I just looked on the old 3B Board, and there are a lot of build threads on there. I hope some others take the time to move their threads over before they're lost. There are a lot of awesome transformations documented there! I am going to copy/paste from the previous build thread, and edit just what I feel needs to be edited.
I was first introduced to CJ3Bs when I was a kid. My Dad had one - I believe a 1958. From what he told me, the 3B body sat on a CJ5 frame and had the V6 Dauntless. I vaguely remember riding in it when I was 4 or 5. I remember running his trap line with him in the 3B during the winter. By the time I was 6 or 7, Dad's 3B sat unused and slowly rusted away over the years.
My 3B went from a hacked up trail rig to a fairly stock machine. I tend to get a little long winded some time, so if it gets too boring, let me know or just ignore the writing and enjoy the pics. Hopefully someone can learn something from some of the bonehead stuff I did and I hope everyone else enjoys the pics. I bought my 3B, my first jeep, in October 2005 on eBay. Looking back on it, it was a pretty bad deal. I will think long and hard before buying another vehicle without seeing it in person. What can I say - I had been reading A LOT on The CJ3B Page and I had the fever!!
Being the brilliant person I am, I waited until I had sold my truck to decide to buy a jeep that would require a truck and trailer to tow it home. Luckily my good friend was all up for a road trip - all 1600 miles worth Mountain Home, ID to Denver, CO. We drove straight there, losing a serpentine belt on the truck in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming!!
Upon seeing the jeep in person, my heart SANK. I was very disappointed to say the least, as it looked MUCH worse than the pictures. But, I had committed to the buy and we had driven all that way, so I became the owner of this bad boy. These are actual pictures from eBay:
After completing the paperwork for title transfer and sale, we loaded up the jeep (it actually ran and drove onto the trailer). This was about 7pm, we had been on the road since about 6am. We decided to head straight back home and all went well until we hit Cheyenne, WY. While stopped for fuel, we discovered that we had a flat on the trailer. Try finding a place to have a tire changed at about 10pm on a Friday night. We did, though. That was the last problem we encountered until we tried to unload the jeep.
The jeep would not start when we tried to take it off the trailer. There was no ignition switch, just 2 toggle switches and a push button to start. We ended up pushing it off the trailer and into the garage - a single stall garage that, per the landlord, no major automotive work was to be performed in.