The Resurrection of CJ2-26 |
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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Progress in Pieces . . .
Today progress was made in small pieces. I removed what remained of the front upper bumper gussets by cutting the four welds along their sides then slowly pried them up and off with a 1 inch chisel and 6 lb. sledge hammer. Next I cut off the inner corner of the driver side lower bumper gusset to free the frame from the ugly long weld that held that corner on. Finally I ground down the cut welds with a rough grinding wheel on my 4 inch Makita grinder. The front frame rails now look a bit better. I gave the bell crank tapered pin a brief stay of execution, to let it contemplate its ultimate fate. |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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Mike Gardner
Member Joined: 20 July 2005 Location: Lewes Beach Del Status: Offline Points: 3550 |
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I need to pay more attention to this page. I just lost a hour or so of work reading this. This is awesome.
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1945 CJ-2A 11713
1995 YJ 4.0 |
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Oilleaker1
Member Joined: 06 Sep. 2011 Location: Black Hills, SD Status: Offline Points: 4406 |
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The court rules: death to the pin! Off with his head.
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Green Disease, Jeeps, Old Iron!
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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DING DONG the Pin is gone, the Pin is gone, the Pin is gone. DING DONG the wicked Pin is Goooone !!!
Finally, the pin has been removed . . . torn asunder by opposing forces . . . decapitated and expunged by rendering it a shell of its former self, to be plinked aside. :) My good friend and hearty companion, Lou Ferra, worked very hard on Monday to finally remove this extremely stubborn tapered bell crank pin. He put a large washer on the inside of the large end of the pin, up against the cast bracket to protect it from his mighty Thor blows. Then he welded a piece of metal on the outer large end of the pin and stuck a pickle fork between this piece of metal and the large washer. WACK! . . and the metal piece flew off, the weld broken by his mighty blow. So he welded another piece of metal to the large end of the pin and WACK! . . that piece flew off. Then a third piece . . WACK! . . zing. Finally, Lou welded a large nut to the large end of the pin on both the inside and outside of the nut and WACK! . . and the pins broke and shreded apart in strands about 3/4" inside the bracket and came off. There remained only 1/2" of pin centered inside the middle of the cast bracket. Using increasingly larger drill bits, he centered a pilot hole in the remaining itsy bitsy pin and drilled its heart out from both ends. Finally, he caught a thin lip and tapped it out the large side with the end of a tapered punch. WHEW!! Here is the remains of the aftermarket tapered pin, the small now-hollow core on the left of the bell crank shaft and the shattered and torn large end of the pin to the right, still attached to the nut. The large washer is above and the three metal pieces are further right. Note how the center of the hardened pin has torn into many small parallel strands, shattered rather than bent. There is a bright slash on the bell crank shaft flat where the tapered pin apparently directed our punch for a while. I have a new WO bell crank shaft and other parts to replace all these old parts. In retrospect, I would have been much better off and one month further along if I had simply left the bell crank in place on its pinned shaft and greased it through its zerk. It seemed to pivot fine and was not in the least bit loose. But of course, in my headlong quest to rebuilt the whole JEEP anew I foolishly decided to replace parts that perhaps did not need replacing. I know at the end of this restoration I'll be older for sure, and I can only hope I'll be a tad bit wiser too. Now its on to removing the springs and axles from the frame to prepare these parts for cleaning and sand-blasting when our clear and dry weather returns. This month we are getting the rain showers we missed in April. |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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damar2yxr
Member Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 23 Aug. 2010 Location: Watertown, Wisc Status: Offline Points: 2632 |
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Fred. I can see why you are an author. You weave together words that make the seemingly mundane tasks like removing a pin appear to be an epic adventure. Riveting! Keep it up. Steven Spielberg may come a calling.
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eat,sleep,jeep
Proud father of a Marine, Army Dentist, Navy Pilot and a Princess. LIFE IS GOOD! 43MB,47CJ2-A,48CJ2-A X2,70Jeepster Commando 1/2 cab,84CJ-7, |
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eestes1
Member Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 12 Feb. 2011 Location: Mineral, VA Status: Offline Points: 1155 |
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"Riveting" Pun intended? Pretty good wordsmithing yourself, Damar!
