Pete's 1952 CJ3a- "Barnacle Will"

I edited my post above. I had lock washers on my mind but meant to say that without the snap ring it's possible, under load, for the stub shaft and axle shaft to move far enough in that the center of the pivot is not the center of the steering geometry, and then things can break. Rare, but it does happen as I've been the victim of that while quite a ways off the beaten path.

You had four lock washers fail like that? Imported hardware?
 
I edited my post above. I had lock washers on my mind but meant to say that without the snap ring it's possible, under load, for the stub shaft and axle shaft to move far enough in that the center of the pivot is not the center of the steering geometry, and then things can break. Rare, but it does happen as I've been the victim of that while quite a ways off the beaten path.

You had four lock washers fail like that? Imported hardware?
The lock washers came from the local Tru-Value hardware store. No idea where they source the washers.
 
Spent some more time on Barnacle Will, to get things finished up on the front axle. Last night I filled the knuckles and differential with fluids, and this morning bled the brakes. I decided to install the high line spring plates while I had the wheels off.
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I Still need to do the rears, but theY go on easy.

I mounted the wheels, and gave them a spin to make sure everything was still rotating like it should, and could hear the locker ratcheting inside when one wheel was on the ground.

Before going out for a spin, I installed the new carb base. Fired it up and gave the fuel screw a bit of adjustment and set the idle. It runs pretty good, but the carb still needS some tuning work. It will however, idle at 600 rpm like it should, so a big improvement. The choke linkage that connects to the throttle was also missing, so installed a new one that I had ordered with the carb base.
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I cleaned up the explosion of tools and otherwise greasy mess, and Ben and I took it for a spin to play in the snow.

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We got about 30" of snow out of the last storm, and the sun was out today. The snow is too deep for any of the local trails this time of year, so we found an untracked patch in an alley in town to play in. We motored through it three times, but on the fourth, I didn't have the momentum to get through a heavy spot and got stuck. We put it in gear, hopped out, and gave it a shove and it crawled right out of the high centered spot.

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After blasting through the snow, we ran through the drive-thru for some lunch and called it a day.

All in all, a fun little blast around town.
 
All I see are trees and snow. That is town?

I want to run that tread pattern on my a1 so I am paying attention to the trail reports.
Well, it's not "down-town", but it's "in-town"... :)
You can see from the hills that it's not far to be "out of town", but the roads into the canyons are all waist deep in snow, or deeper the farther out you go.

I'm liking the Powerking Super Traction tires. They seem to do well in just about everything I've thrown at them.
 
I see snow (cold) and a wired down heat riser flapper on the manifold (exactly as mine was). My MB ran great all summer but when I put it up for sale and gave a test drive this winter I was shocked (and embarrassed) at how poorly it ran until it warmed up. Even then it wasn't running as good as it ran all summer. I wonder if some of your carb issues could be related to that little bi-metal spring being rendered inoperable.
 
Can't wait to get out in the snow with my old CJ. Just a few more things to wire up and then I can take it for a spin. (Pun intended.)
 
I see snow (cold) and a wired down heat riser flapper on the manifold (exactly as mine was). My MB ran great all summer but when I put it up for sale and gave a test drive this winter I was shocked (and embarrassed) at how poorly it ran until it warmed up. Even then it wasn't running as good as it ran all summer. I wonder if some of your carb issues could be related to that little bi-metal spring being rendered inoperable.
Jeff,
The heat riser flap was wired as is when I bought the CJ. I haven't had a chance to undo the wire, and see if it works like it is supposed to. It might need a rebuild kit.
Manifold heat makes a big difference in run-ability, since the air-fuel mixture will condense and pool in the manifold and then load up the engine until it warms up.
It's on my list of to-do's.
Pete
 
Are those power king tires mounted on the original 16x 4 1/2 rims? Tubeless?
I'm not sure if the wheels are 4.5" or 5". The Powerkings are mounted tubeless, and I ran them down to 10psi in Moab without any trouble other than one of them wants to leak down if it has less than 20psi. Over 20psi and it will hold...
 
