1960 Cj6 Pep's Project

looks like a good bumper.
yeah, seems like options are limited for well mounted bumpers. you could tie the d ring mounts into the sides of the framerails , and cut part of the bumper out to pass them through.

 

Anyone have thoughts on what to do about the steering box?

I stumbled across a page on Lee power steering on how to identify your gearbox and it looks like the PO installed a Saginaw 800 - 3 bolt version - 4 turn.
How To Identify Your Steering Gear Box - Lee Power Steering

The input shaft for the steering box appears to be welded-up to some kind of pipe/sleeve that passes through the frame crossmember. and it is welded on the other side of the cross member to the shaft that runs up to the rag joint near the exhaust.

I am guessing that I will need to replace or entirely rebuild this box as part of my safety upgrade.

would this be a good replacement option?
Cardone Reman® 27-6537 - Remanufactured Power Steering Gear Box

 

Parts have started arriving at the house.
Someone said It looks like Radar's Mother's place ... asked if I was shipping a jeep home from the front one part at a time.

The magic of modern logistics!

 

The Jeep made the tow from DC to STL!!!

I am now on Day 3/4 of my schedule!!!

Pics (and lots of questions) to start flowing in soon!!

 

Okay!

For the first day of activity, we managed to get the CJ-6 into the garage:

Started working on the teardown process, removed the hard top, tailgate, hood, front fenders and grill. Pulled the seats, and the toolbox that was bolted down in the bed. Made a real mess pulling the radiator hoses! they the bottom one slipped off before I was ready and now everything on the front is sticky with green goo:

I have learned two important lessons:
1. If it is bigger than a 1/4" bolt, soak it in penetrating oil for an hour and it comes right off.
2. If it is less than a 1/4" bolt, don't even bother with wrenches; just save the time and grab the grinder and drill.

More to come soon. continuing to tear it apart!

 

I 110% support this statement. Unless it's a very unique piece of hardware, all tiny (and even some big) hardware gets replaced on all my old rigs with new coated/plated grade 5 or grade 8 hardware.
I'd much rather buy grinding discs and save my time/strength/patience for other things...lol.

 

Oh No!!!

Pulled off the front bumper and found a crack in the frame between the rivets.
Sounds like a job for the TIG Rig.

I blame my father for being a little over zealous with the Large Persuasion Instrument (also known as a BFH.)

 

It's a high stress spot. I had to weld up the same cracks on my '69: Old Red Maintenance Thread

 

Update:

Lots of work getting done!!! More posts to follow with details and pictures. I am exhausted. This jeeping thing is a lot of work, especially on my timeline.

 

Managed to get all the parts off. and lifted the tub off the frame. We were comfortable doing it with two people and a good beam overhead.

we used a set of straps hanging from a beam in the ceiling to help support the weight while we lifted it up.
Step 1: I placed the straps right at the windshield channel on both sides to lift.
Step 2: we lifted the front and adjusted the straps to support the weight.
Step 3: At the back we just lifted it off the frame, swung it back slightly, and set it on sawhorses.
Step 4: We added safety straps to the back to keep the weight on the supports
Step 5: We raised the front to clear the shift knobs and rolled the frame out.
Step 6: We lowered the tub onto the supports.

End result:
Tub on supports and frame out on the drive!

 

First thing on the frame was removing the front bumper, the tow bar, the rear cross member and cutting out the the angle straps for my future rear fuel tank.

Tow support bars cut off:

I cut it flush with the angle of the body support tab:

I also modified the "crown" tank skid plate too be symmetrical for much easier mounting. cut off the angle and the ears on the rear. It should tuck right up into the arched frame crossmember now. I will add an extra set of holes to have symmetrical bolting on the front cross member. Plan to weld some nuts to the frame to make install and re-install easier.

I already posted up the crack at the front. The rear frame crossbar was a mess too. I'm sure at some point the rear driver corner had been dropped on some rocks and was all bent out of shape.
I fabricated a new rear cross member out of a section of 2x4 rectangular tube. The whole process did not take too long and the end result looks almost like a part that should have come from the factory. A very nice upgrade to the rear frame and the future home of my Smittybilt classic rear bumper with a tow hitch.

I went to the local metal supply / scrap yard here in St Louis (Shapiro Metals) and managed to find a good chunk of 2x4 rectangular tube in the remnant pile that was long enough for the job. Paid scrap prices as a remnant. I trimmed the tube to length to match my bumper and sliced out the sections so it would slide over the frame.

Then I drilled my mounting holes in the bar to mount it to the original frame holes on the end of the frame, top, and bottom, filed and sanded the edges, and gave it a coat of primer. I think it looks great.

the weather here in Missouri is just miserable today. I guess I will get back to garage.

 

Yesterday I started fabricating a new dash panel.

Went to the metal shop and had the guys there shear and bend a sheet of 16ga steel to size.

