willysmjeeps.com

On my M38, I have this tire holder. As you can see, there was an additional support bar added to give three bolt locations per side instead of the shorter two bolt config on the originals. The three per side/longer support seems more sturdy but I'm curious if this was a military mod or a civvy after it was decommissioned.
Images:

I would guess civilian mod to carry a much larger wheel & tire for serious off roading. I would return to the short stock version unless I was going to run 10" to 12" width wheels and tires.

Thank you. Found one on ebay for $100 so not too awful.

For the money I think I would employ my cut-off grinder and welder and re-work it back to spec. It's basically a hidden part when the spare is mounted. (.02)

I have no cut off grinder or welder. The bolt holes on the original piece ( without the two angle irons welded on) has one that is fully ripped out.

For me, the $120 is a much easier expenditure than the grinding and welding.

I will, however, have to figure out of the military ever welded supports onto the tailgate to keep them from bending. If so, then I have a few pieces to either have removed or have smoothed out a bit.

YES!! The M38 tailgate is well reinforced. Go to Wes' foto album, find M38 body, 1st pg shows tailgate.

If you haven't noticed by now the mod on your carrier actually raised the tire mounting higher above the tailgate.

Looks like someone went weld happy on the tailgate. Notice the several extraneous supports.

I'm guessing there is no harm in leaving these in place and still having it relatively original? I say that because it will be hidden by the tire when mounted.





and from the inside:

Looks like a repop tailgate without the spare bracket supports.

I'd cut off the junk and put the correct brackets on the inside.

Good news is the hinge channel is not rusted out. There's a lot of good tailgate there to work with.

RICKG wrote:Good news is the hinge channel is not rusted out. There's a lot of good tailgate there to work with.

So far that has been the good part of this M38. Looks like every time there was a scratch - even post decommission - someone would throw on another coat of paint. Took over an hour just to knock the paint off the blackout light mount.

Thanks again for the info. I will post pics as the project continues.

Word to the wise, don't toss anything away, you'll regret it. Save stuff for reference, re-use, for sale, rebuild.......

Midwest Military has brand new ones for $115, made in the USA.
John

Bretto is right. Also. Go look at his photo pages or search tailgate.
He took one completely apart and repaired it.

Cheers. Will do. I have heard that the original body parts were more heavy duty than most of the remakes. Is this true?

Perhaps i will invest in some grinding/cutting tools. I have a pal who is a professional underwater welder who can do the further repair stuff.