Restoring Ham's '48 Willys - One Step Forward....

Some things have gotten done this last week while we’re waiting for the carburetor to come back.

There was an interesting discovery at the carburetor shop. They reported that there was debris in the carb, stuck between the needle valve and its seat. I would assume this is the float bowl needle valve. If indeed this was the case that would explain the flooding. The float could never really shut off fuel flow into the bowl – and after a short time the whole thing just fills up and runs over. We should get it back Friday, so then we put it back in and see what happens. The carb shop reports that they put it on their test engine and ran it successfully.

(There has always been a fuel filter at the fuel inlet on this overhaul. “Hey man, it’s not my trash…”)

One task this last week was adjusting brakes – and of course some new brake adjusters were needed – the old ones had stripped threads.

Then, there is the steering gear box. We put the tight-steer pin in the box, and filled it with oil. That gadget works nicely - I do recommend it. Yes, oil. Willys specifies oil for the steering box, 130 or 140 weight oil depending on season. It makes the steering very smooth. But, guess what? It leaks out around the steering sector. So, we pulled it out, took it apart and – aw pooh! (There’s that term again). A look at the sector showed that the shaft was worn – huh? That shouldn’t be.

So, the box with the “old stuff” was checked, and – sure enough – the new sector was in the box with the old stuff. OK, let’s get a new oil seal, replace the bushings while we’re in there and try again. Oh, by the way, when I was doing some reading about steering boxes, we discovered that Willys used copper crush washers under the bolt heads on the steering box to seal oil leaks around them. Never knew that.

(Grease was often put into steering boxes when the seals, shafts and bushings wore. What this does is cause loss of lubrication between the worm and the teeth on the sector and wear on the ball bearings on the steering shaft. Loss of lube, more wear, loose and hard steering. Sound like a typical old Jeep?) If you read the CJ forums, they talk a lot about steering boxes – very informative.

I’ve given up on the water temperature sensor. I discovered that Jeepsters used the same gauge. The Jeepster guys acknowledge that they are unobtainium. I found one guy who has one – just one – and he has 9 or 10 Jeepsters that can be restored. I’m not getting that one. Maybe the Henry J people know something…

We go along – one step at a time.

I'm enclosing a picture this week - this isn't my truck, but it looks as close to what my truck will look like as any photo I've seen - just no mirror on mine. It makes my mouth water. If this is your truck, I hope mine turns out this nice! (But, you can keep the snow)