Info needed: 1967 M38A1 Lubrication?

[rob love]

The pinion seal can be a bugger to pull. Installation is not a big deal, but clean the bore and a slight coating of RTV before seal installaion. A little more RTV behind the washer of the pinion nut as well, in case oil sneaks thru the shaft. You may have to devise a flange holding tool to get the full torque, although guys have been putting it on with impacts for a lot of years and getting away with it.

Nothing will fall in when you remove the sidepan, although it is a bit of a tight squeeze getting it out and then putting it all back again. Put the gasket on with a little contact cement onto the sidecover, and then leave it alone for a bit before trying to install it.

First vehicle I ever drove was a Jeep in the militia at 16. That was 40 years ago. I have built and owned many over the years, but my current one is a CDN3. The Cdn 3 has a few improvements over the earlier models...the frame re-enforcement and self adjusting brakes are far superior to the earlier stuff.

[Les Kovacs]

Thanks for the pinion seal reply Rob....what part of the frame was reinforced on the CDN3?

The pinion seal info/paragraph will be printed and given to the garage that will be doing the seal & bell crank replacement.

I will be doing the spark plugs next when they arrive...any issues there? Is there a special tool to get the wires off? Will any special tools be necessary to get the plugs out?

Also....if you have had a few jeeps.....where do you get your parts from?

regards...les

[rob love]

Any decent mechanic will already know what to do to change a pinion seal....don't insult the guy.

The only problem you may find with the spark plus is that if the last person over tightened the nuts on the sparkplug, when you go to un-do the wire, the whole spark plug may turn. You then have to undo the wire at the cap, then turn the wire and spark plug together to remove the plug.

There is a special wrench for undoing the nuts on the wires, but it can be done with a regular 3/4 wrench just fine. You will require a 1/2" drive 13/16 deep socket to remove the plugs.

Lots of places for parts, but the key for me has been to hoard, hoard hoard.

Lots of Jeep guys around on both sides of the border, and ebay will usually work out as well. Brian Asbury, in your neck of the woods, is usually competitive. I use John Bizal at Midwestern military in the US, and often QTR parts on ebay have favorable prices.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Les Kovacs

.what part of the frame was reinforced on the CDN3?

The earlier models are prone to cracking on the frame just above the front spring hangers of the rear springs. I saw more than a few of the CDN2 with these cracks. The CDN3 had plates added to the inside of the frame in this area. I never saw a CDN 3 crack in that area.

Other improvements, besides the larger self actuating (and adjusting) brakes, were the fine spline one piece rear axle shafts, the closed hood hinges, and the solid state turn signals, although the vast majority had those installed by the time the Jeeps left service.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob....thanks for the spark plug change info...priceless!
About the pinion seal...back in 1998 I had a 1996 GMC 1 ton 4x4 diesel pickup....it has a pinion seal leak....I took it to a GMC dealership as it was still on warranty....the mech carefully (I watched) tapped in a new pinion seal via a ball pean hammer....I brought it back 2-3 days later as it was leaking worse.....mech again carefully tapped a new seal into the 14 bolt 1 ton axle.....2-3 days later it leaked again....I then did research which said not to tap in the seal with a hammer.....best to use a pinion seal "J" tool....I took it back to the shop....talked to service manger.....I asked him to purchase a J tool to install 3rd seal.....he raked me over the coals saying that his 25 year plus experienced mech does not need to be told what tool to use...I still pressured him to get his mech a J tool....he did...3 days later the pissed of mech installed the 3rd seal with a J tool....I just sold the 1996 GMC diesel to a local farmer....after 16 years it had over 400,000 kms on that 3rd pinion seal...so much for a experienced front end mech....my research saved myself and the dealership time & money in not having to return again...so I am still weary about any mech touching my vehicles....for over 40 years I wrenched on my own vehicles(aside from free warranty work) in short, I would normally do all the work but recently severe arthritis in my hands as all but stopped the heavy work and I now only do oil, filter changes etc. That being said, I am still waiting for all the front end and tune-up parts I ordered last week.

PS...thanks for CDN 2 info....yup, while looking for M38A1's....I had noticed that many had cracks in that area but I just though that the bumper-etts were hit too many times. The brake adjusts are a great addition....my CDN 2 does come with a direction (electronic) signal stalk and seat belts of which I am told were put on during its last years at Petawawa (early 80's)

Thanks again....les

[rob love]

I wasn't sure what you meant by a "J" tool. A quick google check shows that you are referring to the seal drivers as supplied by Kent Moore. The "J" is merely the letter preceding the part numbers.

Personally, I have a reasonable collection of Kent Moore tools as they relate to the various military vehicles. They are always top notch.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob.....yeah....it was a J tool as supplied by Kent Tools.....basically a tool allowing for even pressure to be applied to the seal while driving it into the differential. Anyhow, my wife and I went for our first long drive of 40 kms. Firstly, the rad fluid now down to about 2 inches above the core stopped puking fluid. As well, the temp gauge finally hit 160F,,,great. I now have another issue. The trip was to a car show....the jeep was popular and kids were getting in and shifting gears etc(ignition off).....at the end of the show, when I went to drive off...the jeep would not move...I had to play with the in/out and low/high shifter before I got it into gear and drove home. So, does the in/out transfer case shifter have to be in IN to have the main transmission shift? Please explain.

Regards,

les

[rob love]

There are two levers on the transfer case. The closest one is for 2 to 4 wheel drive. You pull the lever back for 4 wheel drive.

The second lever has Hi range-Neutral-Low range. In two wheel drive, you can only select Hi range or Neutral on the second lever. Hi is all the way to the back, and neutral is in forward one notch. The vehicle has to be in 4 wheel drive in order to select low range. The interlock prevents the high torque of low range from all going in to one axle....instead it goes into front and rear.

So it sounds like the kids moved the right lever one notch forward.

You are a more generous man than I am. When the parents ask if their little angels can sit in the Jeep, I ask that they not play with all the knobs and switches. I watch as their 3 second attention span wears out once they are in the drivers seat. They then begin to test all levers, switches and cables as to their functions, testing them to their limits. Then comes the steering wheel test, at which time they quickly turn the wheel left right left to it's maximum travel, followed by operating the wiper hand levers to maximum speed. No good comes from it all.....it just helps burn off some of the sugar.

Good to hear your radiator has found it's level.