Jerry Can Mount And Cleaning

Yup. Germans during WW2 were “Jerry’s” hence Jerry can. The story I got was the British and GI’s would take captured or discarded German cans and use them because the tins we had early in the war leaked and weren’t very strong. We very quickly copied the design, or at least aspects of it. Wish I still had it but I had a can dated 1943. I gave to the guy that purchased Dad’s 1943 GPW.

 

I don't want to do body changing mods or drill holes in my original patina '56 cj5. I don't plan on muddin it either. However, I do want to take the occasional day trip over some select mountain trail. So I've been thinking how to haul extra fuel, an 'out-of-the-way' spare tire, tools, cooler, and passengers in the back seat for a wilderness trek. My initial remedy is to get an extended bed. Being narrower than the jeep itself, an extended bed can easily accommodate a tucked in spare and a jerry can on its sides. And possibly switch to a marginal used tailgate that, with multiple holes, could hold other extra stuff. But, I wouldn't always want an extended bed sticking out the rear, like maybe the OP might be thinking. So I thought I could take a hint from the 'bolted shut' M-38 tailgate, and possibly use a frame that could be mounted to the draw bar below. Most of the weight would be supported by the plenty strong enough draw bar, and then attached with bolts to the tailgate ears, or even the other used tailgate. Some imagination and a welded up frame of some sort could easily hold a spare, a jerry can, tools, and other necessities etc., all tucked in and without modifications to my mostly original 'baby'.
-Just thoughts so far, no prototype.

 

There were accessory bed extensions back in the day. Mounted to the tailgate hardware and drawbar without modifying the Jeep.

 

You could also build a carrier off the drawbar that is bolt on. No permanent modifications that way. I don't recommend using the body as a mount for spare tire on the back anyway without serious reinforcement. Tends to crack the body. Lots of people here have built carriers that don't bolt to the body.

 

Exactly ! They come up for sale now and then, but are snapped up quickly. So I've been thinking of building my own. I have seen ads by a guy in Georgia? I think, He's making a pretty good copy for sale.

Yup, read my post.

 

I had a bed extender for awhile. They guy I bought it from said they are a great thing when on the JEEP. But then you take it off and kick it around the garage for years and get tired of it and sell it. I laughed and bought it anyway. Then after kicking it around for awhile I got rid of it.

 

I have a home-made firewood body on a jeep that hangs out like that, comes close to doing a wheely sometimes, climbing a slope.

 

How about mounting the tires and jerry can on top of the inside fenders? I would make it removable when I have the rear seat in place.
Thanks

 

Wow that is crazy. So much versatility on this little jeep.

 

This is the problem with my Jeep and the reason I will be redoing the body mounts.

 

When I had my 3A years ago, I had a bracket fabricated at local welding shop that bolted to my draw bar and I attached the army jerry can bracket to that. i don't recall the dimensions and I don't think I have pics, though I will look on an older computer and will post if I find any. I just took a cardboard mock up that I made to the welding place and they whipped it up for me. Going to do a similar thing this Fall/Winter for my CJ5.

Regarding can cleaning - others have given you some good advice but you might want to also consider looking around for a more recent red Blitz steel jerry can to use in lieu of a vintage one (unless it's pretty clean to begin with on the indie). Blitz stopped making these a while back but they're out there on eBay and "usually" don't command the stupid prices that some are asking for GI cans. You can paint them any color you wish. Anyway, cleaning and sealing an old one is great, but you don't want to discover that it's peeling or flaking as you're filling your tank on the trail in the middle of nowhere. Been there, done that, got towed home when the fuel lines clogged with peeled sealer because it didn't hold up (i'm sure I didn't prep things properly but it held up for a couple years... until it didn't).

 

Both of my donkey @#$&’s have a screw cap with a conical screen. Both came with it. You can unscrew and clean it. Prevents crap from getting the gas tank. So far I haven’t had any crap come out of my cans.

 

That screen also functions as a flame arrestor.

 

The problem for me (beyond towing) with a bed extension would be I would fill that darn thing corner to corner with junk. Back when I had a triaxle dump truck, I specifically looked for a lower side body, sides lower than the cab shield and no longer than 18'. Reason being I know that if I owned some giant coal body, I'd have 30 ton on that box in no time. Just my nature I guess. Lol

 

My donkey d's had the screen as well. As an aside the large donkey d's (the 1.25 inch spouts) are hard to find now and expensive as well. The 3/4 inch ones are all over the place but pour too slow for my liking. EZ Spout makes a jerry can adapter that works with the original style steel cans and their various plastic spouts if one wants to go that route.

 

But keeping the original D's flexible is problematic for me. I’m thinking of squirting some light weight oil in and working it back and forth. One has some rust spots but the other is very clean. But so far the rubber donut at the base still seal good.

 

I was able to find a pic of the set up on my 3A (I think I sold it in '07). I forgot that the drawbar had been "boxed" by a PO at some point. A similar set up on a non-modified drawbar should be easy too (and is what I'm planning for my CJ5). I forget why I had the rubber strap on the can - usually just ran with the canvas one.

 

Yes. The guvmint jerry can design will empty in about 30 seconds. They even published data on how long it took to refill each type of combat vehicle.

 

You can also purchase new cans made by Wavian or Valpro. They are European spec, seem to be a copy of the German design. In my opinion they are a better can for actual use. They have a clamp design for cap and nozzle instead of threaded. The bottom corners are rounded and the seams are recessed welds on the sides. If you are using the can for "non potable water" there is a military spout available that will dump the can in about 30 seconds.

 

Yep - had a similar European/NATO can years ago too. Mine was German mil surplus and was very well made and sturdy. The only issue I had with it is that the rounded bottom corners and edges didn't "seat" as firmly in the US military can bracket when strapped down and the can wobbled a bit. But I took some canvas and created a pad for it to sit on so that the canvas came up around all the bottom edges. Problem solved.