ih8mud inspired build (1 Viewer)

[70Cruza]

Subscribed. Really enjoyed the read, impressive what sheer will power & a positive outlook is capable of. Im looking forward to seeing this when you are done. Ill have a sixer of various IPA's for you tonight! Happy Halloween to you as well. Cheers

 

[70Cruza]

Also wanted to mention, I have seen some pretty decent paint jobs come out in a heavy mil plastic paint booth. Im sure you could make one with some tarps, plastic, duct tape and a little grease on the elbows. Just figured id mention it if your dealing with dust or other factors. Good luck with the build!

 

[78fj40mg]

Great work once again!

Happy Halloween!

 

[Dagha Boy]

Hey Cult. Maybe not get back... but I think I learned something, just not quite sure what and I was drinking beer at all relevant times so they weren't wasted. I may be cursing you yet for getting me into this mechanical stuff. In fact I already am.

Thanks for the offer on the hangers but I intend to get them made on Tuesday and fitted Wednesday. (We'll have to see if Africa allows such haste.) I need to move on this sucker.

Started the

Subscribed. Really enjoyed the read, impressive what sheer will power & a positive outlook is capable of. Im looking forward to seeing this when you are done. Ill have a sixer of various IPA's for you tonight! Happy Halloween to you as well. Cheers

Thanks Cruza. Of the sixer can I suggest 2? Stone Brewing's Ruination Double IPA and to finish the evening New Belgium's Hop Stout. The best of both worlds.IMHO. You are sooooo lucky to live amongst all those breweries.

I've been thinking along the lines of a plastic enclosure and running sprinklers before to try to settle the dust a bit. No rain forecast for the rest of the month. Apparently the worst drought in 70 years...

Thanks, Mike.

The rear axle is in pieces. Some very ugly depressing pieces I'm afraid to say. This one has lived a really hard life and shows it.

Just too bloody hot tonight to do anything including write up and photos. Think I'll just have a few beers myself. Factory beer unfortunately.

 

[Dagha Boy]

06:00 and a balmy 30C on the stoop. It's going to be a few degrees more in the workshop. Forecast is for 39C. My old bones will not cope with axle work in that. Today will have to be admin. Chasing people to do what should have been done long ago. DUNLOP SA first on the list. E-mailed them weeks ago trying to arrange export deal on 30-50 tyres. NO RESPONSE. Couple of lawyers... nuff said. The 3 suppliers I sent a detailed parts list to asking for a quote - weeks ago...

Posting the rear axle pics and writing it up.

Reassemble speedo and gauge cluster. Because I am concerned about future rust/dust in there, Rudi recommended I reassemble in air conditioned place with dry air. Problem is, the only two such places close by are the pub and the beer cooler in the bottle store... that is not going to work for me as my fondness of beer will not allow work in such circumstances. Humidity today is only 27% so that will have to do for dry air.

The axle came apart easily. I followed the steps in the Haynes manual I have.

THE PIECES.

As reported earlier, the right rear had no brake components other than a lonely rusted and empty wheel cylinder carcass. This despite the vehicle having a fresh roadworthy certificate at the time of buying.

The brake drums measured 299mm diam. May not exceed 297mm, so those can go for recycle. The two brake shoes from the left seem to be new - lots of material left and the re liner's paper sticker still on one. Place one side as possibly re-useable.

Return springs and retaining clips/springs rusted to hell - toss.

Wheel cylinders set aside for later inspection.

Drain axle oil by removing filler plug and turning axle on its back... Why not just remove the drain plug? Dunno. That's the way I did it. It's the wrong way. (See next para.) About a litre of beige smelly oil and a bit of water drains out.

Remove cover. Remaining half litre of oil gushes out all over my foot and the floor... No pieces of metal, swarf, or components fall out. This is good news, no?

Follow Haynes instructions, remove pinion shaft. The spacer, pinion gears and other goodies I was preparing to disassemble carefully according to the instructions miraculously self-disassembled and landed in the muck on the floor. Haynes says: "Installation is the reverse of the removal procedure..." Can't wait to see how those bits re assemble themselves!

The rhd axle lock ring fell off into the bottom of the housing while I was turning the shaft looking for it. Nice one. I was expecting a fight with those.

Pulled the rhd axle out. Hmmm. To my untrained eye this looked a bit dicey. Set aside for cleaning and inspection.

Pulled lhd shaft. As it came out there was some more spontaneous disassembly which startled me somewhat. Turned out to be a couple of rollers from the wheel bearing making a bid for freedom. Guess that's one bearing that will have to be replaced. Shaft looks about the same as the other.

