fahr_side

Round three of the battle with cancer. Here we fight again with the beast that tries to eat my Jeep. Island life...

Been having some clutch issues lately, and forgot to adjust it properly after replacing parts and bleeding the system. Being sloppy is not good. 

How the top came off: 

Start issues and repair, a look at the generic rust issues on these jeeps. 

Rainy season has been really, really long this year, still not over. So that makes me very glad we put in the effort to waterproof the soft top as best we could. Could have been really miserable otherwise! 

Something I hadn't seen since I were a lad. 

It turns out the steering gear on 1960 and up models, everything that came after the J3 is really unlike the CJ3B setup and more like a Series LR. I'm working on a video on that.
In the meantime I dig a little deeper into the military variants that Mitsubishi supplied to the JSDF and that info is presented here: 

Danko's translation won't have part numbers since the Japanese original does not. MHI has separate parts books. I only have the ones for the much earlier J3.

The better news is that the J53 which followed the J54 (as illogical as that sounds) was as far as I know identical in terms of it's steering gear. Therefore you should be able to follow the part numbers in these lists:

https://www.megazip.net/zapchasti-dlya-avtomobilej/mitsubishi/jeep-minkan-9378/j53-20350/ft-629222/steering-linkage-7935242
https://www.megazip.net/zapchasti-dlya-avtomobilej/mitsubishi/jeep-minkan-9378/j53-20350/ft-629222/steering-linkage-7935243
https://www.megazip.net/zapchasti-dlya-avtomobilej/mitsubishi/jeep-minkan-9378/j53-20350/ft-629222/steering-gear-7935241

I'm not sure if you're looking for the Pitman arm, draglink or something, but it should be in those lists. I do believe that at least some of these items were common with the Fuso Canter trucks of the same era. Hope this helps!

We're back in lockdown here, so I had some time to pore over old manuals, catalogs and an old report from 1967 that the US Army commissioned to look at an early Mitsubishi diesel Jeep. With this I made a simple comparison of the CJ3B, my J23 and a period Land Rover.

I got most of the rust in the body taken care of by having the rusty bits chopped out and new sheet steel welded in. That left quite a lot of primer patches around, and the whole windshield frame either chopped up or at least the paint ruined by the torch. This work I've covered in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_WpIL4hBYw

I decided to try and do a replica / homage to a Type 73 variant named the J23SR, which carried radar equipment, and was painted in a lighter version of the JGSDF two-color camo. Mostly this is to cover all the ugly rough metal and primer patches, while avoiding taking the whole jeep to bits. While I was at it I decided to add some original unit markings to finish the look a bit. You can see how that works out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns5vDZspUVg

So, out of necessity, I went with paraffin wax. I'm not saying it's the right way to do it, but this is how I did it, if you're bored and have 8 minutes to spare....

Anyone have simple suggestions for waterproofing canvas? I have my top off right now. Washed it with laundry detergent and a scrubbing brush. I've waterproofed before with straight paraffin wax and it last maybe four months before water seeps through again. I know it's common to blend paraffin wax with beeswax, but that's not available here. I need something you can buy in a hardware store. We don't get too much specialist stuff here in the Philippines. Thanks!

10 hours ago, Paul Drake said:

I bought a Tiger Top for a CJ3B. Fortunately I happened to mention it to a chap at a show in Brean, Somerset who had a Spanish built Jeep, and he put it out on a group he was with and I was able to pass it on to a CJ3 owner and recoup the cost.

Yes, they (Mitsubishi) really tried to expand the utility of the thing and claim it as a 6-seater. I'm pretty sure the J3 had the original dimensions. Then came the J30 and J40 series with a 108" wheelbase, and J20 series with 88" like a Series LR shortie. I'm glad you were able to recover the situation, and probably made someone's day.

21 hours ago, Paul Drake said:

The only problem with it is that Mitsubishi put an extra 4 inches in the tub, which I didn't find out until I bought a new ragtop and it didn't fit! Had to have one made custom. 

21 hours ago, Paul Drake said:

You might try a company called Amayama. I don't know if their spares will be cheaper than Yokohama as I've not used anyone else.

Did you buy a top for a J3 or a CJ3B?

Yes, Amayama is usually a bit cheaper than the other two.

On 4/25/2021 at 5:57 AM, Paul Drake said:

I have a S-J53, Mitsubishi, version of the 1953 Willys. I have found Amayama to be very reliable. Also as in previous post it is worth searching internet for alternative parts. I found a 45 amp alternator in the UK. Saved a fortune on getting one from Japan. Also my stop lights and starter solenoid are 24v Land Rover ones. If it works :). Not so good if you want to keep it absolutely original.

Yeah those are great. Same generation and powertrain as mine, but you have the original CJ3B 80" wheelbase, classic windshield hinges and a few more creature comforts. Let me know if you need a shop manual, although I only have it in original Japanese.

10 hours ago, robin33ba07 said:

hello there I have a J54   Mitsubishi/Jeep  4DR5 engine  a gray import into Ireland years ago a great little vehicle ,my only gripe is the price of parts charged by Yokohama  Motors in Japan   ?  

Hi. Yes, it's a terrific little machine. Aside from Yokohama there is Megazip and Amayama. These three bought up the stock of parts from (I believe) both the JSDF and Mitsubishi when they stopped production and again when the JSDF starting auctioning the vehicles off. Megazip I know is run by Russians. The other two I'm not sure but I suspect the same. THey have a monopoly on this stuff and they know it. Amayama is a bit cheaper. Please note it's always worth checking the Mitsubishi part number you're looking at for availability. Quite a few parts are common with other models and can be had from regular channels. I have some manuals and parts lists if you need them, though they are in Japanese.

21 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

Hi Les, coincidentally there is one from the Colt Car Company Heritage fleet in an auction this month, £12.8k atm.

That looks like a J10. Quite a bit older than mine, and quite rare as they appear to have only made that from '59 to '61. Really spiffy-looking too, hence the price tag. I paid about half that much for mine. In case anyone is interested and has a half hour to waste, here's a video I made laying out what I know about the history of these Jeeps, military and civvie. It's very hard pulling together much info on these, even if you do read Japanese, but the old Mitsubishi catalogs are very well done. 

Greetings all. I'm Les, an aging gearhead from London, now based in the Philippines after a lifetime working in different parts of Asia. I care for and operate a 1988 Mitsubishi J23GN, which is descended from the Willys CJ3B that went into production in Japan in 1953 and continued in various forms until 1998. As a nipper I did a lot of work on and mucking about in a Series 2A Land Rover and decided to play with something similarly primitive before I get too tired and sore to row my own gears.

Question: Why is that only the Germans, among the Axis powers, get their own sub-section on the forum? Perhaps amend that to 'Axis Power vehicles', or add the Japanese motors with their own sub-forum?

No, that's not me in the photo, and no, you can't have her phone number!