I have some catching up to do with the thread. We did a lot of work since the forum went down and even after, but I was a bit slacking on uploading the pictures.
Continuing were we left off:
New spindle bushings
Then, went to disassemble and clean the backing plates, and found this...
To the spare parts pile we go
Hit the knuckles and backing plates with some red oxide.
Did the same to the hubs. on one side, the left hand studs were replaced with regular ones. (the left hands will be kept to be used in the MB)
We took a few parts to our local machinist to eliminate some play. new bushings and pedal shaft bracket tube.
Before.
After. (I forgot to take a close up shot of the brake pedal pin, which he also replaced).
In the meantime, the body was being worked on by our friends at the body shop. We decided the best course would be to replace the entire front floor. Note the amount of body filler that was used...
Toolbox patched and is ready to be re-welded (thankfully, the Jeep script was not rotten or cut).
The toolbox drain was missing. The body shop copied it from the original one in my 3A
Back to us: Brake hardware cleaned, painted and assembled (with new linings).
Note we also removed the second tie rod end hole that had been welded to the knuckle, we returned to the original steering system. Nothing wrong with switching to a crossover system (my 3A is set up like that), but this one had been so poorly executed...
Back on it's wheels at last.
To wrap it up, I installed this early set of AVM locking hubs (patterned from the old style Warn hubs) that I refurbished a few months prior.
On the body, the guys made their progress as well:
Remade water drain.
Floor swap pretty much wrapped up. Dad and I sourced the missing toolbox lid hinges, and the remaining stuff (Gas tank bracket, seat captive nut, PTO opening) were transferred over from the old floor.
Steering arms are in, like i mentioned, we reverted to the stock style tie rods.
Rebuilt pedal shaft, master cylinder back in place.
And then, with the frame ready, I decided to strip it in preparation for paint.
It was a couple of weeks, many days spent only on this, wire wheeling and hand scraping/sanding what the grinder couldn't reach...
Also, committed some OSHA violations I guess?
After doing all that, I wouldn't do it again... If I ever have to clean a frame again, it's getting media blasted, no matter if I have to tear everything back down and deal with the cost of it.
But after that, we could hit it with red oxide primer
Then, the black.
With the frame behind us, we took a break from the Jeep to work on my truck instead, swapping in the new engine.
We wanted to get the frame painted before doing that, to avoid it rusting (I should have thought my timing better, and not fully stripped the frame at the beginning of winter).
The engine swap on the truck took most of July, during which the boys at the body shop finished their part of the restoration.
The insides and underside have been scraped to remove the bedliner that had been applied.
Quite a lot came out, and that's not counting what got thrown out already.
On the outside, Dad decided not to fully strip the body, so some filler was required.
Because of that, as a Gag gift, Dad gave a mason float to the guys.
The insides, primered.
And this monday, the body was finally painted!
Well... the rear floor is looking a bit wavy...
Dad picked up the body today, and I got to say, it looks very good!
I however, forgot to take any pictures of it on the frame.... my bad
I did however take pictures of the little work we did in the transmission cover. I had already pointed out to Dad that it should be painted black, but I did not remember it had been cut some to allow for the shifter of the 4 speed it had previously. We took a section from a spare (CJ-5) cover we had and repaired the original one.
I've already welded it, but we still have to grind, strip, and repaint it.
That's it for now. A long post, but there was a lot to catch up to!
Nando.
