My 1963 CJ3B Build Thread

[Chuck W.]

but I'm thinking of swapping most all lights over to LED,

I've been thinking about doing that, too, but not sure if I have to change the turn signal flasher??
Looks like 1157 bulbs front and rear??

[Doug_3B]

I came very close to using a tractor light.  Lawrence Wade used a similar light on his for years as a back up and I was leaning that direction (incl. LED versions). 








But I found this on the auction site and the price was too good to pass (see attached below).

I like that light, Rus!  And it's a great idea to mount the light on the draw bar.  I'll remember that for the future!

[Doug_3B]

but I'm thinking of swapping most all lights over to LED,

I've been thinking about doing that, too, but not sure if I have to change the turn signal flasher??
Looks like 1157 bulbs front and rear??

I haven't really looked into this yet Chuck. 

I did swap turn signals from incandescent to LED on my 91 YJ earlier this year.  I bought the bulbs and also a resistor that they said might be required so the bulbs wouldn't flash really fast.  I swapped the bulbs only and had no issue.  Didn't need to swap the flasher or install the resistor.  That's not to say the 3B will be the same....

[1955CJ-5]

Hey Doug!

Remember Rocky Canyon?

Was it really 8 years ago?

Randy

[Doug_3B]

Hey Doug!

Remember Rocky Canyon?

Was it really 8 years ago?

Randy

Hey Randy!!!  That was a fun trip! 

How the heck are ya!?  We have to get together some time!  Todd and I were on a trip up through Clear Creek and back around Boise Ridge Road in August.  It's the first time I saw him in 4-5 years.

[1955CJ-5]

I'm good...older but no wiser!

Still crawling around under the jeep looking for trouble to get into...

Enjoying your jeep thread......seems to me you had just rebuilt the engine when we were on one of our drives....

[Doug_3B]

Good to hear Randy! 

I'm glad you are enjoying this thread.  You're correct - engine rebuild is coming up soon!

[Doug_3B]

While I love the look of an old Flattie with no rollbar, I decided to trade looks for at least the illusion of safety and installed a roll bar.





Soon after this, we moved into Boise.  This move provided quicker and easier access into the Boise National Forest for me.  I ventured out farther and farther, and each time I was out, there was always something that I'd decide needed to be changed on the Jeep.  Little projects soon started to happen.

I bought and installed a drawbar.  No real need for it, but decided no Willys was complete without one LOL



I also installed the side spare tire mount



I sprang for a good marine wiper motor for it



And went through a series of different disconnects for it so I could lay down the windshield.  From not great:



To slightly better:



To the final design



That doesn't need to be disconnected at all.  You can also see that I installed the shakiest mirror of all time.



And, for the final pic on this post, I got a nice bikini top from New Life Canvas to keep the scorching Idaho sun from baking me alive

[Doug_3B]

Somewhere around the spring of 2011, I saw Goose's sweet 3B had a spare tire mount on the tailgate, and I thought it looked so much better than the side mount.  So, I started calculatin' and came up with a crazy plan that I should have known wasn't going to work. 

I welded a piece of angle iron onto the spare tire mount. That rests on the top of the tailgate and I thought may take some of the weight off of the bolts going through the tailgate.



It was kind of difficult for me to drill holes in this after all of the body work I had done, but I got through it.



Removed the chains and bolted the tailgate shut



I needed to add spacers, I just used wood, hoping it would not tear up the tailgate too bad.



I cut a piece of oak for the inside, to hopefully help spread out the stress/weight



The finished mount



And a couple shots of it all done





Now, this was going to work real good - IF the Jeep was going to sit still.

Unfortunately for me, the Jeep didn't sit still.  The first run I went on, I heard a terrible rattling coming from the back.  We pulled over and my friend Matt who was following me asked what was up with my spare tire, it was moving around entirely too much LOL.  Upon investigation, that tube at the top of the tailgate cracked and the whole thing was starting to fail.  I figured I'd add this gem of a failure in here in case anyone was thinking of doing the same thing - might not want to!

Before continuing on the Jeep trip that day:



Later, see my next brainstorm for a tailgate spare tire mount.  I wasn't giving up yet!

[Doug_3B]

I think I'm starting to get some things slightly out of order of how they actually were done, but for the most part, the order doesn't matter.

Since we started with the tailgate spare tire mount above, I'll continue with my next hair brained spare tire mount idea here.

I still had the beat up original tailgate.  It was pretty rough.  Here was my first look at it as I started working on it.



I cut the bad section out of the bottom



I hammered out a replacement out of 18 gauge steel I had laying around.  It looks like complete garbage, but is solid.  I tacked it on.



A test fit revealed it was not perfect, but would work since it would be bolted shut.





Here I have the rest of the holes closed up



I welded some angle on the inside.  I wasn't screwing around with a small piece of oak this time....





Here's another shot of it and I have the holes drilled for the tire mount and anti-vibration dampener



Etching primer on



And a test fit



I decided to rattle can it flat black rather than try get out the paint gun and try to mix up more paint to match.  I thought the black was a nice contrast and most of it would be covered up with a spare tire and eventually a Jerry can.



And, the tire mounted



I finished this sometime in 2011, I believe.  As of today, November 19, 2020, this tailgate is holding up well and is still in use.

I have thoughts of one day fabricating a swing away spare tire carrier that bolts to the draw bar in some manner AND still allows use of the tailgate.  It's been a long time since I've been able to drop the tailgate up in the mountains and sit on it to eat lunch.

