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Cool old Jeep Trenching machines

For those just interested in the pic, here's the link:

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If you're interested in the story that goes with them, here it is:

These jeeps were used by the American Plumbing & Heating Company in Springfield, Missouri, which was owned by my uncle and my dad in the

1940's and early 1950's.

After my uncle's death in the 1950's, my dad moved the company and renamed it "J & J Plumbing". My brother owns the company now, and he and I were in the office today when I noticed a couple of old photos on the walls. I asked about the jeeps in the picture, and he told me this story:

The jeeps were used as trenching machines (to lay pipe, etc.) because, at the time, backhoes were not really widely available. My brother remembers seeing these machines working, and said they could trench at a comfortable walking pace, as long as the ground was not too rocky.

However, in southwest Missouri, the ground is often rocky.

Apparently, the spare parts used by American Plumbing & Heating company drew the attention of the regional jeep (willys?) dealer, because they sent a rep. by to inquire what the machines were being used for, since they were using parts up at an alarming rate. My dad told him where the jeeps were working, and the rep. observed one of the units trenching away when it hit a large boulder in the ground. The trenching unit would hang up on the boulder, and the entire jeep would stop, causing the jeep's front end to rise in the air and "pop a wheelie". Then the whole thing would stall and the jeep would crash to the ground. It wasn't unusual for something to break.

The dealer returned and told my dad the units were not designed to operate in this type of environment, but I think they continued to use them for a number of years.

The large, round objects attached to the front bumpers were an enhancement added by my dad - they are concrete-filled water heaters. They were eventually installed to prevent the wheelie-popping. Don't know if this improved reliability or not, though.

The left-most jeep has a large wheel which was used to manually position the trenching arm vertically. The right-most jeep was apparently newer, and had a PTO which could be used to position the trenching arm under powered control.

Thought some in the group might be interested in these early, commercial versions of our favorite vehicles.

PLM

Reply to
Patrick Mills
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Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

i got an old rusty one if anyone wants it..

Reply to
David Eagan

Reply to
twaldron

Thanks for posting. It looks like the added weight makes low-riders out of them

Reply to
Paul Calman

Thanks for that link - think my brother will get a kick out of that info...

PLM

Reply to
Patrick Mills

On or about Sun, 30 Nov 2003, Patrick Mills of plm1954_R_E_M_O_V snipped-for-privacy@ix.netco...:

[snip]

This past summer the city reconstructed the street that I live on, including new sidewalks. The contractor who built the sidewalks had pre-cast curb sections brought in. To move them from the staging area and set them at the curb line they used a CJ-7. They had sawed a hole in the plastic hard top and mounted a small crane in the bed, with the boom extending out over the front bumper. A winch hauled the curb sections up and the jeep carried them to their proper place.

The CJ looked to be in excellent shape, but I cannot imagine that it will survive more than a couple of seasons of that kind of work. Every time it lifted a curb section it seriously squatted.

Reply to
Lee Ayrton

That sounds like a really cool CJ-7. Any chance you took some pictures you could post?

Jim

Reply to
Jim Meyer

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