1946 CJ-2A Slightly Above Stock

[bmorgil]

All good Joey!

[JoeyD]

Yet another Hiccup. So I had some issues with a broken bolt on one of my front hubs. The bolt is for the axle flange and I just could not get it out after I broke the head off. So I opted to order new hubs. They were fairly inexpensive and of course new parts equal a little more piece of mind. However, I got them in and started reinstalling the races, bearings and oil seals. Big problem though, the races dropped straight and are now tight. I can literally put them in and take them out with my fingers. The biggest deal is that the oil seals will not seat at all because they are so small. Did I get the wrong hubs, Crown Automotive SKUS437. Now I know I didn't get them from Kaiser's but I thought the price difference was worth it. Can I possibly get new races and oil seal or am I gonna have to return those hubs?

[bmorgil]

Joey, the parts sound out of dimension. If you are certain you have the right bearing races, they are held to some pretty tight tolerances, that means the hubs are suspect. A lot of crown stuff comes from third world sources. Sometimes you have to make it work. In this case, send it back. The races are a slight press. Too tight will ruin them too loose will ruin them. If you want to get scientific, the installation bore size for the race should be available from the bearing manufacturer. You don't have to pound them in but, they don't fall in either. Are you certain you cant get the broken bolt out? Shoot me a picture of that broken bolt. I might be able to help you there. It is not uncommon to have all but a couple flange bolts broken. I definitely have removed, and seen the removal of many. They are supposed to be grade 8 bolts. Many types end up in there. Cheap bolts break when the poor guy tries to do the right thing and torque them. Or the darn air gun was strong that day!

[gmwillys]

I agree with Bmorgil. I would remove the broken bolt, and return the out of speck hub. If you run into a problem, drop me a note with your address, and I'll send you an original hub. I've got a few on the shelf, that just need to be cleaned up and new bearings and seals installed.

Just an option to throw out there.

[bmorgil]

Super options from gm there Joey, both of them. Original hubs if you can.

[JoeyD]

bmorgil, gmwillys I thought that was probably the right answer and I completely did as you suggested and contacted Morris to send those back. They agreed that I more than likely received the wrong hubs and are sending me a return label. As for the axle flange bolt I will get you that picture and you can tell me with you think.

I will be honest that I really wanted to test the brakes this past weekend so I put everything back together with the one missing bolt. I had already done so much cleaning and my schedule only gives me small windows right now. So I took full advantage because I removed the fill cap on the Master cylinder and found it almost bone dry. I refilled, bled the brakes and found no links in lines. I still have alot of pedal travel so I have been reading the manual to do some adjustments. I am finding some issues that I won't say I am surprised about but was really hoping wouldn't be there. I knew I probably needed to go through the whole thing front to back which isn't an issue, I just didn't want to find anything wrong. I know that was naïve of me, but hey a guy can dream right. As I started to pull out from under the canopy I noticed that I was getting any power to the rear axle. If I engage the front hubs and put it in 4wd my front end has no problem taking me where I want to go. So I did some research and I think that I have ruled out a broken axle rod because the drive shaft turns. Now you may ask if when it is in gear can I turn the rear wheels as well. The answer is yes. I suppose I need to start looking at where drive shaft enters the trans to determine why the rear axle is not engaging. Does that sound about right?

[LarrBeard]

I also checked the battery itself yesterday and at full charge, according to the charger, it read almost 13.5 volts.

That's OK for a battery just off charge. It will settle down a few tenths after it sits for a bit and will pull down to about 12.7 - 12.5 after just a bit of cranking.

If anything is getting hot - it is either a bad connection or badly overloaded. For an example, at stall a 12-volt starter will pull about 350 to 400 amps. It cranks at about 125 to 150 amps. That's a lot of current and even a few milli-ohms (1/1000 of an ohm) will start to generate hot spots.

Clean, bright and tight are the watch words for good electrical connections.

[bmorgil]

Joey a little confused on your problem. Are you saying in two wheel drive it will not move? In other words if you disengage the transfer case to the front axle (shift it into 2 wheel drive completely disengaging the front drive) the jeep wont move? If it is sitting there in 2 wheel drive not moving with the rear driveshaft spinning, and you are not moving, the rear axle has a problem.

[JoeyD]

LarrBeard, that is good news to hear about the battery and that is exactly what is happening. Since the thaw the old guy has starting loosening up a bit and is way more easy to get started. In fact, most of the time now there is no need for any choke and only after a couple of days do I need to pump that accelerator a little. Clean is not word I would use for very much on the rig right now, that is partly my fault and partly because that is how I got it. Grandad always told me that things tend to work better when they are clean and I need to get back to that.

bmorgil, That is correct. When I have the middle lever in the "out" position and the right lever in the "high" position it would not move. I did quite a bit of reading last night and went out to do some tinkering when I got home late. After some TLC and a little sweet talking I believe the right lever was sticking in neutral. So I finally got him to move without the front axle engaged. I found that if that right lever is in neutral it stops power transfer to both of the axles. It does take some serious accelerator pressure to start moving in 2wd. I don't notice anything slipping and I want to possibly contribute it to the 34x10.5 Swampers that came on it. These are probably fine for 4wd and off road but could that be a little too much rubber to push with just the rear axle?

[bmorgil]

I think you have it figured out. The "lever in the middle" would be the transfer case "In" (engaged) and "Out" (disengaged). This controls the power flow through the transfer case. "In" engaged, has power flowing to the front and rear. The lever on the right is the "Range" of the transfer case "Low" and "High", with a neutral in the middle. It can be difficult to get everything to shift. Sometimes it takes a little TLC and slight clutching to get the gears to line up. You probably have tried this technique but just in case, if it seems like it just wont make a positive shift, release the clutch ever so slightly while you try to engage the gear with the shift lever. Be careful here you are trying to line up the gear teeth. You don't want to hear grinding. This is a real "feel" thing. It's like riding a bike however. Once you get used to jumping between the gear positions, it gets a lot easier to feel it. These old transfer cases and transmissions require a bit of touch. It was something you were used to having to do in the 40's, 50's and 60's. The new stuff we have today requires very little driver interaction. A button here or electronic joy stick shifter over there! The directness of the shifter mechanism on the Dana 18 transfer case and the bulk of the components in the gear box is primitive by today's standards. I have to get everything just right on mine every now and then to get her in gear.

How does it do in "Low" range? You need to have the transfer case "In" engaged to shift into "Low" range. Unless someone removed it, there is an interlock in the shift mechanism that prevents the engagement of "Low" unless the Transfer Case is "In" engaged. If the Transfer case has been rebuilt, some mechanics leave the interlock out. If it seems to move with no problem in low but is hard to move in High. Your tire observation is a good one. 34" tall tires knocks the overall drive ratio down numerically. Your Jeep however has axle ratios that can handle that tire size without being to difficult to drive. If it is hard to move make sure you aren't dragging a brake. Also be sure the Emergency brake isn't sticking on, this can make it very difficult to shift it into gear.