DEW Engineering?

[Pete Z]

I finally made my way to Ottawa this past week-end to pick up my M3A1 CDN2 and I have been going through some of the documentation I recieved with it. There is an old appraisal where reference made to the fact that both sides show evidence of recieving the "DEW Engineering patch kit" which apparently "was applied to the whole fleet circa 1981". Can anybody elaborate with details of what this kit or procedure consisted of? The truck shows evidence of some CF-performed body work with fibreglass repairs to the rear corners, front floorpans and rockers being fairly evident.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Pete Z

I finally made my way to Ottawa this past week-end to pick up my M3A1 CDN2 and I have been going through some of the documentation I recieved with it. There is an old appraisal where reference made to the fact that both sides show evidence of recieving the "DEW Engineering patch kit" which apparently "was applied to the whole fleet circa 1981". Can anybody elaborate with details of what this kit or procedure consisted of? The truck shows evidence of some CF-performed body work with fibreglass repairs to the rear corners, front floorpans and rockers being fairly evident.

Pete
..What the hell is an M3A1 CDN..??
Sounds like a Canadian version of the White Scout Car..

[Pete Z]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

Pete
..What the hell is an M3A1 CDN..??
Sounds like a Canadian version of the White Scout Car..

Ooops! My mistake. Make that an M38A1 CDN2. My typing (and apparently proof-reading) skills suck.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Pete Z

Ooops! My mistake. Make that an M38A1 CDN2. My typing (and apparently proof-reading) skills suck.

SHIT..!!
I thought you had a White..
Still lots of fun...
Hope to see it at BBB this summer..

[rob love]

They were referring to the body patches that were available for the M38A1CDN2 and 3s back in the early 80s. There was a CFTO outlining all the various patches available, and as well fenders were made available again as a repair part, and were part of the life extension of that particular fleet.

Being from the West, we didn't use the patch kits much. I was at CFB Winnipeg during this time period and we did not use them at all. But any Jeeps we saw that came on VMOs from the East had them, and plenty. Often they were merely pop-rivetted on, sometimes the installations were done better.

Since I never saw the patches new in the box, I cannot say what part DEW engineering had in their development or manufacture. DEW is a company that has done R&D, as well as manufacturing and modifications for the DND for many years now.

WRT the life extension programs, they were common back in the 80s and 90s. We would buy a fleet of vehicles that were expected to last 6-9 years. Then, thanks to the expense of replacing a fleet of vehicles that size, we would have to life extend them, especially the eastern vehicles which would suffer from corrosion. The 5/4 tons were life extended around 1984, the MLVWs around 1992 and the ILtis also was around 92/93.

After all, what good is a truck if you can't get 20 to 30 years out of it?

[Pete Z]

Thanks for the reply Rob. While my eastern M38A1 (CFB Petawawa) is pretty solid, there's a few amateur-ish body repairs evident. The PO told me that it is all CF-performed body work. Looks like I'll be buying a few panels from Willy's Acres rather than messing around with fixing up old repairs.

[rob love]

It wasn't just the rust that got to the jeeps, it was also the abuse.

Rust wise, the first place to go was usually the outer skin right in front of the doors. The pillar channels liked to keep dirt trapped there. Next were the floors. You could usually know exactly where the hat channels were under the floors because you could see them from above. They were dirt and moisture traps of the greatest magnitude.

Abuse wise, the jeeps took it in all four corners. The army went through so many front fenders it eventually just quit providing them, until the refurb program. Both back corners used to take a lot of hits as well, backing into trees in the bush. In the dark days of the 70s, the Jeeps were being treated as front line vehicles in lieu of proper army equipment, and they paid the price in wear and tear. As well, a lot of the jeeps had that tall antenna bracket mounted on top of the spare tire carrier. The leverage provided to the AMU mounted way up there, along with the already considerable weight of the spare tire and bracket, ensured that the back panel took a lot of stress and developed cracks. Later antenna mounts were on the left corner, and relieved this stress, although by then it was usually too late.

Short of major accident damage, it wasn't easy to PCC a SMP vehicle. So the bondo just kept getting layered on again and again.

Boy, those were the days, when you could go to a peace keeping operation with something as light as a Jeep, and come home to talk about it.

I note you picked up a Cdn2. Be sure and check for frame cracking in the area above the forward position rear spring hanger (The ones located under the driver, co driver). It was a very common place for the frame rails to crack, and it seemed to develop right around that little hole where a brake line clip would fasten through on the left frame rail. Jeep must have recognized the problem, because they boxed that area to re-enforce the frame on the Cdn3 Jeeps.

[Pete Z]

Thanks again Rob for all the great info. The body will be coming off my CDN2 hopefully soon and I'll be giving the frame a good going over & re-paint at that time. I will definitely pay extra attention to that area above the forward rear leaf hanger. My jeep spent a good portion if not all of it's CF career as an MP vehicle, so I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing in relation to the in-field abuse it may or may not have seen.