willysmjeeps.com

I need a passanger seat latch for my M38A1. I do not know the name of what I need . It locks the passanger seat into the down position where it will not move when the jeep is in motion. My jeep is an Oct 1953.
Ship to Boaz,Al 35957. By the way the item I am looking for is welded in.

The much later 1960's A1's had a spring plate type catch on the right tub side panel that captured the right side tube of the seat. All earlier jeeps that complied with the Modification Work Order, MWO ORD G1-W50 Had a standard hardware slide bolt latch welded to the floor adjacent with the inboard rear seat leg and the bolt could be latched over the flat steel band of the seat leg. The bolt was listed as:
BOLT, bbl, steel, wrought, 4-in., FF-H-III, type F-1011 --- Stock # ENG-42-2031.500.040 (Corp of Engineers)

This would have been an Army field modification not stock from Willys.

Man, I thought that was a Bubba mod - but a good idea! I cut it off when I removed the toolbox to replace the floor. Guess I'll have to go buy a new one now - it looked like the ones at the hardware store - brazed on. Neither my current parts jeep or the body that I just scrapped had the mod - the reason I thought it was a bubba thing.

Can someone post a picture of that slide to hold the seat down? I don't have that on my 53 M38a1. I thought the PO had sealed up a hole where the passenger seat brace comes down and that I was going to have to install a bolt thru the floor.

Wes has the spring catch type in his photo album:


And here's the the MWO latch from my old stash of google-sourced photos:

Not the biggest photo, but you can see the general idea......

Owen

Owen,My photo illustrates both!

Touche, Wes! I missed that.

Just for variety, my photo is the M38 (in case someone asks, "well, ok for the M38A1, but what's the M38 configuration look like?").

Owen.

Wow, it's just a plain ole door latch from the hardware store.

yep

I just got around to reading this thread. I have a spring type latch that is surplus to my needs in case someone needs one. Just PM me and we'll discuss it.

Tim

Does anybody fabricate the bracket on the right side of the body that secures the passenger seat in place? I have the spring that fits to it but not the bracket, which I guess is welded in place. Thanks, Bruce.