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Buck's 46 Willys

334K views 2K replies 108 participants last post by  [Memphis] 
#1 · (Edited)
It's probably not near as hardcore as other builds here, but I've been doing some work to my 46 2a, and I figure I might as well start a thread here, mostly so I can keep my questions all in one thread, haha! :D

My plan, a daily driven willys, that can tackle mild-medium offroad trails. my TJ is the rock crawler. But my willys is the daily driver! So I want to make it a little bit more comfortable, and beef it up a bit here and there. Nothing crazy. I will not be stretching the frame/body, I'll keep it as intended, short wheel base :)

MB grill - done
Cage & suspension seats - partially done, still need to tie cage into frame
wheels/tires - done
fuel cell - not done
spare tire & jerry can mount - partially done
2"+ suspension - almost done
radiator, electrical, ignition redo - done
under skids - not done
rock sliders - not done

I'm sure there will be other items!


As I purchased it, in running condition, converted to 12 volt, with lots of bondo. And since this day, it's been my daily driver!





Makes my TJ seem like a monster truck!




First thing I did, was remove the roll bar, I didn't like it's shape, and I knew I eventually wanted something better.




and replaced the TJ tail lights with more classic looking tail lights, that are LED, nice and bright so folks flying down the street will see me at night, haha!




And then, I removed the tire carrier which was bulky, and appeared to have poor welds (several of the welds cracked when I removed it!)




Then I replaced some of the electrical wires, and fuel lines, as needed. And also ditched the factory oil-bath air intake for a simple small paper air filter:

and because I don't like the "bug eye" look of the 2a grill, I replaced it with an MB grill



 
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#706 · (Edited)
actually, man it's kind of difficult to find a manual steering pitman arm. Almost all of them say power steering. A few of them don't specify power steering, but I don't know if that means it's for manual steering or not, they don't specify either way.

So far, I've not found a single one that is labeled as fitting a manual steering box. Any ideas?
 
#711 ·
This is how I pulled my steering wheel, using a HF clamshell gear puller. It pulled fine, no cracking or any problems like that - but probably isn't an original steering wheel. I would put something different over the threads on the shaft, I kind of mushed my horn contact doing what I did here.



I talked to a guy who had done a ranger manual steering box conversion on a 2a- he said he had a heck of a time finding a pitman arm that would work. At the time, Herm didn't have a solution. I asked him where he got one or what he did, but he was so annoyed about the whole mess that he wouldn't say. It doesn't really look like a cut and welded arm, but maybe that's what he did..

Here's some pics of his conversion with a 1984 ranger box. He obviously changed the angle of the steering column quite a bit. I asked about that too and got a similar response.







 
#712 · (Edited)
I've got a clamshell bearing puller like that, if I had to I could do that :)

Did he cut into the front cross member at all? I was thinking, since I have to deal with several racks on the crossmember anyway (I found a few more as I was cutting off the bell crank mount) I might as well cut it completely out and make a new one, which I could move forward a few inches if need be, to mount the gear box a bit more forward.
 
#713 ·
I like the Twisted Stitch seats in my Willys so much, I ordered a set for my TJ. Same ones as in my Willys, but with a non-removable headrest. Water drains, and heat pads! The heat pad work pretty darn good. The mid-height lower bolsters hold you in pretty good, they aren't as easy to get in and out of as the factory seats, but they are quite tolerable for a daily driver I think. Getting in and out of the jeep is not to much of a pain. It will get even easier once they are mounted an inch or two lower as well.

They are temporarily mounted to the factory seat flip-fold mounts, after Christmas I'll be working on the roll cage and I'll have the seats mounted on low-profile sliders, and set them down an inch or two lower directly to the cage.

My drive to Louisiana this year for Christmas will be quite comfy :D








 
#717 · (Edited)
It's a heavy mesh strip that's about 1" wide running along at the very base of the seat at the lowest point (about 1 foot wide or so). TwistedStitch calls it a "sand drain", but they said it would work just as well for water. I'll take a photo of it tomorrow morning when it's light.

I wish I would have knew about that feature when I ordered them for my willys, I hadn't even thought about until I already had the seats installed. That's why I asked them if they could do a drain of some sort for my Tj seats, and they told me about the Sand Drains that they use for sand cars. I may take the seats to a local upholsterer to see if they can do something similar to the seats I have. Since I have both seats, with and without, they should have a pretty good idea of how to replicate it :) Rather than driving 3 hours to SLO to have twisted stitch do the modification.
 
