Picked Up A 71 For A Buddy Of Mine......

Yesterday was a success.
With the firewall painted I reinstalled the brake master cylinder and a new clutch master cylinder. While painting things like this aren't going to get this jeep ready for the Rubicon trip..... they at least make me feel better about the jeep. Everything seems to go smoother when you take a little pride in your work.
The paint was custom mixed and filled into aerosol cans by a local shop back when Steve first got the jeep. The cans are all dead and no longer under pressure. Using a rubber tipped blow nozzle I re charged a can and painted the firewall. I think when the cans lost pressure some of the solvents in the paint evaporated. The paint is glossy and feels hard but it literally wipes off with a little spray of brake parts cleaner. Some rattle can clear coat engine enamel should help with that issue.
Definitely not fancy or restoration label worthy....... but looks way better than the pictures from Saturday!



Next up, Power Steering Mounting
A couple weeks ago a 69 Buick Skylark with 350 popped up on FB marketplace. First under hood photo showed this power steering bracket standing proudly on the engine.
The seller even removed it and cleaned it for me!
While the previous "mid mount" power steering bracket did work just fine, this setup is just nicer, gets the pump out of the engine/exhaust heat and makes it easier to work.
This upgrade is part of the pre-rubicon trip improvement list.

 

If I were to do an engine swap it would be for something newer.

 

Yesterday was a big step in the right direction.
I strapped the SM420 to my floor jack and rolled it under the jeep. I was prepared for a fight with this pig of a transmission, but to my surprise it literally slid right in to place...... no pushing or swearing, no wiggling the output shaft..... it just slid right in...... Thanks Steve!




The hydraulic clutch setup was never correct..... the pedal was super soft but never really had enough travel at the fork.
A little research came up with a mismatched slave and master cylinder set.
I ended up using a slave and master cylinder set from an 85 CJ7 AMC 2.5L. This combination along with the modified YJ/CJ7 pedal set works flawless.







With the fresh clutch components out of the way and the transmission installed it was time to dig up the transfer case.
This Dana 18 transfer case was in my jeep for a short spell before I moved to a Dana 20 case.
It is a "super 18" with AA roller intermediate gear.
A fresh set of poppet balls and springs are on the way to hopefully correct a popping out of low range issue.
If that doesn't correct the issue then I'll be swearing at Herm and going the bungee cord route.
The front output yoke will be swapped from the small V6 yoke to a full size 1310 unit.



And lastly we have a sneak peak at the fresh paint Hempstead green valve covers. It's not exactly Buick green, but its close enough for this ugly jeep.
They are too nice to leave on while work continues in the engine bay. A set of old covers will be substituted until work is complete.
Take that Steve!!!!!

 

Power brake booster….

 

Hopefully you can make that 1310 yoke work, I tried that when I switched to the Dana 30 and it would not clear my sm420.

 

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I'll slap the T case up there this afternoon and see if it clears.
It will be a bit of a pisser if it doesn't clear as I was hoping to upgrade to 1310 U joints for all positions.

 

Different transmission but I was able to do this upgrade on my SM465.

 

My SM420 has the ribbed section and the 1310 will not clear. There is another SM420 that does not have the ribbed section and does clear the 1310 u-joints.
The small transfer-case yokes are hard to find. Kyle's looks to be a 1967 transmission with the reverse light switch or it has been added as I did to mine.

 

The majority of sm420’s don’t have ribs. The 1310 yoke fits fine on mine with the Novak d18 adapter

 

I have 2 Advanced adapters and one Rube adapter, they all clear the 1310, but I don't have the ribs on the 420. And on the shift detent issue, I made a little spacer, like 1/8" long that goes in the hole between the retaining bolt and the spring. It increases the spring pressure on the ball, and solved my popping out of gear issue.

 

Thanks for the tip!
I know your spring over and the drive line angle is different, but what drive shaft diameter are you running on the front?
I was hoping to run a 2" OD front shaft, but it looks like I may need to stick with the 1-1/4" diameter.

 

Last night was more productive than I thought it would be.
The 1310 yoke clears the transmission bulge with plenty of room. I am a little concerned about drive shaft clearance. I was hoping to run a 2" OD front drive shaft, but it looks like with any side load on the front axle the drive shaft would rub on the transmission.
Anyone who is running an SM420, please chime in with your front drive shaft diameter.

With the transfer case bolted up..... for mock up...... I got started on a new transmission/transfer crossmember. The stock crossmember was well...... junk..... and on top of that Steve had at some point got hung up on something that caused the crossmember to kink the frame rail on both sides.




I used a piece of box tubing and my ball joint press to straighten out the frame on each side. A few select whacks of a hammer stress relieved the frame rail and it came back within spec relatively easily.





.120 wall 1"x2" box tubing for the majority of the crossmember.





You gotta start somewhere..... I chose to start at the transmission mount and work my way out to the frame rails. Hole sawed 1-1/2" holes for recessed mounting bolts.





With the main tube location established it was time make a target point for the frame mounts.
An old semi trailer chip van sacrificed these steps for the project. The trailer was scrapped years ago..... I kept a dozen or so of these 1-1/2"x2" angle iron ladder steps, 3/16" thick.





So allot of magic happened in between choosing the frame mounting material and where this picture finds us...... But I'll save you the boring details..... Lots of up and down off of the concrete floor, some spark showers from a cut off wheel and a little electric lightning.......
Bam! Crossmember.








Top down view.
The torque snubber mount on the rt side of the transfer case is not fully supported. We will have to remedy that!





The torque snubber mount will be one of these 1" thick body bushings.





