The long haul CJ3A
AussieCJ3A
Jeeper
- Posts
- 106
- Media
- 2
- Thanks
- 0
- Location
- Australia New South Wales
- Vehicle(s)
- '51 CJ3A, L137 Go Devil, T90, D18, D25, D41
Sight unseen I bought a CJ3a off a bloke who claimed it had been fully restored, high hopes I did not have I messaged and called this bloke a few times and got some information, the original L134 "Go Devil" engine had been rebuilt by a willys mechanics about 5 years ago and the engine had less than 500 miles on it. The bloke had rebuilt the gearbox with all new gears and bearings and had bought in a replacement body and set to work trying to match a surray version of the cj willy jeep. The jeep was on club registration which isn't transferable but it was running well so he said.
The colours were horrendous two tone hot pink with red and white striping over the roof and all the seats ..to top off the spectical he had added gold tassels all the way around the top.
With an unregistered vechical permit in hand and one set of clothing forced into a small bag I set off to go collect the jeep at 230am in the morning catching the early bus to the closest train station bound for the airport. I arrived near my jeep at 10am with one 30min taxi ride I was there.
The body work and paint job looked even more horrific in person straight but blinding.
After checking the engine oil the water and refilling the gearbox(Transmission ) oil and loading all the spares he had for it I was ready to get underway. Additional issues I was informed off at this stage was the fuel tank, it would only hold 4 gallons instead of its usual 9 something to do with the filler pipe not being high enough creating an air pocket.
The meet and greet and checks and I was outa there at lunch time .. the drive was strange (Aussie cars are all right hand drive) and the three speed gearbox was different, the handling indescribable. The run to the closest servo was showing me what I was in for on roads with speeds of 35mph. People were staring and taking second looks with smiles or waves, they couldn't believe it a bright pink 51 driving past them at intersections and people walking the footpath, this set a precedent for the journey.
After refuelling her up I set off for the daunting part with less than 20 mins driving on the wrong side of the car and feeling the handling I was out in the 60 and 65 mph zones of the highway. If you haven't driven an early cj you wouldn't know the sentsation ..it's sluggish and has a crushing speed of around 50 to 55mph before the engine is screaming at you and the rear end starts to bound down the road in an unnerving fashion. The canopy also adds it's assult to the senses by flapping like a poorly tied tarp, the gearbox having straight cut gears gets to loud disturbing whine which I have found is normal for a T-90 .
But I was off and moving quiet rapidly enjoying the sensations of having no doors and the strangeness of driving this classic. I stuck to the slow lane all the way people were laughing and waving, phones were coming up for pictures and videos. A few fuel stops later and a few miles behind me I got to my first stop in place I'd organised a mate to assist me do the rear seal as I was told that was the leak problem.
That's where the trouble started an easy 1hr job drop tailshaft pull handbrake drum and swap out the seal sounds easy don't it ?
WRONG !!
There was gearbox oil everywhere it leaked from the front from the back from every possiable location, there was also a minor leak from the sump. Darkness beat us so we decided on day light before ripping the box out and doing the whole seals in an effort to stop the leaks.
Next morning day 2
Slow start to the morning saw us down the local car shop. In a sleepy state I started gathering supplies. Gasket paper, engine oil, gearbox oil, tool set (so maybe I didn't need this because I had my mates tools but better to be safe than sorry) grey gasket sealent, exhaust sealent and a heap of dregreaser cans.
Right to work we emptied two whole cans of degreaser hitting every surface on the gearbox,Transfer Case , bell housing and for good measure the entire sump and bottom of the engine. While we waited for the dregreaser to do it's work I noticed a few things like the exhaust having only one nut on it, finding a suitable nut amongst the spares I started tinkering tightening bits here and there while my mate hosed the degreaser off.
We had a drink and waited for it to dry then took her for a quick drive, tinkering was a mistake I'd put one of the linkages on the throatal body back where it was supposed to be which stoped it from moving back to idle position the motor was revving, quickly getting it back I shut it down and fixed the problem by cutting the wire shorter so it didn't push apon the manafold right that's sorted now let's look underneath. Oil and more oil rearmain and front main it had to come out. Neither of us had every worked on a jeep, let alone a jeep of this age so we pulled out the instruction manuals which I'd been given on purchase and the extra packets of gaskets also supplied by the seller.
Soon we had a plan while he was undoing the shifter covers from the inside I was busy undoing the ubolts on the front and rear shafts and removing them. Shafts out and covers off we started on the hard parts disconnecting the clutch linkage and bellhousing bolts and removing the shifters ..much consultation to the manual was taken at this stage with each step being photo'd so we knew where and what we had done. About 3pm we were ready to drop the box out slipping the jack under the box and removing the crossmember bolts we started to lower the box down bringing the engine with it 4 inches of clearance should do it so I stuck an axel stand under the engine and we started the slow process of pulling the box Out of the spline, it came surprisingly easily one quick lowering of the jack and the gearbox was grounded and dragged sideways out from under the jeep.
