Anyone Ever Heard of This Company

I'm pricing sheet metal for my 75 CJ5 and this seems like a pretty good deal for basically all new sheet metal.
https://www.dlbensinger.com/cj578.php

The other option is Willy's Overland in Toledo (about 2 miles from my inlaws house). They're more expensive, but I wouldn't have to pay shipping.

 

Bensinger has been around for a long time...although I have no personal experience to comment with.

 

I bought a few small parts for my trailer there.

 

He's a WELL known seller of parts for military Jeeps. He seems to be well respected but I've never dealt with myself and I've only heard one complaint about him.

 

Any sheet metal Darryl has will be Omix - Ada.. aka MD Juan.

 

Pretty much ANY sheet metal and most of the Jeep parts that you find today are going to be reproductions. Original stuff is getting very very rare! Some dealers call their stuff NOS (New Old Stock) but what they aren't telling you is that it may only be 6 months old! As in it took that long to get from the PI or India where it was made (the New part). If you want new ORIGINAL parts made by Willys or Kaiser or AMC make sure that they state unequivocally that that's what they are. A LOT of dealers dance around and make statements such as "NOS" and try to make you THINK that you're getting original parts when you're not. Some parts are marked Ada or Omix or Mahinda so you KNOW that they're reproductions but a lot of the dealers won't tell you what brand the parts are or where they were made.

 

I don't care about reproductions, I care about quality. If those are using old die's, then I would expect the lines and stampings to not be as precise.

I know I need a new tub and when considering finding a donor tub, and then the time and effort to clean it up. I might as well just get a repop tub.

 

You might want to read some the stories in the archives about the problems that people have had with the repops before you decide to use one! Everyone that have used a repop tub has spent hundreds of hours making them fit and correcting numerous problems and most of the have said that they'd been better off to repair the original tub! Rommel, from MDJuan, seems to be making a serious effort to correct the problems but it's still going to take time to get them right and to get the new ones into the hands of the resellers in the US. These is a reason why the repops tubs and Ada/Omix parts have a lousy reputation!

 

I've been reading, all steel tubs come from MD Juan. WillysOverland takes their tubs and reworks them on a jig to make sure they fit (although I have read that they do not completely).

My current tub is a hybrid CJ5/CJ7 tub. The door openings don't match either, so I'm pretty much out for a set of doors. I'd love to find a decent 72-75 tub that wasn't horrible and just go that route.

 

I've always wondered how they could sell those reproduction steel bodies for those prices. For $3000, I'm sure you could buy a used OEM body from the southwest and have it shipped to wherever you are. Or, you could buy a decent CJ and have it shipped to you, and combine it with what you have and scrap or part out what's left over.

If you really want to find a decent original body, I'd suggest you post a WTB (want to buy) ad on all of the Jeep boards that you can find, like Willystech, JeepForum, CJ-Offroad, here, and try the local boards. In the northeast we have NEOW and NEw England Jeepz, and likely others - your area should have similar boards. Beat the bushes, and see what you can turn up.

 

The supply of good CJ5 tubs is not as plentiful as you'd hope. CJ 7 and Wrangler tubs are a bit more plentiful and using a wrangler tub on a CJ7 is actually a great improvement. Your best bet is to find an aborted project jeep with a good tub.

Any good used jeep with a good tub is going to cost more than a repop tub especially when you add shipping.

At least that has been my experience in TX, NM , and AZ. CA may differ a bit, there seems to be more vehicles there overall.

 

That's why I'm wondering if a narrow track CJ7 has the same axles as a CJ5. That's one option I am considering.

 

Front is the same as a '75; rear is different - you have a Dana 44, and a CJ-7 has a an AMC Corporate 20. The 44 will fit if you weld new spring pads on.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm Rommel Juan of MDJuan. We make all the replacement tubs here in the Philippines and sell it through dealers in the US. Both Omix and Bensinger are our dealers.

We were just in the US for the Willys Reunion in Ohio Last May 17-19. We went there with Daryl Bensinger and displayed our all new CJ2a tub will all corrections we got from the cj2a forum.

Here's the thread of MDJuan :http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?101908-Body-Tubs-from-the-Philippines&highlight=mdjuan

and here's a video about us:

[video=youtube;xQJnVX29X_I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQJnVX29X_I[/video]

Enjoy!

 

Wow, I'm on Ohio. I would have loved to stopped by the event.

 

here's the link to our Midwest Willys Reunion visit:

http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/show...illys-Reunion-in-Hudson-Ohio&highlight=mdjuan

 

Have you LOOKED at the price of repop tubs????? You're talking $4,000 to $5,000 easily! by the time that you buy All of the pieces. And that doesn't include shipping either!

There are lots of Jeeps with good looking bodies available in Co and Wy. for very reasonable prices IMO. ColoJeepGuy posts links to them on this forum all the time. He just posted this http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?103812-Lots-of-old-iron-in-Wyo&highlight=good+iron

It has a good looking '47 flat fender Jeep for $2,000 and says that he has more.

"'47 Willys Jeep runs great! This one $2k needs seats. 2 other Willys, 1, $1,500, and yellow $2,000"

I'm in Florida and the rust destroys EVERY Jeep here and I've been looking for even a repairable body for my '66 CJ5 for over two years. A few weeks ago I found a NICE, solid (brought in from Ca.), original, running and very nearly complete M38A1 with a PTO winch. I bought the complete Jeep for $3,500! There's no way that I could have bought a complete repop tub for that! I called one of MDJuan's dealers about two months ago and they quoted me over $4400 not including shipping for their "complete" kit! Shipping was around $600 to $800 IIRC.

The repops have potential (IF they get their problems straightened out) BUT there's no way that they're worth the $4,000 to $5,000 that they're currently charging for them!!!! IF they fixed their problems and you could buy a complete one for around $2,000 they'd be a decent deal but not at $4,000 to $5,000!

 

Hi Joe,

Congrats on your great find!

Cheers,
Rommel

 

Joe, I wasn't comparing to a complete kit, although I can't say I remember the Cj5 tubs being as high as they are apparently.. In my experience a decent CJ5 tub is not going to come unless you buy a whole jeep like you did, and if you add typical shipping ....you are close to a repop tub. Deals can be had, you proved that.

Add to shipping cost the risk of buying sight unseen, or the extra costs of going to inspect "rust free" iron....and it makes the repop look more attractive. I've spent several summers back when I was a school teacher trying to find rust free deals to bring home to the Northeast and sell, and I never found a jeep that was worth it until I ended up living in the southwest. I did discover when I was supposed to find a 66 Chevy for a guy that rust free is a myth. Rust happens everywhere. By the way I agree with you on Colorado jeeps....they seem to hold up well there and the sellers aren't quite as nuts as the folks selling jeeps in say Albuquerque or Phoenix. I have a 46 bought in Loveland myself. (While it is rust free it does need some sheet metal and some serious frame work. )