AXLE END.

Started clean up with copious amounts of petrol old paint brushes and rags. I know this is against all safety legislation elsewhere in the world, against good sense, dangerous and all those things. But that's the way we do it in Africa. In my defence I used un-leaded.

Pack the cleaned parts out on the grimy floor. (I learned this skill as a child when I had to display my toys next to the Xmas tree to show Santa I had looked after them properly during the past year... Just thinking about it, that was OK with Dinkies, Corgi, Matchbox, and Meccano toys, but what do the little buggers do these days with Chinese made that break out the packaging? How do you explain that to Santa? Has he become more lenient to allow for poor workmanship and materials?)

But I digress. It's the heat does it to me.

Check right shaft. Another spontaneous disassembly. A rusty plate like thing detaches itself. This appears to have been held in place by the wheel studs, which it appears did not hold it tight resulting in the holes wearing out. I think this is what Haynes refers to as a "brake drum oil deflector. Judging by the amount of oil it appears to have had to deflect it was a very hard working part in its day.

The bearing and seal surfaces are rough... grooves worn in by the seal. I don't know enough to judge whether or not this can be easily fixed or just ignored and a new seal and bearing fitted. (Informed opinion please.) How bad is this.

RHD REAR SHAFT. BEARING AND SEAL SURFACE.

The splines on both ends look OK to the untrained...
SPLINES.

THE TWO BEARING ENDS.

As can be seen from the above, the other shaft's oil deflector (if that's what it is) is still firmly rusted in place. According to Haynes, if I read their drawing right there's a gasket in there somewhere as well. Why?

My enthusiasm and happiness was by now somewhat tempered by the reality of what was being revealed.

All new brake components required.
New bearings and seals.
Two new "oil deflectors" and gaskets.
All new wheel studs
All new lug nuts.
Maybe two new shafts.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

At that point the morning was gone and I decided to regroup around a beer and a nap. Temp had hit 40C.

One thing still puzzles me. Haynes: "To remove the inner race, grind a groove, then use a hammer and chisel to remove it from the axle shaft." Mine ain't got that. Where'd they go to?

 

[cult45]

Yeah that's not great. The silver lining is that someone is going to get a really solid truck after you've fixed it all for them

 

[Dagha Boy]

A short afternoon session followed.

The shafts, and fitting new bearings and seals had now become a bit of an obsession...

Assuming that the shafts can be salvaged, I needed to take a closer look at the axle tube ends where these fellows reside and see what that looked like.

Back to Haynes: "Using and internal puller, draw out the bearing and oil seal. (if only the oild seal is to be replaced (I wish) this can be prised out with a small screwdriver.)"

Ja. "Small screw driver." It took a BIG one and a hammer. (Maybe because of all the rust outboard of the seal...)

SOME FAIRLY SERIOUS RUST UNDER THAT OIL.

Got the seal out and hit it with more petrol and brush work. Extensive rust revealed. I was so shocked that I forgot to take a photo.

I gingerly put the little blue hand-held sandblaster to work on the tube end.

Hooo Boy! This does not look good to me. Only a very light blasting and there is very little meat left on that thing.

LIGHTLY BLASTED.

FROM THE TOPPISH

Any kind of pressure on that is just going to crumple it in upon itself. It seems the rust has created a raised "lip" over which the seal and bearing will have to go. That's not going to work, but I'm afraid if that rust barrier is removed there will be nothing left. NOT GOOD.

Now the burning question is, is this axle tube re-useable?

I didn't do the other side. I slunk away to the beer.

This seems to be headed to disaster. This is like reading Cult45's thread...What can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong....

I have a quote for an exchange unit for R 9000 plus the core. I have no SA prices on the spares, but just looking at the CCOT prices as a guide (such a nice website to use) the cost of parts alone is about R 9000.

 

[Dagha Boy]

Question now is, do I swallow my pride, stick this core back together and get an exchange unit or what?

In addition, I have no way of judging the condition of the 3rd member (?) (is that the right word.)

LOOKS OK TO ME. SOME WATER DAMAGE/RUST. HOW SERIOUS IS THAT?

PINION GEAR

RING GEAR.

AND AGAIN

PINION SHAFT

Some observations are:

When everything was still assembled and you turned it by the drive shaft end, it did not move freely, it sort of "binds/sticks" and then turns freely. If you stop, it does it again before getting going.

When I stick my finger into the cage and try to spin the bearing with my finger I cannot budge it. (does this perhaps explain above stickiness?)

