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Dad's Flatfender

Discussion in 'Builds and Fabricators Forum' started by Fireball, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    This will be a short build thread since the Jeep was built 40+ years ago, but it's a time capsule of 1970's builds with a few special extras thrown in. The Jeeps not looking super these days, but I figured you folks would like it. He bought it in 72 or 73, worked on it for several years and hasn't changed anything since 1976.

    [​IMG]

    I'll work through it in a few posts. The grand overview:
    • 1942 Ford GPW (even though the license plate says JEEP MB).
    • 1964 Buick odd fire 225 V6
    • T-90, D18 with Warn overdrive
    • Stock Dana 25 axles with 4.88 gears
     
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  2. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Starting at the front:

    [​IMG]

    It's a bit of an odd duck. The brush guard and 30's vintage GM headlights were added by a previous owner. Prior to 1958, there were no readily available 5" headlights to fit behind the MB grill. This one way around the problem. Unique for sure.

    The Jeep's always been Dad's do-all tractor. He made a wood-faced push bar (not shown) that hangs on the grill guard to push dead cars around the yard.

    He has an A-frame that attaches to the tow bar mounts. A support cable runs over the roll bar and hooks on the back bumper to hold it up. The winch cable runs trough a pulley at the top. It's been used countless times for moving engines and other heavy things into/out of trucks and around the yard.

    He got the snow plow for bulldozer use. Since there was no down force, it worked OK, but not great. I recall him throwing some old engine blocks on it to give it more bite. I've got the plow here at my place and need to mount it to one of my Jeeps since we actually get snow.

    The winch is a Ramsey PTO which works great for the A-frame. You can slip the clutch and smoothly start/stop a dangling mass in a way you can't with an electric winch.

    He added Saginaw power steering when he put the V6 in. It wasn't the original intent, but the 4cyl Ross Pitman arm would hit the bellhousing and you couldn't turn left. With the front dump exhaust, underfloor pedals, and Saginaw steering, routing the PTO shaft was a challenge.

    The front Axle is the original open Dana 25. He's blown the spiders out of it at least once, but did have custom high strength steel inner axles shafts made for it. This was possible in the 70's because it's got the original Rzeppa CV joints. The inner axles are a straight shaft with splines on both ends. He used to run Selectro Hubs on it back in the day, but now runs drive plates for reasons that will become apparent later.....
     
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  3. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Back to the outside again:

    [​IMG]

    It still has the original body, hood and grill. Dad had to replace most of the front floor pans and made his own hat channels from channel iron. The front fenders were replaced with new back in the 70's. I'm pretty sure they were still available from AMC at the time.

    We hand brush painted the yellow and I designed the 70s appropriate stripe package when I was 6 or 7 years old. The CJ-2 windshield was on it when he got it. It came with a hardtop that was rusting out and Dad replaced it with the soft top. I'm pretty sure it's a Kayline.

    The fender flairs are plastic rather than rubber and were readily available back in the day. It's still running the original worn out springs so it's probably an inch or so lower than factory ride height. Dad likes electrical things, so he added the side marker lights. He made the radio antenna mount off the side because the folding windshield didn't provide any flat place to put it up front.

    Wheels are Jackman and I *think* the tires are 30x10.50-15. I don't recall the brand. I'll have to look next time I'm home. It was a rare tread pattern even back in the day. I don't remember seeing many of them on other rigs.
     
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  4. Feb 6, 2020
    73 cj5

    73 cj5 Not ready for the junkyard yet

    Clinton, Mississippi
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    Humph, Everyone seems to have a cool plow Jeep. (y)
     
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  5. Feb 6, 2020
    47v6

    47v6 junk wrecker! 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    USA
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    Cool. More pics. we like jeeps and i especially like flat fender ones.
     
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  6. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    ...and on to the interior. It's a bit of a mess these days:

    [​IMG]

    But there are some interesting things.

    Dad made a homemade gas tank under the back and made the driver side floor flat. Because he's 6'4", he did the wheel well notch long before it was popular. The seats are VW Beetle.

    The instrument cluster is from a 48-50 Ford pickup and he mounted it at an angle for better visibility. The Lever lock was an attempt at parking brakes. He pulled the one off the transfer case for ground clearance reasons. It always seemed to have a slow leak and never worked great.

    The two cable pulls on the dash will be discussed later. You can see the overdrive and PTO shifters. He kept the original steering column and wheel when he did the Saginaw conversion. As a kid, I loved the olive drab wheel hearkening back to the Jeep's military origins. All of the data plates are still on the glovebox and have the Ford script.

    He made a heater from scratch with defrost and floor vents. The defroster tubing was made to pull apart to put the window down. The passenger side tube is now missing. It worked pretty well for a jeep heater.

    The aluminum bracket in front of the shifters is for an aircraft altimeter he used to move car to car. There is a cheaper altimeter attached to the windshield near the defroster duct. It's hidden by the steering wheel, but there is an old-school Clinometer between the cluster and the glovebox.

