Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.  I had the rear axle fully assembled, and I thought I'd just double check the fit of the brake drums before painting them.  They don't fit.  More specifically, they are designed to go inboard of (behind) the hubs, not over top of the hubs, the way any newer brakes would be made.  (Even the Willys manuals I have show the drums going over top of the hubs, but I guess whoever made these drums wanted to go back to the original way...)  So now I have to figure out if I'm going to exchange these drums, or press them onto the back sides of the hubs.  (I sent a note off to the supplier for their opinion.)

A little progress
22. Sep 2013 at 17:36  

I finally feel like this project is going somewhere.
On the weekend, I finished assembling the rear axle, after replacing every seal and gasket, along with the carrier and shaft bearings.  The brakes have a lot of new parts, too--everything that comes in the overhaul kit from Walcks.

Only one part got wrecked in the process--the pinion seal, which is, of course, the very last thing I was installing.  I put it in backwards.    Damaged it trying to get it in, and there was no way it was coming out intact either.  Took me a few minutes to figure out what I had done wrong.  Oh well, I just used the one I had bought for the front.  I've got more things to order before I can finish the front anyway.

Been working on the rear differential:  getting the pinion bearing preload right, and getting the backlash on the ring gear within spec.  I need to do a contact pattern test, and then thoroughly clean out everything with kerosene before closing the cover on it.

But first, I built a differential spreader, since it's a pain in the butt to do differential work without one.  (It involves pounding on bearing  cups with a dead blow hammer...)

For scale, the big tubes (2" heavy wall square tubing) are 16" long.  The threaded rod is 3/4".

And here it is, in use:

Building brakes

Brakes.  Four units, with new pads, cylinders, springs, and anchor pins (with nuts and lock washers).  I still can't figure out why the overhaul kit included the anchor pins but not the cams, which go on the anchor pins.  (And they're brass--if you were selecting which parts to put into an overhaul kit, wouldn't you pick the soft parts?)  Original parts are the backer plates, eccentrics (and their nuts and lock washers--again, why include the anchor pins in the kit and not the eccentrics?), and the anchor pin plates.

The moving parts (i.e., those bits around the anchor pins) are greased with brake lube.  The nuts (on the anchor pins and eccentrics) have anti-seize on them.

But this marks the first time in this process that I've actually assembled something!  Yay! Axles come next...

Parts finally arrived!

Just dropped $1375 on parts...

A good chunk of that is new brakes (drums, pads, springs, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and some of the hoses--the flexible parts of the lines).  The rest is bearings, seals, and gaskets.  All for the axles.  (Other parts come later.)

Next comes reassembling the axles.  A bit more cleaning is needed first and I think I might need to do some more painting (on visible areas on the hubs, at least).  And then I need to get springs and shackles before I can get the axles onto the frame.  Oh, and new tires.  And I have to sandblast and paint the wheels.  This is not exactly a fast process!

Okay, So I have selected for replacement the following:

From the 41 Rear:
1 shaft cone
1 shaft cup
1 carrier cone
2 carrier cups

From the 25 front:
2 carrier cones
2 carrier cups
2 pinion cones
2 pinion cups
4 king pin cones
2 king pin cups (the upper one from each side)

The pictures below show parts of all of these:
41 Carrier Cone


41 Carrier Cup(s)


41 Shaft Cone

41 Shaft Cup


25 King Pin Cone(s)




25 King Pin Cup(s)



25 Pinion Cup


25 Pinion Cone(s)



25 Carrier Cone


25 Carrier Cup(s)



The ones I haven't chosen to replace all look good, and feel smooth.  I haven't been able to look at the inner races, though.

A (pre-paint) shot of the weld on the knuckle:

I found it very interesting to look at the weld on the brake hose holder (and the ones on the spring mount a few inches out of the shot) and compare them to the one holding the knuckle onto the axle tube.  The former are clearly done by hand, while the latter really doesn't look like it.  But I don't think they had computerized welding in 1949...

Here are the painted 25/41.  Just the POR-15 coat is on now--I'll paint over that with a matte paint tomorrow.  (POR-15 has to be painted over unless it's somewhere that will not see any light.  I'm painting over everything, regardless.)

The carrier saddles and differential cover bolts are all in place because the bolt holes go out the back side, and I didn't want paint getting into those holes.

