1972 CJ-5 Almost Restoration

Off the top of my head I cant remember what the brand of the seal is - let alone the part number. I'll check the part bag this weekend and report back.

 

Not a lot of progress last weekend - seems I'm in a holding pattern awaiting parts. "You Order is In Process"


Some painting, preparation and just a little assembly. Got the steering knuckles and associated parts painted. With a little cleanup to the sockets in preparation for the ball joints. And some of the remaining frame and axle parts painted. Cant move much further until the u-joints arrive. Unless I miss understood the assembly process - but if I understand it correctly the axles need to go in before the spindles can be built up and attached to the knuckle.


So a couple of progress pics top keep everyone interested.


Steering Knuckles







With the ball joints pressed in. Must remember to load the upper joint with grease before installing the knuckle. I don't think I'll be bale to get a fitting on the zerk once it's installed.

Brake Backing Plates, Drums, Frame x-Member and Bumpers Painted




Rims
4 of them are in rather good shape


One of them... not so much. But it's a matching spare


The rims are going off to the powder coater - assuming I can get a call back from them. Was quoted a good price, but communications seems to have broken down.


If anyone has a recommendation for a powder coater in New Jersey Monmouth County or close by.


I'd also be open to recommendations to go with paint over powder. I'm leaning towards powder for durability. Knowing that it has a tendency to not fill the seams between the rim parts and allow rusting. Thoughts?

 

Paint, it's much easier to touch up if need be. IMHO.

 

More progress over the weekend, mostly on the front axle. Some pics....

Steering Knuckle, Axle Shaft & Spindles mounted


Brake Backing Plate

Didn't replace the studs, but did use new self locking bolts.

Hubs Mounted & Packed




Locking Hubs Mounted & Packed





The rims should be back by the end of the week. So the time to choose tires is at hand.

More next week...

 

Thought I'd share a little progress from last weekend. A bit late, but photos should make up for it.


The rims came back from the powder coater last weekend - picked them up friday. They look very good. The 4 good quality rims - the dark grey ones - look brand new. The 5th rim has some pitting, but nothing to bad. It should make a very good spare.


Back from powder - wrapped and ready for rubber






So it was off to the tire store, for some new rubber. After a long week of comparing prices on and off line. Taking into account shipping, etc. My local Crown Tire turned out to be the best overall price. I went with the BF Goodrich All Terrain T/As in 31x10.5 r 15. And a nice set of new lug nuts and brass valve stems.

It Rolls!









Seems the rims have the older style "large" valve stem goal. So the newer style stems won't work. And the shop gave me an option of the brass stems or long rubber ones.

 

That's a beautiful roller!

 

Very nice !! Love the wheels .

 

Thanks CEEJAY5 & rusty! I feel like a proud father.


I'v very happy with the the way the wheels turned out - rims and tire combination. Time will tell as to longevity. The powder coating is tough so nicks should not be an issue. But some have mentioned that it's difficult to get the powder to "seal" the 2 parts of the rim. And if I look close, I can see gaps - prime entry point for salt. I wonder if a little paraffin and beeswax would seal it?

 

you SHOULD feel like a proud father...

shes BEAUTIFUL!

very, VERY nicely done

 

Lot of work since last posting, but not as much progress as I'd have liked. Such is the way...

2 weekends ago I prepped the transmission and transfer case for paint. The plan was to spray on grey POR15, and then to coat with grey polyurethane. Good plan, but it all seemed to go horribly wrong. The grey POR was much thiner than the black that I'v been using - so other because of a bad batch of paint. Or mo likely because of my inexperience painting it did not go well. I ended up spraying on to much as it didn't "look" like it was coating, and it ended up puddling and doing the curt led milk thing... That lead to a day of wire wheeling to remove the paint....

Flash forward to last weekend, all cleaned up and re-masked for paint. Shot it with black POR15 and top coated with the grey polyurethane. Well, it was suppose to be grey, and it looked battle ship grey on line. Ended up spraying dove grey. So, YES I have a white transmission and transfer case. I'm not shooting it again, so....

A little before, in the middle and after.

Transmission - very dirty. It's amazing what 40 years of crud look like






Cleaned and prepped - the 2nd time.....


You'll need to stay tuned for the painted version. Seems I forgot to take a shot of that.

Next up, the transfer case.

 

Wanted to do the transfer case as a separate post.

Before


Prepped for paint




Masked










Now for the rebuild. The kit is from Novak, (start shameless plug) and I need to take a moment and tell you that Eric has been very helpful with questions and support. I highly recommend them for your transmission and transfer case part needs. (end plug)

For starters, the intermediate shaft in the kit looks a fare bit different than the OEM unit. So if you get the kit, don't panic. OEM on the bottom, Novak replacement on the top



As always, you can find the full picture album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/loft42/sets/72157624429890308/







Now for a couple of in progress shots. I won't go into the details of rebuilding the transfer case. Other people have done a far better job that I could hope to. If you're looking for directions check out Novak's site, or better yet. Pick up the Jeep Rebuilders Manual by Moses Ludel. He gives a very good step by step on the Dana 20 rebuild. Now, on to the pics. In all there white glory....












By the way, it you're looking for a transfer case breather, have a look at scoutparts.com.

