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Nice tow bar set-up, were it mine I'm thinkin I'd leave it on..

At the car show with half a Jeep. It's still gutted!

Really enjoying reading your posts.

It's, refreshing to find others engaged in automotive
archaeology like I am.

And archaeology in any form is nothing like Indiana Jones!

Way more work, dirt, rust, sweat, tears, and money!

Speaking of archeology, I got into some of the old paperwork for this truck and found a receipt for the radiator which had been redone several years ago. That's why it looks so good! Hopefully its going to be one of the few things I won't have to fuss with.



Ok, my apologies. I've been jumping back and forth between two forums with this and I find I have neglected to post about several things that I believe may be of interest to you, so here goes...

It was finally time to pluck that power pack out! Now I have an A-frame and a chain hoist but it is of a scale that makes it suitable for pulling turrets on tanks (which it has done) but moving it is a terrible task. So I took advantage of Harbor Freight's Labor Day sale and bought an engine hoist for 25% off. It went together well but lacked a handlebar so I installed my own.

I'm really not a fan of pulling engines on vehicles that are up on jack stands but for this truck I was willing to make an exception. The engine bay has a generous amount of space and we have a good area to work in with a new hoist. Not much to go wrong.





It's kind of an el-cheepo hoist but still, money well spent.





My son had one of his buddies over and I suggested we get after it since by then, I had pulled the grille and radiator and detached most of the peripherals, including the front bumper.





Here, the boys get busy.







My son's buddy was really involved. This is something he doesn't get to do very much of.



Nearly there!



Ooh! Shiny!



This is a first for both these young men and they did it like professionals.





This is his "Nothin' to it!" face.





There's nothing like pulling an engine to boost one's confidence. Here we see the engine on another piece of Harbor Freight swag. A brand new engine stand, also purchased on sale. Everything has to be kept mobile around here because my driveway is extremely cluttered.



And afterwards, a celebratory meal.



From the first time I saw this Jeep, I had a nagging feeling that I had seen it somewhere before. As it turns out, a smaller version of it had been sitting on my shelf for years before this truck came along. Serendipity?





Obviously, I had to get that back axle back together before taking it to the car show. So we pressed some new bearings on those axle shafts and buttoned that up and then put our refurbished goodies back on. I left the brake components off because at this point, there's still much to do before worrying about the expense of wheel cylinders and such.







Even the drums got a quick once-over. Blasted the hubs and recoated their hubs. Over the years, I've heard a lot of arguments for and against coating drums. The most intelligent argument is that painted drums will not give up the heat, generated by friction, as efficiently as if they were left in bare metal. That does make some sense to me but these aren't actually performance automobiles. However, I choose to paint only the hubs of the drums.



So, with the rear axle back together, I ran the rear wheels down to my favorite local tire place and had the street tires that came with the project installed. Money well spent. What had been on there could be reinflated but would be flat again in three minutes as they were totally shot. So we officially have a roller now and what a difference. Even with the old tires inflated, what used to take three strong, determined men to move, can now be moved quite easily by one man.

Before...



After...



Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
TJ

Ok, now that all the hullabaloo of the car show is behind us, it's time to roll up the ol' sleeves once again!

Start the day with tidying up the workplace with a leaf blower. It's that season again!





Today, we are getting into the front hubs.





Check out the crazy routing of that brake line and hose! Stuff like that makes me nuts.





After chocking the rear wheels, we loosen the front lug nuts and bump them back down to just snug, one at a time, just to make sure they're free. Then jack up the front and put the whole shebang on jack stands. Then remove the front wheels and the brake drums. Don't ask me what those flat washer-looking things are at the base of the lugs, because I don't know!





This is how I started. Keep in mind, I am working without a tech manual and without time spent watching tutorials on Youtube (which is a very good resource, by the way). I'm just getting in there with what knowledge I have gained from working on other vehicles of similar vintage. This hub cup was a double-compound-24-karat-gold-plated booger to remove. Pressure with the screw driver and a gentle tapping, around and around, over and over and I finally got it off. Now, there are several schools of thought when it comes to these old trucks. If you're having as much trouble as I was, it was either installed wrong, or you're doing it wrong, or the part is wrong, or damaged in some way. The M-series of vehicles were designed with ease of repair high on the list of things the military required.

Furthermore, if you have two sides to do, don't attempt to jump back and forth between sides, making the same mistakes over and over. Learn from one side and the other side will be easier!

Driver's side - the hard way!





Passenger side - the easy way!



So after removing the first cup and flange the hard way, I realized that I need not have gone to all the trouble of taking the cup off first. So on the other side, I took the flange off with the cup still on, laid it face down on a lunette eye, got a dowel rod and tapped the cup off which took about three seconds. SO much easier!





Let's look over a few pieces and discuss the process of examining them for problems and maybe even how best to clean them up a little bit. Here are the flanges. I degreased these and put them on the wire wheel. I much prefer sandblasting but to tell you the truth, a good effort at the wire wheel also produces excellent results.

