Hawk's CJ3A 13655

[zooke581]

Great job on your build.  And I am a little anal myself on vehicles I work on for the Wife.  I never want her stranded or in a bad situation because I skipped or glossed over a proper repair.

[athawk11]

[size=14]The Foundation�[/size]
 
The damage to the frame was not anticipated.� This set me back a couple months.� The cross tube was removed.� This allowed me to straighten the long rails�
 
 
While the tube was out, I cleaned up the ends and patched a few areas that were getting thin�




 
 
I leveled and plumbed the frame, checked measurements, clamped it all into position, then welded it all back together�




 
 
Once the structural issues were addressed, I had it sandblasted�


 
 
Even though my sandblaster does a great job of removing rust, I still use a rust encapsulating primer called Master Series Silver.� I�ve used it before.� Great stuff.� Kind of tough to tell the difference, but this photo shows the frame after it was primed with the Silver�


 
New to me is the chassis coating, by the same company, called AG 111.� It�s a 2 part system. Once on, it is impervious to nearly all chemical or fluid attacks.� �It is UV stable, unlike POR15.� I chose the Satin Black.� It is the closest to the Semi-Gloss that was used for the frame.� I like it�





Did you notice my tub hanging from the rafters?� I�m getting a little tight on room!
 
So, with the �Foundation� complete, we all know what this means�Time to bolt it all back on.
 
Next up: Axles, springs and brakes.

[CJPilot]

Looks great Tim I�m practically speechless.  I�ve been away from my project and this site for a few months while I try and catch up on some other projects. The progress you have made is awesome.  You have a real talent at resurrecting an old tied jeep that�s for sure.   

Steve

[Ryan_M]

Never any shortcuts - just doing it right. Great progress post Tim.

[athawk11]

Steve, Ryan,
Thank you for your far too generous words.

I'm just trying to avoid the NO (Next Owner ) calling me 'Bubba' . As much as I would hate that to be my legacy, I just have a deep desire to honor these little wonders, by giving them the best chance at another 60 years.

Thank you again.

Tim

[Tumbleweed]

Tim,

I just finished my frame painting this weekend as well. I used the Mastercoat series silver and then AG111 but in a gloss. The primer (silver) went on really nice with my HVLP 1.5. The first batch of black I used was a bit thick to spray. I found out that I did have to thin it just a bit like the can say's 5% - 10% max. The second batch sprayed just fine.

I'm glad I am done with the painting of the frame as the Mastercoat is some smelly paint. You really need a good fresh air respirator or good ventilation.

Pictures to follow.......

George

[Tumbleweed]

http://s1205.photobucket.com/user/grfranks/library/Painting%20Process

Lets see if this works.

By the way Tim that frame of your looks great. The satin looks cool

[athawk11]

George,
Great work on your frame!� It looks far less pitted than mine.� Very nice.�

I really like your paint booth too.� I did something similar.

I thought I was the only one that bought into the hype on the Master Series Silver.� I know it's only been a couple years on the Green Willys, but there is "0", nada, no rust on it so far. Used the foam roller approach this time. (I couldn't find my respirator)� It really did go on well with a roller.� I did two coats.

� I used a polyester brush with the AG111.� As they promised, no brush strokes.� On your first round, I'm amazed you could get that stuff to spray at all.� Very thick.� I'm glad to know the reduction works.� I want to spray the really smooth stuff, like the brake backer plates etc...

I'm not seeing a project thread for you.� At least consider sharing your build with the group.� IMHO, you could bring a lot to the table George.   

Tim

[Tumbleweed]

Thanks Tim,

I will take your advise and put this on the project thread.

I thought that my HVLP was acting up on the first round of black but soon realized that the stuff was so thick - thinning helped a great deal. My first project (53 wagon) I used POR but decided to go with the Master Coat series since I had read some good reviews and decided it was worth a try. I am encouraged by your results with zippo rust comment.

I used a sponge roller with the silver and it turned out great as well. I was thinking about using the roller with the black but there are some real hard to get places with a brush. I have some other parts to paint still and I plan on a roller and brush. I'll let you know how the gloss turns out.

