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Frame-up restoration... er, unibody-up restoration done.

superburban

superburban

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My next door neighbor finished his MUTT restoration project just last week! (Yeah right, like a project such as this is ever finished!)

He handed it over to me to take for a spin, and take some pictures of, so here they are:
 

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superburban

superburban

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RE: Frame-up restoration... er, unibody-up restoration d

Oh, I forgot to mention that this MUTT was Army, but the owner is going to paint it with markings from his Air Force security police unit.
 
BFR

BFR

Rocket Surgeon
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RE: Frame-up restoration... er, unibody-up restoration d

looks great! That before pic is one of my favorites.
 
David_4x4

David_4x4

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superburban said:
Are you looking for a pristine one, or would a re-weld work?
Click to expand...
I'd prefer to have an uncut A1, not a total heep that needs hours of body work etc. But something that could use a refreshing... :lol:
 
nattieleather

nattieleather

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Nice job by your neighbor.....and I'm going to nit pick...:)

Tell him to turn the spare gas can around. The spout should face the spare tire. This was common practice with M151s because a full can would exspand and if the seal was not the best (which they never are) the can could leak onto the hot exhust pipe.

On M151 and M151A1 the spare tire hold down has a reflector bolted on the bottom. That looks like a M151A2 hold down which did not have the reflector on it but a reflective sticker.

And since I'm nit picking...:) Since this is a M151 and not an A1 since the front turn signals are missing ( I like how he remoted them to the black out marker lights) and the rear does not have the additional black out stop light...the hood latches are wrong. Those are M151a1 and A2 hood latches..... Seats are not M151 they are A1/A2 seats. M151 front seats adjusted with a twist knob in the front instead of the slots on the side. And of course the rims are not M151, but A1/A2, but there were M151s that were refitted with the steel rims. I just wanted to point these things out in case your neighbor wants to work on those things in the future. I think the jeep looks great! I'm jelous that mine looks so ratty and no time or money to make look nice....:)

Tell him good job!
 
superburban

superburban

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Thanks for the comments! I'll pass them on. He'll be proud to hear all your praise (and criticism!). I dont know if he's going to worry too much about getting this one 100% correct. It is a work in progress, though, so who knows what direction it will go.

I was surprised at how well he did on this project. He is NOT a mechanic by any means, and he had hoped that I would take over for the wrenching duties. I am in the middle of starting up 2 diferent small businesses, so I could only make it over a couple of times this summer. It turned out well, though, because he was forced to learn all about his little truck.
 
littlebob

littlebob

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I think it looks great. I know they were notorious for rollovers and later models had a ROPS, is that an A3? I helped a friend cleanup about twenty of them about
12-13 years ago and they all had a full roll cage. I haven't seen any with this cage and netting since I've been following the MV hobby, How rare are the ROPS Mutts?
littlebob
 
superburban

superburban

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SL,UT
littlebob, ROPS Mutts aren't too uncommon, in fact, one of the guys that helped with consultation on this restore drove his ROPS equipped A2 out here quite a few times. As I understand, the ROPS was a retrofit after Mutts started getting a bad name, so you could find any model with a ROPS on it. I could be wrong, though. Any 151 historians here?

Kcimb, yes it is unibody. No it is not "like a jeep". They have 4-wheel independent suspension, unibody, a 1-piece transmission/transfer case, and the front and rear diferetials are interchangeable.
 
B

BillIdaho

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Caldwell, Idaho
ROPS kits kind of made things worse. They made the MUTT somewhat top heavy, so it would actually roll a little easier, but protected you more in the process. If a person drove it with some sense, it was /is no more prone to rollover than any other vehicle of the same size and stature. Stories of MUTT's rolling over, going 3 miles an hour, in a curve, while driving over a rock the size of your thumb, are shall we say...somewhat exagerated. Don't get me wrong. MUTT's killed many occupants over the years.
They (ROPS kits) are out there, and not too spendy. They DO provide protection from rollovers, impacts, etc. They DO look kinda cool. They DO require cutting on the body to install. They do NOT prevent a MUTT from rolling over.
Remember, with a ROPS kit, as with any other enclosed vehicle, being inside a vehicle that is rolling WITHOUT A SEATBELT ON, is just like being inside a clothes dryer. If you are going to go with a ROPS kit....the most important part is using your seatbelt!
 
K

kc8sfq

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Southern Mich.
>Are you looking for a pristine one, or would a re-weld work?
I'd like to find even a pile of tubs I could cut good corners off of. I'm a weldor, so that doesn't scare me. The prices however, do scare me.

>Stories of MUTT's rolling over, going 3 miles an hour, in a curve, while driving over a rock the size of your thumb, are shall we say...somewhat exagerated.

In 13 years and over 7k miles on M-151s (we never called them "mutts") I only saw two, and those were operator malfunctions. One was on base at 25 and he tried to make a residential type turn at speed. The other was a clown who decided that he wanted to run the side-hill after he was half way down it. Both these were with AN-MRC/108s. The MRC 108 is a 151 with 600 lbs of radios mounted on top of the back fenders. Yah, you read that right over a quarter ton mounted on TOP of the rear fenders. Then we added a bunch of manpack (a misnomer) radios under the pallet, between the fenders and a FAC in the passenger seat and a ROMAD behind the wheel with a 416 trailer similarly overloaded. You probably get the picture. The M-151 was a much better truck thann they would have you believe in the press.
 
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