The Willys Jeep Truck is a truck made by

Willys-Overland Motors Willys (pronounced , "Willis" ) was a brand name used by Willys–Overland Motors, an American automobile company, founded by John North Willys. It was best known for its design and production of World War II era and later military jeeps (MBs ...

from 1947 to 1965. The styling and engineering of the Jeep Truck was based on Willys' existing vehicles, the

Willys Jeep Station Wagon The Willys Jeep Station Wagon, Jeep Utility Wagon and Jeep Panel Delivery are automobiles produced by Willys and Kaiser Jeep in the United States from 1946 to 1964, with production in Argentina and Brazil continuing until 1970 and 1977 respectivel ...

and the Jeep CJ-2A.

Production

The Jeep Truck was introduced in 1947 as a 1-ton

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

truck with a wheelbase of . It was available as a

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

, a platform stake truck, a

chassis cab A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles. Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...

, or a bare chassis. A ¾-ton two-wheel drive version became available by 1949. The truck was restyled in 1950 with the addition of a V-shaped grille with five horizontal bars. In 1951 the ''

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

'' IOE four cylinder engine replaced the earlier

flathead engine A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as ...

, increasing power from to . Optional accessories included an engine governor, a

power takeoff A power take-off or power takeoff (PTO) is one of several methods for taking power from a power source, such as a running engine, and transmitting it to an application such as an attached implement or separate machine. Most commonly, it is a sp ...

, and a pulley drive. A "Dump-O-Matic" hydraulic hoist became available for 1957. Over 200,000 of these trucks were manufactured.

Models

Drivetrain

The Jeep Truck was available with only one transmission, the

Borg-Warner T-90 The Borg-Warner T-90 is a three-speed manual gearbox manufactured by Borg-Warner. It was used in most Willys and Kaiser-Jeep models from 1945 to 1971, as well as a number of International Harvester models. It is an improved version of the T-84 us ...

three-speed manual, with

synchromesh A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...

ed second and third gears. A Spicer/ Dana 18 transfer case was used on four-wheel drive models. The heavy duty Timken 51540 was used in the early years of production, later being replaced by the Dana 53. The front axle was a Dana 25

Notes

References

External links

International Full Size Jeep Association

Vintage Jeeps
{{Jeep early timeline Jeep Truck Jeep Truck Pickup trucks Vehicles introduced in 1947 1940s cars 1950s cars 1960s cars Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States