I was working with a young guy in the shop who was obviously lower on the pecking order. I watched the guy make the first cut with the press, and noticed that the sheet was not square up against the back-stop of the machine. He said "its not a big deal, its close enough." I said "Go cut another one. I know that one is not square." He went and cut another piece. He then grabbed the sheet from behind the machine and then we went over to the brake where he marked an inch and after much fiddling with the machine; and getting the other shop guys to move their drinks and stuff (it seems the brake was the coat rack of the shop) he bent a ledge on the bottom of the panel for me. When it came time to write up the ticket the foreman said he was going to charge me for each cut on the shear, including the one that the young guy messed up!!!! I told the foreman that if the policy was to charge me for the extra cut, I was going to take both sheets (my final part with the bend and the excess scrap sheet). I went behind the shear and grabbed the other piece from the pile. We agreed on the ticket and I took my metals home.

Once I was back at the garage, I test fit my dash panel to mark it for trimming .... AND THE THING WASN'T SQUARE!!! Almost a half inch off from one side to the other. The young guy must have grabbed the wrong piece from behind the shear and put the bend on the wrong one. I measured the "scrap part" and it was perfectly square and right on dimensions. I don't have a good way to make a bend in the right sheet, so I was forced to make the part with the bend work. I had to clamp a straight piece to the dash at the right dimension and grind the entire length down to size, I the trimmed the end slightly to get it into square (about a 16th off one corner.) When I was done the piece fit perfectly.

The first fit before trimming the corners:

Trimming the corner (laying on the door sill):

Fitted with the mounting holes:

 

Well that's frustrating....

I had a similar experience with a custom metal fab shop when I made a replacement frame for my Spen Model S trailer. They bent the C-channel to completely wrong dimensions, and basically charged me to redo it. I should have fought it more than I did, but took the steel home with me that was bent wrong. I figured it was a pick-your-battles type situation, and didn't press the issue that much. It's frustrating when "professionals" mess up and then pass the buck on to the customer like it's our problem.

 

Flipped the Tub over.

Supporting it with a set of saw horses on the wheel wells and jack stands under the windshield frame channel, safety straps hung from the beam overhead.

Cleaning up the bottom with wire brushes and doing some minor repair welding. It looks like cleaning it up will take longer than I expected. :-(

Also cut off the Master Cylinder bracket on the frame to make room for Herm's MC mount kit. Drilled the holes to mount the new MC. Continuing to clean the frame, engine, and drive components.

 

UPDATE!!!!

Spent the whole weekend Jeeping hard. I am now sore and exhausted with more than a few busted knuckles. Next few posts will cover the process.

One major issue -> now my wheels don't fit.
I'm a little gun shy to go get new wheels because I'm afraid I will order them and I'm not sure they will fit. I have good BFG tires on the current wheels and It would be a shame to go up in size and need new tires. Any advice on purchasing 15x7 wheels to fit over my new GM calipers and brackets?

 

Since it was raining, cold, and windy;
I started the long weekend on Thursday night and into Friday cleaning and grinding and welding and cleaning and grinding and welding on the bottom of the tub.

Once it was "Good Enough", I vacuumed up the 4-5 lbs of dust, wiped everything down, hit it with some compressed air to make sure it was clean and dry, and painted the whole thing with Rustoleum primer and flat black paint.

Before:

After Primer:

After Paint:

 

Once the sun came out, I went outdoors to work on the rear axle:

I was lucky to still have this 5-arm octopus hub puller and the giant sockets from my old Beetle project still laying around. Was useful to have the right tool for the job! The hub was on tight!

Also have a question on the rear differential:
Does anyone know the purpose the little tab of metal hanging off of one of the bottom bolts? It is a mystery to me! It is just a little tab under one bolt. Maybe it is a service stamp or something?

Eventually I got everything stripped off and the rear axles removed.

 

Next up:

NEW PARTS!!!

 

that is an identification tab i think, or maybe a posi. i dunno

 

I went with the Free float rear axle from Herm the Overdrive Guy and used the GM disk brake swap on the front and rear.

The axle, spindle, and disk brakes all went together smoothly. Only thing I was confused by was a comment on Herm's site that says "also upon installing the full floating axles, the center pins located in the cross shaft(s) must be removed before installation." This comment didn't make any sense to me. Everything slide right into place and I don't see anything in there that could possibly need removing! I looked up the diagrams over at the Kaiserwillys site (Dana 44 Rear Axle - View 2) to try to determine what pin he may have been talking about, but I did not see anything in the diagrams that made sense to remove. Thoughts?

Here is the rear assembled:

The last picture is where I tried to slide the wheels on.
They rub the caliper mounting pins on the edge of the weld flange of the wheel.
With a stack of washers about 1/4 inch thick, I can get the wheel to stop rubbing, but I don't have long enough studs to effectively use a spacer.

A. I really don't want to pull the hubs off, clear out the bearings and grease, and re-press longer studs (Assuming I can get the old ones out) just to use a spacer. I put them in using the old school method of a breaker bar and a lot of muscle.

B. Going up in Rim size to 16/17 would ensure I have a good fit, but then I would lose my current set of tires (which are practically new)

C. I don't have confidence that new 15x7 rims will fit until I have them and try them on (and the frame is on stands in the drive so the wheel would need to some to me for fitting)

Can the kind folks here on the site help me out with a listing of their wheels that fit over the GM calipers?