Jeep project underway

[charlie fitton]

"I don't like the method myself, it is actually a bit of a bodge . Problem is: The splines really make a mess of the reamed hole. If you have to remove the bolt a few times , the hole ends up being torn and messed up. The hangers are only made from 1/4" plate which is a design flaw."

Might I suggest that you could weld a tab on to the Hanger plate to stop the Bolt from "working" and therefore restrict the wear to the bushings?

[Mike K]

Long term saga with the front springs .

My jeep came with the 1950s Aust. post-war made springs.

I later on found a couple of WW2 era front springs , in very bad shape.

Purchased 2 new front springs from a vendor here.

Ok the story:

Repro front springs look very little like the WW2 era springs: leaves are thicker, no bevel on the edge of the leaves, the clips look all wrong, the centre bolt is a joke , how people can sell junk like this !

Pulled apart the WW2 era springs. Hmmm some deep pitting is evident , sagging too and one main leaf end is bent badly. Wear is evident where the leaf ends move and dig into the next leaf.

So I made up a spring pack using the new repro main and 2nd leaves and the rest are the old original WW2 leaves . I had to re-arch the old leaves in my pipe bender. Had to bevel the edges of the repro main and 2nd leaves .

Now make new Willys style spring clips..... the originals are .110" gauge . All I can find here is 3mm flat bar, but it is the correct width .
Lots of filing cutting . Had to make a die to press the dot into the clips and heat up up the metal cherry red .

Very hard to get a tight radius on the 3mm bar ,so my old trick, you cut half way through and bend, then weld and file the radius ...do this 24 times for 2 springs

Also had to machine up new centre bolts , out of good steel, not the plastic stuff the repro bolts are made from. The bolt head needs to be a good fit in the spring saddle .... which is usually worn to a oval shape.

Been working on these springs for over 2 years ..... not finished yet.

I have become rather fed up with the poorly made and expensive repro parts ..I now make my own parts when it is feasible to do so.

[Mike K]

Is there anybody out there who is considering buying a new Chinese cast L134 engine block ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9yfaRZ0nSw

Metalshaper is the guy who knows his vintage jeeps.

I read a report on these Chinese blocks , the valve guide bores are out of alignment, the bores are not perpendicular to the camshaft, that would explain why the valve stems and guides are very worn after only 3k miles of use. .

[Mike K]

I am making new spring/shock plates, the originals are often bent/warped, the factory used 1/4" plate which is prone to bending as the axle U bolts are tightened up with 4 long nuts.

I found an old bumper bar and cut it up , it is a slightly heavier gauge that 1/4" so should hold up OK .

Looks like the jeep designers had weight in mind and they tried to manage weight versus the projected life span of the vehicle. The bumper bar is one example of the weight compromise, made from light gauge sheet steel with a wooden insert for added rigidity.

[Mike K]

Spent some hours over the past days removing the 50 year old tyres from the combat divided rims. Some swearing ensued ! Hydraulic jack and levers , lubrication and much physical persuasion - all needed.

Jeep owners: please install the rust bands for future problems will arise. The divided combat rims do rust to the stage of being U/S. The original rims are now around 80 years old.

Repro rims are now available , but they are not cheap ( $1500 for a set here ) and there have been reports of a particular brand actually failing

In my case , I have four useable rims and one only good for a spare. The four best have rust to varying degrees but IMHO are safe enough. But I have to check them for runout and balance.

Looking at this G503 video shows how the rims rust but are still serviceable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmnqpCk22E

The other very common problem : people overtighten the lug nuts, doing this damages the tapered holes in the rims, the hole is splayed out into a distorted oversized shape and this results in the situation where the lug nuts do not have enough grab effect, the rim can be slightly loose on the hub......have seen this problem myself.

[Mike K]

My GPW block is back from the machinist...Hmmm 4 years wait.

The block had some corrosion evident and it was a 50/50 call if I should find another block. The machining turned out sort of OK , but even at +40 the bores have some tiny pit marks visible. The opinion of the G503 experts is: the Willys blocks are better , with thicker castings and less prone to cracks.

The engine machine shops are mosty gone in this part of the world, retired and closed. You have to travel a long distance to find one. The remaining engine machinist guys know this and they charge like a wounded bull and don't care how long it takes. The VMVC guys use a business in the S.E. suburbs of Melbourne, that's where I will be going next time.