Rudolf emailed me from Bali yesterday. He’d spotted this Jeep advertised for sale as a 1962 6×6 Willys Jeep. He wondered if this was a custom project or the real deal. My guess was that this is a one-off custom project, especially since it has a number of civilian elements. Apparently, the seller swears this was in the war (which war?). Unfortunately, the seller has yet to respond to additional questions. Also, below is the only pic provided.
Note the unusual front hubs. I’ve never seen a 6×6 quite like this. Is this possibly some oddball created by a Willys licensed manufacturer?
Real deal or not, I think it looks really cool.
I’ve been researching these for a while now…there are a lot of shop built ones from WWII that were just a stretched jeep with a dolly axle (non powered) on the back, using standard springs and a trailer axle. The biggest problem with these jeeps using stock axles is getting power to the rearmost axle.. You need to find a transfer case with two rear outputs, that isn’t too large to fit under a jeep. A couple have been built more recently, and I saw pics of one that used a custom built gearbox in the rear driveline to power a second rear driveshaft to a modified second axle. The actual parts you would need to duplicate a WWII MT TUG 6×6 are prettty much nonexistent anymore as there were very few actually made. (Also the Tug was actually wider than a stock jeep too, so just stretching a jeep body will not do it.)
Perhaps the easiest way to do 6×6 is to use a M 151 rear as they have a built in rear output on them, requiring only a short driveshaft between the forward rear diff and the rear diff. Of course then you would have to deal with the independent suspension and mounting points for control arms, etc…
Those front hubs and wheels look suspiciously like a Suzuki part or they are blanked off with a plate and don’t actually drive.
The rear axles look like typical CJ stuff.
Neat jeep, thanks for posting it!
I’m guessing a M38 grill and headlight rims,CJ2A stretched body and windshield frame,and a little bit of this and a little bit of that….very nicely done.
A French/English book – “The Jeep in every possible condition” by Jean-Luc Couesme states on page 84 that that at the end of WWII, about 30 of these 6×6 were factory built and mainly used as ambulances in the Pacific. The book also shows a Frenchman building his own.
Thanks Bruce .. that’s very interesting!