Achilles gets a little work

loaded the frame, axles, tires, springs, various odds and ends into the truck and took it all to school. My afternoon class is steering and suspension and one of the things we could get checked off was leaf springs. So i got credit for putting the springs onto my jeep8)

Got the frame loaded onto the hoist and lifted it up a little to put the springs on starting in the middle of the frame. Put the axle under the frame over the springs and very easily bumped the hoist down untill the shackles lined up perfect. Did the same for the front. About that time i realized I forgot one little box that I needed. Forgot the Ubolts at home 40 miles away

So, I pretty much got as much done as we could and left a little early so I had time to get back for my algebra test and then I worked on it for another 2 hours in the evening.
I had the D44 all finished from the begining of the year complete with new 10" brakes. I dragged the D30 I got from Sean too many years ago that i had gone thru and redone the ujoints about 3 years ago at least. Things are a little rusty, and somethings not quite right with the pinion, but I'm planning on getting 4.27 gears for it anyways.(3.73 right now) I had the 11" brakes that I took off the d27 the night before so just had to bolt the backing plates on and tighten the hubs. Tossed the locking hubs into freewheel and didn't have to worry about the goofy pinion up front.

I almost got the thing sandblasted. only 3 weeks of class left so wanted to get it in so I could get credit. I have a couple small area's to finish blasting, but I decided to go ahead and at least prime the bare metal so it would stop rusting from all the humidity in the air right now. Looks kinda half-you-know-what, but it will be looking good soon.

Just have to get the engine hoisted off the old frame and cut out the engine mounts so I can weld them onto the new frame. Still trying to decide what trans to use...
The T14 would be cheapest and easiest since its there and what it was meant for, but the 420 and 465 I have sitting in the garage are just taunting me each time i walk by. And to top it off someone on one of the local jeep boards has a T18 from an amc jeep for sale with a D20 for $300. But for another $300 for the adapter I need I'm still not ahead any in price of adapting into the jeep.(unless someone can tell me an easy way to bolt it up)

Just about lost my center crossmember on the way home. Tossed the towbar on it to get home with it. Only one 1/4" bolt was holding when I got home. By about 4 threads it was holding.

So anyways, progress on the chassis is starting to progress alot faster now that its warming up around here, and I can get a half hour 3 days a week at lunch to work on it. The chassis should get together pretty quick, but the body is going to be an all summer project. I've learned the basics in the body class I'm taking, but I've learned alot. There's 3 of us in the class of about 20 that did really good on our fender/metal repair/painting so hoping to make wimpy's old body look like new.8)

Someone at school was asking me if this was the jeep that hit my truck.

Yea, sorta.

i think the 10" brake drums are from that jeep...

Frame, new(old) frame from a:hurrican: cj5 that I got from my uncle,
D30 front axle i got from Sean(jeepsterman)
D44 4.27 powerloc from Boyink,
11" backing plates I got from someone on the board about 3 years ago. i'd remember ya if I saw you on here, but haven't seen him in awhile. came off a late 60's chevy truck.
The engine will be the same engine, but completely rebuilt. depending on the trans, the T14 will be the same. Swapped out the D18 for a twinstick model.
Rims might be the same ones from the wreck.

So, not much other than the title say's its a 68. well, actually title say's 69. Vin comes out as a 68 build. Its one of those goofy 68/69 changeover jeeps. Had the 2 upper wipers, not one lower, Had the snorkle cutout, might have been something with the parking lights too. Can't remember off hand.

I'll try posting some pics soon

 

Ok. here's some pics of what I have so far. Grey primer and rusty metal in a few spots for now, but it'll all be a nice glossy black soon.

I like the fact that the D30 doesn't let the tires rub up against the springs like the D27 and 25 do.

 

anyone used a power steering box from a late 70's cj7? think it was from a 78 or 79.
looks like the bracket will bolt to the bottom of the left frame rail in front and I'll need to put a plate across the front behind the bumper for it to mount to and reinforce the front to take the extra stress from the box.

 

If you can get the front corssmember from a later CJ, you can weld that on to your frame and use that whole setup. I did that the first time with the bus and it worked nice.

 

Got an advance adapter for the 420 from someone on pirate8)
Just waiting for it to show up now.

 

I'll post pics tomarrow, but I took a saginaw power steering box apart today in class. It had a leak, but all the internals look really good. Hot tanked the gear box before and after disassembly and painted it once I got home.
Going tomarrow to get the seals for it so I can put it back together next week in class.

 

Here's the guts of the saginaw. I've still got one bag with all the tiny little ball bearings and misc parts in them. Got a rebuild kit yesterday for the box too for $31. Could have gotten rebuild stuff thru the chrysler too. Did some work on a 01 ram that had the saginaw box on it yesterday too.

 

got the engine mounts cut off the old frame and ground all the frame metal off the engine mounts. Just need sand blast them and tack them in place so I can drop the engine in place8)

 

can't wait .....man it feels good when the motor/trans/TC are sitting in place
Jim S.