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Rick Estes
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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Well, another month, another post. Made a little progress by removing the axles and springs and flipping the frame upside down on some stands to begin work on its tender underside. Here it is ready for some ticklish belly work:
The first task was to gently remove the front axle metal bumper plates from the front of the chassis. These were one of the few parts to be attached with genuine factory "E C" bolts, so I made an effort to save the bolts during removal. However, the first one seemed to be coming out so well that I forgot to back it in after every few turns of the wrench to remove the accumulated rust from the capture nut. Then with a fateful twist the "E C" head suddenly snapped off. Drat!!! However, the unmarked rear bolt for that passenger side metal plate came out easier, after much backing and forthing with the 1/2" wrench to clean its thread off during removal. Onto the driver side plate. The forward "E C" bolt was a tough customer, stuck in its ways. I turned the wrench only 90 degrees each time, tapping it with the palm of my gloved hand to force it thru the quarter-turn before I sprayed some Kroil on the emerging bolt and reversed it 2-1/2 revolutions to clean the inaccessible threads inside the boxed frame. Here's a photo half way thru its removal: Removing this one "E C" bolt took a patient 25 minutes, twisting its 90 degrees outward then three turns back in to clean its threads slowly but surely. I was not looking forward to the rear bolt on this bumper plate. But that one came out much easier and quicker, so it was on to the bumper plates for the rear axle. There is a roughly 2" tall cast iron spacer underneath the rear axle bumpers. The long rear bolts on each side came out relatively easily, but the forward ones that entered the frame rails where they had already begin to arch upwards to clear the rear axle refused to unscrew. Application of sufficient force to rotate them quickly caused their heads to snap off. Knocking the cast spacers sideways with a hammer resulted in an eccentric motion, revealing the two forward long bolts had bent shafts from hard use during the past 73 years. Their long bent shafts got hung up against the insides of the spacers and rather than rotate out their heads snapped off. The cast spacers did not want to easily come off the forward bolt bent shafts when tapped from underneath, so I will deal with them during my next visit. One cast rear spacer had a lot of rust in its hollow, as seen here after some had already been knocked to the floor: Another challenge is how to save the rear spring brackets without removing them from the frame. Parts of the screw in bushings A-8256 remain inside each bracket. The cast U-bolt A-513 just fell out of the bracket pictured below; that U bolt had been held in place with thick bailing wire. The thick U-bolt remains stuck inside the other rear spring bracket while the head of that bushing tore off during attempted removal. Both rear brackets are still nicely riveted to the frame and I want to avoid removing them and riveting new ones in their place. Here what the empty rear bracket looks like in place: On the above empty rear spring bracket, I might detach a hacksaw blade from its frame, run the blade through the hole and reattach it to the frame. I could then saw a few lengthwise cuts into that busing and hopefully remove it from inside the horizontal tube. On the other rear bracket, I could cut the U bolt in half at the bottom of its "U" (to allow it to rotate in a confined space) and try unscrewing it from the bracket with a huge adjustable wrench. Failing these methods, more drastic measure are called for. The center horizontal tubes appear to be welded in place only along their bottoms, now facing upward as seen here. So I'm thinking, drastically, that I could cut out the center horizontal tubes with a cut-off wheel along the insides of each bracket and weld in new center tubes while keeping the brackets in place. Does this sound reasonable? If not, then I don't see how I could easily remove the rivets, unless I torch off their heads. And installing new rivets with the rear bumper still attached would be a nightmare. Any and all suggestions on fixing these rear spring brackets will be greatly appreciated. The stuck U bolt is visible top right in the picture below. As you can gather by the paucity of my recent posts, progress has slowed way down. So just when I decided I need a helper, one hops into the picture, as seen here: My carrot expense will likely increase, but an extra sets of paws will sure come in handy. Until next time, . . . |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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berettajeep
Member Sponsor Member Joined: 03 Feb. 2009 Location: Astoria OR Status: Offline Points: 4304 |
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Hoppy Jeep trails!
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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Oilleaker1
Member Joined: 06 Sep. 2011 Location: Black Hills, SD Status: Offline Points: 4406 |
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Fred, you can now "hop right to it"! I always thought those cast spacers were used on the front to space the bumps down for winch installation. They keep the tie rods from hitting the front PTO shaft. So, did they use them for Agrijeep application of plows, lifts, saws, and such on the rear also?
Can you heat the shackle mounts with a torch and get the large U nuts to turn out? Air impact really helps with that. Remember LF and RR are left hand thread in the springs only. The rivet under the tube in the shackle mount is terrible. I hope you can save them. John
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Green Disease, Jeeps, Old Iron!
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WeeWilly
Member Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 07 May 2009 Location: Clayton IN Status: Offline Points: 3422 |
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I believe the bumper block spacers were used when ever the heavy duty springs were used. My 47 had the blocks only on the front with heavy duty springs and the back had standard springs without the blocks.
