The "You're an Idiot" restoration

Thanks too Rusty for the comment. Seems like the way to go for sure. Actually I should note, the omix-ada parts I got from CSE off-road are real nice bolts. They have a diamond like surface at the circular apex and a nice paint or coating on them, just too long. I'll be tickled if I can make them work.

 

Updates?

 

I have been awol in the CJ5. Actually I have been getting into the off-roading with some buddies down at Uwharrie and got myself a TJ I am building up for that (will be much faster than this CJ5 10 year ordeal).

 

OK, back at it with the CJ5. Working in the D30 front diassembly. I am stuck on removal of the front hubs. I pulled the the warn locking hubs off and now I need to remove the big spindle nut. I don't know what I have here. I am looking at what appears to be a collar just outboard of the big nut. I can't turn the big nut with moderate force (I haven't gone ape on it yet). This collar seems to have 5 small holes in it and 3 of them seem to have small allen set screws. I removed those but not sure how it would help here. I don't see any kind of retainer clip on the big nut but this collar seems to be needing to be taken off before I can remove the outer nut. Can anyone provide me some advice????/

 

Well, I am able to answer my own question after more googling around. More on this in the next post. The short answer is these are warn lock-o-matic hubs and have a collar lock rather than the tab washer.

 

Dana 30 rebuild. (My D44 rear is done and on the frame. I'll add some final pics of that when I get a chance. Really looks nice all painted up, but not back to the rusty original crap).

The starting axle. 40 years of rust.




Warn Lock-o-matic hubs. More on this below so keep reading.



Pulled the drain plug. I was glad to see oil up to the fill hole and clean oil at that.



ID tag. 3.73 gears.



Diff cover coming off. Nice clean oil draining out!



Some pics of the carrier








Drivers side was the first to get disassembled (long side of the axle)

Drum off



Brake pics, but I am not putting these back on as I plan to do the disc brake upgrade from a donor D30 I picked up a few months ago. Someone maybe can use the views of the drum set up though so I am including here.









Inside of the diff cover.



Warn lock-o-matic dissassembly.

The 6 bolts had bend over tabs on them.



First section off. This is the inside of the outer warn hub. On the bottom of this pic would be the twist knob to put it to lock or free.



You then see this.



Next, removed the snap ring. Then pulled this section of the hub off. The view here is the outside that would mate up with the outer section of the hub. You can also see the snap ring.



Flipped over to see the inside view. From what little research I've done, those notched pieces closest to the inside are the lock-o-matic magic. Not sure exactly how this works but in the 'free' mode if the TC is engaged I guess is will engage the hubs. I am probably not going to re-install these hubs. I think I'll go with regular lock outs from the disk brake donor axle but we'll see.



You then see the following view. This is where I hit a roadblock today. I was expecting a tab washer, didn't know what the hell this thing was.



After some reading and cursing, I discovered there are 3 allen set screws in this collar that protrude into a serrated style washer between this collar and the big nut behind it. The washer keys into the spindle and the set screws then go into the holes in the washer and keep the locking collar in place which then keeps the spindle nut from backing off. The other 2 holes go into the collar but not all the way through. They are on opposite sides of the collar and must be for some type of spanner socket which I didn't have of course. I was able to use a punch with some hard hits and got it to back off. It is threaded onto the spindle like a nut. It's actually a very sturdy set up once I figured out what it was. I think this is unique to the warn lock-o-matic hub.



You can see the locking collar, serrated washer, spindle nut and outer wheel bearing washer in the order they go on here.









Off came the hub finally!



Wheel bearings didn't look so great. Not torn up or anything just kind of yucky. Definitely in need of a repack or I'll probably replace with new. We'll see how well they clean up. I forgot to get a pic of the removed hub. Will try to shoot one later if I remember.

 

D30 teardown continued. Still on drivers side.

A few more pics of the brakes and drum brake backer plate.







Removed the backer plate nuts. Air rachet is the nuts - pun intended.



Brakes and backer plate off. This can go in the junk I think.



Spindle off. Took some work to free it. I drove a screwdriver in behind it and just went around the spindle. Then I was able to use a drift to beat it away from the knuckle. Alot of corrosion making things sticky. This is the inside or backside of the spindle. A new seal is in order. The bearing looks fine. I guess this is the unit bearing - someone correct me if my terminology isn't right.



