67 Cj5 Build Thread By A Rookie

good job plenty shiny for an old jeep

 

I copied one of your posts onto my phone and write it down on butcher block paper where I mix paint/activator. Now I am working on the "practice" part of it!

 

This project has taught me that, as you suggested, everything is salvageable. They are sitting in my office to minimize rust since they are partially blasted.

 

I have been working on things here and there, so I haven’t finished much, but I am making progress. I found 5 leaks in my TC and Tranny, so I pulled them, cleaned them, and am resealing them.
1. Bolt from rear output yoke to TC - pulled the bolt, cleaned threads, new bold, aviations sealant on the threads, small bead of right stuff under the bolt head.
2. Speedometer gear cover - removed, cleaned, aviation sealant in threads.
3. Tranny drain plug - aviation sealant
4. TC drip pan - found a leak and as an added bonus a crack in one of the bolt holes. I have a separate thread on that. I removed the broken piece, red locktite to hold a 1.5” grade 8 stud, Novak billet oil pan, right stuff for a gasket, aviation sealant on threads, bead of right stuff under bolt heads.
5. Bolt on PTO cover - new billet cover, same procedure as TC drop pan.

So far, no leaks. I will let you know if that changes after I put in gear oil!

Edit: In retrospect, I would toss the cap head bolts that came from Novak and use regular grade 8 hex heads because I had a hard time feeling whether I was stripping the head as I was seating them bolts. Unless regular bolts wouldn’t work because of the space available for the socket.

 

I welded in a 3/4” 16 ga angle to the bottom of the dash to help support the steering column bracket and e brake. Painted the dash and misc small parts.
I talked to my paint shop about my lime peel (green version of orange peel). It sounds like the problem is air pressure is too low, so the clear coat isn’t aerosolizing as well as it should. I have been running 6-10 psi at the gun, and am going to try 15 or so. All I have left to paint is the hood, fenders, and windshield.

 

Well if you like the “no leaks” hold off on that oil a bit longer.

Did you get the note - use GL4 gear oil? Harder to find but save the shiny parts of your transmission

 

NAPA. Thank you for confirming.

 

My gearbox is back in the jeep, starter is back on, and I’m getting ready to start securing brake and fuel lines before putting the tub back on. Two questions:

1. Am I going to be able to drop the tub over the shifters since the tunnel cover is removed?

2. Before I put the tranny (SM420) drain cap back on, I stuck my finger inside and there was sludge that had a greasy/graphite texture. There was one small metal flake. The SM420 has a plate attached to the bottom of the case that (I assume) is intended to trap particulate debris away from the gears. My inclination is to fill it with GL4 and change the oil in 500 or so miles. I have seen suggestions about soaking it in diesel before filling with oil or adding some ATF for a period then draining and replacing the gear oil. Any preferences?

 

Pull the top cover for the two reasons you described. It’s definitely easier to put the tub on and you better look/clean the inside of the transmission. It’s only a handful of bolts and easy to reinstall.

 

The top cover is off, and it looks clean from the top. All of the gunk is under the metal plate on the bottom of the case.

 

Filled TC and Tranny with oil. Pouring it down the long funnel was like the old “anticipation” ketchup commercial - that gear oil is viscous. I put the shifter/cover back on to keep junk out of the oil while I work on the rest of it. It’s nice to see it start looking like a jeep again.

 

I just dropped off parts of be chrome plated. After pictures will be available in 3-4 weeks. California really hates this industry.

 

Few steps forward, one big step back.
Stripped the paint off the headlights, cleaned them up, and ready for assembly.

Cleaned up the driving lights, new lenses, ready for installation.

Secured brake and fuel lines. I used cushioned zip ties to secure side by side lines together. I put some flexible fuel line over the Nicop lines where the run under the rear crossmember.

 

I started reassembling the pedals. I need to retap the grease fitting for the brake.

The clutch doesn’t have much travel. I have a separate thread on the tech forum about that. I took some pictures inside the bell housing with a fiber optic camera. The video is pretty cool, but I can’t post it on this forum.

Propeller shafts are back on.

I modified a 1/2” wrench to tighten the nuts on the U-bolts. Worked well.

 

Here’s the bummer. I have tinted bed liner on the bottom of the tub. It didn’t have quite enough color, so I went to my paint shop, told them what I was trying to do, and had them mix up a few cans of single stage spruce tip green. That did great improving the color, but after two weeks, the paint is still tacky. My paint shop suggested using a scoff pad and running a fan on it, but still no bueno.

It sounds like either it didn’t degass properly, or the solvent in the spray paint affected the bedliner. I have no idea how that is going to turn out, but the hope was going to be dropping the tub back on in a week or so, but that is probably going to push things back a month. I’m still working with the paint shop to figure it out.

 

The other update is that I do have a small leak from the part of the TC that had the crack as predicted by @Andrew Theros.

I think I might be able to solve it by replacing the star washer with a conventional washer with some right stuff in the hole, under the washer, and between the washer and nut. I’m going to wait until I have 500 or so miles when I’m going to change the gearbox oil.

 

So the paint over the bedliner didn’t work. It is still tacky after about 3 weeks. I think the solution is going to be mostly mechanical removal with an “abrasive bristle cup” followed by only tintable bed liner. I think that will cause the least damage to the good paint. More to follow.

I also started working on return springs for the clutch and brake pedals. PO or PPO cut off the part of the crossmember where the brake spring attaches. My plan is to bolt a piece of angle onto the crossmember and see how it works - maybe that will be the permanent solution, maybe I will weld a piece of angle onto the crossmember.

Crossmember as it is right now.


First draft of the new brake spring bracket.


My attempt at copying the clutch fork spring bracket on @Fireball ’s jeep.


How the clutch fork spring bracket will be positioned.


Modification to the bell housing rubber boot to make the clutch cable and return spring fit.

 

My wife and I spent the weekend with my daughter in Denver, but the flight landed early enough to get a little work done. I completed pedal installation minus springs and started bleeding the brakes - way more leaks than I expected. The banjo fittings were the worst - they needed to be tightened much more than I expected. Little bitty leaks elsewhere where I was using my home plumbing instincts which say to never kill a compression fitting. Off to get some more brake fluid and some clear tubing so I can see bubbles.

 

This may be bad advice but I’m sure I read it here so..

To get flairs tight I put a tiny dab of anti-seize grease on the flair - where the nut rides. Also a bit on the threads. Tighten then back off a tad then tighten again. Do this a couple times if you’re getting easy movement.

 

I apppreciate the advice. I think that I could have done a better job with the seating process, and hope it's not too late to re-do it with the technique you described. I also forgot to bench bleed the MC, so things are definitely comind apart.