    Wipers are boat-style electric.

    Other things in the back you can't see:
    • 70's vintage Smitty Bilt roll bar with dome light added.
    • Home made rear seat with tool storage underneath.
    • Seat belts for every seat.
    • It still has the original GPW tool boxes in the rear fenders
    • No tailgate since it's an MB/GPW.
     
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  7. Feb 6, 2020
    47v6

    47v6 junk wrecker! 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    This jeep is awesome! I love the fact that it gets used enough that where the paint is rubbed off there is no rust..
     
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  8. Feb 6, 2020
    tomasinator

    tomasinator Member

    Redmond, WA
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    Nice jeep! That's a huge set of keys in the ignition. What's the story behind all those keys?
     
  9. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Dad has always had that many keys. For work, the house, the garage, the shed, 5 vehicles some of which have different trunk/door/ignition keys, various padlocks...etc. Believe it or not, that huge keychain is always in his pocket.

    I've gone the other way and have one keychain with the house/work keys and another for each vehicle that I grab when I go out the door. I also keyed eveything on the property the same, so only one key for any door/building.
     
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  10. Feb 6, 2020
    jpflat2a

    jpflat2a what's that noise?

    Hermosa, SD
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    Nice Jeep.
    Nice stories and family history.
    Yes, the front fenders were still available new at that period of time.
    Yes, the top is a Kayline.
     
  11. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Here's a rear view:

    [​IMG]

    It has an off the self spare tire rack. The 16" skinny is what he runs for snow tires in the winter. The jerry cans haven't been on the rack in years. They're somewhere in the garage.

    Home made hitch. Which reminds me, he made a front hitch that attaches to the tow-bar mounts for moving trailers around the yard. Sooooo much easier with the trailer attached to the front.

    You can see the filler for the rear-mount gas tank.

    Don't get too excited about the '50 Ford Coupe in the background, it's a total rust bucket that's not worth restoring. It's a parts car for his first car a 1950 Ford Fordor Deluxe we restored back when I was in High School:

    [​IMG]

    As noted in the "Dad's Truck" thread, I'll inherit these some day, but don't really want to.
     
  12. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    So here's some interesting things to look at:

    What in the world is on the back of the transfer case?
    [​IMG]

    And what is that box on the front axle?:
    [​IMG]


    .....answers later tonight.
     
  13. Feb 6, 2020
    73 cj5

    73 cj5 Not ready for the junkyard yet

    Clinton, Mississippi
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    This is shaping up to be my second favorite Jeep on the site.
     
  14. Feb 6, 2020
    jpflat2a

    jpflat2a what's that noise?

    Hermosa, SD
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    PTO on the transfer case.
     
  15. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Not that thing, the round thing the rear output is attached to.
     
  16. Feb 6, 2020
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    That's a borg warner OD unit.
    That thing is sweet.
     
  17. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    Nope, not an overdrive. It's got a Warn overdrive up in front of the PTO box.
     
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  18. Feb 6, 2020
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    :watch:
     
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  19. Feb 6, 2020
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    In the meanwhile, other notes about the drivetrain. (I forgot to get a picture under the hood, will have to add later)

    Dad liked the idea of the Buick V6 since they worked so well in the factory Jeeps. He actually bought the motor mounts and skid plate oil pan from new from AMC. He did a front drop manifold like a factory V-6. He also bought a brand new Jeep carb because they worked better offroad than the stock Buick Carb. It's got the funky shaped float the works better on inclines and side hills.

    Jeep float vs. regular 2G float:

    [​IMG]

    Exhaust is glasspacks outside the frame dumping behind the rear wheels.

    He swapped out the tiny MB transmission for a T-90 and used an advanced adapters plate to adapt to the GM bellhousing.

    A Warn overdrive was added along with the PTO drive out the back for the winch.

    The MB rear Dana 25 was already full floating from the factory, but he had issues breaking axles so he had some high strength steel shafts with splines on both ends made (like he did for the front) and went to drive plates/hubs. This is when people were just starting to do this with the 44s.

    It still has the single brake system master cylinder with a vintage Ford remote power brake booster mounted inline on the passenger fender under the hood. He wanted to do a dual circuit brake system, but didn't have room under the hood for swinging pedals with a normal booster. Nor is there space to mount a second remote booster under the hood for a dual master cylinder in the stock location. I'm sure he would have figured out something, but he moved on to other things before it happened.

    It has 11" drums all around with obsolete Velva-Touch Metallic shoes that work pretty well when wet.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2020
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  20. Feb 6, 2020
    duffer

    duffer Rodent Power

    Bozeman, MT
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    I think the full float rear axles are Dana 23's. Early in my wheeling life (60's) a friend had an MB. He became rather adroit at welding those shafts back together. About every other trip.

    That "tiny" trans was the T84. I don't believe it was developed specifically for the GPW/MB's. I have a 1941 Nash 600 coupe in the shed (that my father bought new) and it has a side shift T84 in it.
     
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