My Willys 3A and 3B Community
Your Projects => Your CJ-3A Project => Topic started by: BrJeeper on January 11, 2025, 02:09:44 PM
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As promised in my introduction post, here's my 3A.
Some info on the Jeep itself before i get into it's history with my dad and I.
As stated in the title of the thread, this Jeep has a low serial number, it's 452GB1 10229, one of the very first of the 52 model year. It was originally grey (Duchess grey i believe).
(serial number plate removed for the pic only)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260938006_da46f4311a_k.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260240316_3a270cdc48_b.jpg)
On it's Story, it actually began before we got it. Some time in the early 2000s, it was taken from Brazil and spent a few years unregistered in Uruguay, before being brought back. The guy who brought it back is an acquaintance of dad an i, and shared a set of pictures with us:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260467059_465ad2b077_h.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260231371_8d9752d934_h.jpg)
it was then sold to it's previous owner, and had some things changed. This is from the ad we bought it from, in 2015. Back then we were looking for a cheap flatfender we could use as a donor for the '42 MB (before realizing the problems with that plan) but we decided to keep both.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260656205_2d3e2e24e1_n.jpg)
Well, on the very first day we had it home, we went to work on it, we must have removed a person's weight in unwanted parts from it. That's me Btw
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260231511_266627ca15_k.jpg)
We then started slowly replacing parts as we could. Here we had already replaced seats, headlight rings, exhaust, hood latches, and added a spare tire bracket.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259345727_a2d72bf571_h.jpg)
Then, the rear end, replacing the trailer taillights with some more suitable ones. back then we only had a stick welder, so we decided to simply bolt some steel over the huge holes that were opened for the taillights.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259342922_203eae5e1a_h.jpg)
Shortly after, a proper tailgate...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259342862_c7b3ebcea5_h.jpg)
...and a top. This is a Brazilian M520 (army CJ-5) vinyl top, that we modified to fit the 3A windshield. Note the new signal lights too.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260467079_d213fa8823_h.jpg)
Then, came a PTO, free wheel hubs, and new seat covers.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259342827_efe4db1cc6_b.jpg)
In early 2017 we did some big maintenance on it. We took it to a friend and did a whole suspension overhaul, and rebuilt the bottom end of the engine
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259342832_45880ee836_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260467029_98c1f28b89_b.jpg)
On '17s independence day parade. Dad added a blackout light an a jerry can to the side, as well as the rope on the bumper, and this is pretty much how the Jeep has looked ever since.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260231311_70d3aaa609_z.jpg)
2021, going to our farm through the back roads
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260239126_d622204392_k.jpg)
During and after a night trail in 2022, the first i went to after a decade long hiatus. That trail alone convinced me to never hang with the local offroad club again, as a stock jeep can't keep up with 40"+ tires, ton axles, and diesels. I was getting stuck in the obstacle detours...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260705210_286a001f1b_h.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260656035_25262243e5_b.jpg)
Some time after that, i made a decision and traded my MB, the Jeep i wanted since i was a kid, but a stalled project, for the 3A, that i learned to drive in and had developed a bigger attachment for.
Around this time, out came the PTO, and some bodywork, finally doing a passable job on the rear end. Still not as good as it deserves, but we'll get there.
The taillights are not ALAs, but we had a trio of NOS ALA lenses, and we modified some Brazilian light bodies to fit. The reflector on the passenger side has LEDs fitted inside, so it still acts as a taillight
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260231316_80a196e967_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259342742_4b6318c6ff_h.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260458848_cc1c6d48e7_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260231281_014bc2c1e3_b.jpg)
Going for a Sunday ride a few months ago
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54259343027_0172f7d78b_k.jpg)
Doing some farm work. Our (15 row) planter failed on a row for a few passes, and the Jeep track width is perfect to avoid damaging the growing soybeans while replanting them.
That's Dad on the planter
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260467174_36a842cc90_k.jpg)
Just before New year's
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54260459028_8f047cede0_k.jpg)
Some time in the future, i plan to do a proper and full restoration on this Jeep, but i still love it as it is. it's a driver with lots of battle scars to tell it's history, and well, i don't see a point in fully disassembling a running and driving Jeep.
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Nice CJ-3A! Do you think it was originally a military Jeep in Brazil?
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Nice CJ-3A! Do you thing it was originally a military Jeep in Brazil?
Thanks!
I don't believe so Bob, it has no indication of ever having military features, specially hardware, before dad an I added them.
The color layers are one example, the only olive green layer is the current (6th i believe) one, only civilian colors before that.
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Looks great! I love the story line of progress with pics. You should have a lot of fun with it. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
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Thanks for the history of your Jeep. Enjoyed it.
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Updating with some stuff that happened in the last year and a half + since i posted the original story.
Shortly after that post, I replaced the modern windshield wiper motor with a more appropriate one. I routed the positive wire through a tube, to resemble the vacuum line.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479564036_fc45778dd7_b.jpg)
September '25, doing farm work, cleaning some branches on the edge of the fields.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479676553_83dc66b90a_b.jpg)
In December, I replaced the bumpstops in both axles. I don't know if they were still the originals, but I can say they were definitely worn!
Also, note the spacer, part #640207. Those are part of the rear PTO kit, indicating my Jeep originally had it!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55478568747_56db2c1f46_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55478568767_6a0069b921_b.jpg)
At the same time, I bought a chain kit for the tailgate (which had been bolted shut previously).
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479951945_70a1914cbd_b.jpg)
March '26. After a day in the farm. around that period, I began removing some of the military features that dad had added. Gone are the jerry can and the Blackout light on the fender.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479951955_5ea3e23fc4_b.jpg)
Another sunset at the farm, in June.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479951950_db84869135_b.jpg)
This week, I did the first major work in a while. The Jeep was parked for most of the past 2 months, but the last 2 times I drove it, I noticed a lack of power, and the temp gauge was rising insanely fast (like boiling within a couple of miles). So I knew something was wrong... Dad noticed some bubbling on the radiator, so we knew it was the head gasket.
We started pulling it at 5:36PM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479735309_0f43442126_b.jpg)
We found the gasket not really blown, but it was leaking compression from the #4 cylinder into the oval hole in the back of the head (the one that is not in the block, but you can still see the path of the carbon into it). I guess the Leak was not bad enough to let water into the cylinder when it was parked (no signs of water level going down and it didn't hydro-lock), but the compression pressure was enough to push out into the water galleries.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479735299_dcf8f4c893_b.jpg)
For some reason I'm not sure of, we had 2 new L134 head gaskets in the shelf, so this was basically a free fix.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479563236_ee29fafb36_b.jpg)
And finally, 7:23PM (actually the time we left the farm). Head back on, torqued, all reassembled, and tested. Temperatures rose normally, so I'd say it's fixed!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55479735304_b70b023b76_b.jpg)
Nando.