There is a HUGE amount of play between the pinion shaft and the spacer. (About .75mm)

I simply don't know how to evaluate this thing. Is it OK or must it be refurbed, bearings and parts replaced???

And this is the simple rear axle. What awaits in the front?

I'm starting to think exchange units...

 

[Dagha Boy]

Yeah that's not great. The silver lining is that someone is going to get a really solid truck after you've fixed it all for them

Ja. Or an even better outcome I win the Lotto or sue somebody and buy it from myself. One thing is sure, before I sell it I'm going to take a shower and shave - generally make myself pretty - and take it on a 6 day shake down trip to Cape Town stopping at every decent farmer's pub on the way to drink beer and brag.

Of course I can do it the African way... Sell it and then steal the bugger back!! That'll teach him.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

those axles are in rough shape... yikes. I had to convert the price.... $650 for rebuilt everything exchange? for sure the pictures that company puts up about what they save would be epic.

more directly, you need new axles too or at minimum turn down the race/seal surface and put sleeves over those. That surface is hardened - once it wears through.... unhappiness ensues.

 

[peteinjp]

Speedi-sleeve will save the axles. But that housing.... Yikes.

I'd pull the front apart and plan on swapping the 3rds with the best stuff in the rear.

There are factory service manuals here that will give you a bit of info as to what it takes to get the gears and new bearings back in right:

For Sale: - 40, 50, 60, and 80 series FSM for a hell of a price.

Pete

 

[cult45]

I hate to say it but until you've blasted/cleaned up that whole axle assy. you're not gonna know what you're in for. At this stage I'm guessing a pair of new housings. Sorry dude.

 

[Dagha Boy]

Put my old spring packs, the doors, seats, door cards etc in the Jeep and headed down to Nelspruit at sparrows. Dropped the doors at the sandblasters at 08:00 and got a promise they would be done by 14:00. (Arrived back there at 15:30 and they had not been touched yet. Eventually got them at 16:30) Very, very nice. I cannot believe how good they are.

Then went to my friend Kobus and his daughter who run CK Restorations with my upholstery stuff. These two have to be seen to be believed. Both were on the workshop floor working on assembling the '27 Buick. Kobus dressed as if they were going to an office job. Tanya also immaculately dressed and made up as if she was a model going to a photo shoot. Everything around them spotlessly clean. Amazing. That also all carries over into the final product they deliver. Impressive.

Any way, we discussed the upholstery ideas and Tanya came up with some really nice suggestions and sketches right there and then. I have left it all in her capable hands.

Other good news from there is that Kobus knows of a nice 45 that hit a tree last weekend when staff from one of the lodges took it for a joy ride. He needs some stuff off it for the FJ45 (converted to a sort of FJ40) that he wants to do for himself. Fortunately he does not want the axles... He is going to have a look at it some time this week so I may get lucky. Axle worries onto back burner.

Paint suppliers next. Had an interesting conversation about paints in general and specifically about the bed liner I'm using. Turns out this stuff is mostly used for lining coal bins and the backs of coal trucks. A 5-6mm layer brushed on by hand. (Black only) The manufacturer then thinned it down for spray applications when the automotive trade started using it. (Grey colour added.) Then went even further and started packing it in the little 1 litre plastic bottles I'm using and thinned it even more for easier spraying. In that packaging it now comes in a variety of colours. A 1 litre pack costs about $8 (USD) Interestingly the industrial version in 25l packaging, black only and under a different name, only costs about $50. I'll be using that on the load bed, just thin it down a bit so my equipment can handle it.

Finally got the colour coat and will now spray the interior of the tub, the underside and the firewall so that I can start re assembling that. I'm going to leave the outside for later decision on where to spray that. I may take it all down to Kobus's spray booth and do it there.

Took the springs to a company Kobus recommended to get new packs made. Here luck was on my side. They had 4 refurbed spring packs lying out back that somebody had not collected and I picked those up for about $55 a piece. They're cleaning them up and repainting for me and will deliver them later in the week!

Then went to see Steve, the new and 2nd hand parts guy.

He buys in and parts out 3 or 4 45s every month and has a good selection of new parts as well. I've been waiting for more than a week for him to quote on a long list. None of his inventory is on computer, so it has to be physically checked to see if he has it in stock... I spent a good few hours happily digging around looking for stuff and stripping bits off where needed. Left a nice big pile of parts there for him to now quote on. I have brought home the hacked up transmission cover he gave me on a previous visit. The Chinaman and I will be able to make a perfect one out of this one and my old one. Yeah!!!

