Rear panel reinforcement field installation kit A-4646.

[JeepdaddyRC]

Did the original Ford-built bodies ever have the wheelhouse to rear panel reinforcement installed at the factory?
Or did they only use the field installation kit A-4646, either welded or bolted on after production?

[lt.luke]

That’s a SUPER broad question.

Initially, they wouldn’t have been factory installed because no one had them factory. Some time before October ‘42, the MWO (field kit as you call it) came out to fix the problem. Sometime after that, maybe ‘43, they would have been factory applied by both Ford and WO.

My timeline is probably inaccurate as they are swags and personal observations. But point being the lack of support from factory was universal. The field modification was universal, and factory application of the reinforcements was universal.


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[donk_316]

I’ve never seen one bolted in, always welded. But of course that’s just my limited experience.
It was a factory thing that was applied in the field as it came up, like the TRS, black out light and so on and on.


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[lt.luke]

Bolted without being welded isn’t common. But the kit came with bolts.


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[Wolfman]

Finally found the graphic chart I was looking for by Darryl Deppe that shows the approximate time when different mods were installed on MB and GPW bodies.
It was in the book " WWII Jeep Guide Book" by Ren Bernier.
According to the graph, the rear panel reinforcement brackets were factory installed on MBs starting around Oct,1942.
It was questionable on the starting date on GPWs. Sometime between Oct, 1942 and Sep, 1943.
Personally, makes sense to me that the factory installed reinforcement brackets would have been welded on at the factory but the field mod kits supplied to the field would have bolts as an option to welding.

[irakli]

It is on Jeepdraw:
http://jeepdraw.com/images/Darryls_Tub_Timeline.jpg

[Wolfman]

I figured that out after digging through my pile of books.

[MAJ Tim]

Those on my slat grill (nov 41) were both bolted and welded.

LTC(ret) Tim

[bowman]

GPW #68744 29th Sept 42 was welded only, no bolts

[JAB]

Here's a script tub (obviously an in-service retrofit kit) with them just bolted on, no welds.