 

Don't know if I can't wait more for the engine to be in(completion nearer) or just plain getting stuff cleared up in the garage Got the body laying on its side in a corner, the engine hanging from the rafters, 2 transmissions sitting on floor, jeep frame to be used sitting in opposite corner, pieces of old frame sitting on floor and out in front of garage...

I want to finish so I can get rid of stuff and condense it into one "pile"


Got a little more sandblasted at lunch today.8)

 

Got some progress this past week.8)
I managed to get the engine mounts welded in over the last couple days, and today I finally dropped the engine back in place. Dragged the trans over and hoisted that up only to realize there aren't any holes on the bottom. remembered somewhere hearing that the bellhousing needed to be drilled out an the bottom 2 bolts go thru from the inside of the bellhouse. That was an easy fix. It was actually easier to put the trans onto the engine with the bellhouse. I tried for 20 minutes to get the input shaft lined up before. only took 5 minutes the second time.

I put the adapter on to see how it all lines up but I need to clean up the trans some while the jeep's apart. I got some sand in the rear bearing when sandblasting nearby and I was planning on going thru it before that anyways. At least now I can roll the chassis back over to the other side of the barn so I can finally clean up the opposite side and get some much needed storage shelving put up.

I've got a couple small spots to sandblast on the frame still in the rear so thats probably next. Then I want to get primer over that and get some black paint on the frame.

one little step at a time...

 

Go Bryan go!!

 

eh. 2 months later...

Dragged it into work today. It's been a little slow here, so I asked if I could bring it in and work on it when I didn't have anything to do. Had 2 hours tonight before i left to pull the 420 and take out the input and mainshafts. the countershaft and reverse idler's all look beautiful. Some of the upper gears have a little rust from it sitting for so long, but nothing major. The granny gear is the worst, but I figure that won't get used too much so hoping it won't make much of a difference. Syncro's look good. I'm giong to see about getting bearings and gaskets for it tomarrow then I can put it back together and get the tcase on.

Driveshafts and front axle after this.

 

had a lot of free time today.

So I got the trans cleaned out and reassembled8)
ordered a gasket kit for it. Bearings looked good after I cleaned them up. Hoping to get some paint on it on thursday.

 

sm420 and sm465 manuals
Found this link that helped a little.

 

Couple more pics here. Got the trans back together and installed on the engine. Adapter's on. Just need to seperate the tcase from the T14 in my garage and take it in to put that on. Trans and frame are painted black now too. Starting to look really good.

 

Been really slow the last week. Bad for paycheck, good for Achilles

I've got brakes now. Worked on getting the hardlines plumbed in the last couple days and was just waiting last 2 days for my rubber lines to get here. Got those on today and broke out the brake flushing machine. Its nice having a shop full of tools8) made bleeding the brakes easy. Still got a little air in the fronts though. Backs lock up good. I've got a pic, but no time to upload it right now. I'll have some more tomarrow. hopefully

I've been checking and searching on various stuffs for the trans mount and driveshafts and I went out to my shed(warehouse) and found a front driveshaft with the smaller ujoint on one end, and the larger ujoint on the other end! I don't know where I got this thing from, but it will work perfect for the front going from the d18 to the D30 axle. Just need to legthen it a little.

Also found a t-case torque mount that should work good so I can mount the trans/tcase in the rear. Used the factory? 4 1/4" shims on each side of the frame rail for the sm420 and looks like the driveline angle should line right up. Not too high, not too low. Juuuuust right.8)

pulled the spark plugs yesterday too because I've been worried about the high humidity in my garage over the winter and spring. the cylinders look nice and shiny. No signs of rust anywhere. All set to fire up as soon as I can get my radiator fixed and put on.

Shocks are on too.

Hopefully I'll have a few more pictures tomarrow of the progress.
Really starting to look like a jeep again. Everyone keeps asking when I'm bringing the body in to put it on.

Uh, gonna be awhile on that one. I need to replace the floors in Wimpy's old body first.

 

Tried firing the :v6: up today. Primed the oil pump which took awhile. Had to fill the oil filter and still wouldn't pump. Thought I had packed the oil pump with vasoline when i rebuilt it. I did rotate the oil pump counterclockwise and for some reason that seemed to get oil moving from the oil filter into the pump and then I could turn the distributor shaft clockwise and things started pumping oil. Turned over really slowly. Coulda been the jumper cables so I'm going to get some regular battery cables over the weekend to try cutting down on the resistance. Checked for spark and the plugs are sparking. I squirted a little atf in the holes while I had the plugs out Figured it couldn't hurt any. I know its got compression. How much not sure but you sure can hear a really low whoomp coming out of the exhaust when each cyl compresses.

Pretty much have as much as I can get done put together now. I need to do some fab work so I'm going to get things together so i can tow it back home. Plus school's starting up next week so hopefully my free time at work will lessen.

I'll have good pictures once I bring it home. My camera phone just doesn't make it worth it. Too grainy.