Tumbleweeds 49

[Tumbleweed]

The supports are carpet covered. I used 8 - 2X4's that were 32" wide to get the height I wanted. Your idea sounds great on installation as well. Never occurred to me to do it that way. That is why I love the 3A page - lesson learned for next jeep!

I just need to find another garage !

[Tumbleweed]

Not much progress lately - been busy with the Thanksgiving holiday and now Christmas decorating. I did manage to get the new blue shocks painted black and installed so things are progressing just at a much slower pace. I was in the process of setting the preload on the king pins but ran out of shims. So you know what that means - order more than I should from Walks - I did manage to get free shipping! The weather has been great in Ft Worth/Dallas but Thursday and Friday looks like we are not getting above the 30's. I'll take a few pictures and post tomorrow of the new shocks installed.

George

[Tumbleweed]

I had an hour to burn last night so I installed the shocks - slow progress this month

[Tumbleweed]

Okay no progress last few days but the weather has been rotten in Dallas/Ft Worth these past few days. Finally received some parts from FedEx/Walks. Thursday I plan on doing final assembly on the knuckles and we will see how that goes, then the rear backing plates to set axle play. Next job will be brakes and misc. parts on the frame. Should be able to mount the transmission/bell hsg. and transfer case to get it out from under my work bench. More progress after Christmas.

George

[BMIC]

My complements on your work so far George, looks great!
By the looks of the activity on the 3A Page I think we are all in a holiday mode. Sit back, put a bow on it and admire your work..

[garage gnome]

I hope my tub looks that good! Very nice!

[1955CJ-5]

I'm curious about that chemical dip to remove rust.....Is it specifically for car bodies? What kind of business offers it? 

I kinda doubt that someone around here does it but you never know...

Randy

[Tumbleweed]

Hey Randy,

A company in Ft Worth called Metal Rehab did my entire jeep. It really came out nice and gets the rust out of all the cracks and crevices. You can see this on their web page www.metalrehab.com. The shop manager had a CJ2A of his own they were working on in addition to about 6 other classic cars and trucks. Once they get all the rust off and bondo, they spray it with a barrier coating so that it does not surface rust. As long as you keep the parts inside they will not rust for months. When you are ready to do your body work you wash the metal with water and soap then proceed to the next step depending on what stage you are in - primer/body filler/welding/etc.

I figured that the investment (around $750) to do this was worth it since I did not know how rusty the tub was under the 4 layers of paint from the previous owner.

G

[Tumbleweed]

Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. I was able to get a little work done and thought that I would post an update and I hope some helpful information regarding knuckle upgrade/repair. I have a copy of Moses Ludel's handbook and it is very helpful for sure. I did notice there was one little piece of information that would could have been more helpful though (just my opinion). Moses has a great fix for the upgrade to the knuckle. I had 11 of the 12 spindle bolts torqued just perfect and the 12th bolt would not torque (partial stripped out in knuckle casting) I was really upset since I had already stuffed the knuckle with grease! Moses said to use 3/8"-24 grade 8 button head bolts from the backside. This would really improve the durability of the knuckle/spindle/backing plate configuration - making it stronger and eliminating the stripped out threads on the cast iron knuckles. What he did not mention was the length of the bolts. I found that 1.250" worked best and allowed for enough thread on the grade 8 top lock nuts to bite. Believe me 1" will not work! I torqued the nuts to 40 ft.lbs. and it works great. You will also have to grind the knuckle just a little so that you can get full swing of the required turn angle. See the attached pictures.

So after all the reworking and grease packing I thought that I would treat myself to mounting the transfer case and transmission -

Got to order more parts now from Walks!

[athawk11]

That's a very slick fix.� I probably would have wasted time and money tracking down a new knuckle housing.� Thanks for sharing.

Back a few steps...

Do you find it hard to install the shocks, shock washers and pins?� The amount of rubber on the replacement shocks makes is hard to set the pin.� A combination of clamps and channel locks can get them set, but I remember being very frustrated when setting them on the OD Willys.� Short of trimming down the rubber, is there a trick to getting the darn pins set?

Tim

[Tumbleweed]

Tim,

Funny you should ask - heck yes I had a difficult time getting past the cotter pin hole - I used a large "C" clamp and a piece of aluminum that had a slot cut into it so that I would be able to install the cotter pin. I will take a picture of how I did this. The "C" clamp needs to be really heavy duty since you will be using a considerable amount of umph!

George

[Tumbleweed]

Hey Tim,
have a look at the pics to see how I installed the cotter pin. If you have a block of aluminum or brass drill a .75" hole - then drill another hole perpendicular as close to the edge to allow the pin to be inserted and also be able to remove the block once you get the washer compressed. The shock mount is .625".


George

[Biotex]

Very nice work George!  Getting a rolling chassis is a milestone in any build.

[garage gnome]

I made a similar tool also. Works every time!

[athawk11]

Great idea George.  That should make short work of setting those pins.  I don't have any chunks of aluminum, but I think I could duplicate it with a piece of mahogany.

Thanks for sharing.

Tim