Build ‘68 M715, AKA "Smokey" (Can I post this Jeep on MUD?)

[Rock40]

Spent the rest of the day prepping D60 stuff for assembly.

Broke out all the original shims, measured each and labeled them with their thickness. Same for the new shims

Tallied up the original shims pack thicknesses so I’ll have a good starting point

Pulled the old D60 carrier bearings out and spent quite a bit of time sanding the ID down to make setup bearings. Also sanded the OD down on the inner pinion race

Setup bearings are now ready to go. Will work for the Teraflex CRD 60 I’m assembling for my FJ40 also

 

[Rock40]

Looks beefy

Oh yes. That yoke is ridiculous, I believe it’s solid billet, probably weighs well over 10lbs

 

[Rock40]

Lots of small and somewhat big things today

Threw the 14B yoke back on now that’s it’s coated. Not torqued, hence the tag

I’d previously shaved .25” off the axle flange bolts. Now that the flanges are painted, I installed them and torqued to 115 ft/lbs

Threw a tire on the rear. I’d forgotten how ridiculously low this thing sits

 

[Rock40]

Spent the rest of the day playing with tailgate hinges. SO stinking’ fiddly! Would prefer to never make custom hinges again as the stainless wanted to move out of alignment BAD.

Kept them spread slightly apart with a 3/8” bolt to prevent them from pulling together. Multiple tack welds and lots of slow welding

Finally got all 4 DUN

After messing around with the tailgate, welding upside down, removing the gate, then nearly having it kill me….

It finally opens

Sort of funny because the darn thing was so badly, badly bent that Mark and I had to winch it shut with a come-a-long before towing it down from Alaska

Still needs finished welding on the tailgate side but you get the idea.

 

[Broski]

Really nice work as always !

 

[Rock40]

Thx, it’s actually pretty odd to have the tailgate function. Just need some straps now

 

[Rock40]

Really nice work as always !

Thx! Plenty more work ahead

 

[Rock40]

So Mark bought a brand new Warn 16.5TI for this thing. And like every other part, it’s oversized

Should be interesting getting it to fit

Started templating out the front frame rails because they are certainly going to need to be extended

Ended up with this for starters. Just enough to be able to get the winch in and out without pulling body panels. All the cardboard here will be 1/4” plate. The actual “foot forward” winch mount (which I don’t have and will need to make) is probably going to be 1/2” plate

Bottom plate will have a 16 degree bend at the rear and 10 speed holes to hopefully assist with airflow since both the oil and steering cooler are just under the front bib

 

[clrussell]

The details in this build are amazing

 

[Rock40]

Thx!

 

[Rock40]

Played around with the frame rails and bit more last night and this morning. Made a few changes then went up to the neighbors shop and started shearing some .25” plate

Bending the main lower plate…

13 pieces in all for starters. Now they need some major cleaning and prep prior to welding

Ruger playing King of the Mountain with the shop dogs

 

[Rock40]

Ok….. so fought with the bent and mismatched frame rails most of the day but things are tacked in place. Will probably tweak a few things just a bit but this is a start

To get started, I cut the factory shackle hangers off the outside of the frame. This made me laugh, so obviously crooked but it passed quality inspection in ‘68

All the plates got media blasted and DA’d so no more nasty mill scale

There will be a few more external fish plates but I haven’t burned those out yet

 

[Rock40]

Did layout on the two main winch plates, got the holes drilled and the hawse lead drawn out on the inner plate

It looks long and maybe it is. I suspect it’s similar to the frame horn stick out on a stock FJ40. Just looks odd because the factory horns on the M715 are so darn short. Will I scrape it on rocks? Most definitely

 

[Rock40]

Got the D60 off to blasting and powder coat this morning after tapping the housing for the ARB. Progress

Had a short day after the drive, pulled the SM465 shifter and inspected it. Look at those bushings!

Welded it up solid after blasting. It did not weld well. Too oil soaked and gross, oh well, it’s not coming apart

 

[Rock40]

Played with AN fittings and hose today. This is the heater mix valve. Using adapter fittings from AutoPlumb to take the barb fittings to 10AN

And naturally the mix valve has no mounting provisions. I guess Vintage Air just expects you to let it flop around all over in the engine bay

I tapped the 4 blind holes to 10-24, loctited stainless studs into it and mounted it in the fender with the heater supply hises

Put a 1/2-13 weldsert in the frame for the limit strap and 2 more small ones to secure the 8AN supply line from the Accusump

Line runs up to the electric control valve and then straight into the oil galley in the 8.1

Yeah, all this stuff BARELY fits

Added another weldsert in the passenger side frame for the limit strap and welded tube caps over all the factory frame hole nonsense then wrapped it up for the day

 

[Rock40]

Lots of little stuff. I’ve been blasting all the bare steel D60 components then hitting them with Steel It

Got the fuel tank fully mounted and leveled using UHMW

 

[Rock40]

Finally got around to mounting the windshield wipers.

Required a 1.5” thick piece of UHMW to properly space them out because the drive shaft is so long. Maybe @WesternCruiser can chime in if he remembers what they are actually for

Mounted a Baja Designs light in the rear. Functions for tail, brake, turn and backup

Clears the tailgate nicely when it’s down

And mounted the Redarc brake controller. Will have to mount the actual module when the body is apart and the frame is out

 

[Mike Shull]

Those aluminum welds look amazing! I had to laugh when I red your comment about the windshield wipers. I still haven’t installed mine and I’ve been in a few rain storms. This project is coming together nicely.

 

[Rock40]

Those aluminum welds look amazing! I had to laugh when I red your comment about the windshield wipers. I still haven’t installed mine and I’ve been in a few rain storms. This project is coming together nicely.

Thx, yeah I welded the tank but not with my machine. Used my neighbors Miller up at his fabrication shop and oh my goodness that is a smooth running welder.

Those wipers are funny because they were purchased SO early in this build and they’ve been stored in the barn the whole time

 

[WesternCruiser]

I bought this barely-running truck in 2016 and I think the VERY first thing I bought were these wiper motors. Seemed logical.

Off a forklift?