Spent a few minutes on Barnacle Will, trying to get the new horn wire in the steering shaft.
The rubber button and horn wire bits were missing for who knows how long, and the shaft was plugged solid.
I had tried to run a wire up through from the bottom, but couldn't get it past about half way up the shaft. I had also tried compressed air and a vacuum, but couldn't get it clear.
I found a piece of 1/8" threaded rod that fit in the hole at the bottom, and pushed it up into the shaft until it stopped, and then hammered it in and the blockage broke loose.
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Once I knew it was loose in there, I taped a piece of fuel line onto my shop vac and used it to suck up the stuff that was in there, which looked like leaves, seeds, rusty dirt. I was able to get it clean enough that I could see light through the tube.
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After clearing out the tube, I ran a piece of bailing wire up from the bottom and out the top.
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I tried taping the bailing wire to the horn wire, which immediately pulled off... I noticed that the bailing wire fit through the hole in the connector on the end of the horn wire, so I put it through and bent a little hook on the bailing wire, and it wouldn't come apart pulling on it.
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Then, pulled the wire back down and out the bottom.
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Here's the new wire and spring loaded contact in place
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And capped off with the new rubber horn button.
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Now I just need to find a horn to mount under the hood...

More to come,

Pete
 
Barnacle Will has such a bad leak from the transmission that when moving, it was pouring on the ground. When sitting, it would finish dripping, and then stop. I figured it was coming out of the front bearing, but wasn't sure. I decided it was time to pull the trans and t-case to have a look-see.
Everything came out pretty easy, other than the t-case shifter levers. The pin that holds them in was rusted in place. I was able to get it out with a punch from the top.
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It's a greasy gob, but out.
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The throw out bearing is good, so going to leave it.
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All of the e-brake parts are missing, aside from the drum and backing plate. I think I'm going to just remove it all together, and use the rear 11" brakes for e-braking, like my wagon.
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There was water in the trans when we got it, which caused a bit of surface rust but not too bad.
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I decide while I had it apart I would swap the T-90-A gears for T-90-C gears for the lower first. Parts arrived from Walck's, new input gear, cluster gear, and small parts kit.
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It only took about 15 minutes to strip the trans down to the case.
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Date codes:
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More to come-
Pete
 
There was water in the trans when we got it, which caused a bit of surface rust but not too bad.
Some guys have all the luck.....(sez Rod stewart)
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The good news is that I was able to rebuild it and actually drove it around the yard yesterday! Admittedly I wasn't able to save many of the original parts, but so far, so good!
 
Some guys have all the luck.....(sez Rod stewart)
I do feel lucky with this transmission, but it's definitely been rebuilt before. My wagon transmission and t-case on the other hand, was so worn out that I replaced everthing but the two cases.
All of the gears and shaft splines had deep wear like this:
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I ordered a new front sealed bearing from Novak, as Walck's doesn't sell them. Decided to try and help seal the front of the case with the sealed bearing and sealing the oil return hole.
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New T-90-C shaft with sealed bearing installed
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New T-90-C cluster gear from Walck's
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I used Rick Stiver's rubber band method to get the needle bearings in the cluster gear.
I bought a 3/4" dowel for the job, but when I got home and measured it, it was .70" in diameter... :( I tried putting the bearings on the dowel with the rubber band, but because the dowel was a bit small, it was 1 bearing short to get them all on there smoothly. So, I used the actual shaft instead which worked great.
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The pic is before I greased the bearings with assembly lube. Simple to slide them in the cluster gear a little at a time, cutting the rubber bands as they go in. Once I had them in the cluster gear, I pushed out the steel shaft with the dowel to hold them in place while putting the cluster gear in the case.

Here's the cluster gear in place at the bottom of the case, ready for the input shaft to go in.
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The synchro gave me some grief... I replaced the little synchro plates with the new ones from the small parts kit, but they were a hair to wide to fit into the synchro gear. I filed them down to fit, put it all together, and found that it wouldn't shift unless I used a hammer to move the parts. At first I was thinking that it would be stiff for a while until it wears in, but I couldn't shift it with the shifter cane at all. so, pulled it all apart again, and put the old synchro plates in and it works fine. They had been replaced at some point in the past, and it was shifting fine before I tore it down.
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Before I put the t-case back on, I pulled the shift interlock pill out so that I can shift into 2wd low range while trying to steer/maneuver with the front lock-right locker.
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Ready to bolt back together
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Everything back in one piece, ready to go back in Barnacle Will
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Going to try and get it back together today.
Still need to order shift rail seals for the cane shifter, they are missing and part of the leaking...

More to come.
Pete
 
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