Before..


After..



Mmmmm! Shiny!



Flanges always seem to get a lot of abuse. I've always imagined this one dude, whom I've named Army Guy Steve. All Army Guy Steve does, all day, every day, is run around with a five pound maul and hammer on flanges. Here is the result of Army Guy Steve and his big F-ing hammer. Not such a big deal, really, until the displaced metal interferes with a flange's ability to properly mate with a hub. See the shadow cast by the displaced metal? Now I'm going to have to make that surface flat again before reinstalling it. Curse you, Army Guy Steve!





And now, the easy, old school way of removing the inner bearing and seal. After removing the outer bearing, thread the nut back on so that all threads are engaged and give the hub a good, firm tug...or two. It will pull off and leave that inner bearing and seal behind. Slick, huh?





And now, the brake assemblies come off. First, loosen the brake line from the wheel cylinder using.....(we've discussed it before!)...a LINE WRENCH! Once it's loose, you can switch over to a regular open end wrench. Remember, if you don't have at least a few line wrenches, you ain't no kind of mechanic!
Six bolts hold the brake assembly and spindle onto the steering knuckle housing. They are through and through, meaning the threaded hole for these bolts is open to the inside of the knuckle. These bolts are fine threads but there is some small possibility that grease can migrate into the bolt hole, thus it is especially important that these bolts, when reinstalled, have a clean bed of threads to mate with, a good lock washer and perhaps even some thread locker. Almost ALL of the lock washers I've taken off during this phase are flat as pancakes and no good to anyone...but hey, they're 67 years old!





These spindles are ready to come off. In fact, there's nothing holding them on at the moment except a little interference fit.





While you're working, it's easy to just start throwing parts everywhere. Don't. Be persistently organized.

Left is on the left. Right is on the right. Same with the stacks of nuts, washers, bearings and seals.



Whereas, with these brakes, there is no right, or left. I squirted the shoe adjusters with PB Blaster before stopping for lunch. We'll soon have them torn down.



Oh look! Spring has sprung!
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Had to take a day away from the project and get some housework done. It's good to step away from these kinds of things from time to time. You come back with a fresh perspective and the laundry done!

Time to remove the spindle. This is typically a very gentle process. HOWEVER, if you are working on something that has been down in the dirt up to the axles for eons, this may require more effort and a more "proper" method which entails nutting a slide hammer to the threaded end of the spindle and pulling it off that way...that is, if you intend to reuse the spindle. Replacement spindles are presently going for right around $50 so let your wallet and your conscience be your guide.

As I remarked earlier, at this point this one is presently only held on there with a very slight interference fit between the machined surfaces. Either thread a nut on the end of the spindle to protect the threads or wrap a rag around it because when it comes off, it comes off all at once and down she goes. Using a hammer or something softer than the spindle, TAP on one side, fill the cap you've created with something wedge-like, like a large flat screw driver and then tap on the opposite side and out it comes.





Note the gold-tone coloration on the inside of the spindle. That's a guide bushing and probably bronze. Some of the books refer to this as a bearing, by the way.



Cooper sez, "Good job, Daddy-O!"



And, it's back to watching the world go by... A dog's life is a simple one - supervise, supervise, supervise.



Mmmm! Eau d' 90 weight! Smells good!

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Next, tie rod ends. Loosen the castellated (or castle) nut.



Get set up for giving that knuckle a good shock by putting one hammer against it on one side and then whack it on the opposite side.



If it doesn't drop right out, flip the castle nut over, thread it on the full thickness of the nut and rap it squarely with a copper mallet.



And out she comes..



Flip the nut back over, put it back on and throw that old cotter pin back in as a gentle reminder for reassembly.



While I was there, I couldn't help but notice the awesome quality of this ground at the battery tray. Nice, huh? But this is a big trap for those of you who may be new to all of this. When you are working on a vehicle like this; and by that I mean a vehicle that needs at least one of everything , if you are paying attention, you are surely going to notice lots of things like this. Things that desperately need attention. But, in order to remain persistently organized, jumping from one part of the project to another isn't going to cut it. That's buckshot mechanics and it's a no-no. Poor grounds have absolutely nothing to do with what we're presently about, so, the thing to do is make note of it and come back to it and by "make note of it" I don't necessarily mean making an actual note. Notes get lost, even when they're on bloody huge pieces of cardboard. Writing on the vehicle in chalk or with grease pencil isn't permanent either. I like to use neon colored zip ties specifically for this purpose. Slap one on what you want to come back to and go right back to what you're doing.



Brakes are part of this iteration and this zip tie is keeping this junk out of my way until I'm ready to deal with it. I love zip ties and I buy em by the gross! Speaking of gross, I *ahem* believe my rust hole is showing!



