The Tux-in-a-Barn

a lot of welders are 110, i got a miller 130xp mig with the gas tank and cart for $400 used, look around a little, and if you dont want to try your hand at welding, theres always bondo and epoxy's, eliminating the new body tub will give you alot more money to fix,rebuild, and upgrade other things on your jeep which will make it alot more enjoyable.

 

Craigslist is your friend. Keep an eye out of HD and Lowes. I picked up a Lincoln 140 on clearance at HD for less than $400. Learning to weld is a good skill to have.

 

So what kind of welder would everyone recommend? I visited a website on it and there were more options than you could shake a stick at.

 

Were I to do it over again, I'd get a 220v lincon or a millermatic to use here in the shop. It burns hotter than my 110 and will burn in better.

I like the portability of my 110 Lincoln. and for what I do on my jeep, it works fine. But after using it, and it works fine, I use it on the hottest setting most of the time. Unless it is real thin. and I can multi pass to get it deeper.

What ever you get, get one that will use gas. The gas less welders have to use wire with flux in it. They spatter and don't leave as clean of a weld. I was glad when my flux core ran out and I could use gas...

And go find someone to teach you how to weld. You will save hours and hours of learning if you just take a lesson or two.

 

If I were you, before you touch that front end is call a Jeep vendor, (Walck's, Kaiser Willys) and order a front spindle nut socket.

You could try and buy one from a bearing place, but it has been my experience the commercially available ones won't fit up inside the hub; the sidewalls of the socket are too thick. Most people who don't know to get that socket end up boogering up the nuts with a screwdriver and a hammer...if they get it off.

It sounds like you are in Houston so if it were me I would call Brent Mullins first. He deals strictly with military jeeps, but the front end on all old jeeps are the same. A dana 25 has the same outer parts as a dana 27. He is in College Station so it might save you some $ on shipping.

Also, when it comes to cleaning grease, IMO nothing works better than regular mineral spirits(not the milk colored kind) I ususally buy a rubbermaid storage container, like one the size of a small bankers box and put all my bearing and other greasy parts in it and put in a gallon or 2 of the mineral spirits. It cuts grease quick, it doesn't smell and it's not to hard on your skin. When I clean I just get down and dirty with a wrag and paint bush down in the liquid. You would be surprised how quickly it cleans things

 

I was planning on getting one when I get to working on the front axle. I'm still on the rear one.

Texas sales tax means I generally break even. Beats having to pay state income tax, though.

Like the clear paint thinner kind?

 

I'm still learning to use it, but I really like my Hobart Handler 140. It seems like it will be plenty of welder for whatever I do on the Jeep.

 

Brown Santa came today!



Here's the load for going up to the barn during spring break: differential gasket, new pinion shaft yoke and oil seal, rear hub/drum puller, and two sockets. One socket for the OTHER castle nut (and eventually both; the ones Kaiser Willys sells are both that size) and one for the yoke nut.

Question time.

When driving the oil seal, do I drive it from the raised inner area, or the lower outer area?

Do I need a special gasket sealer for the diff, or do I just cut the old one off, slap a new one on, and just bolt right up?

What oil do you prefer in a Dana 44?

 

i have a Millermatic 211, its dual voltage. not gonna be a 400 deal anywehre but worth the scratch. sheet metal is cake as long as you drop down to a small wire. i use .023.... the .030 or .035 you'd use for heavy stuff gets way to hot for sheet metal.

 

welders are one thing i buy bigger than i think i need can always turn em down, hard to get amperage thats not there. 220 gas ready mig ive got a solar 175 ive had for thirty years and a Lincoln 110 gasless for portable use

 

Time for the big report of a whole lot of freaking nothing.

I got a bad cold, and had a serious fever for most of this trip. So instead of being out there working on the Jeep like I'd planned, I've been stuck with a cool water bottle on my head. Bleakh. Pinion shaft yoke replacement and differential refilling (not that its empty) will have to wait.

Did get a few things done, though.



Don't be hatin'. They only had red, and I figure ugly drums are better than rusty ones. Plus the Tux-in-a-barn was already pink. Gotta thank dad for wire wheeling them for me.



This is what your rotor and brake bits will look like if you let them sit too long without a drum. And I do mean without a drum, because when I took the wheel off, my reaction was, "ZOMG where the L is my furnicating drum?!"



Missing on the passenger's side, too. Odd thing- the 9" drums on the back wouldn't fit on these. It looked about like 11" when I stuck a ruler across. Maybe someone did an 11" upgrade?

Anyway, that got me wondering about the axle, so I snapped these pics:






"Front Axle"- Clearly designed for grunts.


Patent number- ??18188


Whole Pumpkin.

It also has closed knuckles, and it looks like I'm going to need to replace the spindle bearings, rotors, and cylinder. At least the shoes look new.

Couldn't easily get a look down on the other side of the pumpkin; there's an engine and radiator in the way. Anyone recognize it?

 

The vent on the front cover indicates a Dana 25.

If you fill out your signature with the year of your Jeep and your location it would help the rest of us, there might be someone close that could help you on site.

 

This help?

 

Your location still isn't showing up on your signature. Looks like you have a ton of work ahead of you, but it should be a fun learning curve! Are you sure that brake is 11"? where did you measure from? It looks smaller to me, but is hard to judge by picture alone.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much not sure. I'll probably have to take everything apart to get a better measurement. From when I tried putting a drum on, it looked a bit more like a 10" than anything else. The drum I had was a 9", and there was about half an inch clearance between it and the edge of the backing plate on either side. It was getting hung up on the shoes, but from the looks of it they were retracted and not pooching out.

I'm leaving the location a bit nebulous to humor my dad's paranoia. He's excessively concerned about someone coming and stealing everything since we can't be there full time to keep an eye on it. As it is, he's going to have to put my tools back from wherever he hid them, because I got too sick to put everything away in *my* spot for it.

 

how about a general location ie just the state may help

 

Minor update. Got the diff uncapped, refilled, a double handful of gunk removed from the bottom, and re-gasketed. Not in that order.

Yoke nut is NOT 1 1/16". Going to try to find out how big it is before getting another socket. Hope I can find out soon, because Tractor Supply doesn't have impact sockets larger than 1" and the nearest Northern Tool is like 40 miles away in Temple. So there went my plan for getting the e-brake drum off and wire wheeled and painted. Maybe next week.

Had an issue with what's aparrently the last remnants of the locking hubs. Much profanity ensued. I'll have to deal with them later, too.

More next week.

 

FINALLY got the hubs off. Here's the bare spindle, on the passenger side- that bearing cone is stuck on, so I'll have to get a jaw puller to crank it off and hope the spindle isn't too badly ground underneath it.



Hubs. All rusty. Going to try to find a media blaster guy in Houston and see about getting them cleaned up. While I was at it, I also found a spare brake drum for the rears- I'd hoped it was a 10", but it turned out to be just another 9". Guess that's how things turn out sometimes.



Ross box. Looks to be in pretty good shape. I've decided to work on steering before brakes, since I'll have to take apart the brakes again to get to the steering, and I might as well since I've got the hubs off and have very easy access to the knuckles.



Tie Rods. Not in very good shape, especially considering they were supporting half the Jeep's weight for a couple of minutes last year. Definitely going to have to pull these off and replace them.



Looks like the remains of a hub cap. Not in too bad of shape, I guess, but I plan on getting new.



Final pic of how it looks now.