Can this be a CJ-5 frame?

Hi, my friend has bought himself a frame that was supposed to be a CJ-5. The title tag that comes along with the frame says it is one of the first 7500 to be build, but I'm not shure about this frame. It has many sign of being a m38a1 and very few signs of being a CJ. It has boxing in front of the grillmount, half-boxed rear frame-ends, it has a big gun-support on the crossmember under the cargo area, some other supports under the cargo area(that my 55 CJ-5 doesn't have), it has the spring hangers in front on the front springs and I cant find a frame number any where. The only thing that says it could be a CJ 5 is the grill-mount, but that is not very nice welded and could be somthing done later. I know the first of the CJs where built with parts left over from the m38a1 production, but I've never seen a CJ frame with all this m38a1 stash on it. Does any of yours have the big gun-support under the cargo area? or the boxings and reinforcements in the front and rear? Could it be that this CJ-5 is so early that it has an all m38a1 frame originally, or is the guy trying to sell me a different frame? The only numbers i can find stamped in it is 283R on the right front frame end, and 283L on the left. It also has stamped 294 on the right boxing by the engine and 296 on the left. Hope you guys understand my bad english. Here are some pics:

 

I would say it is not a 5. May be m38. Nice frame though.

 

It is a nice frame. If I remember correctly the M38A1 didn't have he center mounting point for the grill/radiator. It had hinge points to pivot the assembly down.

 

Machine gun mount and extra boxing would indicate M38A1.

Pretty sure it's M38A1 and not M38 - check the rear spring length or the wheelbase to be sure. I don't recall what the exact length is, but the flat fenders have shorter rear springs.

Supposedly there is an early and late M38A1 frame with different grille mounts.

Factory welds were not pretty, generally.

Nice frame for a buildup.

 

Thanks for all replys guys! It has signs of a batterytray on the front crossmember, but it has been cut of. You can just barely see it on one of the pictures. Good to hear that something indicates CJ5 here too.

 

Still think its strange that the frame has all the m38a1 stuff on it, I've never seen a 5 with such a frame....and i feel I've researced alot. I myself own a 55 with front springhangers in front and a welded batterylid on the cowl, but it has no boxing, machinegun-mount or the other 2 mounts between the crossmembers over the rear wheel. Mine is among the 17000 first made though, this one is among the 7500 first made.

And how about the frame number, schould'nt I find one if its a 5?

One more strange thing, the vin-tag that came along with the frame does'nt look like the one on my car or on the ECJ5.coms ID pdf:

http://www.earlycj5.com/zoomer/Vehicle_Indentification.pdf

Its exactly like the one I founnd on this m38a2-site:

http://www.m38a1.com/Registry/registry.htm

but it has a 10 digit vin with the first 5: 57548, saying its a sivilian 5.....anyone else that has this vin-tag?

 

You might ask on the G http://www.g503.com/forums/ ... those guys know the military stuff backwards and forwards. If it's an unusual frame, they will be interested too.

 

I think they stopped using the "hinged radiator and grill" in 54 on the
m38a1.. The later ones used the single bolt in the front bottom.

 

Its definately not an M38 frame. M38 didnt have a machine gun mounting plate like that one. So I'm leaning to M38A1 too.
There were offshore manufacturers of frames during the 70's and 80's. I had an M38 frame that had that type of red primer. The original M38 and A1 had "M" stamped in 1/2" letter on some of the unique military parts like the box sections on the front frame horns. If you do not see any of the M stamps it could be an aftermarket replacement. Those were nice steel and fit well but double check dimensions with your body.
Tom.

 

That's a nice post '53 m38a1 frame. You can tell it's a post '53 because there are no hinge mount holes, just the center grill bolt hole and the '52, '53 would have a oval cut-out where it it boxed in at the front.

 

I know that this looks like a m38a1 frame, my question is if anybody else with very early CJ's have a frame with all m38a1-stuff on it. I guess the only once that really can answer that is other owners of very early CJ's. (before 7500 made).

 

Looks like my 64' M38a1 frame.