I’m building a World War II Jeep from scratch thanks to support from eBay, and that means I’ll be buying as many parts from eBay as I can. Well, the Mail-Order Jeep has started trickling in piecemeal; here’s what I got in my first shipment of “normal” (i.e. not an entire body or frame) parts from eBay.
With the new body and frame (more on the frame soon) in my driveway, and a rough plan on how to go about completing this build, I began making some parts purchases.
I have to start by creating a rolling chassis, which requires me to get the frame “dressed.” To do so, I first need to acquire some axles, wheels, suspension parts, brake parts, and steering parts. From there, I need to get some drivetrain and powertrain components, and from there… well, let’s just take it one step at a time. Right now, I need suspension and brake bits.
I don’t have axles, and those cannot be purchased new, as they were never reproduced, so my plan is to purchase a parts Jeep, not only to pilfer axles, but to have something to look at as I try to piece together a vehicle made up of probably close to 1,000 parts. The parts vehicle is my top priority, but it’s proving to be rather challenging; in the meantime, I’ve made a few purchases. Here’s what I have:
First off, I snagged some leaf springs, a front set from one seller (WunderCarParts out of Plymouth, Michigan) and a rear set from another (Parts Via AKA DriverFX COM INC out of Exeter, PA):
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Both sets of springs arrived packaged quickly and exactly the same way, telling me both sellers drop-shipped these directly from Crown, a well-known purveyor of Jeep parts.
As for what came in the boxes, I’ll start with this, a book called Building A WWII Jeep by Sean Dunnage. I bought the book from a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania-based bookstore called For The Historian — which specializes in military books.
I’d be a fool to just start building this Jeep blindly and without good references, and while there are some amazing government-issue service manuals that I’ll be acquiring, for now this book gives me some great visuals and a good starting point for understanding what all I need to do. I’ll bang out a chapter a night and hopefully have a better understanding of the best way to optimize this project.
To go with the springs, I bought a bunch of leaf spring eye bolts from a seller in Idaho, and I’ll need to get some shackles and shocks next so I can complete my suspension once I have a set of axles.
What you see above is the entire brake-hydraulic system of a World War II Jeep, from the master cylinder to the brake lines to the brake hoses ultimately to the wheel cylinder. The brake hardlines came from Bob’s Speed Shop out of Theordore, Alabama, while the rest came from a company called “Quarter Ton & Military” out of Chickamauga, Georgia. Quarter Ton & Military seems to have some great parts, so I’m bookmarking them for sure. Look at how legit they clearly are:
I also snagged some absolutely beautiful brake shoes from a seller named 56Surplus out of Riverhead, New York — a seller I was pleased to find out is actually the legendary Peter DeBella.
Peter DeBella is known for having some of the best NOS flatfender Jeep parts in all the land; based on my limited interactions with him, he can be a bit cranky, but his parts are amazing, and I’m thrilled he’s active on eBay. His store is just a treasure trove of NOS gold:
Anyway, that’s just a quick look at my first normal shipment of parts — some springs, some brake parts, and a reference book. It’s nothing crazy, but just the beginning of what will seem like an endless river of car parts showing up at my front door.
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