Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

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zepher11
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:30 pm

Chuck Lutz wrote:
Thu Dec 07, 2017 3:01 pm
My trailer got two thick coats of Red Oxide and two more of 33070 and it took about 6-8 weeks to dry hard enough so you could not make a mark on the paint with your thumbnail.....and that was with much warmer weather than we at having now! After 6 mos/1 year it will completely cure and be tough to mess up even with the pintle hitch towing it.

Be careful for awhile!
Yes, it does take a while to cure that's for sure. We did break our all time high the past two days. Very nice out, but time is needed for a full cure.

Went back at it this evening. Painted to match my GPW markings:

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Zeph

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Bill H.
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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Bill H. » Fri Dec 08, 2017 6:12 am

That is a sweet looking restoration!!! :mrgreen:
Bill H.

"Each shall seek his own kind, in other words, a bird may love a fish but where would they build a home together?" Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof

1952 Dunbar Kapple M100
1953 Willys M38A1
1962 AMC M422A1
1965 Stevens M416B1 X 2
1967 Kaiser M715

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:23 pm

Bill H. wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 6:12 am
That is a sweet looking restoration!!! :mrgreen:
Thank you Bill!

With the weather so nice, I slipped out this afternoon to finish up the paint on the leaf springs and axle. Only major thing to do now is to blast the fenders and paint. I beat the fenders into submission this afternoon so they should look decent upon install. Today's excitement:

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Also, I had purchased a black out switch some time ago, but just realized it didn't come with the backing plate and a nut and internal lock washer. Does anyone have a spare nut and washer, as shown below, or a source for a nut and washer? I made the backing plate already:

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Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by jeepfinger » Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:51 am

zepher11 wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:23 pm
Does anyone have a spare nut and washer, as shown below, or a source for a nut and washer? I made the backing plate already:
Hi Zeph,
Looking great as usual :) I'm surprised that you hadn't seen this? Ern made some.
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=269201

Dave
Dave Boocock
GPW 41158 June 19 1942
Bantam T3 9555 1/11/1943 USA 0258448
BSA WDM20 Sept 1940 C4343114

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:14 am

jeepfinger wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:51 am
zepher11 wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:23 pm
Does anyone have a spare nut and washer, as shown below, or a source for a nut and washer? I made the backing plate already:
Hi Zeph,
Looking great as usual :) I'm surprised that you hadn't seen this? Ern made some.
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=269201

Dave
Hi Dave,

No, I hadn't seen that thread. I always rely on you to let me know. 8) Thank you! I sent a PM to see if he has anymore available.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas! I still have your card from last year in a display cabinet in my garage. Too pretty to toss.

Hope all is well,
Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by jeepfinger » Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:51 am

John, your welcome :) Just love watching all your threads,can't wait to see what's next?
Did you get any response from Ern, he sent me a couple of pieces of chain for my trailer chains :D
zepher11 wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:14 am
Wishing you a Merry Christmas! I still have your card from last year in a display cabinet in my garage. Too pretty to toss.
The same to you and family, sorry but I think that you got the last card, I had a few different ones. Hope that you arent close to the fires? Also any friends or family are safe?

Dave
Dave Boocock
GPW 41158 June 19 1942
Bantam T3 9555 1/11/1943 USA 0258448
BSA WDM20 Sept 1940 C4343114

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:13 pm

jeepfinger wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:51 am
John, your welcome :) Just love watching all your threads,can't wait to see what's next?
Did you get any response from Ern, he sent me a couple of pieces of chain for my trailer chains :D
zepher11 wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:14 am
Wishing you a Merry Christmas! I still have your card from last year in a display cabinet in my garage. Too pretty to toss.
The same to you and family, sorry but I think that you got the last card, I had a few different ones. Hope that you arent close to the fires? Also any friends or family are safe?

Dave
Thanks Dave. We are about 550 miles north of the fires, so we are fortunate. Sorry to see all that going on down there near the LA area. We have our moments up here, but we have had some good rain the past month.

I did connect with Ern. He is going to make me a nut as he is out of them at the moment, so that's good. Thanks again for the tip.

Today, I dinked around and put the leaf spring for the MBT back together with the spring clips. Wasn't sure how I was going to do it, but I finally figured I would paint everything and then attempt to put everything together before the paint cured. That way I could repaint what I needed to after I scraped it up. Worked out pretty good as they are all down now and touched up.

Had to remember what went where:

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Used the big C clamp to initially compress the clips so that I could bend the tap back in place. I used heat to bend the tab, but thought it would mess up the paint too much. I ended up breaking a couple of tabs as they cracked without the heat. I welded them back in place with the Mig and it didn't mess the paint up.

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This is before bending the tab back into place:

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After hammered back into place and the tab bent back into place:

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All back together and ready to install:

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Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sun Dec 10, 2017 5:28 pm

Finally had enough things cleaned up and painted to start putting this thing back together today

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I had bought some new leaf spring front busing bolts a few months ago. Well, a little disappointed today to learn they are a bit too long. Ended up cleaning the old bolts and reused them. I continue to get incorrect stuff when I order. It's not a big deal if I'm using it right away, but I plan ahead and order things to have when I need them. Burned again. These must be for a Dodge WC:

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Thankfully, the shackle busing bolts fit. However, the zerk fitting threaded hole on one of the four holes came pre-stripped, so the zerk won't thread in. Well, at least three out of four threaded properly is not bad:

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Shock:

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I oriented the armored part of the lower shock forward which I assume is to protect it from rocks:

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Ran out of time, so installing the brakes will wait for another day:

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Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Chuck Lutz » Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:34 am

Check your jeep shocks...I believe the rear shocks have the rock guard welded on them to prevent rocks thrown up from the front tires from bending them. I don't believe the front shocks on the jeep have/need that feature. The shocks are DIFFERENT from front axle to rear axle and you will find out trying to mount them backwards if you had originals. AFAIK, these days the parts houses list the SAME number for front and rears meaning the same shock is being used in both applications on the jeep...there was a reason they were different....the rear shocks were LONGER in travel.

