170 knuckle rebuilds and ebrake rewelded

ddaaccee

Bigger Hammer
Sep 3, 2021
43
US
First Name
Dave
Willys Model
  1. Forward Control
Willys Year:
  1. 1964
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The front end has been on jacks since last fall. I need to move it from it's spot so I had a fire lit under me to get somethings done. I finally reassembled the knuckles and rewelded that ebrake bracket to the dash. The locking hubs aren't finalized because I am waiting on gaskets (that's why the locking tabs aren't bent). Don't mind the springs that are about to turn into dust, I just need to be able to roll it to a different spot on the driveway.

I'm learning about these systems and I know these aren't perfect. Driver side knuckle binds on something when it's fully rotated to the right. Also, I could only get 12lbs of preset force. I will have to figure out how the "washer" setup works according to the manual. Overall, I wanted it to be a rolling chassis again. Phase II will be when I make it road worthy.

Next step is fully installing the brakes and getting the engine running.
 
Removing a thin shim should increase your turning effort.

I had the same problem with my ebrake lever mount (AFTER I painted it!!) Very careful welding...............
 
Seabee said:
Removing a thin shim should increase your turning effort.

I had the same problem with my ebrake lever mount (AFTER I painted it!!) Very careful welding...............
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Yea, I started with 3 hoping the new cup and bearing would make a difference. I ended with no spacers. In the manual, it says you can add a washer to the king pin. I would have to do some research to see what washer I can even use.

I was very worried about the window. I went slow so that the heat wouldn't build up.
 
Dave,
Checking in on your knuckle puzzle.
Yes, the washer you would install on the upper, or, lower caps to shim the bearing cone inward, so then you may be able to use thin shims for final torque fit.

The "bind" you are experiencing may be due to improper verticle adjustment of the knuckle with axle housing.
I don't know any starting settings other than trial and error.
I call error "Fritz", because Fritz rears it ugly head often it seems. LoL

Chime in and let us know what you have discovered if lucky enough to give that willys some love. :)
 
Greaser007 said:
Dave,
Checking in on your knuckle puzzle.
Yes, the washer you would install on the upper, or, lower caps to shim the bearing cone inward, so then you may be able to use thin shims for final torque fit.

The "bind" you are experiencing may be due to improper verticle adjustment of the knuckle with axle housing.
I don't know any starting settings other than trial and error.
I call error "Fritz", because Fritz rears it ugly head often it seems. LoL

Chime in and let us know what you have discovered if lucky enough to give that willys some love. :)
Click to expand...
Hi Greaser,

I bought a descent fish scale that i tested with some free weights. I was able to use the shim packs to get juuuuust within standards. I think it will be fine for now since I don't plan on putting many miles on it until I do lot more work.
 
diggerG said:
Do I see bolts on the bottom of the knuckle holding on the steering arm? Nooooo use the correct studs AND nuts with a tapered shoulder. What you have is unsafe. (edit)
diggerG
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Thanks for the heads up on this. Just found that mine has bolts and I'll be looking to replace them with the correct studs and nuts. I don't see them on K-W s site do you know a source for the correct hardware??
 
53WLLYZ said:
Thanks for the heads up on this. Just found that mine has bolts and I'll be looking to replace them with the correct studs and nuts. I don't see them on K-W s site do you know a source for the correct hardware??
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me. nuts are special, you will need either 2 or 4. Why? I have no idea but Jeep did both.
 
@diggerG could you please clarify? I'm not sure what bolts you're referring to? (At least I don't see them in the photos)...ah...looked at KW - are you referring to the kingpin cap studs? I'm going to have to go back and look at mine...not sure what I have in there (didn't realize there should be studs rather than bolts...)

Regardless...what is the safety concern? Could you use grade 5 or grade 8 bolts? (i.e. if it's going to pull out from the knuckle what does the stud do that a high strength bolt will not? Not an engineer, so trying to better understand...)
 
While the studs are important on the CJ, they are absolutely critical on MB/GPW, wagons, and trucks where the steering arm is bolted on. Two (or all four as a repair) of the studs are actullay slightly oversized and tapered to prevent the leverage exerted on the arm to allow the arm to slide around under the nuts and lockwashers. IIRC the nuts are the next size taller than a standard nut, but not as tall as the U-bolt nuts for example, and possibly even a tighter fit than standard pitch.
 
Interesting...and that makes sense (i.e. needed when you have the arm separate from the knuckle). Yet (looking on YouTube) it seems with the arm integrated to the knuckle most are using bolts (rather than studs)...
 
JABJEEP said:
Not a good practice in this application. The holes threaded will have a much higher probability to strip, or egg out, or both over time with bolts.
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Maybe he meant the allen/button head bolts that are installed from inside the knuckle?
 
It’s only the one with the steering arm. Look at the holes on the steering arm. It will eitrher have 2 or 4 which have a tapered hole, for NUTS with a tapered bottom. It is to stop a loosening of the arm itself. Very important. Steering that doesn’t fall apart. This only applies to wagons and pickups with the steering arm attached to the knuckle. I can see the bolt heads on the pic on ddaacce’s (Dave’s) post.
diggerG
 
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Correct, I should have been more clear. The caps that are integral with the arm must use the studs. The caps that are just caps can and do use bolts. The vehicles that used the cap with the integral arm are the truck, wagon, and MB/GPW. I’m pretty sure that the MB/GPW does use studs even on the plain caps.
 
And that totally makes sense--arm integrated with the cap is going to take significantly different stress than when the arm is cast into the knuckle (e.g. with the CJ3a as in my case) and just has to hold the cap on. Frankly, I didn't even know they made knuckles with the arm as part of the cap (another cool thing I learned from this board :) ). One question I have is why they were originally built this way? Was it difficulty in casting the arm into the knuckle? Or cost cutting? Or? Anyone have the history here?
 
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