Another thing to note is that the pinions have been removed.  That was both to make it easier to clean the axles, and because I'm going to be replacing the bearings anyway.  The Kaiser-Willys service manual says to remove the pinion by hammering on it with a brass punch.  Tried that--didn't have much luck.  Moses Ludel's book says to use an air hammer.  Don't have one of those, and I doubt the neighbours would appreciate it if I did!  What I did instead was to use my press.  Worked like a charm--didn't even need much force.  Obviously that can only be done with an axle that's been removed from the vehicle, but mine were...

And here are the four knuckles (since I haven't decided which two I'm using yet), and the four 9" backing plates.  Also the two covers.  The cover for the 25 isn't the one that was on the Jeep when I got it, but it came in the spare parts collection that came with the Jeep.  The one on the Jeep was chrome, but since the chrome plating was half gone, I decided to revert to the original one with a fresh coat of paint.

For curiosity and record keeping, here are some casting (and other) numbers off various parts.  I'm only including the 25 and 41 axles, since they're the original ones, and are being reused.

 The 41 axle still has its ratio tag (43/8=5.375).  (The 25 did, too, shown below.  The 27 and 44 did not.)  Also in this picture is a code 9-65.  I don't know what it means.  The 41 is also visible.

 Also on the 41:

This one is the 25.  The code at the bottom is totally illegible.

 Here's the ratio tag on the 25:

 

The 9" brake backing plates (41/25, L&R) all had the same number on them:

 

 This is on the 25:  It's the only one of the four axles that had numbers on the side of the differential away from the cover.  The 25 is clear; I don't know what the 48 means.

I can't see any date stampings on the axles where http://www.cj3a.info/tech/datecode.html says they should be.  There is a "6" stamped on one of the "donuts" referred to in that page, but it's in a bigger font.

I've been remiss in keeping this up to date, but really not much has happened.  I've sandblasted the axle tubes, brake backing plates and knuckles, and then painted them.  I'm going to put some details in multiple posts just to keep things straight.

Unfortunately, I discovered the 44/27 axles didn't both have 11" brakes.  The 44 had 11", while the 27 had 10" brakes.  It really doesn't seem like a great idea to have the more powerful brakes on the rear, but that's what they had.  One of the 11" backing plates had also been repaired--fairly well, mind you.

I think, all things considered, that I'm going to stick with the 9" brakes that the CJ-3A came with.  I really don't want different brakes front and rear.

I haven't made up my mind on the knuckles yet.  I was planning on using the knuckles off the 27, since one of the tie rod connections on the 25's knuckles was a bit worn.  But other than that wear, the knuckles from the 25 are in better shape.  Funny, though:  if I decide to keep the knuckles from the 25, then the effort I've spend disassembling and cleaning the 44/27 pair of axles will be entirely for naught, as it had been for the brake backing plates and knuckles...

Sandblasted brake backing plates and knuckles are shown in the picture below.  You can see the three different sizes of plates (2 each of 10" and 11", and 4 of the 9").

 And here are the axles tubes (25 and 41).  The rust is from dew.  I sandblasted at the cabin, and we spent the night there.  By morning, there was rust...  But it was just minor surface rust and cleaned off easily.

Ah ha!  Success!

I really had to bear down on that jack handle in the press, though.  And when the hubs separated, they were like gunshots going off!

The funny thing is that that was just a point of pride.  I needed to get either the shafts out or the hub off--either one would allow me to get the brake backing plates, which I need for the 11" brake upgrade.  And the shafts were pulled days ago.  But I couldn't just let it go, either...

Anyway, I've also been pulling the seals on the 25 and 41 axles (the ones off my Jeep, which I will be reinstalling.  I need to order new seals, and decide which (if any) bearings I need to order.  In the meantime, I will be cleaning and prepping those two axles for painting.

The other day, I took the D44 to a mechanic to see if they could pull the shafts and/or hubs.

The shafts came out fairly easily with a slide hammer.  (Need to get one of those!)

The hubs, OTOH, still won't come off.  The mechanics broke their puller (stripped the threads) trying.  (It wasn't one of the heavy duty $375 pullers, though.)

But with the shafts out, I can put them in my 20 ton shop press...  First attempt--no joy.  I probably didn't pull hard enough on the jack handle, though.  Instead, I left the shafts sitting with ATF/Acetone.  Out of the axle tube, I can have them both sitting vertically, so the ATF/Acetone can seep into the joint instead of just dripping away like when the axle was horizontal.  I'll try again this weekend now that they've been soaking for a few days.

That Dana 44 axle (the rear axle that did not come with the Jeep) is being darned recalcitrant.  I can't get the hubs off, and I can't get the axle shafts out.  On the D41 (the rear axle that did come on the Jeep), the hubs popped off easily, and the axle shafts slid right out after undoing the flange bolts.  I have no idea what to do differently...  (There's not supposed to be anything different between the two axles when it comes to disassembly.)