Today unfortunately there will be little if any work done as I have to go off in the opposite direction to Hoedspruit for supplies and to pick up my WJ Jeep parts that have come in DHL from Morris 4x4. All new control arm bushes. No more wandering and twitching. These roads eat them for breakfast.

those axles are in rough shape... yikes. I had to convert the price.... $650 for rebuilt everything exchange? for sure the pictures that company puts up about what they save would be epic.

more directly, you need new axles too or at minimum turn down the race/seal surface and put sleeves over those. That surface is hardened - once it wears through.... unhappiness ensues.

Speedi-sleeve will save the axles. But that housing.... Yikes.

I'd pull the front apart and plan on swapping the 3rds with the best stuff in the rear.

There are factory service manuals here that will give you a bit of info as to what it takes to get the gears and new bearings back in right:

For Sale: - 40, 50, 60, and 80 series FSM for a hell of a price.

Pete

Thanks guys, hopefully this can be avoided.

I hate to say it but until you've blasted/cleaned up that whole axle assy. you're not gonna know what you're in for. At this stage I'm guessing a pair of new housings. Sorry dude.

It doesn't show well on the photos but it is really a case of new everything. No doubt. You're the one man who knows the feeling... Just hoping the wreck brings something nice.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

my dad had a friend that had a mechanic shop, his floor was, literally, so clean you could eat off it. As you might imagine, he was the mechanic to go to. Here's one of his cars from back in the day.

how it looked in the 60s



he got screwed over by a "friend" and lost all his tools; but his cars live on as treasured possessions of the people who have them now. He also had a 56 BelAir wagon, and a 69 or 70 Chevy pickup. Those both looked like they had just come off the show room floor in the 80s.

 

[peteinjp]

Well it sounds like you have some options for spring hangers off of one of those other trucks too then if need be.

Pete

 

[70Cruza]

Looks all bushish there from the pics of the surroundings, & dang wildlife roaming around............ but even way out there Toyota parts are available. Gotta love that! Continued good luck with your build!

P.s. Halloween, I ended up going with Lagunitas IPA, a Kona brewing castaway IPA, then went for the death blow with the Stone. That & a couple 10 shots of fireball.......Dang I was wounded the next day!

That Castaway was real good & crisp fyi.

 

[70Cruza]

This

 

[Weber Sarge]

If you happen to think of it - ask your buddy Steve the parts guy if he has any sets of engine crank handle clips that are used to store the handle on top of the wheel well on the driver's side . I'm trying to fab those for reproduction and need another set to prototype from - probably have to send one into a lab and have the alloy tested , all the types I've tried are too brittle for the tight radius bend ...
Sarge

 

[Zimbwanabe]

Love this build. Lekker!

 

[handcannon]

I didn't work for Freightliner, the MWFD did. Started in the parts division way back in the 70s and ended up in marketing at the end.

My first attempt at removal was to grind off the rivet heads and try to beat them out with a hammer and punch. No luck... So I just left it waiting for an opportunity to take them elsewhere and get somebody to do the deed for me.

This morning, fresh from my victory over the dreaded hump I decided to have another bash at them.

On the basis that if I could reduce the area the rivets had a grip on they may come out easier, I drilled the rivets, first 4mm, then 8mm and finally 12mm down through the shackle hanger, but stopping before the frame as I was terrified of somehow messing the anchor points up.

DRILLED AND READY TO GO. SPECIAL TOOL FOR REMOVAL 10MM ROUND BAR AND 4LB HAMMER.
View attachment 1155495

A couple of hard hits on each rivet popped them right out.

STILL LIFE : DEAD SHACKLE HANGER AND RIVETS.

Small world it is. My uncle (Mom's brother) worked for Freightliner for quite a few years. I think he was in the parts department. I'm not real sure because we never saw them very often, living only 75 miles away even.

I'm really enjoying your thread about the build. Keep the posts coming. You did the rivet removal almost the same way as I did. The big difference is that I used an air hammer with a punch tip. I placed the tip in the hole drilled into the rivet, one quick burst of air into the hammer, and seconds later the rivet was out. Drilling out the center of the rivet indeed does allow it to collapse inwards, and makes removal very easy.

I really enjoy seeing the pics of your "extended" family. We don't get that kind of perks around my place very often, even though we are out in the "country". Farm land and "gentleman" farms surround me. Usually it's the local grey squirrels (where's my shotgun, since they decimate our walnut tree droppings), birds (hawks and osprey are the highlights), and the occasional blacktail deer.

Don