willysmjeeps.com

Hey guys,

I found a M38 tub (I believe it could be Canadian, but I am not sure) and I have some questions about it:

Is the lock on the toolbox right? I know one clip is missing, but the ring on this one seems to be in the wrong spot?
http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _photo.php

Looks like there's two rivet holes where the original clip should have been. Maybe someone wanted to fit a hasp & staple to use a padlock??

Wbr,
Owen.

From what I understand the CDN and the US M38's had the same system for closing and securing the underseat tool box lid. (a picture can be found in your manual)
MOST Canadian M38's did not have the "Jeep" logo stamped into the front fo the tool box.

This is a picture of a CJ underseat tool box, however the latching system is the same as the M38's.



Sorry for the small picture, click on it and it will take you to a larger pic.

The CJ and M38 are slightly different. The M38 lid has a D ring that is used to lift the door up but is also rotated to latch/unlatch the door. Both types can be pad locked together through their rings.


CJ has two fixed "D" shaped rings


Here you can see the latch striker on the M38.



The D ring on the door is fastened to a rotating shaft that is the latch.

My M38 has no rotating latch on the toolbox door. It has two fixed d rings. My M38 is very early...however.

thanks guys for the help.

I have not had a chance to look at it closely yet, so I was going by what I saw. It just looks like a non moving type of latch, but it could have been modified. I will check it out it more closely when I bring the tub home this fall.

All the M38's had the latching lid. Any non-latching lids are CJ type replacements or repops unless there remains the hole for the latch shaft and a lift ring identical to the front ring was installed. You may have a hole for the latch rod covered by a stock CJ type riveted on ring that is covering the hole up. The original box ring was round and was superseded in the 56 ORD 9 with a "D: shaped ring but still had the larch pin/rod.

My M38 came directly from military service to Charlie Miller and from him, totaly unmolested and (except for sitting in a storage building for 25 years) in the same condition it was released in, to me. The toolbox lid is the one that was mounted on my M38 when In got it.

My M38, is also serial number 10036...

It had a number of things that are/were a bit different than other M38's I have had or looked at. It came equiped with plastic headlamp lenses over reflectors that mounted seperate, small headlamp bulbs. THOSE were all fogged up and unusable. I replaced them with sealed beams. I lost my images detailing my disassembly when a hard drive froze up...some years ago.

But it does have a toolbox cover with a non rotating riveted on D handle.

Unmolested is not the best description. Every jeep the military owned was molested by the military during the years they owned it. There's no telling how and when your door latch vanished. The first M38 parts manual 1951 lists only the latch type lift. The 1956 parts manual shows that same latch and striker. Then it adds a later jeep PN for service replacement which is what you most likely have on your tool box. Unless your tool box was replaced during a damage repair by the military. Does your tool box have the script "Jeep" on the front vertical face?

The decontaminator blocks seem to have been welded from the sides and not "spot" welded as per later tool box construction. Could have been an after thought or a repair due to damage during military life.

wesk wrote:Unmolested is not the best description. Every jeep the military owned was molested by the military during the years they owned it.

Well yes that is true. My fuel tank had been "demilled" by repeated blows of a pick...4-5 holes all the way through the gas tank and the floor underneath.

There's no telling how and when your door latch vanished. The first M38 parts manual 1951 lists only the latch type lift. The 1956 parts manual shows that same latch and striker. Then it adds a later jeep PN for service replacement which is what you most likely have on your tool box. Unless your tool box was replaced during a damage repair by the military. Does your tool box have the script "Jeep" on the front vertical face?

My Jeep appears to have been manufactured in Sept of 1950. Yes the Jeep script is on the front of the toolbox.

I spent 22 years in the USAF and two in the Army. It was not uncommon as the vehicles reached the end of their service life and parts became scarce for replacements to be ordered from Kaiser often resulting in the nearest like substitute being issued. Also many parts were canned from other vehicles scheduled to be declared surplus.

Do you have a photo of the underside of your toolbox showing the bottom of the forward lift ring location?

I should add that to the survey forms. I'll send you a revised survey form for your M38's.

TOOLBOX, MC51986, DOD 01-52

wesk wrote: Do you have a photo of the underside of your toolbox showing the bottom of the forward lift ring location?

I should add that to the survey forms. I'll send you a revised survey form for your M38's.

Might be a bit rough to get a camera in there that would focus that close...what is there maybe 6" from top to bottom?

Just curious, but if the M38 had a heater installed, would that interfere with the toolbox and modifications would have to be made?

The purple tub looks like it had a heater in the tool box area http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _photo.php