The "You're an Idiot" restoration

Great. Thanks, will give it a try for some of my build.

 

Finally am getting back at it after months of this and that keeping me away from working on the jeep.


Rear Dana 44 disassembly.

Drained the oil. Was as clear as new oil!!! I couldn't believe it. As far as I know this is all original. Remember, only 26K original miles and never mud bogged to the best of my knowledge so I guess it should be clean.



Hard to see the oil here but this is the drain pan



A pic here to remember where the bracket and tag go



Removed the diff cover. Very happy with what I saw. Not a bit of gunk, just oil oil oil!



The carrier bearing race brackets have the number 15366


Inside of the rear diff cover, just wiped it out with a towel and this is what it looked like



Some close ups of the carrier





Hard to see the numbers on the ring gear here but it says " 8 27 71 DANA 18515 A3D66 41-11" That was all stamped in the steel. Scored on it looked like 9238 (not sure about the 9, the 238 matches the pinion marking/scoring which i guess is the shimming width??) I need to read up on that a bit.







Brake removal (RHS). ALot of pics for notes to self on reassembly.

Pic from frontward view. Spring stud with 2 springs and small cable for parking brake



Toward the top, cable guide and spring



End of cable mounts to this thing, with spring on bottom



adjuster




Light weight spring, behind on parking brake bracket piece.



RHS brake off. Partially reassembled on floor.





cable that mounts over the stud



RHS axle pulled. End of shaft



spline. Looks great.



Axle bearings. Look great. I think these are going back in. Someone stop me if you see anything I am missing that suggests I should replace the bearings. I will replace the seals for sure though





Axle out, backer plate still there. Looking down the axles RHS tube. Races look fine and dandy







Backer plate ready to come off



and off.



Repeated the same on the LHS. I put some baggies over the bearings on the axles to hopefully keep the shop debris out of them.





Pulled the carrier. Probably didn't really need to come out, but I wanted to get the pinion out and have a look. All the bearings look great.





I put the race holders brackets back exactly as I got them so I don't get thngs mixed up.



End of the pinion. The number 238 scribed on there (similar to the ring gear number mentioned above). There are 2 other marks on there that I can't figure out what they are. Looks like greek to me.





Pinion out. Boy that nut was a bugger to get loose. 3/4 drive socket set came in handy plus a piece of pipe.

Put everything back together as I found it (minus the oil seal in these 2 pics.)





with the oil seal.



Pinion races





Inside, empty.

 

With the rear dana 44 all emptied out, I want to abrasive blast it so I devised this to button it up and keep out the media and other associated crap with clean up and painting. I used plywood plates to cover the pinion hole (with a plywood backer plate to hold the bolt on the inside. Then I bolted plywood to the backer plate mounts on each end and ran a 5/8" threaded rod through a center hole drilled to fit, put a washer and nut on each end and tightened it up. Should seal it off from the blast media and also provide something to carry it with and set on a couple saw horses while I blast and paint it so I don't mar up my paint. Can't see here but I also put the diff cover back on. (Didn't remove the gasket yet so it seals up well enuogh to keep the media out (wouldn't hold oil but will keep it clean during blasting and painting I think). I'll clean up the gasket once done painting for reassembly. We'll see how it works.




The last thing for today is I bought a couple quarts of paint at Home Depot. I am thinking to use these on the axles and see how they come out. This rustoleum should be sprayable in my gun and it's dirt cheap. They are only axles so it seems like a good place to give this a shot. Anyone ever use this oil enamel primer and topcoat from Rustoleum. I guess it will be similar to rattle can but i am going to use the spray gun. Doing small amounts of painting using the 2 part paints seems like a PITA to mix hardener with base for such small jobs. I wanted to find an alternative and I hate to rattle can and actually the cost is rediculous for rattle can paint now a days. This was <$10 per quart. I don't know how many rattle cans I would go through to match a quart of paint but it's a bunch from my experience. Maybe I'll regret it. Comments welcomed as always on others experiences.



Hopefully will get to the sandblasting in the next couple weeks when i get a good afternoon free.

