'Home Again' My CJ3B, Starting out

[Moncheche]

Well, had to pull the trans from the wife's car. I have an engine and trans to rebuild so the willys goes to the back of the garage. Back at it when I can.

[HOGHEAD]

Funny about wives.. (well not funny)... Mine saw me working on my grill the last weekend ,, so she just had to back into a tree in a turn-around she has backed into thousands of times,,, had buy parts for her XJ & have to install them this weekend instead of working on my head lights & blinkers for MY 3b....

[Moncheche]

I think it might be a jealousy thing. (at least the other cars are jealous)

The burban spit the trans day before yesterday, the transfer case over a month ago, and the old burban threw a rod.

The XJ has a 'tick' now. Could be an exhaust leak or a lifter, or a piston skirt.

Either way, they're moving in on the Willys in a big way.

This morning I'm throwing the old burban's trans into the new burban.

Then I'm getting set to rebuild the 4L60e to put back into the new burban, gonna swap a NP241 t-case while I'm at it to finally get rid of the chevrolet auto-trak system. Then the old 5.7l gets torn down and made new. (250,000+ when it kicked the rod)

Once that's done, it goes into the new burban. (it has 159,000 and is far from new)

Both burbans are 99's, so I have a 'parts' car for now.

Someday the Willys will be back at the front of the shop.

[jeepcj3b]

Sounds like many of us are in the same situation here.
I just had a 4 day weekend and had planned to make some good progress on the 3B.
Instead I did a water pump on my wife's DD XJ, and many other misc. projects.
I did manage to drive the 3B a little bit and clean, prime, and paint the 3B radiator shroud, so it's nice shinny black laying in the living room.

We just have to focus, but it's hard sometimes.

[Moncheche]

Finished the rebuild of the 4l60e in the wife's suburban. Swapped in a manual transfer case. It was my first transmission rebuild ever, and it's humming nicely...

WAIT.. this is a 3b rebuild thread.



I snuck out in the fading light and stripped some more bondo off. I really never comprehended the amount of damage that happened when this was rear ended. I will snap some shots tomorrow.

My grandfather was a real artist when working with wood or metals, so I always thought it odd to see so much fiberglass and bondo. Now I know why.

I will use less and accept more 'waves', but holy cow is this thing wrinkled. I even found some lead where rust was repaired...

It's gone from 'home again' to 'time machine'

[jeepcj3b]

Good work. I found a ton of brass welding or soldering in my floor and various other areas. It was done pretty well so I left it and worked around it. Maybe 50 years from now someone else will find it.

[Moncheche]

The oldest wanted to learn to weld. I happily pushed the willys aside and we burned through many, many rods. I was in hog heaven. He had a big smile. He went from being afraid of it to loving it. He has a pretty steady hand. Won't be long and I will be calling him over to lay a bead down for his old man.

Love these times. Now to find a mig welder.


Back at the Willys, whenever.

[Moncheche]

Here are a few shots of the left rear quarter.



It's easy to see the extensive damage my grandfather pounded out. I will be using 'metal fill' or 'all metal' to smooth some of this damage. The bondo on this thing was some of the thickest i've seen. True to grandpa's ways, the surface was well prepped, and I'm fighting to get this stuff off.

I am brushing up on my oxy/ace filler technique. Lots of little holes to fill.

[Moncheche]

Decided to turn a wrench while some paint dried on another project.

Found an interesting 'adaptation' to a motor mount. I'm actually looking forward to fab'ing new mounts. It's a challenge.

[Moncheche]

This is a shot of the t-case (passengers side, forward is to your right)

Looks like a broken mount with some wedged in? Too much grease to tell right now.


Anybody make this out?

[Moncheche]

Frame stamp. Found it on the passenger's side, outside the frame, next to the t-case. Any one decipher it? Off to google...

[Moncheche]

Found a cracked weld. Repair coming.

[Moncheche]

Today was my last day off. After doing the usual plate spinning, (at least 4 plates at a time) I decided to do one thing that wasn't a 'teardown'.

I took the rear drive shaft, cleaned it up and coated it with some Por15.

It's the prettiest part of the vehicle now.

pics later....

[Moncheche]

Pulled the transmission today (and the motor). The broken mount has a neat little fix that I will only have to modify a bit. Pics on what I found coming.

The transmission/t-case mount was cobbled together. I will be fab'ing a new mount for that as well.

Having lots of fun sneaking off for a few minutes of work here and there.

[Moncheche]

The hacked up front cross member... If you can't do it right, find a torch and screw it up. Anyone have a decent photo of a good frame? I'll fab something...