Build Thread 1977 CJ7 Rebuild and Conversion

[shum8]

Yup - That’ll do it. Should feel much better with new joints in there...


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[Jimbocker]

The weather here hasn't exactly been cooperating with me, but the early snow is good for our snowpack. I've managed to make a tiny bit more progress. The steering knuckles are back on the Dana 30 housing. I need to purchase some hardware before I can put the rest of the axle back together, as well as figure out how to put the u-joints into bent axle shaft ears.
I had to wait on a couple of sockets to finish the ball joint install. 1 5/16 for the castle nut on the top, and 29mm for the tool to tighten the preload castle nut. Unfortunately, the preload tool broke on me while I was setting the ball joint preload. I was able to make the broken tool work, so everything is together and torqued.
At least it looks good?

 

[Jimbocker]

When last we spoke, I had just discovered that the front axle shaft ears were bent. I eventually decided it was best to just replace the shafts.... Well, that set me back a while. I thought it might cost me upwards of $700. That, combined with being behind on a product release for a year (gotta keep the boss happy) kept me off the jeep for the majority of 2019.

But I have not given up! Around Black Friday, I snagged a set of axle shafts (with U-Joints and full circle clips) for $250.

With the stay at home restrictions lightening (CO is now "safer at home"), I have been able to go into the office to tend to the CJ. The front axle is coming together, and I'm making a list of things I need to purchase to finish the axle as I go.

A couple months ago, I installed the axle seals. I spent more time fabricating the tool to drive the seals than it took to do it with the right tool (probably should have just bought one). Then COVID happened.

This weekend, I've reinstalled the front differential. That went smoothly until I tried to torque the pinion yoke. I used a makeshift tool to hold the yoke steady and wound up shearing one of the bolts I was using. That broken bolt is now firmly seated in the threaded hole of the yoke, so I guess I'll be upgrading the yoke to a 1310 U-Bolt type yoke.

I have also begun cleaning up the front leaf packs. About an hour and a half in front of the wire wheel and they're starting to look pretty clean. Next weekend, I'll get those and the brake dust shields painted up and ready to be reinstalled.

After that I can start putting the hubs/spindles back together, then it's touch-up paint and gear oil, and off to the next axle.

The site isn't letting me upload pictures at the moment, so I'll have to post them later.

 

[Jimbocker]

Got a first coat of paint on the leaf springs this evening. Starting with a base coat of rust encapsulator. I couldn't get the rust completely gone with the wire wheel, so I figured sealing it out would be a good idea.

I noticed some wear on the leaves from the leaves below in the pack. I know these are meant to take a beating, but it's nothing I should worry about, right?

Also, here's some pictures. We'll see if tapatalk will do upload.

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[gert]

Sweet I’m glad you are back at it, your springs look rusty but I would run them


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[Jimbocker]

I got as far as Mother Nature would allow today. The goal for the day was to get the springs completely painted so they can dry well before reassembly, and also to get a coat of paint on the new leaf spring clamps.

Clamps are from BILLET4X4, seemingly the only place I could find clamps for the 2" front CJ springs. Unfortunately, this place charges shipping per item, so one set of clamps is $18, $12 shipping. Two sets of clamps is $24 shipping... pretty annoying.

After sanding and other prep, the second coat of rust encapsulator went on well. Just after I got the last of the leaves coated, the rain started. So much for getting the topcoat done today.

I used some of the drying time to clean the front diff cover. You would never guess that thing spent years holding a diff full of water.

The rest of the spring hardware came in this evening. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll have the front leaf packs back together soon! In the mean time, I'm working on the shackle and shackle hanger designs. I'm modeling them after the MORE shackles/hangers. They seem to make some bombproof stuff, so I figure it's a good start. I've shared the hanger designs in the past, but due to material availability, I'll be changing them to use 1/4" steel instead of 5/16.

Still having trouble with the photo upload. Mobile upload coming soon.

 

[Jimbocker]

Here's the promised photos.

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[Jimbocker]

It's still raining, so I've been spending some time on my shackle/shackle mount designs. I'd love to hear what y'all think about these. The range of motion on the shackle looks good, though the 3/8" shackle plates look kind of weird next to the 1/4" mounts. I could go for 1/4" shackle plates, but I'm not sure what sort of strength/stiffness compromises that would entail.

The plan is to have bolt-together shackles and welded mounts. I had to trim the fronts to get the shackle to lie a little flatter at it's extreme range of motion. I don't really know how far I need it to articulate, but I think this is a good start.

Center to Center spacing on the shackles is 4", YJ length, and I plan to use the MORE Bolt/Bushing Kit
https://mountainoffroad.com/collections/cj/products/shackle-bolts-and-bushing-kit-76-86-cj-front

 

[gert]

Those are some nice shackles beefy as all get out I bought the MORE shackles front and rear on mine with I believe the 4 inch on center as well, you would have to flex the out of the springs to contact your spring mount, I don’t think CJs have a long enough shock travel to worry about it


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[Jimbocker]

Here's the design for the rear. Same concept, also assuming the same bushing diameter for the rear as the front. I'll need to measure my spring eyes in the rear to make sure. No issues with range of motion on this one.

 

[Jimbocker]

Got a coat of chassis paint on the front leaves and dust shields. The weather wasn't perfect, but it never is.

I've got a load of "clerical" work to do while I wait on the spindle mount nuts. I've got shackles/hangers designed, next up are the u-bolt skids. I'm also beginning shopping for bushings, bolts, etc to get everything mounted up to the frame. I'll be making a steel purchase in early June, so hopefully I can have the front axle all done by the end of June and start the rear in July.

