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What Did You Do To Your Jeep Today?

I took the Lion's Loop trail. It's on the 'easy side' of its difficult rating. I was aired down to 15 PSI x4.
This is the major obstacle coming down and going back up (in 6:1 granny & low range).


I also climbed this in 2nd gear low range with no stumbling even though it had some bumps.
Overall, I was very impressed with how dropping the float some made such a big improvement. (Why didn't I do this sooner?)
 
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colojeepguy said:
I've been real discouraged with my Commando project, I simply don't have time to work on it and it's been sitting for months. Well Hey I took this morning and spent a few hours working on it and got it back on all 4 wheels. Still has no steering, brakes, or driveshaft but just having it off the jack stands is a huge visual difference and gives me a little encouragement.
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Click to expand...
Hey Doug I really think you should paint those wheels black I really think it would make your Commando stand out ……LOL

I all honesty Doug it’s looking pretty good is that right fender the one you found?
 
Had a pretty good weekend with the jeeps. The new exhaust manifold and remflex gaskets came in so I installed them on the 75. I hadn’t really driven this thing in years because I hated the exhaust leak. Now I feel dumb for putting that off. The job wasn’t bad. Also changed the fuel filter and fixed some wiring to get the brake lights and turn signals working again.
The reward was taking the kids to town for my son’s soccer game, then to Buddy’s 40th birthday. Then we used the little jeep a bunch around the property last night. And I’m about to use it again to super some invasive weeds on the property.
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not so much the jeep itself....but good time to repack/check the trailer bearings and brakes.
PXL_20260514_232023278.jpg


We use this trailer for the raft as well, and while I try not to put the wheels (or tail lights) in the water at the ramp, its around a lot more water than most car haulers. Front axle was in perfect shape....rear was also in perfect shape, but you could see where a bit of water had gotten around the dust shield - nothing made it past the the spindle nut and washer (didn't get to the outer bearing), but thinking I might try to to run just a bit of RTV/silicon sealant around the inside edge of the dust cap. The inner seals all look good.

Never had a tailer with electric brakes, and also working with the Ford OEM brake controller....wondering if I had the gain set a bit high? Seems like a lot of wear on the magnet and drum? The brakes have maybe 12k+ miles hauling a vehicle, and probably another 5k miles hauling the lighter raft (I do reset the gain for the lighter raft load).
PXL_20260514_234639136.jpg


Not the best pic of the drum wear but...more grooved up than I'd think is right:
PXL_20260514_234708503.jpg
 
FinoCJ said:
not so much the jeep itself....but good time to repack/check the trailer bearings and brakes.
PXL_20260514_232023278.jpg


We use this trailer for the raft as well, and while I try not to put the wheels (or tail lights) in the water at the ramp, its around a lot more water than most car haulers. Front axle was in perfect shape....rear was also in perfect shape, but you could see where a bit of water had gotten around the dust shield - nothing made it past the the spindle nut and washer (didn't get to the outer bearing), but thinking I might try to to run just a bit of RTV/silicon sealant around the inside edge of the dust cap. The inner seals all look good.

Never had a tailer with electric brakes, and also working with the Ford OEM brake controller....wondering if I had the gain set a bit high? Seems like a lot of wear on the magnet and drum? The brakes have maybe 12k+ miles hauling a vehicle, and probably another 5k miles hauling the lighter raft (I do reset the gain for the lighter raft load).
PXL_20260514_234639136.jpg


Not the best pic of the drum wear but...more grooved up than I'd think is right:
PXL_20260514_234708503.jpg
Click to expand...
That magnet and drum wear is normal and acceptable. The magnet pulls to the face of the drum and the rotation of the drum engages the brakes. This is why most trailer brakes do not work in reverse.
 
A few years ago I put on this black-ready made leatherette steering wheel cover. It has been okay but I really never liked it because it was just kind of sloppy feeling.


So, I do a lot of cycling (road bicycles) and have wrapped and re-wrapped bike handlebars approximately what feels like 90,000 times in the last 50 year since got my first road bike. I happened to have a few rolls of cheap leather looking bar tape on my shelf, so I thought "what the heck, let's give it a try."

This is the result. I had enough to do the passenger side grab handle too.




So far Ilike it. It is much tighter than the old ready made steering wheel cover and doesn't annoy me when I am steering. If I decide to keep it like this I will order a bulk roll of higher quality tape and do the whole wheel in one length. I may even order some real leather wrap from Brooks if I win the Ed Mcmahon publishers clearing house.

