My First Jeep CJ

The work hardened came by me using the drill at less than ideal RPM and feed rate when reaming out the whole in the high steer arm.
Anyway, the new tool worked great when I followed their instructions.
Always fun to learn new stuff.
 
Creekin said:
The work hardened came by me using the drill at less than ideal RPM and feed rate when reaming out the whole in the high steer arm.
Anyway, the new tool worked great when I followed their instructions.
Always fun to learn new stuff.
Click to expand...
Work hardening comes from repetitive loads and compaction....you most likely annealed the reamer. Highly doubtful you hardened the seat of the arm. If it had enough carbon you may have surface treated the steering arm by getting it hot and then cooling. But to do this the arm had to reach the transformation zone and stay a bit to get that to change.......and be very reactive at lower temps.

I also highly doubt the pressure involved moved the surface tension around enough to make it harder.

you annealed the tool.

Reamer equals slow speed cutting.

Progress looks good "btw"
 
Some have heard stories about CJ steering boxes and the steering brackets being ripped out of a Jeep during wheeling.
Figure this was a good time to upgrade.

The existing pitman arm is 5.5" long and has about 2" of drop.

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Currently, there is about 3" of clearance between the pitman arm and the new tie rod

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With 5.5" pitman arm, the tuning radius is going to be wider than what came on a stock CJ, which had ~ 7" long pitman arm

To get more separation between the pitman arm and the new tie rod arm, they make a bracket that moves the steering box forward about 1.25"

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The above bracket is made from 3/8" and 1/2" steel.
The instructions for installation are pretty good.
Think I should have read them a little closer... but some stuff was fun figured out
The steering shaft needs to be removed.

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Portions of the front cross member needed to be cut out.

A template for the new 3rd hole on top of the cross member needed to be made

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And then a quick check to see the fit of the new steering bracket.

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Next is to take everything out, then paint, and install the steering box bracket and the new steering shaft.
 
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When the front axles were installed, the snap ring behind the Warn manual lock was not installed.
So, with a couple of days off for the holidays, time to clean up some parts and install the snap ring.

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The old steering shaft had some play in it, so a new Borgeson shaft ordered and installed.

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The new shaft appears to be much stronger that the original.
 
The steering has been a bunch of work.
The old pitman arm was stuck to the steering box.
Nothing that a little heat and a puller could not handle.
A new pitman is straight 6.5" a seems much stronger than what was on the CJ.

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The steering box was mounted onto heavy duty steering bracket.

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With the steering box installed, time to make the drag link.
The Chevy one ton drag link ends were used (MOOG ES2026R and ES2027L).
The threaded ends were welded to the the 1.5" x 0.25" DOM tubing

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A little anti-seize for the threads and the drag link ends were installed.
Now to see if all those measurements worked.

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And the drag link is relatively level, so bump steer hopefully will not be an issue.

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With the new steering system installed, time to see if the wheels will turn with the steering wheel.
It worked!.
Clearances look good.
Time to tighten everything up...
On to the drive shafts and anti wrap bar...
 
Quick Update...

Been way too busy at work.
Warrior Welder did come over to and provided some suggestion to resolve the issue with the U-Bolts on the Front Passenger Side Springs. Thx!
He also dropped cool welding table that I really needed.

One of the trucks needed some new tires.
Jason at Town and Country recommended a bigger tire.

Before Shot

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After Shot

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The dawgs approved of the new look.
 
Neexs,
Thx...
The truck is some what unique. It has a manual gear box with a 2 to 1 xfer case
Reportedly, they only made ~56 manuals...
However, it does not have the Adventure Package.
Adventure package has electric lockers front and rear with 4 to 1 xfer case.
However, they only made 9 of the manual gear boxes with Adventure package...
Probably need to get this bumper sticker for it.

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Anyway, things at work should be settling back to normal and time should be come available to work on the CJ soon.
 
With the help of Warrior Welder, think a solution to the U-Bolt issue on the passenger side has been found.
Took the axle over to his shop and we added some metal to the pumpkin at then took some off in other places.
Now the U-Bolts seem to be in the correct areas.
Made a new plate and installed the axle, as shown below:

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Anyway... the project is moving forward again.
Now if work will settle down, I can spend some more time in the garage.
 
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Just a little wheel bling for the CJ.

Picked up some stainless lug nuts.

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The old chrome ones were a little rusty...

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The new SS one is on the left.

Think they look good.

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Hopefully, I'll have more to report soon.
 
My UPS driver is way cool.
He has helped me solve some of the Flintstone CJ issues..

He brings me new driveshafts for the Dana 20.

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The front shaft has 1310 U Joints at the xfer case and 1350 at the front diff.
The rear shaft has a flange to adapt a Dan 20, 26 spline to 1350 U Joints and there is a 1350 U Joint at the diff.

