67 Cj5 Build Thread By A Rookie

My new shocks did the self clearance too. There are smaller bodied shocks available or you could move the shock to the back of the axle and use F-250 shock towers from the amazon at $51 a pair.
For now I used gas shocks {Bilstein} that are non-directional with the shaft down for clearance. Came with the BDS kit.
Do your tires hit the springs? How close are you to the stops at full lock?

 

I found a lot of these problems as I took the jeep apart. I didn't see any evidence that the tires hit the springs. I need to put them back on to figure that out. I was planning to use a shock that could be mounted shaft down.

I put the knuckles back on after confirming proper preload, replaced the seals, and fortunately that small area I ground out for the round headed bolts does not show, so hopefully I will not have any leaks. I will keep an eye on that.
I am about 1/8 from the stop on the passenger side and 3/16 on the driver side. That is just an estimate.

I started the front disc conversion with the kit from horsepower sales. Wanted to do a lot more reading before I did anything permanent...

 

Did you turn the bolt heads down on your stud conversion? I ground the notch a little more than you did. Still have plenty of seal surface. Running a 33" tire with 3.54" backspace
and keep extending my stops out. Every time I think it's good, the tire hits the springs. Running out of bolt. Beginning to think about spacers. Just my experience.

 

I faced the knuckle all the way down to what would be the “normal”thickness of the casting but I didn’t inset it at all. I turned the bolt heads to .610, just a tad smaller than the facing bit. I used the 5/8 counterbore with a 5/64 centering insert and the button head bolts from McMaster. Some people said to torque to 45-55 which is what the FSM says for the spindle to knuckle bolt, but the bolt head started to deform around 30, so I left it at that. Red lock tite as everyone says.
I’m trying to figure out what to use to hold the disc mounting plates into the studs - nylocks and flat washers or regular nuts and lock washers. I think it is going to be nylocks since that shouldn’t exceed the heat tolerance of the nylon. I’m assuming it will be ok to torque the nuts to 45 with the studs set up with red lock tite.
Being really green at this, it was pretty exciting to see the knuckles in place and turning. Can’t wait to get the wheels on and see it roll.

 

Being anal...I used nordlock washers from mcmaster and blue thread-lock with good grade 8 nuts. Mcmaster has quick delivery as a normal process. It's all a learning curve on a Jeep.

 

I took a week off to go to the college basketball tourneys in Vegas with my wife, so I didn’t get anything done on the jeep until late this afternoon. I am using the front disc conversion kit from horsepower sales - it is a really nice setup, but the pictures on the instructions are sketchy. The kit comes with a “thin washer” (maybe because of the extra thickness from the dust shield) and I got the spindle nut/washer kit, but the problem I had was that the instructions say to install spindle washer and nut then install the “new thin washer” and nut. The thin washer that comes with the kit is the smaller diameter washer that I think should actually go on first because you need the bigger diameter washer second to be able to bend over and lock in the outer nut. Any of you guys who know what you are doing would figure that out on the fly, but it ended my afternoon work so I could read more and watch more videos. On this picture, you can see how the instructions say to do it. The thinner washer is toward the outside. I’ll swap them tomorrow. Since I set the preload already, I think I will just count the turns on the first (deepest) nut when I take it apart and put it back to the same point.
The other problem I had was that the drivers hub/rotor initially didn’t go in enough to have threads on the spindle to seat the first nut. I pulled the hub and saw that the spindle was thicker where the inner bearing goes, so I had to give a few medium gentle taps to seat if all the way. It seems kind of odd that there would be wear on the spindle between the inner and outer bearings where there shouldn’t be any metal contact. I think this is the same side that didn’t have a lock ring on the lockers when I took it apart.

 

This looks correct. You would not be able to bend the thick washer. Bend two opposing sides and call it good. Which hubs did you go with?

 

The hubs came pressed into the rotors and the races were pressed into the hubs. BTW, I used nordlock washers. That was a new one for me.

 

That was the first time I had used the nordlocks. After looking how bad split washers come out, and hearing of these I went for it. Critical location and all.
To clarify, I was asking about locking hubs as horsepower gives the option. Pretty cool to get everything in one place.

 

I have the original warn lockers that appear to be in good shape. I gave them a quick wire brush on the benchtop grinder.