By the way this picture what it looked like in '78 when I first got my drivers license. It seems like old times now although it was just a cheap leatherette steering wheel then too:
 
Worked on the 53 A1 today. horn stopped working. Button was sticky. Checked the horn switch., it ohmed out OK. Jumped across the switch leads and horn sounded.
Horn rod goes through center of steering shaft. It was stuck and had to work it in and out. Horn rod was rusty. Funny thing, I have a new horn rod and button but can't run it through from the top or bottom. Something has filled the hole. I Suppose the horn rod adapter tube rusted through and plugged the hole. It's pressed in. No way I'm pulling the steering out to rebuild the box right now. I tried taping punches from the bottom and steel rods from the top but couldn't get it clear. I put it all back together less the horn rod. I will probably fab up a horn button and tie it into the wires on the switch to get a workable horn until I decide to rebuild the Ross steering box. Got a box I rebuilt a few years ago, but a lot of work just to make the horn work. Always something. Took the Jeep for a few laps around the block before the rain came. Had to prime the carb with some fuel to get it to crank initially, running good now.

Dave
 
dnb71R2 said:
I took the Lion's Loop trail. It's on the 'easy side' of its difficult rating. I was aired down to 15 PSI x4.
This is the major obstacle coming down and going back up (in 6:1 granny & low range).


I also climbed this in 2nd gear low range with no stumbling even though it had some bumps.
Overall, I was very impressed with how dropping the float some made such a big improvement. (Why didn't I do this sooner?)
Click to expand...
Looking good Dave.
 
Where to start...I've done quite a bit recently. I guess the first thing was the steering column repairs. My Jeep has a GM tilt column. I think it's from a late 80's Cherokee XJ. Over the years it had gotten pretty wobbly. So I went deep inside and found the 4 Torx bolts that anchor the tilt mechanism. I tightened those up with some blue thread locker. Major improvement! The column is solid now. Another thing that I wanted to address while I had the column apart was the turn signals. Only one side would self cancel. I found out that one of the cam canceling springs had broken. I got some new springs from Summit. Then, while monkeying around with that, i broke the old, crunchy plastic cam canceler. Oof. I found a junkyard replacement out of a square body S10. I clipped the connector off the bottom of it, because I only use that harness for turn signals, hazards and the horn. My headlight switch is dash mounted and my wiper (singular) is hand crank, which is okay in the desert. Speaking of the horn, that was the main reason I initially tore into the column, come to think of it. Anyway, I fished the harness and the S10 cam canceler into place, and put the new springs in. There is another plastic piece, round with a hole in the center that slips over the steering shaft, that fits just under the lock ring. This piece has a molded cylindrical tube on it that houses a spring and a metal pin--the horn button. I managed to crack the molded piece as well. Ugh. I found a replacement on the shelf at O'Reilly's, which really surprised me. When I put everything together, with a mixture of factory, junkyard and supply house parts, I found that the stacked height of the sum of the "new" parts was a little shorter than the original setup. Not much shorter, but just enough to render my old horn pin useless. It was too short to contact the conical metal washer that collapses when you press on the horn cap. The O'Reilly replacement didn't come with a new pin and I didn't see one at the junkyard. But, I found that a joist hanger nail is the perfect diameter to fit inside that tube. It took me 3 tries to get a nail cut to just the right length, with the spring underneath it, to sound the horn reliably, which meant putting the steering wheel on to test it each time. I went from the horn sounding constantly, to intermittently, to only when I pressed the cap. So anyway, the horn works now. The turn signals self cancel on both sides reliably, every time. When I rewired the Jeep many years ago, for some reason, I had the turn signal flasher canister being fed by the "always hot" fuse panel. So I changed that feed to switched power. The hazard canister is still always hot. Between fixing the cancel cam and changing to switched power, I'll never again have to make that embarrassing walk from the grocery store to the Jeep sitting in the parking lot with a turn signal flashing...or driving along and realizing I’ve had my signal on for the last half mile. I still need to wire a few turn signal indicators into the dash. My dash is so full of holes of every size and shape that I've been putting off installing the indicators. I keep telling myself I'll get a piece of sheet metal and redo the dash. And the crazy thing is, I keep believing myself! I'll wire the indicators. This post is already longer than I expected, so I'll describe the other things I've done separately. Oh, one last thing...if you're doing this, be careful of the caged bearings. If they come apart, not good. When I was done, I noticed a ball on the floor. I did my best to keep everything together, but one of those rascals got out. As Derek, from Vice Grip Garage says, we'll pretend we didn't see that for now. I need to order a bearing.
 
Just got back from the MVPA Convention in Fisherville VA, then a week at the cabin in the mountains. Got both Jeeps out and took a few hot laps around the block.
Hadn't cranked the Jeeps in a few weeks. 53 always has to be primed if it hasn't been cranked in a couple of weeks. Had to squirt some fuel down the neck of the carb to get it cranked.
Fuel filter was dry. Don't know why it doesn't hold fuel in the filter. 64 Cranked right up and ran well.
Too hot to do too much other than that.
Dave
 
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