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With any luck, I will be able to install the driveshafts and have CJ under its own power soon.
However, mobility will be limited until the Flintstone brakes are replaced with new brake lines and brake fluid.
 
To install the rear shaft, the old 1310 drive shaft flange on the Dana 20 had to be removed.
The 3/4" x 10 nut was removed and the flange came off.

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One of the interesting things about the old flange was that the washer was integrated into the design since the spline part of the shaft is about 1.25" in diameter and the threads are 3/4"

The new flange to adapt the 1350 driveshaft to the Dana 20 did not have this integrate washer assembly, so the 3/4" nut was not going to sit well against the adapter.

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A quick trip the hardware store resulted in finding an 18 mm washer and a new 3/4" x 10 nut that would work well.

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The flange was installed.
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And then the driveshaft

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With the CJ on all fours, the angle on the driveshaft is about 25 degrees.
 

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Looks like a double cardan rear shaft.. if it is, as you ought to know, the pinion centerline should be inline (or down 1-2 degrees). Single cardan, the pinion center line should be parallel to the output shaft center line.
 
The driveshafts are double cardan for the rear and the front.
The axle pinions have been rotated so they point upwards the transfer case.
The front axles C's have been rotated so there is about 6 degrees of caster.
Hope all this stuff works out so the CJ will drive well.
 
a_kelley said:
Looks like a double cardan rear shaft.. if it is, as you ought to know, the pinion centerline should be inline (or down 1-2 degrees). Single cardan, the pinion center line should be parallel to the output shaft center line.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure why Jim layed the angle gauge on it and read that off.

The pinion and yokes was measured independantly. The related angle was within the specs you described with weight on the springs when the perches got tacked. Also done with the intent of the cardan joint over two ujoints in a much deeper angle configuration.

Only thing I see different is the drive shaft brand I recommended.
 
Warrior was a great help in moving this project forward.
Could not have gotten this far w/o his help.... Thx again.

The 1350 flange adapter decreased the distance from the transfer case to the rear diff... so I wanted to check the angles
The angel of the shaft was measured and so was the angle that the transfer case.
With the angle of the shaft about 25 degrees and the transfer case points down about 2.5 degrees, the resultant angle was about 22.5 degrees.
The max a double cardan angle should be is about 23 degrees in a static state from normal operation.
As the leaf springs age, the static angle should decrease a bit.
Anyway, I hope all this works well when it is time to test the CJ.

The front angle of the driveshaft is about 17 degrees.
Considering lowering the transfer case about 1/2" which should help with the angles in the back shaft until the springs have a few miles on them.
 
Had to check clearances when the CJ needs to flex.

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Clearances look good with the right front tire about 18" off the ground
I am sure the flex will get better and the springs soften up some.
 
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Had a little time over the weekend to install the front driveshaft.

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One thing learned was to put the fours bolts for the driveshaft into the flange that is mounted onto the shaft of the Dana 20 before one tighten the flange bolt to the xfer case shaft.
When the suspension is compressed during flexing, the clearance between the header on the passenger side and the driveshaft is a little close.
May need to find a way to get more separation between the front driveshaft and the passenger side header.
 

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Now that the driveshafts are installed, time to work on the brakes.

This is what is currently in the CJ

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Since the CJ now was Waggy disc calipers up front and 1986 Caddy rear calipers, some changes are needed.

Would like to try to stay away from HydroBoost if possible, as to keep things simple.

There is the Corvette MC and booster assembly and their is the 1978 Mercury Marquis options for the brake booster/master cylinder.
The E350 MC is good, but was designed for a front and rear disc setup
Also heard about dual vacuum brake booster assemblies.

If possible, I would like to hear what experience you had regarding going to bigger disc front and rear.
Also, they make a proportioning valve that is designed for a disc/disc stetup

Thanks in advance
 
Creekin said:
Now that the driveshafts are installed, time to work on the brakes.

This is what is currently in the CJ

View attachment 289157

Since the CJ now was Waggy disc calipers up front and 1986 Caddy rear calipers, some changes are needed.

Would like to try to stay away from HydroBoost if possible, as to keep things simple.

There is the Corvette MC and booster assembly and their is the 1978 Mercury Marquis options for the brake booster/master cylinder.
The E350 MC is good, but was designed for a front and rear disc setup
Also heard about dual vacuum brake booster assemblies.

If possible, I would like to hear what experience you had regarding going to bigger disc front and rear.
Also, they make a proportioning valve that is designed for a disc/disc stetup

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Disc will be limited by the wheel rim size you run [15-16-17-18]. You can get better pressure & clamping force, with dual piston or 6 piston calipers, but that gets expensive too. Proportioning valves come about any way you want one, & some guys just pull the disc or plug, whatever it is that differs the disc/shoes, verses disc/disc. I went all out with the hydro-boost, so I'm not knowledgeable with boosters. Corvette & E350, are probably the most chosen MC.
 
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