My Ford GPW 1/4 ton jeep

[derk derin]

The fenders are a little rough with cracks and holes torched in them but nothing the mig can't fix.At least the jeep is mostly original with the "F" marked parts still there.





The hood was the roughest part of the jeep.The only good thing on it was the hinge.I bought another hood from one of the local Prairie Command members that was in nice shape but the hinge was completely broken away and beyond repair.I had the idea to drill the spot rivets and swap hinges to the good hood.That is when I realized that Willy's hinge was manufactured differently from Ford's.I will somehow find a proper way of fixing it.Anybody have any suggestions on how to go about this?



Like all jeeps,the first thing to receive damage are the fenders and grill.My grill was damaged on the left side and with alot of fine tuning (pounding with a ball pein hammer!) I managed to get it fairly straight and what I thought was the worst part was the bottom center where it bolts to the cross member.There was a bump that I thought was caused by previous damage so I straightened it out.Then I went over to my friends house for measurements from his GPW and then realized that it was supposed to be there! Now it's back to the fine tuning to put the bump back!

[derk derin]

There are spots on the jeep that will require repair from rust damage but I am up for the challenge and will have lots of practise using the welder when I am finished this project.








The front of the frame was fish plated and stuck out like a sore thumb and with it on,I couldn't mount my new hardware brackets and bumper so I stripped all of it off and found many cracks that will have to be welded up to give it strength again.One side had a piece of metal welded solid I left in as it would not interfere with the mounting of the hardware and was afraid that removing it might weaken the whole front of the frame.I saw at the convention that they reproduce the front of the frames to repair problems like this.For now I am just cleaning the jeep up to where it is presentable to use and later on when my other projects are done,do a proper restoration of the jeep and fix the frame properly.

[derk derin]

I also now have the parts to put the original springs back onto the rear axle.The springs on it now are from a 61 Valient and are wider than jeep springs so the hangers were changed.These springs are too stiff and caused the jeep to have a rough ride to it plus it didn't look right.I also picked up a GPW driveshaft to replace the MB one that is on it now.


More to come.I am running out of nice weather so not sure how much more I can get done this year but will try!
Derk.

[derk derin]

I guess it's time to update this post of my stretcher jeep project. I have over the last few years been going to the MVPA conventions in the US picking up the required parts to restore my jeep. My intentions were to clean it up cosmetically and get all of the original parts back on it so I just ground the old paint off of the outside,welded up the damage and rust holes and repaint it but of course when I climbed underneath and saw all of the rust,dirt and issues underneath, it didn't take long for the whole jeep to be taken apart and do a complete rebuild.

[derk derin]

Once the jeep tub,frame and axles were sandblasted I started the priming and paint job.

[derk derin]

I built my stretcher racks from looking at original photo's and then fabricating them to fit the body tub.

[derk derin]

Once everything was painted then the re-assembly started.