The bearings etc will certainly help the steering both in accuracy and ease of turning.

I can't believe how much smoother and how little force the 3a requires as opposed to the CJ-5....I have yet to replace the kingpin bearings on the -5.

I remember that video...you roaring around in the yard...wasn't sure if it was the same jeep though...

Real nice body work, I appreciate your thread

Progress has come to a crawl.  The weather has been pretty chilly here.




  I know brakes are a whole new sub-set, but the axle is ready for them, so I went ahead and got them cleaned up.

Brake drum primed with Master Series Silver…



Backing plates all cleaned and painted…



A photo of all the brake parts.  Not pictured…new cylinders and springs…



The brake assembly ready to be bolted up…



I installed a new sleeve on the yoke…











The new seal is installed….





I decided to use this product for my knuckle lube.  Boy, there is a lot of debate on this subject.  I really like its consistency.  The tube format makes it easy to squirt into the filler port.  Two 4 once tubes per side…   



This axle is ready to be installed on the frame.  Time to work on the Dana 41 rear axle.

Thanks for looking in.

Tim

Hi George,

I’m not sure what the thickness is for my king pin shims.  I just kept adding to the bottom and top, evenly, until I reached 10-12 pounds of pulling force on my fish scale.  I found it odd that each side required a different amount of shims.

This is a ’49 3A.  It has the older style knuckle.

According to other Willys professionals, there was a knuckle change about the same time the M38 came to be.  They added a ‘shelf’ to the lower knuckle housing that eliminated the need to shim the lower king pin.  This shelf is .058’’ ish.  It made king pin service easier and faster because shims were only needed on the top. 

I did a quick search.  I was hoping to find a fairly recent discussion from Bob W, but found this one instead.  Calvin Hunt says it better than me…

http://cj3apage.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Tech&action=display&thread=1736

I know your’re feeling this too, but axle repair/restoration is boring and tedious.  It’s not very interesting for me, or anyone reading about it, but it is a critical step.  I just wish I was done with them!!   A positive note, my rear 41 is in excellent condition.  All internals look brand new.  At one point or another, there was a major problem back there.  Looks like the gears exploded right through the diff cover.

Tim

    

Hey Tim,

Any more progress? I'm sure things are slowing down around the holidays - looking forward to your next post.

George

Do you need a diff cover? I have one.

I am happy to report, Bretto was kind enough to part with a very nice Dana 41 differential cover.  Whitey will not be embarrased to show his hind end.  Thanks again Bretto!

The weather has cooperated over the last week or so.  I was able to clean the shop and start the chassis re-assembly.  This is far and away my favorite part.  The bulk of scraping crud, wire wheel work, sandblasting etc, is behind me.   

I’ve accumulated the majority of parts needed.  I still get caught on occasion.  One set of old axle u-bolts were cut too short by the PO. ( I went to the 10 leaf spring pack on the front, and the bolts don’t reach anymore.)

The axles and springs have been installed.  On the last Willys, I installed the wheels, tires, and leaf springs to the axle, then just steered that assembly under the frame.  That approach works pretty well.  On this one, I had just finished painting the drums, so I needed to come up with something different. 

I bolted the rear of the leaf springs, set the axle on them, then jacked the springs up to install the spring shackles.  This works fairly well too.  The hard part was getting the heavy axle into position without scratching paint, or breaking my back.  I did this on both front and rear axles.











I learned something new.  Now, we all know the driver front, and passenger rear get the left hand thread shackles.  What I didn’t know is that only the spring eye side of the shackle is left hand thread.  The frame side of the shackle is still right hand thread.  I vaguely remember being very confused when fighting the shackles onto my OD Willys.  Mystery solved.


All in all, it was a good day.  Next up,  Brakes and brake lines.

Thanks for looking in.

Tim

It looks great Tim...that really is the fun part.

Thanks for solving the shackle mystery...I've never seen it stated so simply...