willysmjeeps.com

Well I finally got my M38A1 delivered. Had an issue with the shipping company when the driver called and told me I would need to pay more then what the broker quoted. The driver added all these fees on. I called my broker and he straightened it out. The driver called back saying it was a mistake and I was right but I am wondering if he was just trying to get me to pay him extra so he could pocket it.

Well any way here it is, my running M38A1. The engine runs great, it was rebuilt in 1974 at approx 24,000 miles. The vehicle has approx 27,000 miles on it now. So the rebuilt engine only has about 3,000 miles on it! The gears shift great but the steering box may need to be rebuilt. The hand break doesn’t work at all, it has been disassembled.

The only thing I and the previous owner know about the vehicles history after the army is that it was a Nebraska Forestry Vehicle owned by the University of Nebraska. It was painted bright red. There are some strange mods under the tub which I have theory on.


Things that are missing:

Canvas (I have the bows, not pictured)
Right rear bumperette
Spare tire carrier
Rear seat
Fender Black out light
Head Light Guards

Issues found:

Right Headlight only lights up on bright, needs to be replaced.
Transfer case is leaking, may need new gasket.
Horn disconnected
Only the speedometer gauge works
Hand break needs to be put back together.

Now for the pictures:

















Paper work I found in glove box:




Any idea what these two are for? Any way to deciphers these to tell about the history of the vehicle?





Only spot of cancer. The rest is very light surface rust!




Does a bracket of some type go here, the passenger seat seems to be resting unevenly when its lowered here.



Strange cuts on the cross members, is it safe to tow a trailer with a cut like this in the cross member that goes to the hitch?

Any idea why these cuts are here?



Picture of transfer case leak, the bolt circled is the location I think the leak is coming from. Can I just remove the bolts off the cover and replace the gasket?

How exactly do I refill the transfer case once drained? I found the fill plug but there is not much room to pour fluid in. Do I pump it in?



Seems like a switch is supposed to go here. Is that even a stock hole or did some one add it later?



As I mentioned in the post early I have theory of my own on some of the "mods" I noticed. Could this vehicle of had a water spraying system of some type installed. Could cuts in the cross members be used to route the houses through and the switch hole that doesn't look stock used to turn a pump on?


And here is a video of it running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBsMXVDrvQE


I am tired and will post more later.

Very good looking M38A1.

Most forest service jeeps were setup for fire fighting by carrying a pump and hose and then towing a water tank trailer. So the holes through the floor are usually for that plumbing.

The M38A1 does not come with headlight protectors. Note how far the headlights are recessed into the grill.

Best thing for running gear leaks is to get her on a lift and steam clean the hole underside getting all grease and oil off. Then drive it a bit and keep checking for the little tell tale wet spots.

The hand brakes on the A1's are notorious for rattling noise and driving you nuts. That is why most are disassembled and when the wear issues that cause the rattles are seen they are usually just left off. You will have rattles forever but they can be reduced to a confortable/bearable level by reducing the slop in all moving parts to less than .0015 each.

She's a very early serial A1 and has the narrow bumper but has had all the fording parts removed. Muffler looks like a generic and has pushed the tailpipe too far out the back.

Looks like a very nice jeep.

nice and claear

The holes you suspect are for a switch on the dash are the factory holes for an on-off ignition switch. The small upper hole is to align and keep the switch housing from rotating. If you look at some of the photo albums you can see what one looks like.

Ric

Very nice MD! I wish mine ran....

My dad's M38 was a forest service vehicle for some time during the 70's and 80's. It started out as a search-and-rescue jeep, but later became a brush fire response jeep. When we first saw it, it had a gigantic water tank bolted to the rear wheelwells. And of course the jeep was full of drill holes where things had been mounted at various times. Oddly enough it was never painted red while serving as a fire fighting rig.

That jeep saw more abuse in civilian hands than it did while in the military.

Nice looking A1 there Donnie!

Someone cared for that jeep through the last half a century. Its good to know its will continue to be taken care of. Looks great, very solid.

Tom

Filling transfer case and transmission with oil - I use a pump-type deck sealant sprayer as it had a long hose. A small garden sprayer would work also. I installed a ball valve near the end of the hose to shut off the flow. Put the gear oil in, pump it up, insert the hose in the fill port and wait till it overflows. Granted, the flow rate is not fast, but it gets the job done. And while I'm waiting, I crawl around and grease the zerks and check everything else out.