HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

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Kaiser
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HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Kaiser » Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:55 pm

hello there fellow gearheads,
I recently dicided that I should restore my trusty and still all original ex Swiss army '66 CJ5. but as it is my daily driver I needed something else to get me through the coming winter.
Through this beautifull invention the WWWeb I found a '69 Postal, hey its a Jeep and its got a roof so... I bought it, it ran, everything worked and it was cheap, I was a happy man.
I searched the Web for some info on Postals and found that my Postal has "the round thing for makin' the turns" on the wrong side, for a Postal that is.
REAL Postals all have the steering in the "English"position (i.e. the right) because that is where the letterboxes are, mine has regular left hand steering.
After some more searching the Web I found that between '68-'70 some 1200 DJ5A's were delivered to the US AirForce with the steering in the usual position so as not to confuse USAF drivers and groundpersonnel when racing around airfields.
Also I found on the front windshield a weathered sticker with a Department of Defence registration number PSB(or R)078, and on the dash is a plaque with the following text:
Truck, Light Delivery
Manufactured by Kaiser Jeep Corp.
model of 1968 DJ5A 8513
D.O.D. Ord.no. 8-2-00627
warranty exp. date (stamped) may 1972

So; I thought that IF my DJ5A is the real deal, there MUST be a official USAF TM for it.....right? now i'm not sure what "G" number this vehicle should be, and i'm not at home with USAF coding habits so i've got no idea where to start looking, so..
HELP !!! Anybody know anything on these elusive USAF DJ5A's ? ANYTHING?.......Please ?
P.S. I have a few crappy (phone) pictures, can post if anyone is interested
"You told everybody I could'nt drive" - Kash Buck and the Klowns


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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Cuz » Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:39 pm

The USAF used a lot of off the shelf civvy vehicles and simply used the manufacturer's parts and maintenance manuals. During my 22 years in the Air Force I drove International and Chevy step vans, all shape and sizes of Ford, Dodge, Chevy, and international pickups, International and Ford buses, International high reach platform trucks, and even one DJ5. None had any military TM's published for them. The M series weapons carriers and tugs had TM's.

The DJ5 was Strata Blue outside. White roof, with a grayish tan interior and what looked like gray seats. The tag you mention or very similar, a Property of the USAF tag, airfield tower lights decal, max speed stencil and seat belt decal.

Stenciled on both side doors was:
U. S. Air Force
6?K12345
For Official Use Only

in registration yellow.

We usually had a blue metal rectangular license plate size piece of metal painted Strata Blue and in registration yellow was stenciled BAFB (short for Barksdale AFB.) on the rear and on front and rear bumpers in registration yellow was SAC_______________2BW (2nd Bomb Wing, SAC)

Image
This is an M38A1 photo but the doors are marked the same .

Image
Here's an example of a USAF property plate that came on a M38.
Last edited by Cuz on Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cuz (AKA Wes K)
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 6? M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D & 47 T3-C

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Robbie Robertson
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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Robbie Robertson » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:59 am

25 / 30 years ago the University of Kentucky had a bunch of ex Air Force DJ5 jeeps running around campus, they in turn gave some of them to the Kentucky Hours Park. The ones I remember had the Iron Duke 4 cly, seems like they where 3 speed manuals, but unsure of that point now. They were is great shape with low miles , seems like they came from a Air Force base in Nebraska. I was working for Morehead State University at the time and we got some nice 67 Chevy half ton pickups at the same time.
1969 Postal Jeep, 47 CJ2A, 64 CJ5 Ex Air Force Jeep and a hillside of Junk.

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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Robbie Robertson » Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:41 am

I have a 69 Postal in my collection and I bought a repair manual for it on ebay , it looks like it was a printed for the US Postal Service. You might keep a eye out for one of them instead of a TM.
1969 Postal Jeep, 47 CJ2A, 64 CJ5 Ex Air Force Jeep and a hillside of Junk.

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Kaiser
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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Kaiser » Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:30 am

Yeah Robbie,
It seems there might not even be a TM for them, I found a guy who runs a bussiness called Jeepbooks.com who has a nice second hand Service manual and a partsmanual too for not too much, so I sent him an e-mail yesterday, we'll see what comes up.
Its a pretty straightforward little Jeep so I don't really need a manual, no surprises there mechanically, but it would be nice just to have you know
we'll see, thanks man
Leo
"You told everybody I could'nt drive" - Kash Buck and the Klowns

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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by DonKlats » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:58 am

I would love to see some pictures of your military DJ-5, especially of the interior and dash. I may be purchasing one and it would be cool to be able to compare the interiors and see if I'm dealing with the real thing :).

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Re: HELP, Info wanted on USAF DJ5A's anybody?

Post by Rustman » Mon Dec 18, 2017 7:05 am

Sorry for the thread necromancy. But here goes...

I have a 1970 Kaiser built DJ-5A in LEFT HAND drive. It has obvious postal markings through the paint. But I've often thought of restoring and painting/marking it for the USAF. I have a collection of the Kaiser manuals for it, parts books, parts price books, flat rate manual and repair manual. After some muddling around I figured out the front floor pans are M38A1 parts with a flat sheet over the gas tank well (tank is in the rear). One of the data tags on the dash is DoD (been a while since I looked at it so I can't recall exactly the nomenclature).

I'd be very interested in photos of these Jeeps in USAF use or in current condition. The Kaiser built ones with 7 slot grills are both a first and a last. As the following year AMC/AM General took over manufacture and several changes occurred. But to my knowledge the first full production runs weren't until 1969 of the "Dispatcher 100" series Jeeps.

I'll be sure to get photos in the next week of mine and post them here.

Matt
1970 Kaiser Jeep DJ-5A Left Hand Drive
1945 Corps of Engineers Welder & Trailer
1943 G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Steel Body
194* G518 "Ben Hur" Trailer Composite Body
http://g518parts.com/


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