More magic happened in the building of the torque snubber mount.
I cut a 3/4" long piece of 1"x2" box tubing and tack welded it to the crossmember. Next I hole sawed through the bottom of the crossmember, leaving a recessed hole cut partially through the main beam and partially into the extension. I inserted a piece of 1-1/2" OD round tube and welded it all up!
Proof that I welded inside the extension!





This was the result.......






Welded tube inserts into the transmission mount......






Last nights stopping point. More to come tomorrow.





The old cross member vs new......
Looks like we picked up a solid 2.5" of ground clearance.






Its going to feel so good when I throw the old crossmember in the scrap bin......
I never liked it when Steve owned the jeep...... and I threatened to make him a new one more than a few times.

 

I used 1.25 OD by .120 wall DOM and DANA SPICER 2-40-1771 to make my front driveshaft. Buy the corresponding slip yoke and splines, machine to fit and weld it up.

No way I could make anything else work. It’s easy to make.

 

Nice work, definitely an improvement. On the driveshaft, I just look at the 3B, it's 2" OD, but as you said, spring over. My 5 (spring under) has the stock (1-1/4-ish) tube with the 1310 yoke, and it clears with a 2-1/2" lift.

 

Crossmember and skid plate project are complete!
I wanted to do something a little fancier on the frame brackets while increasing their strength. I got started boxing in the frame brackets without really making a complete plan.....
Here is the result.




After lots of sparks this is the end result.





Using box tubing I gusseted the joint where the cross tube meets the frame mount on both sides.






After all that welding the crossmember still fit perfectly!





Rubber torque snubber mount.





Skid plate time!!!
I wandered around the boneyard for a few minutes looking for just the rite piece of steel to make a skid plate out of.
A little sawzall action harvested me this rusty chunk of old conveyor belt trough. It's 1/8" thick and at least 25 years old.....





Sparks, hammering, swearing and magic later......









Weld nuts attach the skid plate to the crossmember.





With that job complete the crossmember got a nice runny coat of black paint last night.
I'll pick up some grade 8 hardware to tie the whole mess together.
I need to remove the transfer case and install a gasket between the transfer case and adapter before it goes back together.
This item is finally off the list!

 

With the crossmember and skid plate completed it was time to seal the transfer case to the transmission and check off transfer case installation from the list.
I replaced the poppet balls and springs in the transfer case housing with a new set. The replacement springs were a tad longer, fingers crossed they do the trick.
The transfer case and crossmember were installed with new grade 8 hardware.
This crossmember is the definition of hanging a new chandelier in a haunted house.........
It looked too nice for the jeep so I gave it an extra heavy, runny paint job.





With that bit of overhead work complete I fetched the new front axle from storage, gave it a bath and brought it inside to meet Steve's jeep.
This is the front axle that I removed from my 69.





Lockrite locker installed.
I watched a youtube video and everything went nice and smooth. Disassembly of the knuckle ends and cleanup took longer than installing the lockrite.





After the lockrite was installed I swapped the yoke for a 1310 unit and moved the axle out to the paint booth for a nice runny coat of black.
This is about the best a D27 can get......
Studed knuckles, locker, 2 hole knuckle, 1310 yoke.

 

Too bad no one makes chromoly axle shafts for the 27, then that would be a bullet proof setup. Are you going to keep the stock diff cover? I have a cast cover from Solid Axle Industries you can have if you want it, i swaped it out for an ARB cover.

 

With the front axle refresh complete and paint drying, I turned my focus on the front axle mounting hardware.
These Rocky Road U bolt skid plates have always reminded me of clown shoes. At 1-1/2" thick they catch on just as many rocks as standard U bolts!





I made my own U bolt flip for my jeep but with the narrow D27 there just isn't room for the bulk of a U bolt flip like I made before.
The "Deaver" style spring plates from Ruff Stuff are too large to fit as well, so I decided to make my own.
Out to the boneyard armed with a sawzall!
This 3"x5"x1/4" box tube came from the now closed Quaker Oats factory in Oakland, Ca. Sometime around 2001 we disassembled equipment on that site and a large amount of this steel came home with us. We have built many mill projects from that steel.
At this particular job I was running the 40' reach lift while my Dad was in a man basket hot wrenching sections apart. I was wearing a hardhat, safety glasses and a orange vest to make me look official..... but it turns out that 12 year olds aren't allowed to operate heavy machinery at industrial sites.... About half way through the project we got a talking to and I was banned from equipment operation and the Job site for being under 18. Didn't matter that I was a better operator than the trained grown men....
Joke was on those guys, we had a key to the gate. My dad and I left for a late lunch and returned after 5 pm when everyone had gone home.
We finished the job only working after hours....
This particular chunk still has the Quaker Oats asset number tag on it!





I scored this already cut off chunk from the pile and returned feeling like a winner for not having to vibrate my arms into jelly out in the boneyard with a sawzall to harvest what I needed!





First off I split the box tubing down the middle to create 2 pieces of 2-1/2" inside width U channel, 1/4" thick.





Test fitting with the YJ 2-1/2" wide springs.





Cut 4 pcs to length. 2 pcs equal length for the rear, 2 different lengths for the front. Punched holes for the center pin nuts.





1/4"x1" flat bar for the tabs that the U bolts go through.





This picture is just to show the offset between the two pieces for a good strong weld to be laid down.





Proof that I can lay a nice bead every now and again.....





Gussets galore to keep the wings from bending up when the U bolts are tightened down. These would be strong enough to run on a 37" tire rig!
From left to right: 2 rear axle plates, RF, LF.








I gave them a nice runny coat of black paint and called it a day.
If I keep it up, this might actually turn out to be a nice rig....... You know.... the kind of rig Steve would drool over.

 

I just might take you up on that!