Should I lift my 1943 GPW

[jeepster34]

OK I know this answer before I post.. I think! LOL! As a couple of you guys have already seen from some of my post. I am restoring a 1943 GPW. Its rough but I have had the frame sand blasted, motor is being rebuild as we speek and I just found out the trans needs to be rebuild.. Or replaced. I can get a set of lift springs 1inch to 2.5 inches.. Im thinking 1inch lift springs for the jeep. They fit a 1946 jeep so I think they will work, alot cheaper than a factory set. I wanted to run some 16x7:00 instead of the 6:00s.. I did notice a TP 30 on the dash of the jeep. Maybe it had a taller tire on it in early times.Any way what are some of your thoughts on this subject? Yes, No, and if yes who makes the best springs... I also need a trans T84 if anyone has one thats ready to drop in....Thanks for the help! Again Im looking to put the jeep back stock i just wanted to run a litter taller military tire..


Thanks jeepster34
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[Mitch Olson]

I guess my question would be why do you want to raise your jeep? If you want lift.. you can put a taller tire on it.. cuts down on your turn radius a bit.. but I have a 'Tall' set that I use from time to time when I go off roading.

If you currently have springs with it they can be re-worked and the price of a reproduction set of spings is really not that bad.

Mitch

[jeepster34]

Ok I guess I should come clean.. I love the look of old military vehicles. I love the look of all things old! I have been driving a 1978 cj7 that my dad bought me when I turned 15.. 18yrs later and she is still on the road. I'm not here to list a long list of trucks and cars a have owned over the past years.. But they are all old and stock.... I just like the looks of an older vehicles with a little bit of a lift on them. Stock wheels along with a little taller tire. I know for everyone on this site that is not the thing to do.. I'm not trying to make a rock crawler or trash wagon out of a piece of history. This jeep was given to me by my wifes grandfather.. He bought it right out of the service and drove it everyday up until about 25yrs ago!LOL! Just got the bill on the motor rebuild!! 1,700.00 WOW seems high, but O well. So I hope I didnt make anyone mad with this post. The springs I have can not be repaired. I have a guy who re-arches my springs for me and he said they were shot. Hope to hear from more guys soon. Thanks, and I'm still looking for a trans.. If anyone has one! Please let me know.

Thanks

[Marty, SoCal]

Ron has "Crown" Replacement springs here that will restore the factory ride height. $75 each. http://www.vintagejeeps.com/c-124-mb-gpw-springs.aspx They added about an inch of height compared to the worn out stockers on my GPW and they ride nice.





The stock 600-16 NDT tires are 28.3" tall

650-16 NDT military tires are available from some sources, they are 29.8" tall. These should fit really well with no lift and have an overdrive effect for better road speed.

700-16 tires are 30.5" tall and will add a bit more size and have more overdrive effect. The NDCC (Non Directional, Cross-Country) tread looks totally military, but has more rounded tread shoulders compared to the NDT (Non Directional Tread) 600-16s that were original. They came on M38 military jeeps standard. The NDCC rounded shoulders may allow a tighter turning radius compared to tires the same size in a NDT tread pattern and will have better flotation offroad than the 600-16's. You might still be able to find these as good used surplus. NDT tread 700-16s are available too, for the WW2 look!

750-16 NDT's are 32.5" tall and were part of a WW2 MWO Desert flotation kit, they are ALOT larger than the stock tires, but will still fit in the wheel wells with stock springs. They will probably restrict the turning radius a bit, but will offer even more of an overdrive effect for street cruising. They were used to give better flotation in a sandy desert environment. These tires were stock on 1/2t WC Dodges.

Here's one source of military tread tires that shows pics and available styles and sizes:
http://www.universaltire.com/truck-and- ... itary.html

[jeepster34]

Thank you so much for the information!

[WILLYS45]

Get a Wrangler if you want to lift a jeep. There are plenty of them around. Bigger tires would be as far as I would go, but it is your JP, your $$$.

[winchman48]

A little late to the party, but maybe I can help a little bit. I have installed both the 2.5" and 1" lift springs in flatfenders. The 1" I'd say is easier to install, because you don't have to change anything else. With the 2.5" springs, I had to put longer brake hoses, and either drop the transfercase or extend the rear driveline due to the increased angle of the driveline. The front driveline, since its a little longer, was fine to leave stock. Either lift height should also get longer shocks, and dropped bumpstops also. Those crown stock replacement springs look really nice, and they might give you enough clearance just from being not all worn out like the stockers.

[JeeperFIN]

No lift + 7.00x16 Firestones

[podski]

Jeepster34,

As Willys45 said, "It's your jeep and your money".

With that being said and with all due respect, if it were mine I would not alter that jeep's spring configuration (or tire size) unless it is something the military would have done. I would try to keep it's configuration as orignal as possible, particularly with the history you have on this particular jeep - you got it from your wife's grandfather who got right out of the service. That's some provenance/history that a lot of us here only wish we had on our MV's. Modifying an historic MV for practicality, safety, or necessity (don't have the $$, can't find correct parts, etc.) is one thing and many do that while still maintaining most of the historic configuration of their vehicle. As was pointed out, if your springs are bad you can get great reproduction springs quite easily that will preserve the original configuration of your jeep. As another poster suggested, if you want a jeep to jack up, buy a common Wrangler, not your rare-with-clear-ownership-lineage flat fender piece of WWII history.

I feel the same way about antique cars. Taking a '57 Chevy today and cutting it up to turn it into a hot rod today is a no-no in my book. They did that to them back when they were common and cheap. Taking one that is still in original condition or can be restored to original condition, and "rodding" it out often times obliterates irreversibly one more of the pieces of history that are getting fewer in number every day. There are some who would argue that doing this is simply restoring a piece of history from the '60s or '70s - the hot rods that the piston heads built back then. So I guess there could be some justification there. I don't think that argument holds for MVs though.

My perspective is that if an historic MV is altered from it's original configuration because it "looks cool" it is no longer an historic MV but just another jazzed up 4-wheeler. May as well change it from OD to chrome too (we've all seen that one, haven't we? )

Just my $.02. No matter what you do, enjoy your jeep!

[WILLYS45]

X2 on last, but enjoy it the way YOU want to...its yours.

[Chuck Lutz]

Page 28-29 of Nabholtz depicts a 1945 MB with 7.50 x 16 tires on it and compared to pics of jeeps with 6.00 x 15s on them, there is just a little bit of less area over the tire up to the fender or in the rear to the tool box bottoms.

While the jeep looks like it's wearing shoes a little larger than normal, it sits OK on the 10-leaf front and 11-leaf rear stock springs.

I think your jeep will look like it is on stilts with a couple inches more lift due to aftermarket springs on it even with bigger tires and start to look like a rockcrawler that has that modification for ground clearance issues.

Up to you of course, but I would suggest you first put your jeep up on safety stands to see how it will look and decide if the expense for "the look" is worth it. You know that the military jeep crowd wouldn't be much in favor of that "modification" by the way...

[rondo]

This is a GPW that i have for sale. it has a mild lift kit and what looks like are some oversized tires. This might give you an idea of what your jeep will look like with a mild lift kit.