Project: Tetanus Shot - 1948 Willys

WARRIORWELDING said:
Hats off to ya for diving in and hammer down.
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Thanks, its not the prettiest and I have a lot more work to do to the body but its slowly getting there. I learn better by doing and the mistakes that I've made, I have been able to learn from them.
 
Got the front axle buttoned back up. It has all new bearings and seals in the hubs. Went with milemarker hubs and they were pretty easy to install. For the spindle nuts, I torqued the inside spindle nut to 40ft lbs. At this torque, you could spin the rotor but it wasn't easy. I backed off it a 1/4 turn and it spins freely now.







Decided to roll it up under the Willys to get an idea on overall width. It's a "tad" bit bigger than stock width...





Axle is just rolled in place and is roughly inline with the shackle mounts. Still needing to find a set of front wrangler leafs though.

My plan of attack for the next few weeks is to paint both axles, mount the suspension and make it into a roller. Once its a roller, I'll cut the old skid off and fab up a new crossmember.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this plan? The only drawback I see is that I will have to "guesstimate" the pinion angle or just tack on the perches then relocate skid and then burn them in.
 
If you tighten the U bolts up with perches. It welded it will be fine until you decide on pinion angle. Keep an eye on caster to be sure you keep that reasonable. Personally, id set caster then see where pinion angle is.
 
rockcity said:
If you tighten the U bolts up with perches. It welded it will be fine until you decide on pinion angle. Keep an eye on caster to be sure you keep that reasonable. Personally, id set caster then see where pinion angle is.
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I was referencing the rear axle as I don't have the spring perches on it yet. For the front, I was planning on using the stock perches which would mean I would be running the "stock" castor angle. I can always shim it if needed.

R Q said:
Looking good! It's so nice to see someone making progress!
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Thanks, hopefully I will be able to wheel it this summer.
 
YJJPWrangler said:
I was referencing the rear axle as I don't have the spring perches on it yet. For the front, I was planning on using the stock perches which would mean I would be running the "stock" castor angle. I can always shim it if needed.
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As Rob said, I would sit the perches on the axle and the right width, and tack them at your guess for pinion angle. With the ubolts tightened down, they shouldnt move, even without the perches tacked.
 
For the rear axle, you don't even need to tack them. Just put them in place and tighten the ubolts. When it comes time to set pinion angle, just loosen ubolts set angle, and tack them in place. The ubolts will then need to be removed for final welding. Just don't try to drive it, or plan on using the rear brakes, until it's welded.
 
strange1 said:
For the rear axle, you don't even need to tack them. Just put them in place and tighten the ubolts. When it comes time to set pinion angle, just loosen ubolts set angle, and tack them in place. The ubolts will then need to be removed for final welding. Just don't try to drive it, or plan on using the rear brakes, until it's welded.
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Yep. That's what I meant to say but auto correct had a mind of its own. :lol:
 
Thats what I figured. That was my plan all along. I just want to see this thing sitting on tires and not jackstands :driver:

It gives me more room to work underneath it as well.
 
Went and met up with @MarsFab on friday and got shackles and spring perches cut for the rear. Spent a good amount of time at the SHOP on saturday and got some wrenching time on the Willys today.

Got the rear axle in place and mocked up. All bolts for the leaves are temporary until I get grade 8 stuff.



Im still undecided on how to run the shackles in the rear. I'm pretty sure the rear is gonna sit lower than pictured. Its sitting pretty high right now. I might have to look into adding/deleting leaf packs in the future.



I still need to cut the shock perches off as they are interfering with the U-Bolts. I'll pull the axle again this week, cut them off and align everything. My plan to center the axle is to measure from inside of backing plate to spring perch on either side. Anybody got a better way?
 
That is how I did my last 8.8 swap on an xj......
 
