GPW 264424 April 1945

[nick peters]

Hey Dom
Don't start moaning about the weather mate. They'll start to call you a whinging Aussie If you have got the ford battery bracket it should have the spot weld 'dimples' on the corner supports. If I remember correctly any stampings will be on the side of one of the long strips.
regards Nick

[Dom]

Of course - how silly of me. Let me issue an immediate qualification to the notion of 'miserable', as being unable to drive with the screen down without having to wring out one's clothes....meaning, I'm miserable!

Exactly as you mention, there are small spot welds on the folded down corners, but still can't see any other markings. There's a base coat of OD but it has been thickly brushed with black at some stage, maybe the late Cretaceous period.

Our mutual friend already denying any and all script-related remarks...

[Dom]

After a few more odds and ends were sorted out, the GPW was ready for the road last month. It passed inspection and recieved its first road registration - ever. Last weekend we had a couple of nice warm days so I took it for a decent test drive and took some photos, here they are for you to enjoy. Deep in the trackless wilderness of - er, um.... Sandringham!








It drives really well. On the plus side, it steers and stops as well as could be expected and the engine is really good - starts easily and now I've tuned it, it runs very well. On the minus side, the transfer case is a bit noisy and there's not much left of the synchros. I'm hoping both of these hold together for this summer and next winter I'll whip out the engine and trans and rebuild the gearbox and t'case. The ignition switch periodically goes open circuit but it comes good with a wiggle. Might try to pick it apart and fix that at some stage. Not a big drama - if it fails I can always bridge it temporarily to get home.

Here is a photo of it with one of its siblings - the CJ3B. CJ7 and CJ8 under their covers in the background.




Here is a photo outside the local Jeep dealership. Wouldn't swap it for the whole yard!



The process so far has been to fix the obvious faults and cover the roadworthy basics. I suspect that now the more difficult stage will start, with regular driving there's the potential for quite a few things that haven't been used hard in half a century to fail at an inopportune moment. Should be interesting!

[sutts]

What a fantastic jeep Dom. You just can't manufacture that kind of patina and once it's gone it's gone.
Great work getting it going.

Dave

[Dom]

Thanks Dave - yes, I'm hoping to keep it just like this for as long as I can. Of course, eventually it'll need restoration or it'll end up rusted away - I have to look after it carefully so that day is as far away as possible. How's yours going - got it blasted yet?

[bazza46]

Wonderful patina. They're only original once, and that is one original jeep!
But if the transfer case is very noisy, you might like to look at the intermediate shaft.

When I got mine, it had not had any servicing in a while, too and it was noisy but I didn't do anything about it. It failed and left me stranded soon after- well about 6 months later, actually). Driving it out with the pulverized rollers scored the bore in the case. Yours might look like this.

It can be replaced without taking the transfer case or gearbox out of the jeep.

[sutts]

Thanks Dave - yes, I'm hoping to keep it just like this for as long as I can. Of course, eventually it'll need restoration or it'll end up rusted away - I have to look after it carefully so that day is as far away as possible. How's yours going - got it blasted yet?

I'm breaking down the axles while I wait for milder weather Dom - been too wet or cold to spray and I want the job done right. Got myself a compressor and blasting cabinet for the smaller parts so that will be fun.
I'll get there one day!

Cheers,

Dave

[nick peters]

Hey Dom
Good to see your jeep out in the Victoria sunshine I wonder what the Melbourne skyline would have been like if you'd parked your jeep in the same spot back in 45
anyway good luck with the jeep during the summer. I'm sure you'll have a lot of enjoyment with it.
regards Nick.
ps If you still have the original ford ignition switch. You'll need to take it apart VERY carefully if you decide to strip it down. They can break real easy and they cost a pretty penny to replace with an original IF you can find one . They're quite scares nowadays.

[sutts]

Hey Dom
Good to see your jeep out in the Victoria sunshine I wonder what the Melbourne skyline would have been like if you'd parked your jeep in the same spot back in 45
anyway good luck with the jeep during the summer. I'm sure you'll have a lot of enjoyment with it.
regards Nick.
ps If you still have the original ford ignition switch. You'll need to take it apart VERY carefully if you decide to strip it down. They can break real easy and they cost a pretty penny to replace with an original IF you can find one . They're quite scares nowadays.

