Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 721 Location: Placentia, CA
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:08 am Post subject: Finally started working on my M38
Here is a picture of my Jeep as I dragged it home from Reading on March 12, 2005. It was about a 12 hour trip an I had to drive over the grapevine. When I got home, I discovered that the large nut on my tow ball had loosened and fallen off. Who knows how long it had been like that. Since then, I have added a new hitch that attaches to my frame. My F150 is perfect for towing this little Jeep around.
On April 4th of this year, I finally started tearing into my Jeep. Disassembly was fun and easy. All the small parts were bagged and labeled.
I pulled the GPW engine out to make room for an RMC engine. I love this shop lift. I use all the time. I pulled the body before I had this lift so I had to ask a buddy for help.
Here is a load of parts back from the sand blaster. I started stripping the frame by hand at first. That was going painfully slow so I decided to have it sand blasted. I am glad that I did. It was only about $200 for the frame, front seats, grill, fenders, cross member, and bumper.
Here are a couple of pictures of the replacement axles that I bought for my Jeep. There wasn't anything wrong with the old axles but these were part of a large parts buy so I decided to use them. The front was still in the crate. I washed it and gave it a quick rub-down with acetone and one coat of paint over the OD paint. I thought that the back was painted black. I started cleaning it with acetone so I could paint it and discovered that it was actually bare metal coated with cosmolene. I included a picture of the bare metal dif cover with some sort of unit marking on it. I am not sure what the markings mean but they are now covered by two caots of primer and soon will be covered by two coats of OD.
Here is my new engine. RMC59781 was part of a gen set. It's an early RMC and my Jeep is a late M38. I looked around for a late engine but this is what I came up with locally. Just in case anyone is interested, I paid $600 for this engine and it came with a 24 volt distributor, WO carb, oil bath air cleaner (WWI style), exhaust manifolds, and some other junk. I sold the GPW engine for $600 which included the block, head, and internals.
I sprayed the bare frame with metal prep then gave it two coats of red primer. I use 000 steel wool between coats of primer and paint. Then I gave the frame it's first coat of paint. I figured that I would give the frame two coats of paint.
So that's as far as I have gotten. It is now 6 months to the day since I started working on my Jeep. I had planned on getting my frame and rear axle painted this week end but it's suppose to rain today. What a bummer. Oh well, I have lots of small parts that I can work on in the garage. My engine is back from the shop and my buddy in AZ has it. Right now I am just cleaning and priming some of the engine components like the oil pan, valve cover, etc. I have been using high temp engine primer.
I love looking at posts like this so I figured that I would start my own.
Joined: Apr 14, 2005 Posts: 153 Location: N. Wisconsin
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:24 am Post subject:
Sounds like you're off to a great start! Thanks for posting all the pics. The frame looks terrific! Looking forward to your next progress report. _________________ Support our troops, past and present.
Dave
M38A1 2/55, MD81433, U.S. ARMY 2A3514
M100 Dunbar Kapple, ?/51, #15122
Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 721 Location: Placentia, CA
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: M38
I'll be sure to post more pictures with my progress. I opened up both differentials when I got them home. The gears are very nice but the gaskets were brittle so I replaced them with new ones. I figured that those flaming bombs were some sort of inspection stamp.
I am kind of stuck on the rear leaf springs at the moment. The fronts cleaned up nicely. The rears have some issues with the clips. All of the clips have wear grooves in them from the individual leaves rubbing on them over the years.
Go to a spring shop. They can re-arch springs and should have spring clips that are very similar/exact to what was original. _________________ Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010
Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 721 Location: Placentia, CA
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:44 pm Post subject: Finally started working on my M38
The weather cleared this week end and I was able to get paint on a bunch of parts. Parts of the rear leaf springs are at the shop to have the clips replaced.
I am working on the cross member at the moment. See picture below. Is it necessary to replace the round mounting pad on the cross member? If so, how does this pad come out? Do I just pound or pry it out? Hopefully, I will get the frame, leaf springs, and axles together within the next few weeks. What is the best way to prep the spring shackles for installation. Should I paint them then install or just install them? My new shackles are covered in a thick coating of grease or oil preservative.
Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 721 Location: Placentia, CA
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: M38
I got the frame, leaf springs and axles back together yesterday. I stall have a few spots where the red primer is showing through. I'll have to get more paint on eventually.
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Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 721 Location: Placentia, CA
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: M38
I got the frame, leaf springs and axles back together yesterday. I stall have a few spots where the red primer is showing through. I'll have to get more paint on eventually.
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