The shackle bolts may have metric threads requiring metric zerks...and, the lengths vary for location/TRS usage.
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:12 am

Chuck Lutz wrote:
Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:34 am
Check your jeep shocks...I believe the rear shocks have the rock guard welded on them to prevent rocks thrown up from the front tires from bending them. I don't believe the front shocks on the jeep have/need that feature. The shocks are DIFFERENT from front axle to rear axle and you will find out trying to mount them backwards if you had originals. AFAIK, these days the parts houses list the SAME number for front and rears meaning the same shock is being used in both applications on the jeep...there was a reason they were different....the rear shocks were LONGER in travel.

The shackle bolts may have metric threads requiring metric zerks...and, the lengths vary for location/TRS usage.
Yes, the shocks I have are marked rear and have the rock guards welded on the lower tube. I did notice that in the past, the front shocks were the shocks used on the trailers. I ordered these shock specifically for the trailer some time ago and didn't realize the fronts were for the trailers.

Here is how the shocks are listed on Ron's site:
Shocks.JPG
Shocking
Shocks.JPG (15.71 KiB) Viewed 2456 times
The spring shackles are new and came with the zerk fittings. Three zerks threaded in properly. One was too small and won't stay in the threaded hole. Not surprising.
Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Chuck Lutz » Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:32 am

Those bushing bolts are probably good examples of what we have to contend with that is passed off as "Cuality Controll" by someone who previously (or still does) tend a rice paddy and has no idea what they are making parts for either.

Nowadays we have to check to see if the old part we removed was in fact a correct one, if the new one we received was in fact the correct one and often comparing the two isn't that helpful! Poor metal quality and the creeping use of metric sizes into the WWII jeep parts business can ruin your weekend projects!
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by jeepfinger » Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:08 am

Hi John,

Glad to hear that you are ok, I read in the Slat Grill forum, that someone had lost his House, four jeeps and a couple of trailers. Bloody awful, lost for words. I was watching it on the news today, you have the fires, and we have a little bit of snow.

The trailer is looking good, mines just sitting on the drive, looking sad.

Dave
Dave Boocock
GPW 41158 June 19 1942
Bantam T3 9555 1/11/1943 USA 0258448
BSA WDM20 Sept 1940 C4343114

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:04 am

jeepfinger wrote:
Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:08 am
Hi John,

Glad to hear that you are ok, I read in the Slat Grill forum, that someone had lost his House, four jeeps and a couple of trailers. Bloody awful, lost for words. I was watching it on the news today, you have the fires, and we have a little bit of snow.

The trailer is looking good, mines just sitting on the drive, looking sad.

Dave
Yes, it is sad about the homes lost. We already have a housing shortage in California and losing a few thousand homes that need replacing is not a good thing. Rebuilding will be interesting. Around here they only seem to push college for kids, and blue collar working professions seem to be mocked. All of the high schools around here have gutted their industrial arts programs, but if one needs an iPhone operator you're in luck. In our County it is very difficult to find anyone that wants to do any labor to build a house or anything else for that matter.

In Southern Cal, there are probably a lot more immigrants (hope I don't get fined for using that word) with some work ethic, so they may be good to go down there. I see building materials going up as there was already a shortage of wood prior to the fires in the Southern Northern California and LA areas. Steel, however, is becoming more mainstream for framing. I believe steel is the new renewable resource here in California according to those in Sacramento...not sure how they grow it. Now, if only we could figure out how to get trees to grow.
Zeph

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by Chuck Lutz » Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:09 pm

My brother is an electrician and had been working off and on for two years on a new construction multi-million dollar home in Napa that the owner had been in for a month or so but still had major work on-going when most of the house was destroyed. He got called back to start the whole build all over again. He was at Home Depot and could not believe the swarm of pick trucks there and the lines and the shelves running low or being restocked with a vengeance now.

He was here for the Oakland Hills fire and it was the same thing....trucks from the valley, SoCal, Oregon and Nevada trying to rebuild there as well.

Honest contractors, con-men and scam artists, those who don't know what the building codes for the area are and just plain poor workmanship are what the burnt-out home owners have to wade through after dealing with the insurance companies and getting over the loss itself.

If you need firewood, my brother called today to tell me they are cutting down oak trees and stacking by the road. Pick it up for FREE! Around here that goes for hundreds of dollars a cord!.
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

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Re: Zeph's 1943 Willys MBT Trailer

Post by zepher11 » Sat Dec 16, 2017 7:30 am

Chuck Lutz wrote:
Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:09 pm
If you need firewood, my brother called today to tell me they are cutting down oak trees and stacking by the road. Pick it up for FREE! Around here that goes for hundreds of dollars a cord!.
Yes, oak firewood is getting up there. It's typically around $300 per cord around here now. I just split a bunch last Friday. Only burn wood as PG&E would eat us out of house and home as we are 100% electric. Keeps the monthly bills around $100 in the winter vs. $700. Pondered a pellet stove last summer, but couldn't get over the sticker shock.
Zeph

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