Most of my pitting was isolated to the battery tray - not bad for a 64 year old (Jeep) that is.

[athawk11]

The front axle has some good news, and bad.�



I sandblasted, then primed it.� Once I pulled the differential cover, I discovered the first challenge.� The spider gears were missing some teeth�



I ordered some parts from Walcks, then quickly studied up on how to take the axle apart.� It's really is amazing how simple this axle is.

I removed the axle retainers.� This allows you to pull the axle shafts out of the axle housing. I then removed the king pins.






 I removed the old axle seals and pulled the knuckle housing off.� I cleaned everything up.� This is when I discovered the next problem�






These are the king pin bearings. They are toast.� There were no king pins shims, thus no proper preload.� Clearly, replacement bearings need to be ordered.




The axles and knuckle bearings look new, along with these bearings and cups�






It�s strange to find many parts in �like new� condition, and others that are broken and neglected.


Time to re-assemble this axle.� This is such a greasy job. It�s hard to take photos of the process.� I removed the ring gear from the carrier.� I removed this pin�

�

This is when I discovered that the ring gear and carrier had to be removed from the housing before I could get at the spider gears. Once out of the differential housing, the
large retainer pin will slide out, releasing the spider gears.� I pulled the old gears out, then slid the new set in without any difficulty. I re-inserted the pins, greased up the bearings and cups, re-installed the ring gear, then reset the carrier into the differential housing.� I tightened the bearing caps to spec�.









Time to set the new king pin bearings.� I greased them up real good, then slipped the knuckle housing into position.� I have the old style knuckle housings, so I need to add shims to both the upper and lower king pins.� There was quite a bit of trial and error.� I had to installed and remove the king pins four times before I reached the proper preload.� I settled on 10 lbs of pressure with a fish scale.� You would think the other side would need the same amount of shims.� Not in my case.� I had to set, then remove the other side three times before I reached my goal.





I installed the new knuckle seals, then slid in the axle shafts.� I temporarily reset the axle retainers until I�m ready to install the brake backing plates.� This repair took me longer than I thought it would.� 6 hours.� This included the cleaning.� I hate cleaning.

[1955CJ-5]

Tim,

Great pictures and narrative...Did you use a differential spreader to remove/install the carrier?

[athawk11]

No, but if I knew there was a tool for doing this, I sure as heck would have procured one.  It took a while to get it out.  That is one tight fit between the bearing cups and the diff housing.  I used a combination of Wonder Bars and claw hammers.  I worked back and forth from one side to the other, moving the carrier a fraction of an inch at a time, until it was free.

Tim

[bretto]

Ya there is a case spreader tool but I never thought the need to have one for how little use it would ever see.  It's perfectly acceptable to just pry the carrier out as you did.

[1955CJ-5]

Tim,

Were you able to drive this jeep before you started to rebuild it?

Were you able to hear any specific noise from the differentials or did they just blend in with the chorus of sound coming from the drivetrain?

The least expensive case spreader that I can find is about $170...

But there is a picture of one in the service manual...I think you could have made one....

[athawk11]

Hi Randy,

I did drive this Willys prior to tear down, but I didn't lock the front axle in.� There is a short video of this drive toward the beginning of this project thread.� �I was so thrilled this would move under its own power, I forgot to do some of those basic tests. After seeing the broken gears, I suspect I might have locked up, or done some more damage to the differential, had I actually locked in the front axle.

The steering had been modified with the wrong gear box.� It turned smoothly, but the play at the wheel was horrible.� It needed nearly half a turn to get a response from the axle.� I couldn't hear any crunching sounds that you might expect with bearings that looked like this.� I think the huge steering box may have been hiding other deficiencies.

The engine sounded good and it shifted well, so I'm hopeful it won't need any major work.� It did feel under powered, but this could be any of a number of things...timing, the extra steel welded on to the tub, the huge tire radius, or the worst case scenerio, bad compression. :-/� We will see.

Tim