owners or enthusiasts here in this part of the country so anything I find has to be shipped in. JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket

There were a few different 3-point hydraulic lifts for these; Monroe was the best known and widely sold but they are hard to find complete and at a reasonable price now. These lifts sat on the rear of the load floor and used the factory drawbar to mount the lower links. The other major brand was a Newgren and these fit under the load floor of the Jeep but are even harder to find and more expensive. The good thing is the Newgrens are a really simple designs and mostly made of angle and plate so I am trying to get all the dimensions to build a working copy which will be far more interesting and fun than simply buying one anyway.

I did find a Koenig front PTO winch and front drive PTO adapter and am currently trying to get those shipped here but then I need to find the needle in a haystack dual stick PTO unit to drive both the rear gearbox and the front winch. I will sell off the front drive PTO adapter since I really cannot use it. Koenig and Ramsey both made dual stick PTOs but there were two versions (utility and truck/wagon), neither sold well and thus now they are fairly rare and expensive for the correct unit. Cool thing will be if I find one the Jeep will have six sticks coming out of the floor!

Other than finding that PTO and a rear limited slip I think I am nearly done searching for the obscure stuff and the rest can come from the parts houses that specialize in these things. Things like a new fuel tank, radiator, etc. Then comes the body work *ugh*.

I will work on trying to get some pictures up of all the parts; I know reading a bunch of text in a build thread is boring!

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Koenig winch, PTO adapter, and driveshaft is on its way now. I did find a Ramsey dual-stick PTO and begrudgingly paid the crazy prices they command, so it will be a six-stick Jeep. Other than building that copy of the lift I think I have all the pieces to go on the chassis now so I can "start" at any time. We shall see how that goes.

 

[R Q]

I Love a Willys! You should come to the Southeast Willys Get Together in Asheville in October. If that motor still turns over you can probably get it to run.

 

[OnlyOneDR]

I Love a Willys! You should come to the Southeast Willys Get Together in Asheville in October. If that motor still turns over you can probably get it to run.

If I can swing if I might like to get to a meet so I can hopefully take measurements off a Newgren lift and sell some extra parts I have. Thanks for letting me know. There is no way the Jeep would make it; I am unsure when I will actually start really working on it and the body is going to take forever.

 

[Lizooki]

[QUOTE="Black Bear, post: 1490318, member: 159"

They are about the same size as a SxS, but with a shitty suspension, and half the power but street legal.

[/QUOTE]

Think "stock American Samurai"!

 

[OnlyOneDR]

With the disease which is buying Jeep parts I happened to have someone respond to one of my WTB ads and I ended up with a dual-stick Koenig PTO and rear winch as well. I have too many parts and not enough Jeeps to put them on. I found a used 19-spline D44 TracLock but now I will need to swap out the rear axle for a D44 since mine has a D41. Again with I can find them but they are halfway across the country or way up in the Northeast. Why is it there there just aren't many old Jeep parts in the South?

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Found a vintage Whitco white top for it. Super excited because the only thing left on the market is a Bestop Tigertop in black. I didn't want black!

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Found a few more things:

-Newgren hydraulic lift frame that needs minor repairs (also needs a cylinder and arms)
-Dual wheel adapters that will need repairs but will look pretty neat if I can find another pair of wheels
-Ventilating windshield that needs repairs (flip open like the older square CJ-2A windshield)

Laughing because almost everything I find will need some work.

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Finally located another radiator and shroud. Finding these used for a -3A is not easy. New replacements are half a grand!

 

[Brownsxj]

Pics would be awesome

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Pics would be awesome

Yeah, this thread really isn't much fun since all I do is buy parts and throw them in the garage attic. I will try to take pictures of the more interesting parts I have acquired and post them up as I find time. Remember that back in the 40's and 50's pretty much everything was optional (heck even my '69 Blazer had the top, front passenger seat, and rear seat as options). Since Civilian Jeeps were called "Universal" they had so many factory and aftermarket accessories that it is really overwhelming what could be done with them. Willys intended for them to compete with small tractors on the farm.

Here are a few:

Harrison Under-Dash Heater

Image003

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Harrison Under-Dash Heater

Rear PTO reversing box (6-spline for tractor implements like finish mower, brush hog, post hole digger, pumps, etc):

Image001

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Rear Reversing Gear Box for PTO

Right angle PTO belt drive (bolts to gearbox above for running belt equipment like buzz saws, conveyors, etc):

Image002

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Right-Angle Belt Drive for PTO

Monarch Variable Speed Governors (these are for maintaining PTO output speed under load), a factory CJ unit on the right w/special disconnect pulley; another one I acquired on the left:

Image004

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Monarch Variable Speed Governors

Image005

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Monarch Variable Speed Governors

Newgren 3-Point Hitch Frame (needs a hydraulic cylinder and the links to handle Cat 1 implements):

Image006

• OnlyOneDR
• Oct 13, 2020

Newgren 3-Point Hitch Frame

 

[OnlyOneDR]

More parts.

Spicer 18H rear PTO controller for a Spicer 18 transfer case and a Ramsey DP2-FY dual output/dual lever PTO controller (intended for an FC-170 truck with remote levers and u-joint yoke on rear). The Spicer 18H is a factory piece that went with the gearbox and belt drive I posted above. This version of the Ramsey PTO has the front output clocked somewhat higher than ones designed for CJs (the DP1 series) but with the Warn overdrive and PTO adapter I get enough length to make the shaft clear the clutch control rod obstruction (which may not be a problem anyway because I also found an unused Buchart clutch control (chain linkage) which I will find and post a picture of later.

Ramsey DP2 dual output/dual lever PTO controller (intended for Willys utility truck or wagon with normal levers and round companion flange on rear). Same clocking as the Ramsey above. These can run the front and rear outputs independently (split main shaft) so I think that this is the one I will probably use. I also have a Koenig 50 dual output/dual lever as well but with the 50 the rear output turns when the front one does (continuous shaft):

Rappaport Dual wheel adapters (as posted earlier, I need to make repairs to these). These are fairly rare:

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Found a pair of front 11" self-adjusting brakes to retrofit to the front axle. I thought the guy was sending the drums; the box showed up with complete backing plates and hardware but no drums. Guess I will have to buy those! If I find a deal on 11" rears (or a Jeep Dana 44 that has them) I will switch those out or else I will stick with the smaller 9" rear brakes.

 

[OnlyOneDR]

A pair of rear 11" backing plates popped up for sale so I snagged those as well. The plates are not reproduced but everything else is and is also dirt cheap to put them back together.