Knuckle rebuild

[1955CJ-5]

The 1955 CJ-5 has sat neglected in storage for most of last year. I did buy a set of bearings, seals etc to rebuild the knuckles last year....and now about a year later I'm finally getting to it...

It's the usual mess...but not a bad job after you get all the old grease cleaned up.

The top bearing on the passenger side was pretty bad, the rest were just worn.

One interesting thing. I'm pretty sure that 3a and later Dana 25's were only meant to be shimmed under the top bearing cap. This had a shim under the bottom cap only, nothing under the top.

And how about those Bendix axles? Two jeeps, two sets of bendix axles....but these seem a little tighter than the one's in the 3a...

We've had this jeep since 62....it must have had an interesting life for the seven years prior to our getting it!

Most of you will recognize this mess

[athawk11]

Yes, very familiar.

There was a change in the knuckle some time during 3A production.  I can't remeber when.  I believe it was about the same time the M38 was in development.  Originally, the knuckle required shims on both the top and bottom king pins.  Later production required shimming on just the top position.

Tim

[1955CJ-5]

Thanks Tim, I thought I remembered something about that...I shimmed the 3a on the top only, and compared to this CJ-5 it feels like it has power steering...with any luck the -5 will feel the same once it's back together....

And the red wheels are going back on the 3a during this process and the -5 will get it's white 16" radials back...

[athawk11]

I really like your team.  Cracks me up how small the 3A looks sitting next to his younger brother.

Tim

[Ryan_M]

It's funny how identical the scene of a knuckle rebuild is in any garage around the world. Always remnants of smeared grease, spent bearings, and the feeble attempt at preserving the cleanliness of the axle by placing it in or on a plastic bag. It's almost always a losing battle.

I know nothing about CJ-5's but it looks like pretty much the same stuff as a 3A. Did you set the kingpin bearing preload with a fish scale or do you have another method?

And yes, no bottom shims starting sometime in 3A production. Bob W's book lists the SN of the change and I know it's been discussed here before. If you put a "2A" style knuckle next to a later "3A" style knuckle you can clearly see the additional "shelf" on the bottom of the knuckle that eliminates the need for the bottom shims. I lined them up once to compare and thought I snapped a pic for a post such as this but now I can't find it.

Curious to see more of the CJ5 if you continue to work on it. 

[garage gnome]

Ah yes, my favorite thing to do in the whole world. Rip apart a D25 or 27. NOT!





I get to to rip my D30 apart completely today in the Jalopy to replace the leaking inner axle seals.

[1955CJ-5]

The 3a even feels smaller when you drive it....or should I say that the CJ-5 feels big and ponderous?

Ryan I remember there was a thread about the shims and knuckle changes..I couldn't find it either.....and I bought a digital fish scale...nothing fancy..

Most of the -5 work was done just before I bought the 3a...I hadn't been driving it because of the loose steering...well repairing the steering led to a new master cylinder, radiator, water pump, road springs...the usual progression...

And I'm still trying to tighten up the steering...the knuckle rebuild ought to help...

When I was standing in the driveway admiring a spring pack from the -5, the google street view car went by...so I'm on street view now!

Nate, I haven't gotten that deeply into a diff yet...and no plans to try it either!

[1955CJ-5]

And you can see that the -5 has removable floor panels like the M-38....so you can get in there and polish the transmission...

[1955CJ-5]

I got one side back together and it's time for a break...

I noticed this..I probably saw them before and wondered what they were for.....the mounting holes are there for a early style fender mount...

This is an early -5 so there no doubt are some hold-overs from previous models....

Or maybe the M-38 A1 used these holes for mounting fenders...

[1955CJ-5]

The knuckles are back together and now it should drive "as new"...

New worm and shaft, new sector shaft, new pitman, new bellcrank bearings, new tie rod ends, and now new kingpin bearings and seals....

And I did take it around the block...steering is light and smooth...

Here is a shot of my elaborate parts cleaner, and knuckle pudding on the side board ready to serve....

[1955CJ-5]

And just for curiosity's sake, we once had a discussion of the fastening location for the ground cable from the battery. On the -5 as long as I can remember the cable has run to the oil filter bracket.....

When I cleaned up the weird aluminum headlight buckets I noticed one was worn...in an odd place it seemed....I just could not figure out what may have caused it....

But now, with my newly acquired knowledge of battery cable routing( thanks to the CJ-3a forum) I suspect that the wear was caused by a battery cable at some time in the past.....

Another Willys mystery solved......