Rifle Bracket on M606 Windshield

dpcd67 · Post by **dpcd67** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 3:42 pm

Has anyone ever seen a rifle bracket mounted on an M606 windshield?
Is there room for one? I am planning to restore one and want the rifle bracket on it. Will the M38 angle brackets fit the CJ3b (M606) windshield?
I have looked for pictures; didn't find any.

Post by **wesk** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:07 pm

Have you noticed the 3B windshield lower panel is about 3" shorter than the M38 and the wipers are in the middle of that lower panel?

CJ3B

M38

Doesn't look like enough height for the right side bracket and if you did shorten it to fit I don't see the scabbard fitting in that space.

dpcd67 · Post by **dpcd67** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:17 pm

Not from that angle (I do not have my jeep here yet so I have never really looked at the inside). But from your picture, it does seem impossible. Back to the thinking and planning board. Guess it will have to be vertical.
The ROK Army had them when I was in Korea and I admired their gloss OD paint, but I never looked inside.
Maybe if the wiper motors were on top and the bracket covered a bit of the glass..........

Post by **wesk** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:45 pm

Rather than modify the M606 drastically I would just go with the floor to dash vertical mounts.

Vertical mount kits.

Inboard mounting

Outboard mounting

dpcd67 · Post by **dpcd67** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:30 am

I have that new type in my M37. I just like the WW2 type holder. I could put one of those vertically like the WC Dodges have.
Did they even have the old type in 1960?

Post by **wesk** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 11:43 am

I was active duty military 1966 - 1989. Never saw the old type in any vehicle. That doesn't mean a few old reserve & guard units still didn't have a few laying around.

Try looking closely at M606, Mahindra, Viasa and Mitsubushi military CJ3b look alikes. Many photos of the last three get confused with the Willys built M606 often. The 3B page has the largest collection of these military 3B and their foreign built look alikes on the web.

http://cj3b.info/World.html

http://cj3b.info/M606.html

http://cj3b.info/World/Spain2.html

http://cj3b.info/World/IndiaMilitary.html

http://cj3b.info/World/JapanMilitary.html

http://cj3b.info/Military/M606Armor.html

I didn't recall ever seeing that early scabbard rifle holder used in any of the above versions but you never know for sure.

dpcd67 · Post by **dpcd67** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:33 pm

Yes I have been studying all the Cj3b and M606 variants on those pages. I have always ignored them all these years but I think I should have paid more attention to them.
I figure that old rifle holder was long gone by the 60s too but it has the cool factor that the two piece ones don't have; if I found even one picture of anyone using it, I would. Might anyway. I don't even have the jeep anyway; still in the previous owner's yard.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:34 pm

The true M606's almost all had the swing-out windshield glass with the wipers mounted at the top, don't know it that would give you enough room to mount the rack at the bottom (probably not!).

Post by **wesk** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:12 am

Hello Chuck,

The Ventilating Windshield seldom comes up in older Willys & very early Kaiser built jeeps discussions very often, but yes they were an option in the CJ3B and the CJ5/6. We were aware there was a sprinkling of them in the M606 series jeeps but most seemed to pop up on the export units only.

You are the first person I have heard say there were so many of them. Did you see these personally in the military or did you hear this from someone else?

I have a 60 CJ5 with one and they are not very common. I have only seen one for sale once at Iola about 14 years ago.

The M606 service manual supplement never mentions them.

The ventilating windshield replaces the bottom mounted wipers with a pair of inner windshield latches & doublers making mounting of rifle brackets & scabbards very difficult.

dpcd67 · Post by **dpcd67** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:08 pm

Good points; I will re visit this when I get to that point in the restoration, which will be next summer. I'm pretty sure mine has the swing out windshield. From the pictures of it.
Thanks for the info.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 5:53 pm

Wes, from my research only. The ventilating windshield kit was available as an option on all year model CJ3B's but was very rarely ordered. If I remember correctly, it was standard on all M606's ordered by one or two (but not all) of the foreign armies, but I don't remember which one. I'll have to try to dig up the information, if I can find it again.