Also, just looking over the pictures again, it looks like I could gain some wheelbase by flipping the leafs around? It looks like I could rotate the leafs 180 degrees and have a slightly increased wheelbase and move the u bolt pad directly underneath the bumpstop.

Thoughts?
 
Don't cost nuthin' to try it!

Love the ol' Flattie!
 
YJJPWrangler said:
I'm assuming the shackle orientation? How did it ride/flex?
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I was referring to the centering the axle thing but IMHO your shackle angle is too steep and need to lean more. I shoot for about 45deg on xj's. Is the rear under load? If not it wil change the angle under load and be a lot less high.

YJJPWrangler said:
Also, just looking over the pictures again, it looks like I could gain some wheelbase by flipping the leafs around? It looks like I could rotate the leafs 180 degrees and have a slightly increased wheelbase and move the u bolt pad directly underneath the bumpstop.

Thoughts?
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Measure the distance from the front leaf mount hole to center pin and rear mount hole to center pin and that will tell you how much different it is. In xj rear packs it's a 5" stretch, but it puts the pumpkin in the fuel tank.
 
ghost said:
I was referring to the centering the axle thing but IMHO your shackle angle is too steep and need to lean more. I shoot for about 45deg on xj's. Is the rear under load? If not it wil change the angle under load and be a lot less high.

Measure the distance from the front leaf mount hole to center pin and rear mount hole to center pin and that will tell you how much different it is. In xj rear packs it's a 5" stretch, but it puts the pumpkin in the fuel tank.
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There is no weight at all on the rear suspension. I am thinking that it will sit down nicely with the weight of the jeep/cage/fuel cell etc. That was my plan on measuring the packs. I think it should move it back a couple of inches. I'll need all the WB i can get with this one.
 
My plan this week will be to cut off the shock perches as they are currently in the way of centering the axle. I'll measure the spring packs and see if I can flip them around for additional WB. Once that is fixed, I'll tighten the U bolts and see if I can put some rollers on the rear and set it down to see how much the springs sag.
 
Alright, I flipped the springs away and the shackle pad sits about 3" behind the bumpstop with no weight on the springs. This leads me to believe it is in the wrong place and I had them correct. My theory is that when I apply weight to the rear, the springs will compress and drive shackles rearward/upward giving me a better shackle angle and placing the shackle pad in line with the bumpstop. Am I on the right track?

Also got the shock perches off as well tonight but had to end as the wife wanted to practice softball for her games tomorrow...
 
Alright, another productive day. Got the rear axle perches fully welded and burned in. Axle is centered and the pinion angle is set st full drop. I set the pinion angle slightly lower so when the suspension is at ride height it will be perfect. Had a buddy come over and burn the welds in





Also rolled a tire up next to the rear to get a feel for it. Tire is sitting outside the rotor so overall width will be smaller.




Next on the to do list is to turn the rear into a roller and get the transfer case crossmember installed.
 
Got some late night wrenching much to the anger of the wife :lol:

Got the rear into a roller! :bounce:



Tires are 31s on 16" rims for reference.

Met up with a member on here today and scored a set of Wrangler leafs and some 15" rims as well. Thanks @redneckjeep87 :beer:

Got the front pretty much together as well. Shackles are Advance brand junk and will only be used for mockups.





I'm going to have to figure out a way to bend the U bolts back into the U bolt pad on the passenger side. Since the U-bolts go around the housing, they spread out when I put them on. I need to bring them back in by about 1/2" but decided to call it a night because of noise and threats of bodily harm from the wife.
 
Night shift work doesn't leave a whole lot of time during the day to get stuff done....but I did manage to do this today:bounce::bounce2: Tires are 31" rollers on 16" rims as of now.









The rear is sitting higher than the front obviously. But once the cage/fuel cell/seats get installed it should settle down some. I still need to source some shocks as well as getting the front shackles on a permanent basis.

Next step is to cut off the existing skid plate and install a new one. Then its on to firewall work and then plumbing/wiring the motor.
 
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