Jim |
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47 CJ2A (Ranch Hand) 48 CJ2A, 48 Willys truck, T3C 3782, M274 (Military Mule)
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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The roughly 2" tall rear axle bumper spacers I'm in the process of removing, W.O. # 640207, apparently were a standard part on all CJ-2s and all early CJ-2A jeeps up to s/n CJ2A-106805, per the CJ-2 BOM and the 1949 CJ-2A and CJ-3A Parts List. There was no change to the CJ-2A frame until much later (at s/n 199079), so I don't know why the two rear axle bumper spacers were eliminated after roughly 97,000 CJ-2A jeeps were produced. Just one of those Willys things, I imagine. A pair of front axle spacers from WW II, A-9194, was installed whenever a capstan winch was installed on the front of a MB or CJ-2A jeep. A different pair of CJ front axle bumper spacers, W.O. 646671, was installed on CJ-2As between s/n 178936 and 215649 to provide clearance whenever a Monroe Lift front hydraulic pump was installed on those jeeps. The two odd threaded shackle bushings have already been removed, so I'm down to dealing with regular threads. I'll try a torch. I've been using electric and air impact wrenches, but neither has budged the stuck parts. My Atlas-levered 3/4" drive socket tore off the weakened hex head off one shackle bushing quite easily, as I pushed down on the 6' end of the heavy cheater bar. I've gotten serious, but this is one heck of a stubborn jeep to strip threaded parts from. It must have picked up some idle chatter about "Resistance". |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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Bruce W
Member Joined: 29 July 2005 Location: Northeast Colorado Status: Offline Points: 9611 |
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Fred said, "So I'm thinking, drastically, that I could cut out the center horizontal tubes with a cut-off wheel along the insides of each bracket and weld in new center tubes while keeping the brackets in place."
I've thought the same thing, but where would one get the new tubes? Are they a standard tubing size? Would one have to buy replacement brackets and cut them up to get the tubes? BW
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It is NOT a Jeep Willys! It is a Willys jeep.
Happy Trails! Good-bye, Good Luck, and May the Good Lord Take a Likin' to You! We Have Miles to Jeep, Before We Sleep. |
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WeeWilly
Member Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 07 May 2009 Location: Clayton IN Status: Offline Points: 3422 |
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Thanks Fred good info.
Jim |
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47 CJ2A (Ranch Hand) 48 CJ2A, 48 Willys truck, T3C 3782, M274 (Military Mule)
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Fred Coldwell
Member Joined: 18 Nov. 2005 Location: Denver, CO. Status: Offline Points: 437 |
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Hi Bruce: Walck's and Midwest Military sells these replacement shackle bushings that could be welded in place after the present ones are removed with a thin cutting wheel or a Sawzall: http://walcks4wd.com/shackle-bracket-bushing-1941-1957-mb-gpw-cj-truck-4wd-wagon-4wd-sedan-delivery.html I imagine they could be centered in the bracket with an old shackle (U bolt) and welded in place, either fully or just tacked welded, then finished up after the shackle is removed so that it too is not mistakenly welded in place. |
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Happy Jeep Trails,
Fred Coldwell Denver, CO 1944 CJ2-09 - X-33 1945 CJ2-26 - X-50 |
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Ol' Unreliable
Member Joined: 25 Sep. 2016 Location: CO Springs CO Status: Offline Points: 4226 |
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Could you drill a big enough hole through the bushing's... blockage... to get a hacksaw blade in there as you mentioned earlier?
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There's a reason it's called Ol' Unreliable
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jpet
Moderator Group Sponsor Member x 5 Joined: 30 Apr. 2008 Location: Ramsey, IL Status: Offline Points: 11173 |
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Starting to make some progress on the tailgate Jeep stamp.
Paul, "pts211" has the ability at work to read Todd's 3D scans and create a program to cut the dies: Looks like we might get out perfectly incorrect stamp after all ... When Paul gets farther along and has more to post, he can give more details..... now .... if he could just work on his driving: .... |
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CJ2A #29110 "General Willys"
MB #204827 "BAM BAM" "We do what we can, and we try what we can't" |
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Todd Paisley
Member Joined: 19 Nov. 2005 Location: Baltimore, MD Status: Offline Points: 362 |
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Cool!
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Todd Paisley
1941 MB-100063 - MB Factory Test Mule 1942 MB-123136 - Earliest Documented "Civilian" Test Jeep 1944 CJ2-12 - X36 1944 CJ2-16 - X40 1945 CJ2-37 - X61 1945 CJ2A |
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