Removal of the clutch lever and throw bearing revealed the first leak. He'd put the seal on the wrong side of the bell housing, ten mins later and the new seal was back where it was meant to be .. front fixed now the back. I didn't have any premade gaskets for the rear so I went with the old fashioned methods of a ballpain hammer and general taps to cut the gasket out on the edges of where it belonged we were getting somewhere, a liberal application of gasket sealant was used and the gaskets were in (I'd made a minor error here and put a gasket where it didn't belong which effected the speedo, but at least no leaks) great timing seals all done and dark was apon us. Let's finish this tomorow with another set of hands.
The colours were horrendous two tone hot pink with red and white striping over the roof and all the seats ..to top off the spectical he had added gold tassels all the way around the top.
With an unregistered vechical permit in hand and one set of clothing forced into a small bag I set off to go collect the jeep at 230am in the morning catching the early bus to the closest train station bound for the airport. I arrived near my jeep at 10am with one 30min taxi ride I was there.
The body work and paint job looked even more horrific in person straight but blinding.
After checking the engine oil the water and refilling the gearbox(Transmission ) oil and loading all the spares he had for it I was ready to get underway. Additional issues I was informed off at this stage was the fuel tank, it would only hold 4 gallons instead of its usual 9 something to do with the filler pipe not being high enough creating an air pocket.
The meet and greet and checks and I was outa there at lunch time .. the drive was strange (Aussie cars are all right hand drive) and the three speed gearbox was different, the handling indescribable. The run to the closest servo was showing me what I was in for on roads with speeds of 35mph. People were staring and taking second looks with smiles or waves, they couldn't believe it a bright pink 51 driving past them at intersections and people walking the footpath, this set a precedent for the journey.
After refuelling her up I set off for the daunting part with less than 20 mins driving on the wrong side of the car and feeling the handling I was out in the 60 and 65 mph zones of the highway. If you haven't driven an early cj you wouldn't know the sentsation ..it's sluggish and has a crushing speed of around 50 to 55mph before the engine is screaming at you and the rear end starts to bound down the road in an unnerving fashion. The canopy also adds it's assult to the senses by flapping like a poorly tied tarp, the gearbox having straight cut gears gets to loud disturbing whine which I have found is normal for a T-90 .
But I was off and moving quiet rapidly enjoying the sensations of having no doors and the strangeness of driving this classic. I stuck to the slow lane all the way people were laughing and waving, phones were coming up for pictures and videos. A few fuel stops later and a few miles behind me I got to my first stop in place I'd organised a mate to assist me do the rear seal as I was told that was the leak problem.
That's where the trouble started an easy 1hr job drop tailshaft pull handbrake drum and swap out the seal sounds easy don't it ?
WRONG !!
There was gearbox oil everywhere it leaked from the front from the back from every possiable location, there was also a minor leak from the sump. Darkness beat us so we decided on day light before ripping the box out and doing the whole seals in an effort to stop the leaks.
Next morning day 2
Slow start to the morning saw us down the local car shop. In a sleepy state I started gathering supplies. Gasket paper, engine oil, gearbox oil, tool set (so maybe I didn't need this because I had my mates tools but better to be safe than sorry) grey gasket sealent, exhaust sealent and a heap of dregreaser cans.
Right to work we emptied two whole cans of degreaser hitting every surface on the gearbox,Transfer Case , bell housing and for good measure the entire sump and bottom of the engine. While we waited for the dregreaser to do it's work I noticed a few things like the exhaust having only one nut on it, finding a suitable nut amongst the spares I started tinkering tightening bits here and there while my mate hosed the degreaser off.
We had a drink and waited for it to dry then took her for a quick drive, tinkering was a mistake I'd put one of the linkages on the throatal body back where it was supposed to be which stoped it from moving back to idle position the motor was revving, quickly getting it back I shut it down and fixed the problem by cutting the wire shorter so it didn't push apon the manafold right that's sorted now let's look underneath. Oil and more oil rearmain and front main it had to come out. Neither of us had every worked on a jeep, let alone a jeep of this age so we pulled out the instruction manuals which I'd been given on purchase and the extra packets of gaskets also supplied by the seller.
Soon we had a plan while he was undoing the shifter covers from the inside I was busy undoing the ubolts on the front and rear shafts and removing them. Shafts out and covers off we started on the hard parts disconnecting the clutch linkage and bellhousing bolts and removing the shifters ..much consultation to the manual was taken at this stage with each step being photo'd so we knew where and what we had done. About 3pm we were ready to drop the box out slipping the jack under the box and removing the crossmember bolts we started to lower the box down bringing the engine with it 4 inches of clearance should do it so I stuck an axel stand under the engine and we started the slow process of pulling the box Out of the spline, it came surprisingly easily one quick lowering of the jack and the gearbox was grounded and dragged sideways out from under the jeep.
Removal of the clutch lever and throw bearing revealed the first leak. He'd put the seal on the wrong side of the bell housing, ten mins later and the new seal was back where it was meant to be .. front fixed now the back. I didn't have any premade gaskets for the rear so I went with the old fashioned methods of a ballpain hammer and general taps to cut the gasket out on the edges of where it belonged we were getting somewhere, a liberal application of gasket sealant was used and the gaskets were in (I'd made a minor error here and put a gasket where it didn't belong which effected the speedo, but at least no leaks) great timing seals all done and dark was apon us. Let's finish this tomorow with another set of hands.