Hi Nick,

Speaking of ignition switches, the handles on my original toggle switches (GPW and MB) feel quite slack (bit of a wobble). The MB switch is supposed to be NOS.
Do you know if this is a common feature and whether they were like that when new? It sounds like there isn't an easy fix from what you say.

Thanks,

Dave

[Dom]

G'day Bazza,

Yep - very good idea - will look into doing just that as soon as I get a spare day. Very foolish of me I know but I just couldn't wait to go drive it, even though in the back of my mind I knew I should have drained and replaced the trans, transfer case and diff oils first. I got stuck into it last night and did the lot. What I found suggested that I certainly should have done this before driving it.

From the transfer case I drained about 400ml (about .42 qt) of very filthy smelly overworked old oil but thankfully there wasn't much in the way of metal wear particles.



From the transmission I drained about 100ml (uh oh!) in much the same condition, but again not a large amount of metal particles.

Oil drained from the diffs was ok, almost full, just a bit dark and smelling tired.

So now I can understand why it was noisy! I haven't driven the GPW since changing out the oils - I'm not expecting a miraculous reduction in gear noise but at least now it's protected by fresh oil of the correct type. The level of noise didn't change over the couple of days I've driven it so here's hoping I haven't added too much additional wear.

Nick, there seem to be a couple of variants of the Ford switch but I can see what you're saying - both have crimped tabs holding them together. The cases are made of rubbish metal so the tabs will fatigue and break almost as soon as one tries to prise them open. Given your warning, I think I'll try the non-invasive methods first, maybe squirt it full of contact cleaner and rinse it out or throw it in an ultrasonic cleaning bath before trying to unpick it.

Dave, my switch is the same - toggle is quite loose in the housing.

[Frank]

Hi Dom.
Could you please check the front fenders of your jeep and let me know if you have one F marked and one unmarked fender?

Frank..
GPW 266371

[nick peters]

Hey Frank
While your waiting for Doms reply. I can tell you that both my gpw's, 267208 (april ) mfr and 260144( may) mfr have the clear/deep 'f' stamped on the left side but nothing stamped on the right. Both sets are original ford type. Is that the same scenario on your april mfd gpw?
regards Nick

[Dom]

Apologies for the slow reply, gents.. Yes, mine is the same.
There's an F-shaped depression stamped into the top of the left / driver's side fender inboard of the cable for the blackout driving light. It's not the usual line script letter F but more like a cake tin stamping. I'll post up a pic this morning. Nothing on the right fender. I'd spotted the left one a while ago and had just thought I either couldn't see the right one, or it was very faint. You can look too hard for these things and start seeing all sorts of stuff in old paint - there's a dog, a hippo and a likeness of the Mona Lisa on the RH fender, but no F....

[Dom]

Location of stamping -



Close up



Last weekend I took the GPW for a drive of more than an hour's duration to the VMVC Christmas party. While it was a fun day, the drive was a bit stressful. Waking up a jeep that had lain dormant for so long was always going to give rise to problems and they are starting to surface. Now that the gearbox is refilled it is (of course) leaking a lot of oil. I haven't had a chance to locate the leak precisely, but I think it's the input seal. The transfer case is still just as noisy with the fresh oil in it. As well, the clutch is quite worn and at the moment the engine has a tendency to overheat. My theory is that there's so much crud in the cooling passages in the block that a modern thermostat won't work properly - the rubbish piles up behind it, blocking the bleed and preventing the escape of air pockets so the new thermostat doesn't open. I put the original 1944 vintage one back in and it works to regulate the temp but on a warm day when loaded it'll nudge 200F. I don't really like that very much.

So just considering a 'quick and dirty' whip out of the engine and trans, put a rebuild kit through the gearbox and transfer case. Pull the water pump and possibly the outer core plugs and get a pressure washer head into as many nooks and crannies in the cooling passages as I can. No prettycoating things with OD, no restoration, just repairs and putting everything back just as it was. Doing this will also give me easy access to replace/bush for wear in the pedals. Maybe do early after New Years. I don't want to tear the jeep down completely and rebuild it, so will have to be disciplined re scope.

[Chuck Lutz]

Dom...just a heads up.....not all GPW windshield frames had the slight indent with a script "F" you can see when sitting behind the wheel. It seems that you might find a script "FORD" stamped into that middle rail if you removed the skin/lower panel...but since you don't need to do that...take note that the marking we've all been looking for is sometimes hidden!