Another A2 Project

A place to post pics and descriptions of ongoing restoration projects

Moderators: rickf, raymond, Mr. Recovery

Stagg
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Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » June 10th, 2013, 2:51 pm

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Pretty straight truck, uncut, came with a title too!

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Front wheel bearing is rusted up too.

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Previous owner tried to recover it using the rear tie down. Only real damage on this one.

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Goofy halfassed ROPS... its coming off.

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Lots of bits to take off the front, before getting back to an Army Mutt, and lost of de-redneck work to do.

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A little rust, thankfully the repair panels are plentiful and cheap enough.

More to come this summer as I get it ironed out. Good thing I have lots of help!

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salmonmutt
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by salmonmutt » June 10th, 2013, 2:56 pm

It's pretty much all there stagg! Like you said, a little de rednecking and a few good friends will get her up to beautiful in no time!!!!

Enjoyed the pics....keep em coming! :D :D
1970 FORD M151A2 AN/VRC-49 RADIO CONFIGURATION TSEC KY-57
1984 CHEVROLET M1008 CUCV
1968 KAISER JEEP M35A2 W/W AN/VRC-46 RADIO CONFIGURATION (Departed)
1968 JOHNSON FURNACE M105A2 (Departed)
1953 DODGE M37 WO/W (Departed)
1967 STEVENS MFG M416
1990 Kasel MFG M101A2

"You cant have everything.......where are you going to put it..."
73

toptiger
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Location: ~Heaven~Frostproof, Fla., Paris and Grasse france

Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by toptiger » June 11th, 2013, 3:06 am

Looking forward to seeing the progress, thanks for the pics
Author M-151 MUTT, The Vietnam Jeep
Paper edition http://www.blurb.com/books/1646321
IOS ebook iBookstore: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id598605516
2 M151A2s, M416 trailer, M274A5 Mule,
Former Army Aviator, Bien Hoa, VN 1968-69
Mustang Gunship Platoon Commander
68th Assault Helicopter Company 'Top Tigers'
Central Florida and France

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rickf
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by rickf » June 11th, 2013, 7:06 am

You say the panels and underbody parts are plentiful and cheap enough, do you know something we do not??
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

RCA827
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by RCA827 » June 11th, 2013, 9:40 am

rickf wrote:You say the panels and underbody parts are plentiful and cheap enough, do you know something we do not??
Yes please more info ???

Stagg
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » June 12th, 2013, 6:54 pm

Nothing special that I know of. Just a different perspective I suppose.
I picked up that cross member for $150... that's a lot of money! But I it was worth it.
My buddy has a 67 ford sedan, talk about a money pit with Expensive parts. Makes our mutts seem cheap.

Removing the ROPS
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New top
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Crumpled fender
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Fixing
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Mostly straight (although it doesn't look it) now to remove the wrinkles.
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Marine bumper got pulled off (Might end up selling it) here is the new Army one getting fixed up and primed.
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salmonmutt
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by salmonmutt » June 21st, 2013, 10:54 pm

More pics please.... :)
1970 FORD M151A2 AN/VRC-49 RADIO CONFIGURATION TSEC KY-57
1984 CHEVROLET M1008 CUCV
1968 KAISER JEEP M35A2 W/W AN/VRC-46 RADIO CONFIGURATION (Departed)
1968 JOHNSON FURNACE M105A2 (Departed)
1953 DODGE M37 WO/W (Departed)
1967 STEVENS MFG M416
1990 Kasel MFG M101A2

"You cant have everything.......where are you going to put it..."
73

Stagg
Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 154
Joined: April 4th, 2013, 1:58 pm

Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » July 1st, 2013, 11:23 pm

I was slacking in the picture department... I'm been slacking in the work department. A buddy of mine has been working on it. These are pictures from him.
Finally got correct headlights on both sides. No more yellow!
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half-assed ROPS system finally kicked to the curb.

