i have been offroading since i was fourteen and bought a 1953 willy's jeep, model m38a1 military. i still have the jeep but now i am getting more serious into offroading and a little while back i bought a 1991 ford f-150. the ford has a 3" body and 3" suspension lift, 35-12.50-15 BFG mud terrains, and few minor engine mods. the truck has a 300 inline six, stock manual trans. and borg warner transfer case. it has 4.11 gears but no lockers. the jeep on the other hand still has all the original military equipment such as 4 cylinder engine, 3 speed trans., i don't even know what kind of transfer case, military axles with 4.56 gears, and 24 volt electrical system( which i would like to convert to 12 volt, for ease of installing accessories). the jeep has no lift. my question is which one of the two would be more cost efficient to build to better handle offroading. the jeep does fair the way it is now as does the truck.

i would use the jeeps axles if there anything better than a dana 44

i have no idea what your really looking for. the ford will be much easyer to find parts for and is newer. i would take the ford... bob the bed toss some heaver axles with lower gears a set of lockers tires and a winch and your on the way

if you build the ford, there are a million other guys that have done the same thing. if you build the early jeep, you will have a unique trail rig. it may cost more but as a multiple jeep owner, i have to say that an early willy's flattie is a well respected vehicle on the trail. one of my buddies just sold a gpw on e bay for $6500 and he paid $2500 for it.

the stock drivetrain is weak, very weak. you'll have to replace the engine, front end and rear end, and suspension. ok it will be really expensive. maybe you could just put all your ford stuff in the jeep.

so your left with a jeep body and frame with ford-chevy parts all over.

this will take more work than you need and with a ford you dont have to do all that.

fords arent seen on many trails at all anymore i dont care who you are how many fords you see in the real hardcore comps and stuff... i seen more jeeps than anything or things what look like jeeps with a chevy inside.

i was wondering how weak you reall thought the jeeps drivetrain really is. i'm not going to do anything extremely hardcore with it. i was thinking about just a couple inches of suspension lift and maybe running 31s or 33s on it for a while. it should handle this, don't you think?

you'll get by much cheaper with the ford, but jeeps are just cool. the older, the cooler. and the top comes off. i'm sure that when you drive the jeep, people ask you about it, all the neighborhood kids want to ride in it, and it gets a lot of attention. does anybody even notice the ford? i think your flattie will hold up stock with 31's if you're just doing mild trails. the worst components are the underpowered engine and the front and rear end. your t- case should be a dana 18 which is plenty strong for a lightweight rig. if you do a big engine, lockers and big tires, the axles won't last long though.  

what's wrong with a lightweight jeep body with heavy duty parts under it, no matter where the parts came from, as long as they're cheap. it's not what you buy, it's what you build. i know this guy, skblazer, (wait, that's you) that put k-5 blazer stuff under an s-10. cool build.

i used to 'wheel a '79 ford f-250, as well as my cj7. i preferred the jeep because  it's size and lighter weight allows it to do more offroad in almost all aspects of 4 wheeling.

i don't like the body style of the '91 ford. i think it's the ugliest one in the f series line. if it's a standard cab, you can only have one passenger comfortably, or one adult and one kid.  the ifs ttb is inferior in most offroad situations, except high speed stuff like sand. they're heavy and that will cause parts breakage and tough recoveries if it gets stuck, and the sheetmetal will most likely get all bashed in. there aren't many flat fenders out on the trail. the jeeps you usually see are yj' and tj's and some cj's. not old cool wwII classic jeeps.

yeah your right

i was thinking more about the money and quick way to do it.

and i think an s10blazer with a 4.3 and np205-twinsticked dana 44s with 4.56s and lockers. top it off with 35s maybe 38s with hardend shafts. that would be easyer cheaper and what im doing next if i get the time this summer.

hey what if this guy dont like his neighbors? mine hate me they say my toys are too loud and that was before i cut the baffle out.   :P

o well its unzoned and that means they can bite it till they move out

the jeep wil be fine with 31's and maybe a little underpowered with 33's, but it all depends on how and what you drive

there should be parts available for both rigs, but you need to tell us what type of wheeling you like to do, rocks-the f-150 will get more body damage than the jeep, but the longer wheelbase will help

mud-both should be fine, but the ford will keep you cleaner, and the bigger motor will be a plus

sand-both a little underpowered, but the ford would probably jump better

give us more info

what do you want to do with the final truck?

which do you like better and why

Build the M38!

I used to have a 1948 Willys CJ2A Flatfender (I wish I still had it).  I blew up two of the stock 134 cid 4 cylinder engines driving it out in the in normal traffic.  It was my only vehicle, so I had to drive to school and work and off road.  I was young and stupid at the time. After rebuilding the second 4 cylinder I figured I needed something better as a daily driver, so I sold it and got a 1976 Chevy.  I would keep the F-150 "as is" and use it for a daily driver, and take some time and build a really cool M38. They aren't any good over 45-50mph anyway, so go ahead and build it to kick ass offroad. For cool factor alone I would build the M38.  If you already have a daily driver, sell the F-150 and use the cash to build the M38, none of the drivetrain parts from the F-150 would be useful in the M38, except maybe the rear end (if it's a 9"), the inline 6 is too long to fit, and the TTB front end would be really tough to fit in a M38.  The stock axles should hold up fine with light wheeling and tires no bigger than 33".  I had 31s and 5.38 gears in the stock D41 axles.  The Spicer 18 xfer case is actually a pretty good case, but if you swap axles you'll need to find one that's offset also, or  change the xfer case.  The T-90 3 speed is OK with the 4 cylinder, marginal with V6, and not recommended for V8 power. A Buick 225 or 231 V-6 (used in some CJ-5s) should bolt in without too much trouble with the right adapter or bellhousing.  The M-38 is way too cool to pass up!

i think an amc 20 rear end out of a quadratrac jeep might work with the 18 t-case.  the corp 20 is a turd as well but can easily handle 33's and has a lot of aftermarket support.(axles, lockers, disc brake kits,etc.) a disc brake dana 30 up front wouldn't be bad either. thy're both cheap. i gave my quadratrac stuff away. it can't be too expensive to buy.  

the only thing i really do with the jeep now is going thru about 4 miles worth of trails me and my buddies made in the wood. i would eventually do some rock crawling. i'm not anywhere near any sand and never really liked mud too much, but i do get into it every now and then.  

If you don't want to go big on the tires, you should be able to get a set of add-a-leaves and gain about 2" or so to be able to put 33s on it.  I like the idea of the AMC 20 rear axle, but it doesn't have to come out of a Quadra-Trac Wagoneer.  If you can find a Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer without the Q-Trac, you can try to use the stock axles.  The front would be a D44, but I think the diff would be too far over for the proper leaf spring fit.

The "build the M38" guys are right, though.  it seems like the Ford would be a fine tow vehicle/daily-driver.  If it's already got the mods, then leave it alone and build the Willys.  No doubt you'd be the center of attention wherever you go.  As far as the 24 to 12v conversion, check out www.tessco.com for a converter.  They carry converters in whatever rating you may need, and from several different manufacturers. 

Whatever you do, do it right and you'll be the envy of all your buddies when you hit the trails.

i was thinking quadra trac cj7. the q-trac amc 20 has an offset centersection. i would think it would match up to the dana 18 t-case. and the width would be pretty close. get the dana 30 out of the same donor and that would be about as close to a direct bolt axle upgrade as you can get. a little stronger and way more aftermarket parts available.

I see your point....