Going Down Under

[DFoley]

Ok…here is a topic I have not seen discussed much. Have any of you guys actually driven your waterproof M38 or A1 under water? How difficult is this? What are the procedures and precautions? I currently do not have all the requisite venting correctly installed on my M38 to try such a feat, but I am considering going through the trouble to accomplish this goal. The idea of driving my jeep into the local lake over the hood is very sexy! After all weren’t they designed for such a task? What are y’alls opinions.
_________________
Dan
1951 M38

[OKCM38CDN]

You will need to read TM 9-8012 very carefully, it describes what must be done before and AFTER water crossing, if I remember correctly soon after this is done the TM recommends lots of maintenance. Para 275 covers the required / suggested items...

If you do this you need to post pictures....

BTW - My M-38 CDN with RCAF markings will have the fording kit installed.

Good luck...

[Bob_C]

Like Hal said, read that manual.

Understand though that driving underwater is very hard on the jeep. Even though it was designed for it, theres a lot of parts that would need to be inspected and such afterwards. I too would also check for corrosion, especially the areas like hatchannels and such, where if water did get in, would create havoc.

In short - yes - they were "designed" for it. But any engineer will tell you that doing sucha thing is extremely hard on the mechanics.
_________________
Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

[CJ3B]

[Jeeps4Brains]

It sounds cool to me to try. Then after that I would start wondering what I did to things for weeks after that. The coolest thing I have seen was on the Mail Call show on the History Channel. For those that don’t watch the show Lee Ermey has a WWII Jeep painted up like an USMC version. Lee was taking a lot of teasing cause he wouldn’t take his Jeep through any water. So to show the complainers up they did some research on methods on how to get Jeeps across water. They took this huge piece of canvas laid it on the water and drove the Jeep on to it and basically wrapped the jeep up. Lee then sat in the floating Jeep and paddled it around this small pond. I thought it was an interesting idea to do that.

[cinnabarsam]

I did it by accident once. I had a favorite creek crossing about 8 inches
deep. Unknown to to me the current had changed and washed my
crossing out to 4 feet deep. The front wheels dropped in with the jeep
sitting on the skid plate. I walked to the house to get a tow. When I got
back the bank had caved and now the jeep was pointed 45 degrees
down with everything from the hood hinge forward under water. It had
water in everything. I took out the spark plugs. Out shot water. The
crankcase was full. The front axle. The steering box. The air cleaner.
You name it, it was full of water. I cleaned everything up and had it
going again, but the engine just wasn't the same. In short, I wouldn't
do it, fording kit or not. Sam
If you do try it, have a tow rig standing by.

[Bill_F]

I used to do it with a m151a1 I had all the time. Would go into water up to the top of the fenders, did not have a fording kit. It was lots of fun and cleaned out the inside of the jeep well. Of course I did not take good care of the m151, bought it for $500 when I was 16 and ran it for that summer, then sold it for $400, I am kicking myself now, sure would like to still own that rig.

[MajBen]

Hi, I had a little experience early on with water proofing jeeps for forwarding. As a Private acting as our unit acting MT Sgt in the early Occupation of Japan, I was asked by an Army Captain to assist him in waterproofing some MB/GPW, Dodge Weapons Carriers, and some others for a practice amphibious landing on a Japanese beach. Quite a few troops involved, ships, and transport of all kind. The Capt told me this was some very early application of what was on the drawing board for this sort of thing. D Day came and as the operation progressed, we were on the beach towing in about half of those we had waterproofed. I was told that the experiment was pretty much a failure but thinking back now, if half of them made the beach, it seems that it was a success. Bottom line now that time and machines changed a great deal, and after having torn my baby down to nothing and putting it back together, there are still many places that will get soaked, brakes being one of them. In my early one, it would also be the clutch housing and I am not really sure how waterproof the instruments were at best. So, as cinnabars suggested above: "If you do try it, have a tow rig standing by." Good Luck and Semper Fi Ben