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Your CJ-3A Project / 1949 CJ-3A Project
« Last post by WaxhawWilly on July 26, 2026, 09:18:45 PM »Hi everyone,
I recently got this 1949 CJ-3A from my grandfather(in law) who picked it up a few years ago as a recently abandoned farm truck. He completed quite a bit of work on it and got it into running condition. It suffered from pretty heavy body damage/rot and he got it back solid and useable. He also did quite a bit of mechanical work (at one point had the engine out and did frame work, transmission work, etc). I tossed in a few of his before and after pictures down below to get an idea of what it was like. He went over pretty much every inch of the thing and repainted/primed it for the most part. I'm very thankful for all that work as I simply don't have the tools and know-how (yet). He was a mechanic his whole life so it was a piece of cake for him.
Now it's in my hands and runs and drives for the most part. My goal is just to get it into excellent mechanical condition to run around town and do some light off road duty. I'll worry about looking pretty after that. I don't have much at all in the way of technical knowledge outside of basic oil changes, etc but I am looking forward to learning!
As an introduction, I've attached a video walkaround. There's an odd cadence at the tailpipe (a bit like Ricky Ricardo playing the bongos), and while I can drive it around the yard a bit, it eventually stalls and then won't start back up until its cooled down. It also stumbles and stalls out if I give it gas too quickly even at idle- anything more than a very light touch. Anyway I don't know if these types of things are typical for an 80ish year old vehicle or if there is work to be done. Plus he left me a box of nuts and bolts and said some of them he replaced, but some probably belong somewhere on the jeep.
I'll keep you all updated as I move along.
PS looks like my video files are too large- anyone know whether I can post them an alternate way or do I just need to get them down to 100000 kb?
I recently got this 1949 CJ-3A from my grandfather(in law) who picked it up a few years ago as a recently abandoned farm truck. He completed quite a bit of work on it and got it into running condition. It suffered from pretty heavy body damage/rot and he got it back solid and useable. He also did quite a bit of mechanical work (at one point had the engine out and did frame work, transmission work, etc). I tossed in a few of his before and after pictures down below to get an idea of what it was like. He went over pretty much every inch of the thing and repainted/primed it for the most part. I'm very thankful for all that work as I simply don't have the tools and know-how (yet). He was a mechanic his whole life so it was a piece of cake for him.
Now it's in my hands and runs and drives for the most part. My goal is just to get it into excellent mechanical condition to run around town and do some light off road duty. I'll worry about looking pretty after that. I don't have much at all in the way of technical knowledge outside of basic oil changes, etc but I am looking forward to learning!
As an introduction, I've attached a video walkaround. There's an odd cadence at the tailpipe (a bit like Ricky Ricardo playing the bongos), and while I can drive it around the yard a bit, it eventually stalls and then won't start back up until its cooled down. It also stumbles and stalls out if I give it gas too quickly even at idle- anything more than a very light touch. Anyway I don't know if these types of things are typical for an 80ish year old vehicle or if there is work to be done. Plus he left me a box of nuts and bolts and said some of them he replaced, but some probably belong somewhere on the jeep.
I'll keep you all updated as I move along.
PS looks like my video files are too large- anyone know whether I can post them an alternate way or do I just need to get them down to 100000 kb?