What, no reproduction?

A Frame Off Restoration

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We decided to replace the rear crossmember. It had sustained a number of good collisions and showed the battle scars to prove it. After grinding down the rivets and cutting it off, section by section, the old one was removed. While we were at it we thought it would be a good idea to replace the v-brace as well. Ordering a reproduction of the crossmember assembly was easy. Then after an exhaustive search we found out that they do not make a repo of the v-brace for a M38A1! M38, no problem but they don’t fit, we would have to bubba up some shims to make it work. Now here is where some newbie dumb luck comes to play. Just as Ray was starting to remove the v-brace he noticed the time and realized he had to leave. Before he could get back to complete the job we discovered the problem of no easy replacement. With a little straightening and a few welds the original v-brace was back in service! Note: Now the v-brace is available online.
1953 M38A1 Navy Jeep