My first CJ jeep - 1956 CJ3B restoration

[Chris P]

Hi guys,
I was invited by Rus to create a post about my project. So I decided to copy and past here my original post from CJ3B old tapatalk forum and continue sharing the progress.

Feb 28, 2016#1
Hi everyone,
I've just joined the forum to share with you my recently acquired CJ-3B.
I own two WWII jeeps so most of my knowledge is with the a MB is better and a MB.
I'm from Argentina and I moved to Mexico City three years ago. I'm afraid there is almost anything about jeep restoration in Mexico and it is quite difficult to find one in good conditions.
The story is that since I moved I started looking for a new project. I really miss those weekends with my folks from www.AACVM.com.ar
Last year I found a CJ-3B for sale in Guadalajara. It was hard to get in touch with the owner who seem reluctant to sell it. A few months ago I insisted without luck. I asked a colleague to try once more and he finally convinced the owner to sell it.
Guadalajara is a 5 hours drive to Mexico City so I has it transported on a truck.
The jeep was first owned by the Ministry of Health and auctioned in 1976. The uncle of the former owner bought it and used it in Michoacan state. This uncle passed away in 2004 and left the jeep to the guy who finally sold it to me.
I haven't inspected it closely but overall it is in pretty good conditions. Some parts were changed to facilitated its use in the city.
My plan is to do a frame off restoration.

Particularly interesting is the fact that all papers date it 1955 but based on the serial number 57384 24289 and machine engine number 4J112950 it is a 1956 model. Any thoughts?

Color seems original (Transport yellow) but I still need to look for potential repainting.





57348 24289






More pictures available at https://imageshack.com/a/I7pJ/1
All comments and feedback are very much welcome but mainly needed!

Cheers,
Chris

Rus Curtis Feb 29, 2016#2
Chris,
Welcome! Nice project - looking forward to following your progress!

oldtime Feb 29, 2016#3
Chpodles, welcome to the CJ-3B Bulletin Board

That is a very nice looking and is an excellent candidate for an original restoration.

GlennR134 Mar 01, 2016#4
Welcome to the site. That's a very nice jeep to restore.

Glenn

ozmarty62 Mar 13, 2016#5
Welcome Chris - those photos take me back to the start of my restoration - it's an exciting time. Good luck with the restoration journey. You'll find an incredible wealth of experience here.

Marty

[Chris P]

Mar 27, 2016#6
So I finally started. I have the 3B in my father's in law garage which is about 40 mins far from home. I have 3 kids and still a wife ? so I really need to balance the time spent with the project.
I went twice already for photo shooting and removal of non original parts. I also started to disassemble parts from the body to put it away and focus on the frame.
Just next door I found a soon to be friend who restores classic cars. Roberto is very good with sheet metal and painting so that would be his effort. But he also insisted to help me with some repairs to the frame too. That's welcome!

Already identified incorrect parts:

Side steps
Clutch and break pedals
Gas tank cap
Fuel and amp gauges
Steering wheel
Spare tire bracket
Main lights switch
Choke and throttle knobs
Horn
Tail lights
6.00x16 NDT tires
Mirror?

Missing parts:
Draw bar
Tailgate chains
Horn button
Summer top
Seats cushions

Please help me identifying any missing or incorrect part. I am still new to 3Bs.
More pictures here https://imageshack.com/a/zBOM/1
I am planning to drive to San Antonio, TX by end of April so I must take this opportunity to bring many parts!

Regards,
Chris

oldtime Mar 28, 2016#7
The choke and throttle cables are aftermarket.
The ignition switch is aftermarket.
The seat pans are not correct.
The pedal shaft assemblies may be correct for a later vintage CJ but the pedal pads are wrong.
The spare tire carrier is ho-made.

[Chuck W.]

There is something odd about the way the radiator is mounted, looks too close to the fan, plus the shroud is missing. Great project, good luck!

[Chris P]

Yes Chuck, fan shroud missing at that time (now installed). Radiator was mounted to the grill on two pieces of wood. Very creative PO. Now gone.

