I remember back in the late 50's my favorite Aunt had one of these wagons. Her and my Uncle were big into fox and raccoon hunting and they would pack about 8 hound dogs in the back and stay out all night long just listening to the dogs chase them. They could name each dog by its' bark from 1/4 mile away. Always amazed me. My Aunt also had a beautiful two-tone Blue '56 Coupe deVille with factory air. I loved that car, but it seemed like every time she would pick me up she would be driving the Willys. The kingpins were TOTALLY shot and on dirt or gravel country roads that wagon would bounce around like an over-inflated basketball!
Willys 4x4 as well as other straight axle 4x4's do not have king pins . the have tapered roller bearings on the spindle ears so the drive axle can pass through.Worn or out of adjustment bearings usually cause the dreaded death wobble...
Great thread, I had a 58 wagon for several years. In the middle of winter, bad snows could shut the town down. That was when we would have a lot of fun. No one in the way & deep drifts to play in. A friend has a 48 delivery that is a great looking ride, 2X 350 auto. Real nice looking Jeep.
@CAL , those wheels with the extra little hole are for the military, so says my M38 book. Story goes that the hole was drilled to make it easier to tell the army wheels from the civy wheels. The military wheel also has safety ridges to hold a low tire on the wheel, and according to the book the civy wheel did not have them. The book also shows that during the production of M38's, the pickups and wagons were built on a line next to the M38. 1950-52 is M38 production, not sure what went on at WO after that. I just mounted new NDT tires on my M38 with those wheels, and mounted them tubeless. No leakers so far. nice pickup !
Thank you, and that’s very interesting about the extra hole. All four wheels off the truck had them, and I bought one off eBay for a spare which also has it.
[QUOTE="phartman, post: 13961208, member: 43448" View attachment 4985882 [/QUOTE] I remember the Destroyer of Gene Conway/C&O well. Followed in the foot steps of the Austin pickup AA/Gas Supercharged. All this was leading to Funny cars…too bad.
we owned this 51 for many years. avatar shows my wife fitting the rings in the F head...The truck on the scrap yard scale was 3150 lbs and rated to carry 2000 pounds...
The Jalopy Journal
