My Willys 3A and 3B Community
TECH FAQ SECTIONS => EVERYTHING ELSE, General tips => Topic started by: F Bill on July 11, 2012, 11:13:04 AM
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I guess I will start off our FAQ section with something I wrote over at the 2A page..It applies to all jeeps and actually to most restoration vehicles...Here, from the 2A page, is what I said there..
29 May 2012 at 8:13pm
In response to a guy who just bought his jeep and wanted to know what's next, I wrote:
Before you start, do what you are doing right now....STOP!!! and RESEARCH and DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.. Buy a digital camera if you don't already own one, It doesn't have to be expensive, a $100 Nikon Coolpix will do famously. Just make sure it has an easy way to transfer pictures to your computer, like a SD card.
Take pictures of every square inch of your jeep the way it is today. There are details that are obvious now that will have you scratching your head three years from now. Photograph all the wiring connections, fuel line and brake line routing, linkages, and nut and bolt assembly points like how the seats attach, etc. (It helps to caption the pictures if you save them on a place like webshots so you can access them later..)
Now the important part....IF you can, get the jeep to run, no matter how poorly, Then test it out as much as you safely can. If it isn't registered this will have to be in a field somewhere or your favorite off road park, etc. Go thru all the gears, check for bad sounding noises and malfunctions. See if going down a hill or decelerating in any gear causes the shifter to pop out. (Second gear is well known for this) See if you have any major oil leakage going on after a ride. Keep an eye on the gauges, make a note of your oil pressure when cold and hot both at idle and at speed. Does it boil over after a little use or does it keep its cool?
Check out all the individual components as much as you can. See if the lights and horn and wipers work. If they don't see if minor repairs will get them to work.
How are the brakes? Can you skid all four wheels on dirt? How about stopping from higher speeds? Are all the wheels straight or do they wobble when you drive down a smooth road? (Might need an observer to check that out) Drive thru a mud puddle and then straight ahead to see if the front wheels and rear wheels are tracking in the same tracks, or does it dogtrack going down the road??? Does it lean like most jeeps? Which way??
Examine the frame closely for rot issues and damage. If it is really bad, consider buying a parts jeep to get a clean frame to build on. Major rot can be repaired, check out jpet's Bam Bam thread for inspiration.
Many of us will get our jeeps from the previous owners in non running condition. My usual advice has always been to try and get the jeep running and drivable with some work on the usual brake and motor issues before you pull it apart into a million pieces. Then do the above testing, get to know the jeep and its problems before you dive in. For example, if you find the jeep overheats and smokes white out the tailpipe, you will know to look really closely at all the possible crack areas and head gasket while it is torn down. If you just tear it down you might not be motivated to find a crack and you could miss it till later. If the engine had been running, wherever the leak is will show up better.
There are some jeeps that have been worn out so far that you aren't going to get them going without major work, like replacing a missing or seized up motor. Or maybe you don't have a place to drive the jeep for testing purposes unless it is all road legal. In that case, you will have to rely on you mechanical skills to inspect things as you tear them down. Write down what you find as you go...If you have a spiral bound project notebook to document what you do each day and make notes of the problems you find and how stuff goes together it will become a valuable resource to you.
When you do get to tearing it down, bag and tag all the hardware.,Label all the connections with something permanent ...Use a lot of Ziploc baggies, Sharpie markers, and index cards placed in the bag with the parts or whatever works for you..Do not toss anything as you may find later on that what you thought was junk is actually a rare and valuable part that others would kill for.
Speaking of organization, if you dismantle the jeep into related components and rebuild components one at a time, you will find it easier to keep track of everything. Don't take the gearboxes or engine apart until you are ready to go thru and rebuild them. Leave the gauges in your tub and all the smaller bolt-ons until you start working on the tub. Some of the more organized among us have restored each piece as it gets taken off, then when they get to the frame it is a matter of reassembling all those nice shiny pieces once the frame is repaired. Another way is to get it dismantled and restore each piece as you reassemble. What you do is up to you, your budget, and your storage area.
Building up a rolling chassis is the usual way to go. Road test the assembled chassis before installing the tub. Most of the time there will be issues you will find that are much easier to fix with the tub off. When you get to the tub, check out the tub rebuilding thread in the Tech FAQ area of this website.
As you go, start a project thread here on the page, and if there are questions, ask away. Often someone with sharp eyes will notice something you need to fix that you have missed. Or there will be correctness issues, if you care about making it 100 percent right.
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Topic sort of morphed into a step by step how to take apart a jeep so it has its own thread now.
http://www.cj3apage.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1375566283/0#0