So I moved onto the front.  I got both knuckles off the D25 (the front axle that came on the Jeep) and disassembled.  No difficult parts to that at all.  (Now I'll have to try the D27--the spare front axle...)  After being stuck so long on that D44, it felt good to actually get something done.

One weird thing, though.  The washers inside one of the front hubs were totally mangled.  The splines on that shaft were also slightly mangled.  I took some pictures, and I'll add them to this post at a later date (when I get around to it...)  No idea what could have caused that--it even looked like it had been assembled that way from earlier damage.

Edit:  Here's the pictures.

The outer washer:

 And the inner one:

There were no bits of metal in there...

Okay, here's the painted frame.  I forgot to take a picture before we left, but Melissa's camera was in my glove compartment (where it had apparently been left all winter), with just enough battery juice left for a couple of shots.  The transmission support member and rear bumper are not shown--they were sitting in the back of my truck.  (The front bumper is chrome--obviously not original--and wasn't painted.)  In case it's not clear, the near end is the front.

Paint on the frame is pretty much done.  I'll take a picture tomorrow when I load it onto the trailer.  I'm going to store the frame at the cabin to give myself room to do mechanical work on other bits.  (And I need to get the trailer out of the driveway, regardless.)

I'm not thrilled with my painting skills.  There are drip marks in various places.  But I guess that very little of the frame will be visible in the end.  (If there are any drip marks in visible places, I'll sand them off and repaint those spots.

I used a matte paint over the POR15.  That not only helps reduce the obviousness of my bad painting skills, but also makes it easy to see where I missed a spot, since the glossy POR15 looks very different.

 And on to the next task.  I started trying to pull the hubs off my extra set of axles.  I want to pull the larger brakes off these ones and use them in the Jeep.  I may also switch out the knuckles on the front axle.  But these hubs are proving to be stubborn.

Here's my big puller.  For size, the blue breaker bar is 36" long and the silver ratchet is about 18" long.  The socket on there is 3/4".  The puller is rated to 7 tons.  Unfortunately, the hub isn't coming off; instead the hub plate is actually deforming under the load of the puller!

Maybe it's time to try the ATF/acetone trick.  (A 50/50 mix of those were apparently tested to be a better penetrating oil than any commercial product.)

I hope the hubs on the other axles aren't as bad.  They weren't stored outdoors, and I believe the hubs were removed at least back in the late 80's.

First coat of paint on the frame last night.  At least on the areas I could see from the top.  I'll flip it over and do the rest tonight.  Pictures to follow when it's done...

It's a very glossy paint.  I think I'll make the top coat (which is required because the POR-15 is not UV stable) matte.

The frame is all prepped for painting now.  Started with a wire wheel on a grinder, and then upgraded to the sandblaster (since it was clear that the wheel couldn't get into the tight spots).  Did all that out at the cabin to avoid the mess at home.

Helpful hint:  if you're recycling sand, screen it really, really carefully before putting it back into the blaster.  And if the blaster isn't working as it should, empty it out and check for obstructions.

At home, did the cleaner and metal prep steps using the chemicals made by the paint supplier I'm using (POR-15).  Now it's just waiting for paint.

But I am a bit concerned about the rear member.  See the pictures below:

I wonder what the heck caused that damage...

I now have to decide whether to replace that member (Walcks carries them), or just grind out the damage and weld it.

The frame is finally stripped all the way down.  (I think there are five bolts not doing anything that I still have to remove.)  That's the transmission cross member sitting on the battery holder.  Time to start cleaning...

Here's the frame, stripped down to the axles.  I've got to start cleaning it up and prepping it for a new coat of paint...

As for the engine, here are a few shots:

Definitely leaking around the main shaft seals, the valve cover, and around the oil filler tube.  Possibly a few other spots too, but it's hard to tell.  I'm leaning towards tearing the whole thing down and having it cleaned professionally (and inspected for cracks).  All the seals and gaskets will be replaced when I put it back together.  Hopefully, it won't need any real machining work, as there can't be all that much mileage on it since it was last rebuilt in the 80's.

I've been playing around with the axles--I've got the giant nuts off the rears, but haven't actually pulled the hubs yet--as it is still my intention to switch out the brakes to the 11" brakes off my second set of axles, and to replace the steering knuckles as well.  That's probably going to mean replacing all the axle seals and probably a bunch of bearings as well, but their probably well past their best before date anyway.