#721 · (Edited)
I'm still waiting on that transmission adapter from Herm :(

It didn't fit, so I sent it back to him along with some measurements quite a while ago. I contact him every few weeks, but I guess he's just busy. He told me that the adapter fits on the transmissions he has there, which is strange because my transmission came from him along with the adapter. So I'm not quite sure what happened. I'm thinking about asking him to just send it back as is, and I'll take it and the transmission to a machine shop and have them mill it to fit.

I've been busy at work as well, otherwise I would start working on the steering. We've got a big delivery in mid December, after that hopefully I have some time to get started on the jeep again.

Thanks for remembering me
:D
 
#722 ·
Herm got back to me, looks like he's found the problem! He said he went and started trying the adapter on more transmissions that he has there, and he found one that had the same issue as mine. Apparently a few of the transmissions have a different thickness snap ring on the front face. So, he's got the adapter on the way to me again, along with the correct snap ring.

Hopefully that does the trick :)
 
#726 · (Edited)
Ok, finally got a little time to poke around in the garage.

I've got a heavy duty snap ring like this one that I need to put on the input shaft of the transmission. I have plenty of access to the ring, that's not the problem. The problem is that the snap ring is VERY stiff, and the lighter duty snap ring pliers I have aren't up to the task, nor are there holes to insert the fittings of the pliers on this ring.

What type of snap ring pliers do you use to open one of these types of rings? I can't get either of mine to really even get ahold of the ends, since there isn't a hole on the ends.

It's about an inch and a half diameter, and probably 1/8" or more thick, it's not a light-weight snap ring.


 
#729 · (Edited)
Alright, time for a little garage tinkering.

I got the snap ring on, and the adapter fits over it!

The adapter was threaded for 1/2" bolts, but the holes in the transmission aren't quite large enough for 1/2"..... so I used 7/16" bolts and lightly filed out the threads so that the 7/16" bolt would go through the holes in the adapter, and I'll just put lock nuts on them. One of the holes wasn't quite lined up, , so I had to actually drill that one out..... this isn't exactly what I would call a "ready to bolt on" adapter. I'm not to happy about that, since the adapter and the transmission came from the same person. BUT, oh well, it seems to be working so far.

Does anyone else have a T98/T18 transmission? What are the bolt hole sizes on the front of the transmission? I'm wondering if mine is just an odd ball, or if the adapter was just wrong.


 
#730 · (Edited)
Geeze man, I understand that with aftermarket parts comes modification and bolt on parts almost never are but an adapter. aren't those supposed to made with some form of precision? It is transmission/clutch alignment after all. Especially a piece that was already sent back for problems. I would have bolted it up fully to make sure its good.

I've never delt with Herm but I have heard nothing but good things about him and his stuff, I hope this is a honest mistake.
 
#731 ·
ok, both adapters are on! I'm draining the rest of the oil from the transfer case now, before I put it on. I thought I got it all when I removed it, but there's still a ton in there, it's like molasses :laughing:





 
#732 ·
Adapters are always fun. They seem to be made for the the most common system. Unfortunately, on old jeeps there seems to rarely be two the same!

Are you keeping track of seals and gaskets with your adapters? Having oil leaks after you assemble everything sucks. I would try and visualize how the oiling system works and make sure to plug stray holes or make sure they are isolated.
 
#733 · (Edited)
There are no gaskets on the front adapter (should there be?) There is a gasket for each side of the rear adapter.

I'm not quite sure how the oil gets from the transmission to the transfer case, I don't see a hole that looks obvious. Does it just flow through the same large opening that the output shaft goes through? Or with this transmission, do the transmission and transfer case have separate oil, not shared?


I'd like to have this thing as leak free as possible. Should I put a thin layer of RTV or something on both sides of the gaskets?
 
#734 ·
There are no gaskets on the front adapter (should there be?) There is a gasket for each side of the rear adapter.

I'm not quite sure how the oil gets from the transmission to the transfer case, I don't see a hole that looks obvious. Does it just flow through the same large opening that the output shaft goes through? Or with this transmission, do the transmission and transfer case have separate oil, not shared?
I don't know...should there be?:homer: Is there anything...o-ring or seals? Should you use some goop? I would go and look at Jalbrecht42 install of the factory T98a package. That should be about as close as you can get to your system. He always does good picture and documentation.

Typically I think the 4spd/D18 combo is suppose to be separated for fluids.

Your transmission to tcase adapter should be similar to this....

