3A Body Tub Survey

We are in the process of looking for a body tub for our 3A project, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experiences they would like to relay pertaining to replacement tubs. I have been told that there is only one company in the world making steel tubs. Is this true? I know 4WD Hardware sells them, but it appears OMIX-ADA has their own now, too. My father says he remembers ACME Jeep parts having stainless steel tubs in the 1980's. I've even heard there are aluminum tubs, but haven't been able to track down any info. Not crazy about 'glass, but how are the Kentrol tubs? I figure that if anyone can offer some insight on this, that this was the place to ask.............

Thanks, Curt

 

Kurt- check on the CJ3B page there is a lot of information on replacement tubs.

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Tech/ReproTubs.html

Mike

 

From what I've read, there is only one manufacturer of steel body tubs...."MD Juan," who sells them through distributors. Some of those distributors make modifications to the bodies to improve upon the fit and finish. Willys Overland is one of those companies.

I bellieve that you can still find fiberglass tubs, either through 4wd, or maybe Shell Valley, Malotte, etc. There were a few manufacturers of these over the years.

Aluminum - This is also available either thru "JP Offroad" or "Aqualu." I believe that Aqualu manufactures these bodies, and JP is one of their distributors, but I could be mistaken.

The above mentioned reference to the CJ3B page is also an excellent source of information! Good luck with the project!

 

There is a guy in WA who has a couple shipping containers of NOS Jewells stainless flattie parts. He has everything. NOT cheap though. He slapped together a complete stainless body on a basket case DJ frame with Toyota drivetrain recently and sold it for around $10K on ebay.
I have a friend who bought an aftermarket body. I think it was Omix-Ada. He's a fabbin' fool. Super talented professional mechanic, and has a fully equipped shop. It took him days and days to make everything fit and fab up a lot that was left blank or missing. Tons of work and the sheet metal was way less than OEM thickness and quality.
Personally, for the kind of money these things cost, I'd hunt down a super straight barn dweller and mix and match until the project Jeep is of the quality you want. Use what's left over to put the doner Jeep back together and sell it. The're out there and can be bought for less than a crappy repro body if you jump on them quick. Just my $.02.

 

There is really only one distributor of metal tubs -- Omni-Adix.

He imports them from the Philippines from MD Juan.

There have been other people try to import them, but because of the quantities required in order to make the cost of import feasible most of those folks have chosen to buy from Omni.

All the jeep tubs are the same regardless of how the seller tries to sell them and what in-house name he uses.

Willys-Overland claims to relocate hat channels, drill mounting holes, and dash holes(cj-3b), but they also charge more, so you'd have to decide if that extra service is worth the extra price.

I think that the quality problems that are associated with metal tubs all originate from MD Juan's vendors -

 

thought MD Juan had dfferent levels of tubs?

 

yes

 

Howdy, the blue cj2a in my picture was a blank tub that I got from ACME truck parts back in 1979 when these reproduction bodies first started coming in to the US. It was easier to drill my own holes after I got the fenders, hood and grill bolted to the tub and aligned up on the frame. I think Willys Overland gets his tubs as blanks and use their own templates to drill all the holes. As, for me I would like to get a blank or pay Willys Overland the extra cost, time is money. The steel thickness in my tub is close to stock, but again it is over 25 years old. Oh, and the cowling was narrower than stock and the windshield did not fit correctly, so I made plates to put under the windshield brackets to shim them out where they needed to be.

 

Thanks for the info guys! This has all been extremely helpfull!