 

Looks good! When it all comes down to it, Jeeps are just like a heavy duty set of Tinker Toys. Keep the pics coming.

 

So a couple dumb questions to ask. I have the rear dana 44 painted and ready to reassemble (I'll get some pics up soon of that stuff). My questions are the following.

1) I minimally wanted to repack the axle bearings. I am wondering is this possible the way they are pressed on the axle with the bushing behind the bearing (basically I can't get to the bearing other than the top of the rollers. Seems pointless to try and pack like this). What am I missing here?

2) I was thinking I need to replace the seals too while I am at it. How many seals are there 1 or two per side. Clearly there is one on the very outer side, is there an inner one too? I'll look closer later, but am at work right now. I see some places sell an inner seal too.

3) While in there, should I just replace the bearing and be done with it. I guess the Timken set#10 is the right thing. Does anyone recommend the Timken or some other FLAPS brand (I guess I'll have to order the Timken online, can't seem to find locally from the FLAPS websites anyway).

So overall, what should I do here, full blown replacement or just reinsert the axles and call it good?

 

The pictures you have been posting have been FANTASTIC! please keep that up.

As for bearings I always replace when the age/condition is in doubt. But thats just me. I don't know about the seals for a 72, but somebody will chime that knows far more than I. A diagram should be in your tech manual or a chiltons book.

I was with my dad when he bought a brand new 72 cj-5 in 1972. I grew up in that thing. I have a 71 that I have had since 78, but I still have a soft spot for the intermediates.

 

Thanks Grant. I have to take alot of pics, can't remember anything anymore and I'm only 41. Not sure what I'll do at 61 if I make it that far!

As for the question on rear axle bearings. My question is really now whether there is an 'inner seal' or not. I can't see one (well nothing on the axles I pulled). It looks like an outer seal (next to the backer plate), then bearing, then the steel bushing that is pressed on. That's it. However, some of the parts suppliers sell an inner seal and I see it on some diagrams from quadratec etc. I always do this to myself, I read too much I think. Obviously I need to put back in what I took out I guess but this bugs the hell out of me. Anyone else got some comments on this 1972 dana 44 set up?

 

OK, given a little time, I answer my own questions.

I got in such a hurry disassembling and getting the dana 44 ready to blast and paint I didn't really look at the tube very closely (yeah, I know what a dumb a$$!) It was covered in some grease and i was distracted by getting to the carrier section I guess.

I have everything painted up (pics coming soon) and have taken my support rod set up and plywood ends apart so now I can see inside again (see the above entries for that statement to make any sense).

Clearly the inner seal is in place. They actually look pretty darn good! I will probably replace anyway but amazing after 40 years the seal rubber is in good shape.

Look just behind the race in this one you can easily (I hope) make out the seal.




A close up of the seal.



I guess I can get that thing out with a slide hammer???


I was surprised to find that the races actually pulled out by hand. No idea if this is normal or not but I wasn't planning to replace these even with a new bearing install as I figured it would be a bear to get these races out. They just pulled out easy. Here is a picture, I assume this is the original. It is a Timken, the number U360L is clearly there. This is the right number for the race of the 'set10' Timken bearing and cup set up after checking the web. You can't quite make it out in the photo below but the 'Timken U360L' is folowed prominently by 'MADE IN AMERICA'. I'm not used to seeing that on everything else I tinker with. I guess in 1972 that was still the case.



All for the moment. I have a bunch of painted stuff to off load from the camera and update the status. Anyway, the plan now is to get a new Timken Set10 bearing set and inner and outer seals, as well as pinion seal and nut and put this thing back together. I am not going to screw with the carrier bearings.

 

you will need to use that nice press to change the axle bearings. the lock ring needs to be cut off i slice it with a cut off wheel almost all the way then wack it with a chisel,dont forget to put the seal on before pressing the bearing on.

 

Finally got some time to upload some pics of the axle cleaning and painting.

You've seen the axle condition. I also cleaned up the springs and transmission mount and underplate and part of the power steering box mount while I was at it (I was just grabbing rusty junk that needed blasting and would end up black anyway!)













