Tall guy in M 38 A 1

1950 - 1968, M38, M38A1, M170, modifications, sugestions, and ideas, official MWO's and unofficial field mods.
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Ingo
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Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Ingo » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:30 pm

Hi Fellas. A friend of me wants to have M 38 A1. Today he saw one, great car, but he thinks, he is to tall for that Jeep. He is, 1,94 m, ( a bit less than 6 feet I guess). Do ya think, it fits. Any suggestions, how to place the seat backwards or bending the upper part of driver seat?

Thanks for help, pics welcome.

Ingo
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M38Mike
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fit

Post by M38Mike » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:55 pm

Unless your friend is 2m around the middle also, he should fit in an M38A1 just fine. If he needs or wants more room, he can make the seat cushion thinner in the seat back. That is the easy way to get extra cm for the driver.

Ask someone who owns an M38A1 if he can sit in it to try it out. Then he will know if he is comfortable in it. I did that with a Mercedes SLK. And yes, I was very comfortable in it! Especially at 100k going up Feldberg.
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Post by avlon01 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:14 am

I'm 6'3" and 250 lbs.

I fit fine in a stock M38A1. Since I have longs legs, it's a pain to get out of and into - I bang my knee on the steering wheel every now and then.

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Post by Ken Perkins » Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:35 pm

my memory of the M38A1 , at 6'1 is my shins hit the bottom of the dash when clutching and braking.
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Post by Ingo » Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:33 am

Hi fellas

Ok, thanks for help, my buddy should not be such a candyass, eh? it will fit.

Ingo
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Rich Saylor
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more room

Post by Rich Saylor » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:30 am

Another couple of ideas- first, make the seat bottom pad thinner; to compensate for squishing the pad onto the metal if he's not lightly built denser foam could be used, or a 2 layer cushion- dense on the bottom, medium on the bottom, 2" thick overall, and medium foam- 1" thick- on the rear pad. On my M38 I also was able to move the frame back over 1" by making offset adaptor brackets without having to redrill the floorpan for new anchor nuts. The brackets are just one hole on a flat length of bar (3/4" wide x ~2" long) to attach the bracket to the existing floor nut, then another hole as far back as the seat- now touching the wheelwell when it didn't quite touch before- and tapping the bracket hole itself to mount the seat to, without having to drill a hole in the floor, etc. None of these changes are big ones but they add up to make the Jeep a lot more "large driver friendly". Beats buying a new Jeep!
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m38a1

Post by jim l » Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:05 pm

Dear sir i have just the m-38a1 you are looking for. someone cut the inner fender back about 3 or 4 in for just such a person. looks like factory job. super nice. the rest of the jeep is very solid. all 24 volt runs stops, needs restoration. $ 3000. located in buffalo ,n.y.
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Maverick1701 » Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:23 pm

I am 6ft 6in and I fit in my M38a1 w/out any issues.
Chris
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by MASH_4077 » Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:02 pm

I'm 6'2" 240lbs and fit fine in my M38A1. Now a Ford GP. Not so much lol
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Joe Gopan » Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:05 am

Never saw an M-38A1 that most tall GI's could not operate comfortably. The M-38? That's another story. :wink:
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by dpcd67 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 12:03 pm

He will fit; just be careful. They lengthened the seat area/shortened up the wheelhouse on the CJ3A and M38s. So, they are longer in the seat space by about 1.5 inches. Anyway, six feet will fit fine in all of them; I do.
Six feet of girth, that is another problem.
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Joe Gopan » Fri Feb 03, 2017 2:23 pm

General Mark Clark did not fit his Jeep either.
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Maverick1701 » Wed Feb 15, 2017 9:29 pm

I am 6ft 5in and I fit in my M38A1 w/out any issues
Chris
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Re: Tall guy in M 38 A 1

Post by Joe Gopan » Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:35 am

M-38A1 has the most front seat room of all the standardized Army Jeeps WWII thru M-38A1 type. It is also the most Driver friendly of the MB, MC, and MD type Jeeps. I have many 50 MPH 500 mile M-38A1 round trips that started at 3AM and ended back at starting point 11 to 12 hours later.
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HONOR GRAD-WHEELED VEHICLE MECHANIC SCHOOL 1960 - US ARMY ORDNANCE SCHOOL(MACHINIST) ABERDEEN PG 1962 - O-1 BIRD DOG CREWCHIEF - 300,000+TROUBLE FREE M-38A1 MILES
LIFE MEMBER AM LEGION-40/8-DAV
7 MIL SPEC MAINTAINED MV'S
COL. BRUNO BROOKS (ARMY MOTORS) IS MY HERO


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