Rack 'Em Up!

The Willys Jeeps stacked floor-to-ceiling on pallet racks at Willy’s Restoration Services in Madison, Wis., include a 1945 CJ2A with serial number 30. “It’s disassembled down to the frame right now,” says its owner Joe DeYoung. “The pieces for that one are on multiple racks and shelves in my machine shop.” So, are over 20 other Willys Jeeps that await the expert touch of a restorer, whether it be Joe DeYoung or someone else.

One blue jeep was being loaded when we visited the shop. Joe put it on a trailer with a fork lift and another jeep enthusiast standing on the rear bumper to keep the load balanced. That “weighty” (but trim) fellow was one of about 30-40 jeep fans from all over the United States who came to the Badger State’s capitol for Joe’s annual “Jeeps in January” gathering. And the focus was mostly on early Willys models.

A rare military Ford GP prototype raised on the lift so its unique features could be examined.

DeYoung had an unrestored military Ford GP (prototype) on a lift. Not far away was a civilian CJ2A with military insignia. On the walls were signs and clocks from old Willys-Overland dealerships. A table held a collection of vintage Willys advertisements for the jeep vehicles. In a hallway between the shop and DeYoung’s office were three Bantam trailers ready to be restored. There were shelves nearby holding NOS Willys Jeep parts.

Jeep Whiz Joe jokingly said that he picked the last weekend in January to help jeep lovers from across the country “avoid as much of the National Football League playoffs as possible” or to just give them a needed mid-winter “flat-fender Jeep fix.” They came from Boston, Mass.; Troy, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and other towns across the U.S.

Joe was at his warmly heated shop at 6 a.m. and people were welcome to come as early as they wished and stay as late as they wanted. Although Friday was not a formal gathering date, some people dropped by early and hung out among jeeps and jeep parts stacked up from floor to ceiling on sturdy pallet racks. Model T’s owned by Joe’s brother Dave, who is an expert on Model T’s and sells Model T parts.

During “Jeeps in January”, Joe DeYoung did some machine shop work for attendees using his lathe. His larger CNC machines are used for production runs of tools and parts.

The event is kind of like an open house, but with attendees such as Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Co.’s vintage tire specialist Keith Buckley, prototype jeep collector Lindsay Clark of Clark Automotive in Indianapolis and Bill Norris, publisher of The Dispatcher, a publication for all Willys-Kaiser-AMC jeep buffs. “Basically it’s a great group of guys — and sometime gals — hanging out for the day talking about jeeps and life,” said Norris.

In the shop there are currently 23 vehicles, a fourth Bantam trailer and many pallet racks of parts and trinkets. The jeepers were free poke around and have fun. DeYoung provided doughnuts, coffee, chili, pulled pork, buns, chips, beverages and a variety of deserts. In addition to conversation throughout the day, DeYoung planned a list of fun things.

1) Operation Warmth. The idea was to keep the engine in one of his jeeps warm throughout the entire day without letting it cool below 100 degrees. People took turns driving the old jeep all day to keep the engine warm. A snowstorm made this even more fun.

2) Operation Collage: A jeep collage was made by attendees scribbling clever things on a sign. The winner won the sign.

3) Jeep Cross Word Puzzle: A chance to test your up and down jeep knowledge.

4) Parts Manual Search: Finding hard-to-find parts in an old
Willys parts manual.

5) Operation Identify: ID’ing parts DeYoung has that even he
can’t pinpoint.

6) Swap Meet: A parts exchange for attendees lugging parts
to Madison.

7) Machine Shop Services: DeYoung machined some small jeep parts for visitors.

8) Parts Casting Demo: How to mold your own jeep belt buckle.

9) Door prize drawing: Prizes from DeYoung (parts catalogs, too)

Joining the seven unrestored Willys Jeeps stacked on this row of pallet racking was a Bantam-Jeep trailer and a tractor that had a Willys engine.

Since he has a machine shop with a large lathe and an assortment of even larger CNC machines, DeYoung manufactures tools for restoring Willys Jeeps and parts for them as well. Among the 13 tools he makes at Mad City Manufacturing are a steering wheel puller; a pinion yoke puller; a companion yoke puller; a cam gear puller; a rear main cap puller; an M18 transfer case bearing puller; an engine-puller eyelet; an oil gallery plug socket for L134/F134 engines; a radiator outlet mandrel; a steering column tube mandrel; an oil filler tube mandrel; a rear top bow pocket mandrel and an axle dust cap mandrel.

“Most of my tools work on both World War II and civilian flat-fender jeeps,” he said. “But, there’s a few exceptions. First is the Cam Gear Puller. The MB/GPW military Jeeps have chain-drive engines and don’t have a cam gear. They have a cam sprocket that does not need a puller. Second, is the rear axle shaft puller for Dana 41 and 44. MBs/GPWs have a full-floating Dana 23 axle, which does not require a cam gear puller.”

The 13 parts that DeYoung makes include a CJ2 jeep crank with a refurbished ball; a crank pulley shield spacer for the L134/F134 engines; a large drag link ball seat plug; a small drag link ball seat plug; a drag link ball seat plug; an underdrive shift rod (Hi/Low range shift rail) for the M18 Jeep transfer case; a front-wheel-drive shift rod (2wd/4wd shift rail) for the M18 Jeep transfer case; right- and left-hand thread dual wheel studs for CJ5s and CJ2As Jeeps and a CJ2A Jeep generator adjustment bracket.

To learn more about the “Jeeps in January” event or for information on the tools or parts that Mad City Manufacturing makes, the contact information is: Mad City Manufacturing, 2301 Advance Road, Madison, WI 53718; email: joe@madcitywillys.com.