Oh, and it turns out that my leaf spring center pins are 5/16", not 3/8". I'm hoping the rear are 3/8" so I don't have to return these... I hate buying the wrong parts.

 

[Jimbocker]

What. A. Day.

8am to 6pm of wrenching on the axle.

Spent about 30 minutes deliberating about painting the new axle shafts. Eventually decided against it due to the black oxide coating, Colorado's dry weather, and time.

Installed the shafts. Easy peasy.
Installed the spindles, prevailing torque nuts torqued to 35 ft lbs. Pumped them full of grease per the mod I performed.

Then it was off to the races. Bearing races, that is. I got the races tapped into the first hub without a problem, blissfully unaware of the fact that the inner and outer bearings are different sizes. First hub goes on just fine (got lucky) and started on the spindle nuts. Got those on, keyed washer, first nut, torque to 50 ft lbs, back it off, second keyed washer, second nut, 65 ft lbs, then realize I have no way to bend the washer.

Start on the second hub, tap the races in, put matching bearings in, realize the bearings are different sizes when I go to put the hub on. Remove the bearings, figure the races are the same (they aren't), swap the bearings and try again. Realize I needed to swap the races as well. Do that, get it to the same point.

Clean things up, go into town, grab a burger, buy some stuff. Found a "Demolition Grade" screwdriver amongst other things. Used that to bend the washer.

Then start on the hubs, only to realize that the splines on the new shafts have a burr on them preventing the installation of the hubs. Figure out a way to knock the burr off, get the hubs on, clean up, leave.


And while writing this, I realized I forgot the snap rings on the end of the shafts... More to do tomorrow!

Next up is the brakes and steering linkage. Progress feels good!

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[Jimbocker]

Got some more work done this weekend. Still waiting on 4wheelparts to ship my order, so I can't finish the front axle just yet. Saturday was wet and rainy, Sunday was warm and sunny.

I got the front springs put back together. New clamps, bolts, and wear pads do a lot for a spring pack. I can actually flex the front springs now. Before, I could jump on the front bumper and there wouldn't be any perceivable movement. I also took a look at my steering gear to prepare for a rebuild. It looks like I've got the favorite steering gear - Saginaw 800 series with the "76" casting number. From what I can tell, this is the gearbox that shipped in mid seventies Chevy/GM vehicles, as well as the 76-77 J20.

Sunday was a day of touch up paint. Since the frame and axle have sat in the elements for over a year, I have had the opportunity to see where my paint adhesion was inadequate. Some wire brushing, 220 grit, mineral spirits, and brush-applied paint did the trick. It isn't pretty, but it'll keep the rust off. I got a pop up tent on sale at Harbor Freight. The shade is nice to have. Seems to work ok, setup isn't too bad. We will see how it lasts.

I'm having an interesting time with the new forum software and photo upload. Apparently my phone takes photos that are too large for upload, so I'm having to scale them before uploading. Hopefully the image quality is ok.

 

[Belizean]

Pictures are fine !

 

[Jimbocker]

4wheelparts just shipped my order of bushings and brake caliper accessories, due to be here on Friday. I'm still waiting on a new pinion to ship, but when that comes in I'll have the front all done except for steering and mounting springs.

I've begun work on a design for a clamp-on truss for the AMC20 in the rear. The plan is to weld the tubes, convert to disc, convert to 1 piece chromolly axles, and add a truss. That should yield a pretty strong 20.

I'm also digging back into the engine wiring harness. I figured I screwed something up that keeps it from starting, and this morning I found that a fuse was loose, resulting in an intermittent "IGNITION HOT" connection. That feeds just about everything related to making the engine go, so that's a promising lead.

Also somewhere on the list is a rebuild of the power steering gear. Not sure when I'll start on that. Lots of balls in the air.

Soon there will be a steel purchase and I'll get to the shackle hangers. Just waiting on money.

 

[Belizean]

Looking forward to pictures of the clamp on truss (y)

 

[Jimbocker]

Nothing really visible to share, but I have been working. Steel has been purchased for the shackles, shackle hangers, and u bolt skids. I have been doing a few cuts every other day and have the shackles and hangers ready for machining.

On the topic of the motor, I'm pretty sure the computer is dead. It's getting all of the right signals, but isn't firing the ignition. Looks like I'll be headed to the pull n pay to get a new computer.

This weekend is going to be a lot of work on the daily driver. After 215000 miles, the bushings in the front end are done.

Progress has been slow, but steady.

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[Jimbocker]

It has been a while since I last posted. The work on the daily driver took three days, but I got it up and running. Today a coolant problem emerged. I've never seen the temperature gauge that high... I'm bracing for an expensive repair.

In other news, I've made some more progress on the Jeep suspension parts. Yesterday I did most of the machining of the shackles. I'm still waiting for the shackle bushing kit (that I ordered at the end of May) to double check the bolt sizes and whatnot, so they will be waiting for that. I should be able to start on the shackle hangers now.

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[Jimbocker]

Back again. Slow progress this year. A lot of things are slow this year.

That cooling system problem on the DD turned out to be the radiator cap. Thank goodness it was a $20 part.

I've been working intermittently on my shackle hangers. I nearly have the machining done on them, all that remains is to drill the holes for the bolts. The bushings and bolts came in Sept/Oct - ordered in May. After I drill the holes, it'll be time to weld them up. That'll take another fixture design, so I'm not expecting it to be quick.

 

[shum8]

I was gonna say in jest they looked kinda wimpy, but they’re way too nice for that. VERY nice looking hanger setup! Anxious to see em welded up...... but doubtful as anxious as you are [emoji6]


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