Curfman, plasma cut off the previous "repair panels" that had -rerusted out.
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Welding in the new bits.
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Poor man's lift. But you can now sit under a Mutt!
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Just needs some grinding, sanding and paint, paint paint. Thats my part.
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Fixing the crumpled rear Driver's fender. Previous owners badly repaired it literally forcing it to be crooked, and warpped. That got cut out.
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Antenna mount being used to hold everything straight.
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Should have quite a bit more done this weekend. If all goes well, might even get its first coat of paint started.
Still have to sandblast the hood. Its nice and straight but was painted with a mop, at some point.
Lastly I have to find the best way to take care of the guys who have been doing so much of the real work on this thing... Got to start looking for ambulance parts too!

Stagg
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » July 1st, 2013, 11:35 pm

This post is a bit of a tangent, but we rarely work on just one task :roll: M718 Ambulance is next. Its a basket case. Biggest issue is finding parts so we have all the right bits to work with when we finally get to it.
Ambulance project that is kind of sitting in the wings waiting for driveway space... Once the current truck gets moved out of the way we are going whole hog that this:
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Has Marine/Navy style hubs, and tie downs on the rear but a Army style bumper. Who knows what lurks in the minds of red-necks?
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This is how to move half and ambulance!
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LOTS of work to do on this one... now you know why we are fighting the winnable fight on the other truck. Builds some confidence.
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Sticking it back together in the middle.
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Cleaning up the fuel tank. Right after this it got "red Coated"
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Needs lots of body parts, and pretty much ALL of the ambulance specific parts. It has the rear extension and a few other scraps, but is horribly stripped of all the rare bits and pieces. So we are currently on the lookout for those while we focus on other projects.

Stagg
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » July 1st, 2013, 11:41 pm

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Ha, you can see the M718 in the "background" of this picture.

RCA827
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Location: Canada

Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by RCA827 » July 2nd, 2013, 3:08 pm

The waambulance looks like one of my A2'S :lol: Good Luck and keep posting. :wink:

LTDan
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by LTDan » July 2nd, 2013, 6:28 pm

I'm impressed.

It looks like NOTHING deters you guys!

Thanks for the great photos and the many updates.
LTDan
Commanding Officer
Company A
95th Supply & Service Battalion (Direct Support)
VII Corps Support Commmand
1970-73
Fürth, Germany

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rickf
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by rickf » July 2nd, 2013, 7:48 pm

In the first set of pictures where you were welding the frame member back in, there was NO welding prep work at all! Just welding through the paint and rust. That will not end well for you.
On the cut mutt be very sure of your measurements. You only have about 1/8" to play with so that your driveshaft will fit and both sides need to be perfect for alignment. If the frame is longer on one side you will never, ever be able to align it.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

RCA827
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Posts: 463
Joined: June 8th, 2012, 9:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by RCA827 » July 2nd, 2013, 8:14 pm

rickf wrote:In the first set of pictures where you were welding the frame member back in, there was NO welding prep work at all! Just welding through the paint and rust. That will not end well for you.
On the cut mutt be very sure of your measurements. You only have about 1/8" to play with so that your driveshaft will fit and both sides need to be perfect for alignment. If the frame is longer on one side you will never, ever be able to align it.
Be careful guys ask me I know. I'am still waiting for m151a2 # two to arrive for exact measurements. :wink:

Stagg
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Re: Another A2 Project

Unread post by Stagg » July 2nd, 2013, 8:26 pm

The rebuilding was a project they did this spring while I was still hanging out in Afghanistan, so I can't really say too much.
But I can share this picture of them using the drive shaft to measure the "correct" length, or at least get it really close.
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The picture of them using the come-a-long follows this one chronologically as they carefully alined everything.
Pictures of progress right after were forgotten as they cut more of the rust and junk out. Its not quite as bad as the photos show.

My understanding is that once it gets built enough to drive around carefully, we will test drive it and make a final check of the alinement. This may forever be a trail/field truck, but that doesn't mean it can be allowed to pull to one direction or another.

More work is planned for this weekend, hopefully we have something to show for this four day weekend.

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