Officially a Flat Fender Owner!

After much searching and with the help of info gathered here at this site-I took the plunge and brought home a flat fender. From what I have gathered from the p.o. and the numbers I have found in seems to be a 1949 CJ3A chassis and drive train (verified from the tag from the engine bay that he saved), and a 1953 F-head engine (#4FR172470-from the engine). It is pretty complete with all the linkages, wires and cable still attached. Two questions that I have-I'm sure there will be many more,
1. the Jeep seems to have 11" drums all the way around-was that from the factory?
2. how do I tell if the Jeep is 6 or 12 volts from the way it sits, I have found no indication on any of the parts as to voltage.
Thanks for all the help-
Tony
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They came with 9" drums from the factory. Someone probably added them.

It is most likely 6 volt because in 1958, the F heads were available with a 12 volt generator.



The frame looks like it is in good shape.

 

the generator tag will say 12 or 6 volt on it.
if those are 11" brakes, they are the early cam adjusting type from what I can see in the pics.

 

Yup, Jim called it, Lockheed cam style adjustment brakes. Definitely an upgrade to the stock 9" brakes but do require some finicky (imho) adjustments.

 

Are those brakes worth retaining or is that a future replacement for later 11" brakes?

 

I have similar brakes on the rear of my 3B, adjustment isn't bad after you learn how.
Get a FSM, manditory in this game. FSR= Factory Service Manual.
Saving them depends on where you want to go with the restoration.
They are about 100% better than the stock brakes.

 

Nice looking Jeep brings back memories of the frame off my dad and I did on my jeep when I was younger. Good luck and have fun with 'er

 

Re the brakes, manual adjust brakes aren't so bad if you don't drive a lot of miles. Adjusting the brakes is yet another maintenance job, and you'll need to adjust the brakes every 5000 miles or so. If you had the later Bendix brakes, they would be self-adjusting, and you could skip the brake adjustments. Drum brake linings only last about 30k-40k miles, so at most you are having to adjust the brakes 4-6 times between overhauls, over the self-adjusting brakes.

The other issue might be parts availability for the Lockhed brakes - don't know about that - maybe somebody here can comment. Certainly parts are very easy to find for the 11" Bendix brakes.

 

Thanks for all the info.
I'd like the truck, when done, to be a driver-maybe not daily but certainly it will be out more than sitting. I would like it to be safe and reliable. As far as maintenance-I guess that's to be expected from a 60 year old truck. The wife is excited and I think that she'll be driving it more than I so again the safety issue is important.

 

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I have these on my '48. Parts (wheel cylinder, shoes, cam adjusters) are available from Walcks.

 

Now that it's home and I have been doing some research on her, I have to ask-the chassis and axles are from a '49CJ3a and the engine is from a '53CJ3b. Is it possible that the tranny, and transfer case are from the original 1949 CJ3A? Would they have bolted up to the F head? Here's a thought - since I have the body ID tag from the engine compartment and the serial number indicates that it is a CJ3A, maybe I should pull the F head and install a flathead and bring it back to original. Would be cool to haul the old 1938 flathead Harley around behind a flathead Jeep!