Introducing Cranky

This is Cranky (The Cranky Jeep) Willis and I went down and picked her up on Monday. Tuesday's goal was a small one ... Get the lights working, But I didn't have a key and couldn't get power to go to anything. I figured that without the key in the on position I couldn't get power to anything (honestly I still don't know if that is true or not maybe should figure that out today) But we never got a key So I put in a brand new ignition. Yay First time Ive ever done that so of course wired it in wrong About that time willis came home and showed me how to trace the power. Turns out the battery I had found was crap. So we stole the battery out of the Cherokee, traced the power back to the ignition changed the wiring just slightly on the ignition (I hadn't gotten it wrong to badly lol) turned the key on AND ... no lights I had taken the power away from the engine cause I didn't want to accidently hurt anything by trying to start it. So frustration building I started just playing with the key and we heard a loud clicking noise. Willis hooked the starter/generator thing back up and told me to try the key again and ... she tried to turn over. Then it was mad run for gas and starter fluid. Within ten minutes of fiddling with this or that she coughed and sputtered to life. The poor thing doesn't have a gas tank and i wouldn't trust it if it did so a pepsi bottle and apiece of hose was attached to the fuel pump. With a bit of gas down the carb and a turn of the key, poor old Cranky woke up and ran under her own power for about three minutes until she ran out of gas. So at the end of Tuesday I have a running jeep with four flat tires and no lights. Todays goal put tires on and hook the altinator someone had wired in back up and check the radiator and see if she can move under her own power.
And maybe find a seat cause it is majorly uncomfortable in her right now.

Today Old Cranky Took her first drive in years, not on new tires, but the same olds that only hold air for about ten minutes. We took her down a small woods path to a neighbors to let him look it over. After refilling the tires we headed back by the main road, (our main road is a old dirt road by ya know this is Maine lol) Anyway she did pretty good until about fifty yards from the house where she died in the road. The kids bailed out and ran for the house. I was getting it ready to have my hubby tow it home with the Wrangler but Willis got her going again and raced the CJ against the Wrangler back to the driveway. Cranky won lol in second gear but I don't reckon Scot was trying that hard. Learned a lot on our ten minute trip... like she has no brakes at all and that the altinator needs to be replaced. Worked on the light situation and it looks like the switch might be shot cause we can get lights direct from the battery but the horn is trashed so gonna need a new one of those as well. Some small disaapointments today but she sure sounds good when she is running. Guess I'll see what I can do about some of the stuff tomorrow

Hi Tonia. All of my Willys Vehicles that I've bought, NONE of them HAD BRAKES! Heh, "It's a JEEP THING"!! Pivnic

So very true Pivnic. I found the all jeeps bite too. Georgette does, the Cherokee does, Cranky bit Mathew today and I wont let the kids near the old 55 for fear of the amount of tetanus shots required if he bit them.

Went to do something about the brakes on Cranky today, and realized I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm gonna let my inexperience show here big time. Willis showed me where the brake fluid goes in, cause I looked all over the front of the jeep looking for a place to put it. I felt kinda dumb but at least I know now. So tomorrow I'm gonna put her up on blocks and check all the brake lines for leaks or cracks. But what I can see of them from the top they look solid. Then not sure what to do after that cause these brakes have me so confused. But that my update for today.

Been a few days but Cranky got four new spark plugs and an oil change. Also bypassed the heaters (someone put in a second heater) in the jeep to stop a antifreeze leak. We really don't plan on putting the cab on it and only using it in the summer so the heaters aren't really needed. Tomorrow I'm planning on taking out both heaters, putting on a new belt and fixing the light switch thing. Learned a lot in the last week. Most of the things ive done this week ive never done before. I also learned to never start an engine when you've taken out some sparkplugs. She made some really funny noises so maybe not do that again. Ill get some pics up in a few days cause i think I'm gonna start some of her body work (finally something i have half a clue about). I'm thinking orange as her new color but still not 100% sure.

The spark plugs were rusted in really bad guessing they were new in 62
This is just a color test to see if we liked it. And I'm really liking it

It been a bit since last update so here we go … Spent some time going through the things on the dash, took out the radio cause it doesn't seem to work. Got a new switch for the lights and they now work properly, except for the blinkers, still working on that one. Took off a toggle switch which was connected to nothing and took off a power converter. Dash is starting to look empty haha. Found another radio and speakers out of an old truck down back but haven't gotten them in yet. Gauge in the dash now lights up but still doesn't tell me how fast im going, so gotta figure that out. Took out tons of wiring that seems to go nowhere, and is wired in in the weirdest way. Most of them are attached to other wires by im assuming the PO cutting the casing of the original wire in the middle of the wire and attaching the new wires. Never seen anything like it. Ive been starting Cranky up everyday and letting her run a bit and driving her around the house. I figure if anything is wrong or gonna break from sitting so long, bombing around the house would tell me. And boy did it. About a week and a half back I decided to run her up the road a bit even though I still haven't fixed the brakes. We live on a dirt back road no worries about getting pulled over or nothing, so I tottled up the road. She was going along great then her headlight fell out and and smashed all over the road. Sounded like a bomb went off. Anyway im laughing and still going up the road and she starts making these horrible noises. I start freaking cause we had gone quite a ways by now so I turn her around and the noises stopped. Great im thinking but better head her home anyway. So Im headed home and the noises start up again but really loud and before I can pull over to the side, the back end locks right up and we skid to a quick stop. Willis comes up to find us after we didn't come back and hauls cranky home, sometimes dragging sometimes wheels turning. I know the backend isn't locked up frozen cause she will backup all day long and move forward a little. We figure the old brake parts in the hub are moving around and binding things up. So ordered a hub puller which came yesterday so hopefully within a few days Ill have her bombing around the house again. So I spent the few nice days we have had in the last week working on her hood, and got a good solid first coat of paint on it. Not the color I wanted but it will have to do for now. If tomorrow is halfway decent Ill try to get some pics up. Its weird but this last week Ive really missed taking Cranky out for her daily drive, she just so much fun, hopefully soon Ill be back at it.

I really need to remember to take pics but I get caught up in the work and always forget them. Anyway pulled both back drums and the brakes look brand new with no wear on them at all. After putting them back together took her for a test drive and still locking up. Then I took the faceplate of the differential and that to looks brand new. Took a magnet and put it in there and it starts pulling out shredded metal and chunks but cant see any wear on the teeth of any of the gears. Also didn't find any gear oil at all. So I spent an hour or so cleaning out all the metal pieces I could get and then put everything back together and put in gear oil. Test drive two she ran great no locking or binding or scary grinding noises. Yay success and learned a ton of stuff. I call that a good day.