 

Still working on the front discs. I broke a prybar trying to bend the lip of the small, thin washer over the outer nut in the hub. That lip is really small - definitely smaller than the outer washer that was there when I took apart the axle. Any ideas what to do?

I’m also having a problem with that #*%#*+< caliper clip. It keeps pulling off the inner brake pad when I try to install the calipers. Is that just for assembling, or is it an important part keeping the inner pad in the right position with respect to the brake cylinder?

 

I made a little progress today. Again, two steps forward, one step back. I got the rear backing plates on and mostly installed the front discs. Mostly because I still need to figure out what the deal is with the caliper pad clip that keeps popping off when I try to install the calipers.

As I said before, this is the disc kit from horsepowersales.com. I’m pretty sure the guy at horsepower said it is the base conversion set from Herm the overdrive guy. The main selling feature to me was that the calipers were already ground down so they wouldn’t contact the steering knuckles. Here is a picture of the clearance.


One thing I am seeing is that I may not need to put back on the spacers that the PO had on. I’m not sure if they were put on to clear the 11” drums, for looks, or to give a wider platform for off-roading. So much to learn!

 

I spoke to the guys at horsepower and they said that they routinely have to tweak the clip to get them to stay on and once there is some pressure in the brake lines, things stay in place fine. I’m going to double check it again when I get to that point.
I finished the front discs, until the step when you attach the axle clip between the hub and clutch of the lockers. The groove on the axle doesn’t stick out enough to put in the clip. I posted this question on the tech site.
Feeling down about my lack of technical skills/knowledge, I went back to my model airplane days and prettied up the locking hubs using Testor model paint. We’ll see how that holds up.

I also finished rebuilding my rear drums and put the rear wheels on. I was hoping to have a skateboard by the end of this weekend, but at least I have a wheelbarrow.

 

Don’t get down on yourself, I spent a couple hours learning my new welder on some 3/16 flat stock, feeling pretty confident except that my frame is 1/8. Now i need to find some 1/8 to practice on.
Most of the fun is learning!
I’m pretty sure yours is going to come out great.

 

I’m going to lift my spirits by doing what my wife does - spend money! Of course, she is probably not buying a gas tank, e brake parts, and a rear pinion seal…

 

I got done with work a little early today and I now have a roller! I may put a piece of plywood on top so I can pull a Fred Flinstone move and ride it down the driveway!



I took my tranny and TC to the shop Tuesday. They should be ready in a few weeks. I wasn’t confident that I would be able to tell the difference between good parts and bad parts and I don’t want to have to pull those pigs out again any time soon.

I started filling up lubricants. One mistake I made is that I think I put in too much knuckle grease. It’s either a pretty small compartment, or it needs to level out, or I’m just a fast greaser. I’m going to let it sit for a few hours or overnight and see if it settles to a different level.

The next steps for me are retorque the springs now that wheels are on the ground and work on the steering. I still need to figure out what shocks to get. Then clean up the 225 and replace seals.

I’m also getting ready to buy parts for the rear tank. The guys at MTS were really helpful. I pulled the hitch already and got to see what the frame looked like before I blasted and painted it.

 

You are going to need to cut out the “v” section of the frame to get a gas’s tank to fit.

 

Yes. Thanks. I was waiting to get the wheels on so I could wheel it out of my shop when I cut it off. I gave up on the idea of a clean shop floor like I had when I only did woodworking, but I’m still trying to keep out the metal debris.

 

Follow up to the knuckle grease. I used the torqueking closed knuckle grease. It didn’t level out overnight. I spoke to one of the guys at torqueking and it sounds like I didn’t use enough to actually fill it past the fill line and it is probably piling up next to the u joint and looking like it is filled. He said to jack up the front and spin the wheel to mix it around the knuckle. The guys at torqueking are very responsive and helpful.

I ordered my rear gas tank from MTS. Also really helpful guys. I think I could have saved $100 or so on all of the parts shopping around, but I was able to one stop shop at MTS, and I know I’m not going to end up with an Omix fuel sender or junk skid plate. Also very helpful guys.

Next up is sourcing parts for the rear drum e brakes.

 

Two notable events for me today. First, I pushed my jeep out of the driveway to cut off the hitch support bracket. Technically, I think that means it is now a vehicle since it was able to roll and went outside the garage. Second, I cut off the bracket to make room for the tank and skid plate. Hopefully, more to report this weekend.