Ever Find Anything Odd While Working on Your Jeep ??

match · Post by **match** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:13 pm

So I get the red NEKAF in the garage tonight, and decide to start this project by removing the fuel tank. Remove seat...check. Remove tank sender wires....check. Remove fuel lines....uh, ok. Had to take big line loose under body, and ended up cutting small line. Remove fuel filler surround panel....uh, ok. All but two of the phillips head screws that hold it to the body were stripped out. Slip joint pliers worked on 4 of the screws....several pinched hand parts and cuts / scrapes later.... Took a dremel to the other 3 screws, and ground flats on each side of screw head, so I could use a wrench. (Caution ! My tank has been empty of fuel for around 30 years, and I also performed this operation with the fuel cap on, so..be careful if you have to do this) Worked great, 3 remaining screws out. Removed fuel tank strap....check. Tried to pull out tank by hand....uh, not gonna happen. I ended up prying the tank out with a shovel from the passenger side. It was like someone had glued it in ! All of the dirt and crap had molded to the tank, holding it in place.... Finally, it's out ! Where was I going with this ??? ....found several fired blank cartridges between tank and body !! I cleaned the head of one of the casings, and it's stamped FN 78 with the NATO cross in a circle. It looks like 7.62x51 to me.... I'll go snap a pic....it was kinda unexpected and funny all at the same time !!

match · Post by **match** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:23 pm

Here's the pictures

oilleaker1 · Post by **oilleaker1** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:04 am

I had similar findings with my '71 Deuce. Found a couple of 50's down in the passenger side battery box. Had a guy tell me to look down in the bottom of the passenger side vent to the cab on the side of the body. Yep, links and more 50's. My truck has the reinforcement in the cab back panel to support the 400 pound gun ring. My truck made loud noises at one time-------kinda cool.

John

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:24 am

Our M38 has a Coca Cola bottle opener hidden just
behind the pillar on the driver's side. Held on with a
bolt through the side panel. It still works.

Jim in Darkest Arkansas

toojeeps · Post by **toojeeps** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:17 am

Removed what I thought was a hasty patch panel over the rear deck of my M170. Found some rust, but most noticeable were the six bullet holes. A .50 cal and five 7.62mm. Even more interesting, they penetrated from directly underneath the jeep upward. I have no idea how that happened.

Kendall · Post by **Kendall** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:19 am

I found a "Vehicle Off-Base Authorization Pass" for Forbes Air Force Base, Topeka, KS under the fuel tank of my 1952 M38A1. The form is dated Sep. 1965. Neat to be able to place it as in use at a local military installation.
Kendall

match · Post by **match** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:38 pm

I really like hearing little stories like this....they are interesting to me, and help give more info on our jeeps. Like I stated above, the headstamp on the blank was 78 so I can assume that my red NEKAF jeep was still in service with the Dutch army around that time frame. I have the original Ohio title for this jeep when it was imported by Sam Winer Motors dated 8/13/81. Previous owner listed as G. Den Otter Ltd., Dordrecht, Holland. I'm trying to find out if I can get the Texas DMV to let me keep the original title for historical significance.... Well, all 3 titles to my 3 NEKAF M38A1s (They all have the same date listed)
Keep the stories coming, Gents !!

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:33 pm

Nuthin sexy, just rodents in the toolbox..

BullRun · Post by **BullRun** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:53 am

The only M38 I have ever found (a real barn or more accurately a shed find) started as an abandoned jeep but has slowly evolved into what appears to be a real flight line vehicle that once held a giant heavy radio of some kind.

Our area has many WWll grass landing fields and airports so I can only imagine that it possibly once served one of these later on in the 50's and 60's or maybe one of the giant airfields more well known.

On an early 1952 M38A1 I rescued... the big surprise after I removed the oversize snowplow was how old it was and the rebuild tags from Letterkenny Depot on the block and another on the dash that said the vehicle had been rebuilt at a long gone Army base in Michigan and had 20 miles on the vehicle in 1958. One of the best unrestored jeeps I have ever found thanks to that 1958 rebuild and a local fire departments good care.

rgmutchler · Post by **rgmutchler** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:03 pm

I've only found rust, rats nests and junk in my 2 M38's but 40 years ago my bride and I (she was brand new then) decided to paint my sorry looking '47 CJ2A rustoleum blue. When stripping off layers of old paint we found a coca cola can that had bee cut and flattened and welded into the right entry area right where the lower cowl angles inward. You could still read the cocal cola logo on part of it.
Wish we had digital camera back then.

Phil4280 · Post by **Phil4280** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:28 pm

Well in my M3 Stuart tank I found several spent .30 cal caseings and in my FV1600 1 ton Humber i found a 1965 dated F.R.E.D in a cavity in the cab. Also in my LVT4 I found a rather modified 1/2" spanner in the engine bay under layers of crud.

Phil...

Post by **wesk** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:35 pm

Phil,

I've been maintaining an LVT4 for several years up here and I bet I can find several uses for a modified 1/2" spanner on that engine!

Is your LVT4 up and running?

Phil4280 · Post by **Phil4280** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:26 am

Wesk!

Well i moved it on a few years back to a good friend. Just befor I was approched for it to be used in the TV series "the pacific". The friend got it up and running for it and it was the "hero" LVT in many of the shots.

Here is the link to it on its 1st swim in who knows how many years?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IxbTncq ... ature=plcp

They certainly are a interesting piece of machinery.

Phil...

Post by **wesk** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:34 pm

35,000 pounds of steel in the water and moving via a 7 cylinder Continental radial is always a very satisfying site!