1954 CJ3b

Since getting a trailer at the beginning of the year, jeep hunting has become my new hobby, 4 different willys have all shown up in the past 6 months, all deals too good to pass up, that usually have to be hidden in the trailer till i find a good way to tell the wife.

first was the 46 2A , a old Maine Jamboree willys that was ridden hard and put away wet. I was planning on bringing this back to its old glory, but found a 3B that i wanted more, so i passed this along to a friend , who i knew was itching for a willys. He is hard at work on it, but it has proven to be a handfull. Check out his thread on Pirate, it could be the worst, most beat willys frame i have ever seen.


Next is a complete 59 3B, What caught my eye about this one, other then the price, was it was complete, supposedly running when taken apart, and the tub had 75% new panels, all tacked into place. but the frame was beyond toast.



So i set out to find a frame, and end up finding another 3B, MINT frame, restored axles, new rancho lift, and so on, lots of new parts, everything except the block and body.

Which was okay becasue i had one to work with from the 59. So, now i have just about everyting i need to start putting the puzzle togeater, and start with the frame and axles.


So at this time i get busy with summer and don't do much, but do poke into the 59 3B fhead, and find out its probably not a runner, rebuild-able, but not a runner. I also decide the tub is more work than i want to do right now, so its back to CL looking for a good f head and tub.

And yesterday during my morning scan of CL. I find a 54 3b, The ad has all the good stuff, rebuilt this, new that, runs and drives needs bla bla bla. For a real good price! figure there is more to the story, but I make the call and find out its pretty much as described the lady says, which make it an super good deal if true. The main thing I am looking for is a nice tub, and a running engine, and soft top, and if those are all that is true its still worth the effort, It was about 2 hours up in Maine, and since I store my trailer about an hour from my house, I was looking at 3+ hours to get there, so I figured I'd grab the trailer one day , and go up the next.

I call the lady and she says she has gotten 7 calls since placing the ad this morning, and 2 people are coming in the morning. Change of plans, get the trailer and get up there to check it out now. I get there and it's better than described. She bought it 5 years ago from a guy who just rebuilt it, everything but paint. Axles, trans and TC, all look to be rebuilt, frame is mint, better than the good 3b frame I have here, soft top is new, Tub is a replacement tub, With the slightest surface rust starting to show from sitting for a few years.

Then I get the icing on the cake. The lady goes "oh, and I forgot, it has a new engine." She goes on to explain, that 2 years ago, she was having overheating issues, so she brings it to her mechanic, who can't find a problem with the cooling system, so he pulls the engine to look into it. He does not find the cooling problem, but finds a crack in the block. So she said she got a new rebuilt engine, so I figure it has to be better than what I have even if its a half assed rebuild. The Cooling problem ended up being the fan.

I get it home and look through the paperwork, and she bought a complete fresh rebuilt engine from these guys! Engines - MDR Engines Who look to be the real deal! I might even still have 1 year of warranty left


So now i am pumped, it even has an OD, It has some bubba issues. Like an electric fan, and fuel pump, but nothing I can't undo.

I'm going too look at it closer this weekend, but I'm thinking I will use this as it is, fix whats wrong with it, Put on the front disks i have, rear lockright and drive it. Might not even paint it, It's black primer with some surface rust...I kind of like the look.

 

and for the record, you can hide a lot of Willys in an enclosed trailer for about a week, before it starts to smell like old cars and the wife starts asking "what is that smell in the driveway"

 

This thing is clean, The seller said there was a problem with the front end, it pulled and drove strange, which I confirmed when I drove it...found one front hub locked.





Bonus, a Warn OD






It also appears the builder had a bug for metal work, he made little things like the battery box and a cover for the fuel tank.

 

The whole frame looks like it's powder coated too

 

If a mod sees this, please move it to builds, thanks.

 

It's nice having a stash of parts, I went to my Willys storage shed, and pulled out some steel wheels with some good tires, looks so much better than with the short fat swampers. I'm a Swamper fan, but not those.









Also so grabbed on of my favorite old school aftermarket parts, a original Con-Fer storage seat.

 

Looks awesome!

 

Looks great. You should paint those wheels white using the playing card trick.

 

Looks like a pretty good score!!

 

Awesome.

If you're interested, if you hit primer with 0000 steel wool, it gives it a cool satin finish.

 

Nice that's a cool story and I like the trailer good idea

 

I can't find even one of these things in Florida. And when I do, it is stupid silly money. And you have found 4. That last one is way cool.

 

That's awesome how much 3b stuff you found. I have a 53 but the body is pretty toast, I've been looking for years for a donor and nothing. I mainly need one with a goodish floor and I can piece it together the rest of the way

 

Not much "tech". But WAY up on the coolness scale

 

OK I got to know . what was the I can't walk away price

 

OK! where did you find the over drive knob?.........been looking for one for a while now.

 

A guy on the 2a page made them

 

Got a little work done on the 3B, I put the carb on I got from Rick, and put the stock throttle linkage back on. Runs sooo much better now.





And I have to commend the previous builder of the jeep. Guy had a lot of ambition. I don't know why, but he put a lot of effort into building the cable linkage that was on there, I thought it was a transplant from a newer jeep at first, , but when I took it off, you could tell it was home made. It's uses the stock pedal to the bell crank, then gets funky.

 

So the plan has changed a bit...i always planned on leaving the 3B stock, but due to some things that have come up, there are a going to be a few mods. The rear 44 in it is bad, just worn out and beat, so while looking for a replacement, have came into possession of a few better axle options. For the rear i picked up a professionally built offset Dana 44, 33 spline alloy shafts, Ox locker, and disk brakes, its to wide, so i will be having it shortened.


For my front axle i was installing disks and spindle studs i had for the 25, its a nice improvement, but still a weak link.. So now i figure since I'm upgrading the rear, i should look for a Dana 30, with disks, and not worrry about the front anymore. I found a good Dana 30 with disks for it, im adding a OX locker, alloy shafts and call it a day

I also found these, which will now get 32x9.5 swampers.

 

I have the Belliview winch mount figured out finally.