Pulled off all the hardware, I'll have to figure out what to do with that later.

Here are some of the just blasted pics. The HF blaster is a PITA but it does get the job done eventually.

















Here is a number on the bottom of the rear spring



a number hard to read on the front spring I think









It isn't perfect, but the blasting media really makes a nice porous surface to paint I feel. Much better than wire wheeling can do. So when I can media blast, I try to blast.

Getting ready to paint. I think it's too hot and humid in NC but what can I do, progress must happen.





Primer. I used rustoleum primer.











and flat black rustoleum top coat. I just sprayed right out of the can. I think I should have thinned it slightly but it worked OK.





That's a load on those two poor ladders













I guess that is all the pics of 40 year old painted junk one could ever want to see

Not sure I really like the rustoleum, it clearly isn't as hard of a finish and takes alot longer to cure than the good stuff, but I primed and painted all of this stuff for <$20 and still have a fair amount of paint left. One has to be reasonable with expense, this seemed like a good place to give it a try. I will likely use more of it where I can.

 

Great pics and nice progress. Are those the old springs you are reusing? Were they not sagging bad? BTW, great build so far and keep up the good work.

 

Always nice when you can blast. Enjoying your build. Keep up the good work.

 

Yep, originals. No sagging that I could tell. They look very consistent from side to side also and other than some really heavy surface rust, seem good. We'll see how she stands when done. It's a relatively easy swap out at the end if they are a problem but the thought of replacing never entered my mind from the way they looked to me.

 

I should have mentioned, I am going to replace the bushings in the ends of the springs and on the very front and very rear shackles on the frame. They don't seem horrible, but are relatively cheap (although there are 12 of them), and now is the time to do it. I ordered a bunch of little parts today. I am trying to keep costs in check but heck, much easier to replace things when it's torn down than to find out later I should have done something.

I ordered.
Timken Set10 bearings for both rear axles
inner (481837) and outer (9912S) Timken seals
New lug studs for all the way around and a spare mount (25) plus new lug nuts
New Timken pinion seal (also got one for the front so I have it) TM5778
Pinion nut (I got 3 of them so I had a spare but now am thinking I should have ordered 4 for so I have for the trans case)
Spring bushings (12)

All for now, that'll be ~ $200. Keep telling self - not a BMW, not a BMW, not a BMW.......

 

ooooooo... i REALLY liked the white!

looks fantastic and although rattle cans probably are NOT the best available finish, im with you... save where ya can...

all my stuff is rattle can too except for the POR

SUPER nice job there buddy!

 

Thanks for the post. I should make sure to clarify, this is not rattle canned. I used the oil based rustoleum in my spray gun. I will possibly thin it slightly (instructions say up to 5% acetone or mineral spirits can be used). It's essentially the same paint as the rattle can i suspect but much more economical from a quart applied via the gun with air compressor. It also goes on real nice with the gun rather than at least my experience has been in the past with a rattle can. Just wanted to clarify. No hardener though in this so I don't think it will be the quality of the finish that I have on the frame. It takes much longer to cure up than the Eastwood urethane I used on the frame. It is hardening up just fine though but taking a week or longer to really solidify so a thumbnail can't scratch it. I am going to use this on the axles and some smaller parts and then go back to the eastwood or PPG 2 part urethanes (with hardener) for the body and anything topside. They are much better quality finish even I can tell. Ah, heck this is a learning experience and my first non-rattle can kind of painting so i have to try some things to see what is good/bad or otherwise. I'm also hell bent i am going to try the tractor supply valspar product with hardener somewhere on this rig too. It doesn't have the UV protection I am told but might be perfect for the undercarriage if it hardens up good.

 

My entire "new" paint job is rattle can. Will always keep a can or the green and black in the jeep for scratch fixin'

 

I'm about to try Valspar restoration series tractor & implement paint (from Tractor Supply, $28 for a gallon) over epoxy primer on my frame. I'll let you know how it turns out. Apparently it's supposed to be pretty good.

 

Ha! I keep telling myself the same thing.... but it does not seem to be working.....

It's looking good by the way. Keep it up, and keep posting the pictures. :stout: