When the Willys Jeep came back from hero duty in WWII, it almost instantly became a hero at home, too. Its rugged, do-anything, go-anywhere attitude made it an instant favorite for Americans. And almost as soon as the Willys Jeep became available to the public, people started customizing them, fitting them with all sorts of specialized gear for particular jobs. However, the front-loader attachment on this Willys Jeep, found by Ted Jordan on Facebook, is a bit of a mystery.
Jordan’s CJ5 Jeep is far from the only one with a front-loader attachment. In fact, several aftermarket companies built front-loaders for CJ5s, and still do. In the 1940s, there was an aftermarket equipment book for Willys Jeeps called the Willys Overland Equipment book, and it featured just about every attachment you could think of at the time, including front loaders. One of the main companies that built front loader attachments was Mahl, but there were others, such as the aptly named Jeep-a-Loader. One commenter on Jordan’s post thinks this example might be a Leon Loader, and that seems to be the best guess if this was bought as a kit. However, it’s unclear if any Leon Loaders were made for CJ5 Jeeps. Instead, this one actually looks…homemade.
Most of the other front loader kits seem to have a central, vertical piston that moves the entire bucket frame up and down. This one is different, though: It has two hydraulic pistons, one at each side, which provide lifting power. The Leon Loader worked like this one, so perhaps that’s what this is, with a custom frame to fit the old Jeep.
Either way, it looks well-built and sturdy enough to handle a decent workload. The biggest challenge when fitting a front loader to a truck or SUV isn’t getting it to work, but rather keeping the frame from bending or cracking due to the added stresses and weight in areas the vehicle wasn’t originally designed to handle. This one seems to have a custom frame built around and welded to the CJ5’s original frame, another indicator that it wasn’t part of a kit. That frame is necessary, though, as this CJ’s chassis looks like rusty Swiss cheese. It also seems to have the factory half-cab attachment but it’s in such a state of disrepair, the doors look like they’re falling off. As cool as this front loader is, I fear using it would cause this Jeep to split in half.
It seems that Jordan is keeping this CJ5, as another commenter offered to buy it and he turned them down. However, if you’re interested in such a Jeep, there are plenty of front-loader attachment kits that can be found on the aftermarket. And if anyone has any idea of where this front loader attachment came from or who makes it, you know where to reach us.
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