This is what is left.



Grab and pull gentle and voila, shaft out.



The shaft has alot of rust on it. The tube was nice and dry, but alot of dirt in it. The splines on the carrier end were also a little grimey. I need to do a close inspection of the carrier when i pull it and make sure to get any debris cleaned up.

Carrier end. Again this is the drivers side long shaft.



Spindle end



Down to the knuckle.



Cast number



Down the tube



Removed the ball joint nuts and a little BFH persuation and the knuckle came off nicely.





Another shot down the tube. I ran a vacuum in there to get the losest stuff. I think I'll wire wheel it if I can rig up a rod.



Top ball joint hole



Drivers side down to the C. It took longer than I thought but the other side will go smoother I hope.

 

Here is a pic of what's been taking my attention away from the 72 CJ5. The blue one is an 03 and my daily driver. The red one is a 99 I recently picked up for next to nothing. It had been in a fender bender and the passenger side fender was torn up. I replaced the fender and parking light but the hood is still damaged. I slapped some paint on it and good enough for now. The plan is the make the red one a trail rig. It's a 2.5 4cyl with about 90K on it. Drives great. I am going to go with a 3 inch suspension lift and 1.25 inch body lift, 1 inch motor mount lift and throw some 33X12.50x15's on it and should be ready for some mild rock running. Eventually I'll add a ford 8.8, regear to 4.88's and put some lockers in it along with maybe a D30HP for the front but we'll see. Time will tell I guess. I have been going with some buddies to Uwharrie national forest here in NC. I got the bug bigtime and had to get something together for next spring.



That makes 3 jeeps in the fleet now! Sort of patriotic I guess, I have red (99), white (72) and blue (03).

My wife is not all too pleased I might add but it keeps me out of other trouble I guess. I don't do anything half-way, I'm all in or I stay home!

 

Your build is looking good, never can have to many jeeps

 

You might not want to toss the old brakes, somebody around here might want them if they are 11" ers.

 

Man, I love the way you take stuff apart. When I tore my 75 apart, didn't take enough pictures or notes and took much longer putting it all back together . Please keep it up. This is very helpful to many folks. Thanks.

 

Thanks and will do. I wish I was as skilled at putting my junk back together - Ha!

 

I snapped a few pics of the Dana 44 fully assembled with some rollers on it and hung on the frame with the painted up read springs. Look at the dust on my frame, I am taking WAY too long here to get this thing built. Good grief.













The U-bolts I used are the POI999210 - the real ones. It seems many people are using this number for U-bolts for the dana 44. As I said the original rugged ridge ones I got were way too long. I tried to run a die down them, but it just was too difficult and my threads weren't of the quality needed to hold on my drivetrain. I found authentic POI999210 made by Point Spring and Driveshaft through 4wheelparts in Raleigh. What a pain in the arse to find, order and run over and get these, but they were perfect for the axle - Finally!

 

The other thing I wanted to post up is the spindle nut socket for the dana 30 I picked up for about 10 bucks new. Got this at 4wheelparts as well. Fits spot on. Not hard to find this part number with some googling but figured I'd post up a part number and picture just to have it documented as when I was searching I found several different things and one never knows what to order then. I can endorse this one!

Part was A692N. The one I received from a Crown automotive part. Usually not my preferred supplier but this socket was perfectly fine, nice quality and quite a heavy thing. Ironically, made in the USA!!! (maybe they mean the box?)





Not the most exciting stuff, but man when you are a newbe like me sometimes this kind of information can save tons of time and even some money when ordering the wrong junk.

 

Pulling down the passenger side of the dana 30. Not as much detail but a few shots.

Got the hubs off.



Spindle shots







Wheel hub - outside view. I just tied a string through it to keep the bearing from falling out.





innerside or backside view. Does anyone have a part number to offer for the wheel hub inside seal? I am having a bit of trouble figuring this out. I think the donor axle is slightly different but I want to have this p/n in hand anyway to keep things straight. I think it said National 8430S on the current one. I guess that isn't original and someone packed the bearings along the way but not sure.



short shaft pulled out.





Down the pipe from the pass side. Full of crap.



