scottragee
Sharpest Tool
This time has arrived to begin a build thread.
First, the backstory posted in June when I joined the forum:
"My father used to own a cattle ranch with two other partners in eastern Oregon for 30 years. In 1995 they sold it, and his CJ-2A, which had been his ranch/hunting jeep for 30 years, stayed with the property and new owners. A year and a half ago I looked up and met the family that bought the ranch - the Langers of Sherwood, OR. After our meeting, I wrote them and asked if they would be open to entertaining an offer from our family to buy back the Jeep since it was so closely associated with my dad for 3 decades. They wrote back and said, "You can have it!" I am moved by their generosity."
FYI: This Jeep has no gender-related name since it has been known in our family as "The Yellow Jeep" since the mid-'60s. We even have an internet password at the extended-family cabin utilizing that name. Needless to say, it must remain yellow, though the spray-can yellow the last owners used on it is much paler than the original yellow, which I'm pretty sure is "Michigan Yellow".
For the past month and a half, I've been exploring different strategies for restoring it, how far to go, and the usual decision-making issues of budget, determining the end goal, etc. Since I don't have the budget for professional restoration skilled labor, but also don't have anything close to a shop at my home garage, I explored the option of utilizing the local High School Auto Shop. In the past week, they have said they'd accept the Jeep as a project, provided I would commit to 2-hrs per day in the class, guiding the team assigned to me. I have accepted those conditions with joy. Sometime in about 6 weeks in early September is when I expect to be given the green light to take it over to the H.S. Yesterday, I brought the Jeep to my house from the shop it had been residing at. The Jeep has no brakes whatsoever so that was a bit interesting.
The goal is to get it running (engine runs, but no brakes and broken leaf-spring mounts) to where it is safe to drive, is decently reliable, can be titled/registered, and could make it on an RFTH event.
To feel like we were off to a good start, I ordered some 215/85R16 Hancook tubeless radial tires and planned to get the wheels/tires off this morning paying careful attention to left-handed threads vs. right-handed ones. Interestingly, the wheels with the left-handed threads were on the RF and LR (with the "L" stamped on the studs), while the LF and RR had either "R" or nothing stamped on the studs.
First I put WD-40 on each stud/nut combo then starting on the LF first w/ right-handed threads (in fact one of the 5 studs had an "R" stamp), I managed to loosen 3 nuts using a breaker bar plus pipe before my 13/16" Craftsman socket cracked! I've never had a socket crack on me before. Thus the first day touching the Jeep ended rather prematurely.
Thinking I'll put more WD-40 on the nut/studs and let it soak in longer. But I'm open to other ideas and suggestions. Attached are some photos of the wheels/tires/nuts/studs. I'm told I have combat wheels on the front and CJ-2A wheels on the rear. Also the RF tire is mounted in the wrong direction.
First, the backstory posted in June when I joined the forum:
"My father used to own a cattle ranch with two other partners in eastern Oregon for 30 years. In 1995 they sold it, and his CJ-2A, which had been his ranch/hunting jeep for 30 years, stayed with the property and new owners. A year and a half ago I looked up and met the family that bought the ranch - the Langers of Sherwood, OR. After our meeting, I wrote them and asked if they would be open to entertaining an offer from our family to buy back the Jeep since it was so closely associated with my dad for 3 decades. They wrote back and said, "You can have it!" I am moved by their generosity."
FYI: This Jeep has no gender-related name since it has been known in our family as "The Yellow Jeep" since the mid-'60s. We even have an internet password at the extended-family cabin utilizing that name. Needless to say, it must remain yellow, though the spray-can yellow the last owners used on it is much paler than the original yellow, which I'm pretty sure is "Michigan Yellow".
For the past month and a half, I've been exploring different strategies for restoring it, how far to go, and the usual decision-making issues of budget, determining the end goal, etc. Since I don't have the budget for professional restoration skilled labor, but also don't have anything close to a shop at my home garage, I explored the option of utilizing the local High School Auto Shop. In the past week, they have said they'd accept the Jeep as a project, provided I would commit to 2-hrs per day in the class, guiding the team assigned to me. I have accepted those conditions with joy. Sometime in about 6 weeks in early September is when I expect to be given the green light to take it over to the H.S. Yesterday, I brought the Jeep to my house from the shop it had been residing at. The Jeep has no brakes whatsoever so that was a bit interesting.
The goal is to get it running (engine runs, but no brakes and broken leaf-spring mounts) to where it is safe to drive, is decently reliable, can be titled/registered, and could make it on an RFTH event.
To feel like we were off to a good start, I ordered some 215/85R16 Hancook tubeless radial tires and planned to get the wheels/tires off this morning paying careful attention to left-handed threads vs. right-handed ones. Interestingly, the wheels with the left-handed threads were on the RF and LR (with the "L" stamped on the studs), while the LF and RR had either "R" or nothing stamped on the studs.
First I put WD-40 on each stud/nut combo then starting on the LF first w/ right-handed threads (in fact one of the 5 studs had an "R" stamp), I managed to loosen 3 nuts using a breaker bar plus pipe before my 13/16" Craftsman socket cracked! I've never had a socket crack on me before. Thus the first day touching the Jeep ended rather prematurely.
Thinking I'll put more WD-40 on the nut/studs and let it soak in longer. But I'm open to other ideas and suggestions. Attached are some photos of the wheels/tires/nuts/studs. I'm told I have combat wheels on the front and CJ-2A wheels on the rear. Also the RF tire is mounted in the wrong direction.
