Today was a pretty good Jeep work day. After the dogs so graciously woke me up nice and early, I headed out to the garage. Yesterday I got a tie rod puller from AutoZone under their Loan-a-tool program. The puller was still a bit too big, but much smaller than the one I got from Harbor Freight. It fit well enough to get the tie rod end off the driver’s side knuckle, but still didn’t seem to be able to get a good grip on the joint. Luckily, that didn’t stop me. After a little clever repositioning, I got the puller to grip on to the bell crank arm.
After the tie rods were removed, I started removing all the bits and pieces that were still connected to the frame. After removing brake lines, master cylinder, and the bolts that were put back in place until I could bag and tag them, the frame was fairly clear of accessories. One very interesting “modification” is how a previous owner dealt with the clutch crossover tube. In what appears to be meant for a cotter pin and maybe a some sort of bushing or spacer was replaced with a nail and some bailing wire. I’m actually wondering if at some point duct tape was involved.
With the frame somewhat cleared, I decided to start on removing the suspension and axels. The first thing I had to do was remove the wheels and tires. Since I already knew that Willys used different threads on each side of the vehicle (left hand threads instead of the normal right hand threads) I proceeded cautiously. Fortunately previous owners before me had replaced all the left handed studs with all right handed ones. This was also the first time I was able to look and see how damaged the stud holes were on the wheels, which would tell me if any were re-usable. Unfortunately, all four wheels have at least 3 oblong stud holes, and 1 of them has 4. I’ll have to wait until I am able to take a closer look at it to see if it’s of any real concern, but it looks like I’ll be buying 5 wheels instead of just 1 for a spare.
Once the wheels were off and the frame was propped up on jack stands, I decided to start taking off the axels. Unfortunately once the blown out shocks were removed, my awesomely quick work slowed to a complete crawl. The rear C-shackles proved very resilient to my air tools and breaker bar. Surprisingly enough, the passenger side came right off. Usually the driver’s side is easier to work on. This time, though, the shackle bolts look like they haven’t been greased for so long that the upper bolt is seized to the shackle. Since the bolt has internal threads with a rubber pieces sandwiched on the back side, I have no way of getting some penetrating oil in there. Not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I may end up having to cut it out.
Along with that, however, I finally made my first big restoration purchase. I’m hoping to have the frame and axels done here in the next month or so, and once those are done, I get to start putting things back together. The only way to hang the axels back on the frame is with a brand new suspension, so that’s what I bought. Although it will be here well before I’ll end up being able to use it, the place I bought it had it on sale, so I figured why not. Now if only I could get all the old stuff off.
Man, you are rocking this jeep. You are really focused. Makes me a little jealous. 😉