I work full time on a Pharmaceutical company, husband and father of three. It is hasn't been easy to make a routine and find spare time to dedicated to the project. It has been a while now since I started dismantling the jeep back in April 2016. Below some pics of that moment. Much more available that I keep revisiting.



 













Next step, I sent most parts for sandblasting.

Regards,

[Rus Curtis]

So far looking good!  The cut/paste is a great idea!

[Chuck W.]

Your tub looks to be in excellent condition, and the transport yellow is probably the original color, so I hope you will keep it the same color, you don't see many of the yellow CJ3B in the states.

[Chris P]

Hi Chuck, the tub is indeed in very decent conditions. Although I have to admit that the yellow color is not my favorite I decided to keep this original Transport Yellow.

So continuing with the progress on the frame back in May 2016... I have the frame, axles and body sandblasted. Particularly on the frame there were several bubba repairs that needed extensive and detailed work. I am sharing some reference pictures of what I found on the frame.

A very heavy tube was added on the front


Very poor repairs made in the frame rail. Cracks and dents are visible.






Look at this welding!




Battery tray still there but with very rough repairs as well.


Serial number on passenger side rail






Next some detailed photos of the repairs made on the frame.
Regards,

[SteveKfl]

It is pretty curious how the tub  can be so solid with all the "activity" under it???  Was the frame "cracked" or "spliced"?  It may be worth a cross check of spring mounts for "alignment verification".  There must be an interesting "history" behind this one.  It seems to be in "good hands" now.

[Chris P]

Hi Steve, apart from the cracks and repairs on the previous pictures there were no signs of more damage. The transfers cross member did receive a strong hit as it was quite bended.
I did decide to change all spring mounts anyway and ensure good alignment. Below what we did with the springs using the correct spring clamps (home made)

Bushings almost lost. Several Bubba clamps









Home made spring clamps that look quite similar to the original clamp style found on some jeeps











And then some time later, new bushing and paint finish.







I hope you like the progress. That work was done back on October 2016
Cheers!

[derekredmond]

Great work Chris. Looking forward to updates, and maybe one day you will condense this into a project story for the website!

Derek

[Squishymonster]

Ah! A fellow DIY bracket-fabricator! I've recently been discovering the joys of this odd fringe hobby myself. Nice work, and now I'm tempted to try your design.

[Chris P]

Great work Chris. Looking forward to updates, and maybe one day you will condense this into a project story for the website!

Derek

Count on that Derek! What would be of this restoration project without the deep knowledge I've got from your site! It will be my pleasure.

Ah! A fellow DIY bracket-fabricator! I've recently been discovering the joys of this odd fringe hobby myself. Nice work, and now I'm tempted to try your design.

Thanks buddy. In this latitude it is always required to do some parts yourself if you want to keep progressing. I bring parts on every visit to the US (usually every 2 months me or my wife travel to the US) but if there are no travel arrangements soon I have to apply some DIY techniques!

...So, now lets go back to October 2016 when we finished the paint job on the frame. After a lot of hard work fixing all bends and removing tons of bad welding we had the frame in pretty good shape to paint it.







Serial number 24289 on passenger side frame rail








As you can see in the following picture I had to use bolts instead of rivets on the front bumper. I am planning to get some rivets later. I don't have any reference picture of original rivets so any help here is appreciated. Any idea of rivets size?



Final touch for this new post. I came across a video of the finished frame so I added some happy music for you to enjoy! (I am unable to embed videos on the post. It is possible?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8KeIyRhRJE

Cheers.

[Luis]

https://youtu.be/q8KeIyRhRJE
Great Job Primo!
Thanks for sharing!

[Chris P]

We are now in December 2016 and axles are ready. I found very little wear on the gears but I had to change axle shafts.









DANA gears dated 7-21-55





Original Bendix type axle shafts with extreme wear so I decided to look for replacements.





And I found period correct Spicer type



Everything back in place and ready for other 65 years. Hopefully!. Oil seals are all new.







Regards,

[Doug_3B]

Awesome job Chris!  I'm looking forward to seeing more progress!

Keep up the great work!

Doug