Pulled the knuckle



a closer view of the crap



ends disassembled now.

 

Pulling the differential out. This rig has 3.73's of course but some pics of the numbers. I think it says 6 17 71, June 1971! I'm a January 1971 model myself. Ring-pinion 41-11





Drivers side bearing cap. (top is top in this pic, case vent is just above the cap in the pic)



Pass side bearing cap. Top is on the right on this pic.



A little gentle prying with a crowbar on a ring gear bolt and voila, out it came. No shims outside of the bearings. I watched some vids and see some have shims outside of the bearings to get the right backlash and preload. Didn't have any on this one. Might be some shims inside behind the bearings, I don't know. Eitherway, it's going right back in the way it is. These bearings are just fine. I wouldn't have even pulled this but I wanted to change the inner seals while I had it on stands. Also wanted to clean the crap out of the tubes.





A look at those seals. Actually look pretty good to me, but they're cheap and I am this far so they are coming out.





Pinion. Has a "+3" and "237" on it.





I made an adapter for the pinion flange removal. I used a pipe wrench on the rear and nearly killed myself not to mention marred up my new paint when re-installing. I saw this somewhere, worked just dandy and is the best kind of tool - free from scrap around the shop.



Pinion out











I always put my bearing caps right back on with the races so I don't get anything mixed up.

 

This I am somewhat proud of - cleaning the axle tubes. I had rust and debris in there. I don't know if this rig will ever see the trails again, but it's gonna be clean damn it!

I used my northern tool chinese pile of crap die grinder and a wire brush. The thing fit down the tubes perfectly. Hit the trigger and shoved it in, the tube held the trigger down and I fed it in with the hose. On the first one I just plugged the inner seals with a bit of paper towel to keep any debris out of the pumpkin. It worked but I hit the paper and caused more mess I think. Anyway, on the 2nd side I had the idea to put my shop vac into the inner seal (fit perfectly with a small extension hose I use to clean my tractor radiator when I mow). Kicked on the vac and ran the die grinder down the long tube from the outside and man it shined it right up with all the debris being sucked into the vac hose. Beautiful. I forgot to get another shot of the clean tubes but they were shined up quite nicely. Took maybe 15-20 seconds per side.







I then popped out the inner seals as the last thing. I figured better to leave them in while I cleaned the tube to help catch as much crap as I could. I used my handy old 5/8" threaded rod with a big washer on it, put in from the outside of the tubes. I fastened the washer a couple inches from the end with a nut on each side so it would sit inside the seal. A couple smacks with a small hammer and they were out cleanly. Worked awesome.





The part that looks like a bugle horn goes outward and the rubber with spring seal goes inward.



Should be ready to seal up the pinion and diff cover, a little more wire wheeling and some primer is next.

 

Turning the corner on the dana 30, now starting to make it look pretty. I cleaned up the old gasket on the differential cover plate, popped the plate back on, put a wood blocking plate on the pinion housing and wire wheeled everything again. I then hit it with some degreaser and ready for some paint. It's about 40 F in North Carolina today so not optimal for painting but it is very low humidity. In the shop while not actually heated I have mostly a gravel floor and insulation in the ceiling and walls so it never gets too cold inside. I set up my propane salamander for about 10 minutes and kind of made a cocoon out of some cardboard to just warm everything up a bit. Worked great.



This project has become a paint experiment it seems. I wasn't happy with the rustoleum quart liquid paint I used on the dana 44 and it seems I am always just wanting to paint a small amount so setting up the gun is a PITA. I saw this rustoleum rattle can that is an automotive primer and got a couple cans to try. So far after one try I like it. It went on well and dried fairly fast, even at somewhat cooler temps tonight.



Here it is about a couple minutes after I quit spraying. It's a dark grey primer. Also on purpose so when I topcoat with flat black if there is any marring or messing it up, at least the primer isn't a vastly different color.



A couple pics of the knuckle C mounts for good measure.





I'll give it a 2nd coating hopefully tomorrow and then some topcoat.

 

Consider using gloss on the axles and anything else you want to be able to hose mud off of easily. I used Satin on my axles and was not happy with the dirt sticking to them. I overshot it all with gloss and it hoses off much better.

 

Looking good. True on the gloss cleaning off better.