1946 CJ-2A Slightly Above Stock

[bmorgil]

Joey, I am only suggesting the socket or crank to see if the motor is rotating freely. DO NOT try to start the motor with a socket wrench on the crank nut. Very bad things will happen if it starts! I am suggesting with the key OFF, try to rotate the engine just to make sure the motor didn't strangely freeze up as you mentioned. I have a feeling you have a voltage problem, the battery is highly suspect. If that's not it, and you can turn the motor freely by hand, some basic voltage/amperage checks should get you to the culprit.

[JoeyD]

GM, I understand what you mean and the swing has been crazy. I have had a battery in my daily driver crap out in less than 6 months here for no apparent reason.

Bm I am sure that would be very bad. And it does seem that the motor turns freely just seems like it is trying too hard when you turn the key. As far a voltage issue I am putting a pic on here because I have noticed something peculiar and worrisome. The negative ground is attached to the alternator bracket mounted to the front of the block. It seems to get real hot and has melted some of the sheathing around the cable. Is this the normal place to put it? Or did someone just wing it?20210207_145144.jpg

[gmwillys]

The ground is located correct location as with the stock generator would have been. I would grab a multimeter to measure the resistance from the negative battery terminal to the alternator mount where your ground cable terminates. If the resistance is low, check from the negative batt terminal to the braided ground cable at the engine mount. Grease and general crud can reduce the ground flow to the frame. If all is good, check the starter out.

[PaulB]

My M38A1 came with Easylok front hubs. They are set in the free position. Do I need to manually set them in the lock position to get any kind of 4 wheel drive? In other words, transferring from 2W to 4W high, should the jeep move or would I hurt anything? I would think I absolutely need to set them to lock position to go from 4W High to 4W Low.

[gmwillys]

PaulB,

The manual hubs will need to be set to lock for the front wheels to be engaged for four wheel drive to work. The hubs are intended to reduce wear on the front axle by disconnecting the wheel hubs from the axles. This is done to also act as a fuel savings measure by eliminating the parasitic load of having to turn all the internals of the front differential while driving. In short, if the hubs are disconnected from the axles, you are not turning the ring gear and axles.

You can place the transfer case in four wheel drive, and have the hubs in the free position, but it isn't recommended for driving. Also, be sure both hubs are set to the same position. On numerous occasions, I have seen where one hub was locked in, and the other out. On occasion if I am using one of my Heeps for yard maintenance work, where I want the gear reduction of using four wheel low, but do not want to tear up the yard or need to turn on the driveway, I will unlock the hubs to prevent damage. Again, I don't drive on the hard road with the four wheel drive four high/four low engaged because it causes undue stress on the whole four wheel drive system. You can lock the front hubs in though, and drive in two wheel drive with no issues. Then all you would need to do is pull the transfer case levers into the desired mode you wish to use without having to worry about locking and unlocking the hubs. When I lived in a arctic climate, the hubs would be engaged in late October and stayed engaged throughout winter until the following April.

[JoeyD]

GM, I will check and see what that reading is. I also checked the battery itself yesterday and at full charge, according to the charger, it read almost 13.5 volts. That is way too high, but after a couple of turns on the key it was already back below 12.5. I think I really need to get into that electrical system even though it was something I thought was in pretty decent shape.

PaulB, GM hit it right on the head. I remember my old '86 Yota I had as a teenager hated having the hubs locked and doing more than about 25 mph. I know now it could have just been some bearings needed replaced but I can still hear that whine if I came out of the woods and forgot to unlock them. It is my understanding, correct me if I am wrong guys, but these CJs did not come with manual locking hubs orginally. I know it can be annoying but generally I never locked them in unless I thought I was gonna need it. My 2A has Selectro locking hubs and they seem to be super easy to lock and unlock.

[gmwillys]

You are correct Joey. The locking hubs were an aftermarket accessory well into the CJ5 production. What turned the corner for Willys and later Kaiser to start putting them on from the factory was through the competition putting them on their units as a selling feature. International Scouts had IH branded Warn locking hubs on their vehicles, then Ford followed suit on the Broncos.

More information than you could probably ever want to know from eWillys.com;

http://www.ewillys.com/?s=locking+hubs

On the electrical side of things, it would appear that you do have some rather high resistance.

[5JeepsAz]

GM thanks for the locking hubs explanation & info!

[bmorgil]

GM, I understand what you mean and the swing has been crazy. I have had a battery in my daily driver crap out in less than 6 months here for no apparent reason.

Bm I am sure that would be very bad. And it does seem that the motor turns freely just seems like it is trying too hard when you turn the key. As far a voltage issue I am putting a pic on here because I have noticed something peculiar and worrisome. The negative ground is attached to the alternator bracket mounted to the front of the block. It seems to get real hot and has melted some of the sheathing around the cable. Is this the normal place to put it? Or did someone just wing it?20210207_145144.jpg

No signs of melting or heat should be anywhere in your electrical system. You have found a source of current loss. It needs to be fixed. I am sure that is a good part of the problem. Red hot wires are the definition of current draw. There is some "Winging" going on but I am not sure for what. The wires taped up and stuck under the clamp nut on the battery terminals are not stock. It looks like you have a few things tapped into the electrical system. I would start by following gm's line of thinking. Start looking for voltage loss. As gm said if all is good pull the starter and have it checked at the auto parts store. Remember a battery can read fully charged (Voltage reading) and have zero amperage capability. This is why they must be checked under load. Just a voltage check at the battery has fooled a lot of people. Maybe LarrBeard can school us on "surface charge" here, if he see's this.

Put a voltmeter on the starter from the positive wire connection to ground. It should be exactly the same as the voltage at the Positive battery post. Crank the motor and see what the voltage drops to. If the voltage drops below 9 or 10 volts at the starter that's too low. Check it at the battery terminals while cranking. If it drops below 9 or 10 volts, the battery has lost its amp-pacity. If it is higher at the Battery while cranking than it is at the starter by more than .2 (point two) volts. You have a wiring issue. If all seems good and the battery is checking OK at the auto parts store, you probably have a bad starter. You really need to use an inductive ammeter to check the starter on the car but, if you have made these checks and the starter is getting hot, it is suspect. Keep after it Joey!

[JoeyD]

Bm I definitely need to do some checking on the electrical system. There is something going on there and I need to find it before something really gets too hot. You are correct that there are several things tied into there. Winch and KC lights for a start.

On a great note though, as temperature began to rise I decided to see what may happen. I took the battery to the parts store and it checked out good. So I came back and in the middle of the day when the sun was just right I tried again. And what do you know, he finally decided to give me enough to turn it over. I went out and cranked him yesterday too and didn't even need the choke. I will tell y'all this though, I have done so much reading and listening to y'all that I have alot better understanding of how these things are laid out and can be stubborn. I will keep you all updated.

Second note, I cleaned off the drums and shoes from the front that I plan on converting to disc. You would not believe the meat still left on those, you can still see some black lettering on the shoes. Actually considering throwing them back on till my calipers, rotors and lines come in. Really had a big hiccup on those and I am not gonna be able to wait much longer before I get behind the wheel.

Thanks again and I will be doing alot more checking of that electrical system.