50-8704 : Jeep T98 to Dana 18/20 Adapter Kit (small index cases) | Advance Adapters
 
#735 · (Edited)
Your setup from Herm is similar to, but a little different from the stock arrangement (which is what I have). I can't recall what size bolts my setup had but they were something around 3/4", but I'm not exactly sure of the size.

The biggest difference I see is that on the factory setup the input shaft retainer bolts on directly to the transmission and it has a thick base. The bell housing adapter slides over the input shaft retainer and is just a spacer and bolt pattern adapter, nothing more. On yours it appears that it is using a shorter (probably stock T90?) input shaft retainer mounted on the front face of the adapter plate.

Based on what I know, you would probably want to apply sealant between the front adapter plate and the transmission, and most likely between the front of the adapter and the input shaft retainer thing that bolts in front of it. If the bolt holes in the adapter for the input shaft retainer go through, I'd seal those too.

My factory setup did not have an input shaft seal, but in retrospect, I should have gotten my input shaft retainer bored out and installed one. On later models (T18's for example) it is just a lip seal that presses into the inside of the input cover (possibly in your case, on bore of the adapter plate that you have).

(Speaking of that input shaft retainer, it looks like you've got the fork pivot ball stud in the wrong hole, I believe it goes on the driver side.)

On the t-case side, the factory T98 setup is sealed - the trans and t-case don't share fluid. On my flatty, I used a very old GPW t-case and it had oil flow holes and passages that overlapped one of the counterbores on the back side of the adapter. I plugged the oil flow holes and made a custom gasket to make sure there were no leak paths. (The factory late model D18 did not have these oil flow holes in it). Here's some details of that:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/jeep-willys/690670-1947-willys-cj-2a-retro-wheeler-build-17.html#post24672690

I'm still searching for the 'best' sealants to use, but the best general use, readily available ones that I know of are:

High Tack (if you have a gasket). It also is pretty good on bolt threads
Gasket Sealants : Permatex® High Tack™ Gasket Sealant

Gear Oil RTV (if you don't have a gasket).
Gasket Makers : Permatex® Gear Oil RTV Gasket Maker
 
#736 · (Edited)
Thanks for the post!

Yes, you are correct, the retainer is bolted onto the face of the front adapter. However, the bolt holes do NOT go all the way through.

I don't have a gasket for either side of the front adapter, I think I'll play it 'safe' and remove the adapter, put some RTV on it, and re-install.

There is indeed a seal on the inside of the input shaft retainer, it seems to be a pretty snug fit. But I imagine once the shaft has been spinning for a few miles, the fit will probably ware down to a looser fit. ?

As for the stud on the retainer, I do have another stud. How do they install? Do you just tap them in and they fit with friction?

I'll pick up some of that High Tack sealer, and put it on both sides of the rear gaskets, thanks for the link :)


Herm confirmed what you said, that they don't share oil (at least, the T98 doesn't!). That's good to know. I'll look on my transfer case and see if it has those two oil holes as well. If they do, I'll plug them up. I guess freeze plugs would work just as well? I've got some JB weld as well, if all else fails I can fill any gaps with that.
 
#737 ·
The ball stud just slips in the hole (no threads) mine was not a press fit (it would fall out if you tipped the trans on it's nose), but probably it is supposed to be a tighter fit. I think you'll want to pull out the one on the passenger side because that's where the return spring goes.

Like this:




I would also try to get the gear oil rtv I linked above. A friend just told me about this stuff and it sounds like it's worth a shot. I've only had "ok" luck with ultra black rtv, which I think is one of the better ones for oil applications.

I imagine the seal could be a snug fit. I'll say on my trans it was so hard to spin I almost couldn't do it by hand (where as my T90 would free spin easy as can be) but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference behind my fire breathing L134. :D
 
#738 ·
Hah, yea now that I think about it, I should have caught that the stud was on the wrong side! I didn't put it there, that's how it came. I'll wiggle it out and put it on the other side. Nice catch :)

Yea, I found some of that RTV you linked to on Amazon, and ordered some. Same with the High Tack. Thanks again for the suggestions!
 
#739 · (Edited)
Slow progress :)

Made some 1/2" plugs to plug up some holes. They were threaded, so I cut off some bolts, made a screwdriver slot, and binged the top threads with a chisel to make them "lock" so that they wouldn't possibly vibrate loose and end up inside the transmission. I also put red loctite on them just for good measure.

Then I put that high-tack stuff on both sides of the gasket, and put the adapter back on over the transmission and flush plugs. :) Not sure if the plugs were necessary, but I figure they can't hurt?



 
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