GPW24987

If you have an unrestored WWII jeep, we would like to see pictures, and hear your comments. NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
majmacs
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Re: GPW24987

Post by majmacs » Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:35 pm

I've not had much time over the last month as we are renting our house out before being posted to the West coast this summer, so it doesn't look good to have scrap metal and welders out in the garage where prospective renters are coming around.
I did however get a chance to experiment with making the front passenger side floor dimple with a simple jig I made up on a piece of scrap 18G. I will have to weld up the positioning holes afterwards and I may experiment with just two bolts and replace the remainder with clamps to make it cleaner.

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also working on cleaning up the hood that I split down the middle, welded in new steel and removed, repaired and reinstalled the hood hat channels.
I'll see if I can get pics up once that is done. Not entirely happy with the result, but I really found the old Ford steel relatively difficult to weld and keep flat.

Also just rebuilt the steering box and with the old school bushings, had to ream them out to .875" pics to come
Patrick


thidisbogus
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Re: GPW24987

Post by thidisbogus » Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:17 pm

Good work Patrick,

Thanks for continuing to post

majmacs
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Re: GPW24987

Post by majmacs » Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:35 pm

Well its been 6.5 years since my last post. Life sometimes throws a wrench into things. I had to move to the West coast for two years for work where I was too busy to work on the GPW. I then was posted to the Netherlands for three years and then back home to Ottawa where I was on a year long intensive course.......GPW was in storage for most of that time and I’ve spent more money on storage and shipping it around the country than it will ever be worth.

So, I thought it about time to start up again on some things and started with opening and cleaning some NOS front Rzeppa axles that were coated in cosmoline. my GPW has the warn locking hubs that required cutting off the threaded ends, so Im going to try to recycle the long inner axle shaft and mate it to a new outer. For the short axle shaft, I managed to find a NOS one and mated the two together. I actually had a post on this in the technical forum, but thought I would add it here for continuity.
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I also had to find a new right side outer hub assembly as someone had stripped the threads and installed oversized bolts.
it was cleaned blasted primed and painted. I did have to helicoil one of the holes which bolts to the stub axle as it was stripped.

majmacs
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Re: GPW24987

Post by majmacs » Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:44 pm

A few weekends ago , I drove the jeep into the garage and started stripping it down for the rebuild.
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I think I mentioned that my father had replaced the rotted GPW body with a repro CJ3A one back in the early 70s, then modified it to look like a GPW tub.
the rear cross member and middle rear floor crossmember were also incorrect as they look like they came from an MB.
I have all the correct GPW cross members now to graft in. While I haven’t been working on the GPW, I have still been collecting parts over the years.
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frame overall is not in too bad of shape except for the rear ends and a bit of the inner right side in front of the forward rear spring hanger. I have to figure out how I will tackle that once I break everything down.
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majmacs
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Re: GPW24987

Post by majmacs » Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:59 pm

The worst frame bits are the rear ends and the part where the rear GPW A frame is mated to the outer frame below the shock mounts. Ill try to tackle those repairs next week when it is cooler. it was 39C here with the humidex today, so not the best conditions for welding or painting. the A frame in the picture is my spare which I was using as a mock up and to confirm the rear floor I fabricated lined up with all the holes. I have a good clean one with little pitting. I also have a good replacement gun mount. Still trying to decide if I should cut it off completely and replace or simply graft the front 3 inches to the original. I’ll figure that out later.
You can see the weak areas below where the rear shock upper mounts should be.
To accommodate the 3A body tub without upper shock covers or round floor step, two sins were committed.1..... cutting off the front 3 inches of the gun mount and......2 cutting off the upper shock mount and relocating them about 16” forward on the “downward slope”. At least the original GPW shock mounts were kept and are in good shape
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The ends of the rear frame looks like someone double skinned them on the inside and bent the tabs inward to accommodate the rear crossmember from an M38. I’ll have to chop those out and see what is left to work with. it looks like someone tried to fix a number of cracks as well.
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majmacs
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Re: GPW24987

Post by majmacs » Sun Aug 18, 2019 6:17 pm

Down to the frame and axles now.
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I posted in the technical section that both axles have the Moore equipment rebuild tags on the centre pumpkin webs.
Looks like they were done in 1945. much of the frame and other components have this yellow primer. There is a yellow primer, then OD, then a semigloss black top paint.
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Finished off the evening by pulling both axles and moving the frame aside to wait for blasting.
Popped the rear cover off to inspect and it looks like a pleasant surprise if it is what I think it is???
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Date code is 1973, which is when my dad built this jeep up when we lived in Monterrey. Is this some kind of LSD or locker or just a modern dana replacement? I don’t think the gear oil has been changed in quite a while.
I’ll pull the front cover tomorrow night to if it is also a replacement in good shape.

Anyone have a good used front driveshaft for sale? seems the grease nipple on the yoke fell out many years ago and it filled with water. The splines are pretty skinny and there is about 1/4” of lateral play in the yoke/shaft sliding joint.


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