[Doug_3B]

So, I did get slightly out of order here.  The tailgate project was 2011.  The T-90/D-18 rebuild was during the winter of 2009, I believe.  I finally got tired of popping out of second when I was motoring down Rocky Canyon Rd back into Boise.  I used some winter downtime to remove and rebuild both the transmission and transfer case.  I had very detailed photo threads made, as a compliment to Rick Stiver's guides.  I also had his T-90 rebuild video on VHS.  I lent that to a guy and never saw it again.  I literally have over 220 photos from the rebuild, but I'm not going to go into great detail.  I heard there are rebuild videos out there on youtube now.  If you're interested, my D-18 writeup was published on the CJ3A Page tech tips section https://www.cj3apage.com/index/Tech_Tips/DougHD-18TransfertCase.htm

Anyway, on to some photos!

Here are both pulled from the Jeep



You can see I had the old style transfer case



Here they are, separated and on the bench



The T-90 spilled it's guts



Case cleaned and painted



T-90 reassembled



D-18 getting ready for the same treatment



D-18 disassembled, cleaned, painted, and awaiting reassembly



Here is a stupid little dolly I made to wheel this stuff around.  I'd be able to wheel it under the Jeep and still get a jack underneath.



T-90/D-18 mated back up.  You can also see I swapped the old style parking brake to the one that is supposed to be on a 3B



Install shifter temporarily to make sure everything works as it's supposed to



Here we are heading outside to install



Both worked like a champ.  No issues besides some leaking.

[Doug_3B]

I rebuilt a spare carb that I had laying around using a Carter zip kit.

I've got millions of pictures of this project as well, but will just provide a few below.

Original:





Just before I started to tear it down



Here are some of the little parts you end up working with



And all cleaned up and put back together.



I didn't really notice any big changes in performance or how well the engine ran, so the old one probably wasn't too bad.  One day I think I'll send the spare off to be professionally rebuilt - get the bushings checked/replaced. 

[Doug_3B]

In 2011, I got the idea into my head that I needed an overdrive.  I sold off a bunch of spare parts and stuff from around the house to help fund this "need."

Finally, a box arrived from Herm.



Oh man, that sure doesn't look like a thousand dollars worth of parts...



Time has not been kind to me.  I don't remember the name of half of this stuff anymore and am too lazy to look it up.  If I remember correctly, that thing on the right got replaced by the bigger thing on the left LOL



Seems that I always did Jeep projects when it was scorching hot or bitter cold.  Here we are in December, 2011, in my unheated garage.  My good friend Marc was helping me with this project. 



When I was pulling the output shaft gear (or whatever it's called), I dropped the cotter pin down inside the transfer case.  I fished for it for 20 minutes and couldn't find it.  Had a magnet stuck in there and everything.  So, off came the pan.



Oh the things you find while removing the pan.  I never noticed this when I rebuilt the transfer case



Here is the planetary gear installed.



Other than losing the cotter pin and having to remove the pan, this black clip seen in the center of the photo was the most frustrating piece of the OD installation.  Basically, if you install it correctly and it stays in place, you are good to go.  If you screw it up and it comes loose, you grenade $1,000 investment.  Once I thought I had it in there correctly, I spent a full 20 minutes monkeying with it to see if I could make it fall out.   



Finally satisfied that the clip was in there and not coming out, we bolted on the rest



I had some issues with the linkage hitting the underside of the tub.  I ended up fixing it by lowering the transmission/transfer case crossmember slightly.  Here I have the shifter installed complete with the aluminum shifter knob I salvaged from my Dad's CJ3B.  I ended up removing that shift knob because depending on what gear the transmission was in, the OD shifter knob would hit it.



I let the sealant cure for 24 hours before adding oil. I then tested the OD while the Jeep was up on jack stands.  Everything worked fine.  A road test also went great.  I have a video of the jack stand test at least, I may insert that in here one day.

9 years later, the OD is still performing well.  I have to say, it was worth every penny!

[Doug_3B]

By this point in the rebuild, I'm into late winter, 2012.  The major things I hadn't touched yet:  engine and axles.

We would tackle the axles first.  I wanted to get into them at least as far as the wheel bearings and make sure everything was OK.

Just getting started.  Locking hub removed:



I went and bought the spindle nut socket so I could do this right.  However, I soon found that someone had been in here before, and they had not bought a spindle nut socket.



That thing looked like some sort of wicked circular saw blade







I was expecting to see a U-joint in here, not a bunch of ball bearings!  This was when I learned about Bendix vs Spicer front axles.  There's even another kind called Rzeppa.



Got the top king pin bearing cap removed



Had some cleaning to do before I could remove the bottom bearing cap!



Have the knuckle removed here



This was the worst king pin bearing I found.  Lower drivers side bearing:



Here I have things pretty well cleaned up and after a parts order, ready to reassemble



Here are the two different types of front axles side by side.  Bendix on the left, Spicer on the right.  My big question was:  "How the heck do I know if the Bendix joint is any good?"  I found out from the CJ3B forum at the time the answer was simple:  You hold the axle by the shorter portion (outer when installed in the Jeep) and let the longer portion hang.  If the longer portion hangs, the axle joint is still serviceable.  If the longer portion crashes to the ground, the joint is unserviceable. 

[Rus Curtis]

Great job documenting!