Parts cleaned, and ready for assembly.











Seals pressed in. This one has me slightly worried. But all the research I can find seem to lead to driving the seal into the recess. So I guess this is ok.




And now for some assembly






And I ran out of day light...

 

Nice job, very thorough!

 

Thanks Stout. It's bordering on obsession at this point.

 

awesome restoration and great write-up. I am a few steps behind you and finding your saga very helpful. More pics, can't have too many pics!

 

Thanks Brian.
Was noticing you were catching up fast. I was looking at your picks this morning trying to sort out a problem I think I have with the upper bal joints. I'll post pics next weekend, but the "sleeve" on my upper joint did not pull up the ball joint. Instead it drove all the way down.

No new picks to post this weekend. But the transfer case is assembled. And on bigger news, the engin has been dropped off at the machine shop. Won't hear anything for at least a week. Seems they all go hunting next week.

 

Mor forward progress, although with the small stuff. So nothing "big" to revile this week.

Got the transfer case linkage put together, and checked the torque on the front end bolts. Cotter pins and thread lock in place... standard stuff. I am a little concerned about the upper ball joints. The ball joint didn't seem to sit into the axle fork the same way the old one did. Specifically, the upper ball stud seat seems to come down out of the axle yoke further than before. I managed to get the correct torque on it and it just touches the upper boot. Seems this has happened on some other threads and all worked out ok. So I assume I'll be ok as well. Time will tell.

Ball joint and axle yoke comparison:
Before


After




Transfer Case Rap Up
One bit I didn't mention during the transfer case rebuild. I get the feeling that some one, at some point did a rebuild on the transfer case. Everything looked ok. But I found one part in the wrong place. When I pulled the shift rods, and the accompanying poppet balls I didn't find the springs. At the time I figured that the springs has worn out broken up and got trapped in the magnetic oil drain plug. When I started cleaning the casing I discovered the springs in the recess that hold the back end of the shift rods.The back of the Dana 20 has 2 protruding cylinders that catch the back of the shift rods. Guess that helps explain why getting in and out of 4wd was so dam hard.

Also did some work getting the new rear frame cross member installed. Seems that all the holes are a little off from the original. Not sure if there are different manufacturers of this part. Or is everyone gets it from the same place. I assume, like most of the parts they come from Omix-ada. Just wish they would fix this.

Rear Cross Member
Left side - New part on the bottom




From the back





I had to wallow out the holes a little to get a bolt to pass. I'm hopping that 3 grade 8 bolts on each side will provide enough strength. The original configuration was 4 rivets on each side.

 

Nice long warm vacation is over, and it's back to the cold north east. More importantly, it's back to work - job and jeep...

Lots of little progress going on, but not much to show. The engine is at the machine shop. Should be ready this week. Not sure how much grinding they had to do, but I suspect is was a fare amount. Had one spun bearing, so I'm sure they had some work to do.

While I've been weighting for the engine, I'v been preparing. Carb rebuild is underway and oil pump rebuild is also commencing. I'll post more pics of both later, but this should hold you over for a little while.

I found a good how to for rebuilding the oil pump on another forum. It's a good book mark to have around, complete with photos. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/amc-v-8-oil-pump-front-cover-rebuild-thread-1050446/

Before


After



I used cloth backed emery paper to do the lapping on a good heavy plate of glass. I'v also begin lapping the mating surface on the timing cover. That is a much slower job. Lap, lap, lap.... clean, assemble and check tolerances. Repeat...

 

So, the oil pump cavity is beyond hope - the new impellers just won't spin. Lots of 'bits' james into the aluminum. So a new cover and impellers are on the way from Bull Tear. Should drive some time this week - and thats just in time. Because, the the engine is back from the machinist!

Couple of photos

A nice clean block


They pressed in the cam bearings



Heads - had them do a complete head job


Flywheel - resurfaced


Cam - ground and surfaced


Box - all the other bits.


They also installed the freeze plugs, cam bearings and assembled the pistons.

If you are looking for a good machinist give Wengers of Meyerstoun P.A a call. Good quality, and what I consider a good price. The full bill was $1,818 that included all the machine work, and the master parts kit.The parts kit was around $650, and. So $1,168 for machining work - better than any one I could find close to me.

 

Lookin good man...Had a buddy in high school that had an orange 72 renegade. Fun jeep!...

One thing stand out to me and I'm really just checking your work...please don't be offended. Your post on "packing" the front wheel bearings has me wondering how you packed them? I've seen guys clean bearings and then just slob some grease on them and the outside like your pic shows without actually "packing" the bearings. You gotta force grease into the rollers and between the inner race and outer cage or they likely won't last very long. I'm hoping you packed them correctly, it's just that the pic has me wondering and I'd hate to see you burn up a set of bearings.

 

Thanks. I'm looking forward to bouncing around in it soon.

And that's a good point Jeepermc. I didn't post any shots of a bearing before install. But yes I did squeeze grease into the bearing. In this case I did it by hand, press grease into bearing rotate, press in more. Repete until pressing grease in caused grease to come out. Probably should have invested in a bearing greaser / press as I've had to do this to every bearing in the jeep... Live and learn.

And no worries about feed back. I'd far rather hear it now than when I'm out driving.