With the spindles removed, out come the axles. Remove them carefully and, as a whole, like you'd deliver a baby. These are Bendix style joints. But...pull the axle out by one end and you'll suddenly find about 4 large silver marbles suddenly rolling around at your feet! If this happens don't lose your mind. Just keep everything kind of together and when it comes time to reassemble, mic' them and the ones that are closest in size go in opposite one another. Easy-peasy. It's 1940's technology, not rocket science.



Here, I've wiped one shaft off. Notice how the grease has migrated past the seal and into the "wet side" of the axle? That's a clear indication of a bad seal.



And now we've made two big gaping holes. Lovely.



Next we'll remove the guards for the brake lines. They are bolted to the top of the upper king pin bearing cap. We need to get these out of the way so we can remove the seals at the rear of the steering knuckle.



The guards are the same part, used on both sides. They are held on with only two of the four bolts securing each of the upper king pins.



This one appears to have had a close encounter of some kind..





With those removed, we'll move on to the seals at the back side of the knuckle. Typically, these seals have an upper and a lower hemisphere. Each half is held on with four short bolts.



All kinds of nasty here. This is why we do it, folks.







And here I've found a tiny little nugget of goodness amidst all this awful stuff. VERY cool! I'll make sure that finds its way back on when we put everything back together.



Ok, here is where I had to put the camera down because this is where I got really dirty and greasy. Order of disassembly was as follows - Loosen all the bolts securing each of the king pin bearing caps to the steering knuckles. Do not remove any king pin bearing cap until you have loosened all the bolts unless you want to struggle with them on a bench later on. This just happens to be the perfect time to loosen them because they are usually very tight. If you do remove one of the king pin bearing caps and if you then starting working on loosening other bolts on the opposite end, things get really wonky. It's not a fatal mistake but it's very awkward and people will make fun of you behind your back and call you names. Next, remove the upper king pin bearing cap (straight up) and look for and recover the shims that are sandwiched between the upper cap and the steering knuckle. The shims are for setting the proper preload on the bearings. You can now remove the lower king bearing cap or leave it on if you wish. If you have removed both the upper and lower bearing cap you should be able to pull the knuckles straight off the end of the axle tube. The lower bearing will, most likely, fall out of it's cup. No worries, they're surprisingly tiny and a short fall won't hurt them a bit. Now, if you have elected to leave the lower bearing cap on, simply pull the top of the steering knuckle outward, pivoting it on the lower bearing and then lower it somewhat to get it entirely free. With that you're ready to start wiping up and disposing of lots and lots of really horrible grease.

...and with that done, this is what you'll end up with.

The bearing cups are going bye-bye. Actually, they went bye-bye a long time ago. This damage, even and localized is called false brinelling. Consider that these bearings don't go round and round like the bearings of an axle. True brinelling takes place while the bearing is in motion and thus, leaves a wear pattern at an angle. These bearings probably spend their entire life within only several degrees of their initial installation point which makes it all the more important that they be adequately packed with lubricant and that the preload be set properly. The cause of this damage is simply vibration between the roller bearing and the cup while the bearing is stationary, relative to the cup. Every bearing cup on the front end has this wear and will need to be replaced, along with the bearings.

I think we can rightly assume that keeping this truck between the lines was a dicey proposition. Steering must have been a full-time job!





Here I have laid out my parts in a sensible manner, prior to the laborious process of cleaning.



This seal actually came out intact! The other side...in a million little pieces.



Inner bushing.



Here, I'm having a go with the wire wheel. This did a very fine job inasmuch as I removed most of the dirt and surface rust. But, I'm afraid the whole thing is going to need a bit of a polish with crocus cloth and maybe a wipe down with Ospho to kill the rust deep in the pores of the metal. The new seals will require a relatively smooth surface to work against.







So, sorting this out and making it smooth is going to be a bit laborious and every bit of it done by hand owing to the spherical nature of the surface. Which brings me back to being organized. Jobs like this require time, and time-consuming jobs require that you be comfortable, have what you need readily at hand with maybe some good music, something to sip on or something interesting to watch on a laptop set up nearby. Zen mechanics.







And finally, more stupidity. Where the heck did that zerk go? Was it ever even there?!

This is how I started. Keep in mind, I am working without a tech manual and without time spent watching tutorials on Youtub

No reason to be out there without tech data. it's free right here on www.willysmjeeps.com on our "Downloads" page: Just click on the link at the top of this page: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... =Downloads

Then click on "Manuals" : http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... oad&cid=60

Then click on "· M38 (G740) (9) M38 specific manuals" http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... oad&cid=62
And download what you need.

I know us old farts can pull most of the needed data from the pit at the base of our skulls but I have learned, Often the hard way, over the years that it's best to have the book on the bench while you are working if not in your hand. I have 50 years of wrenching on jeeps, cars and airplanes and I still am a professional airplane mechanic and I still pull the book out and lay it on the bench.

That photo you posted of the brake hose/tube at the knuckles is the common thing done by novices that aren't aware they can buy new "S" tubes to replace those rusty ones and keep the hose anchored where it belongs.

Thanks for taking the time to post your photos and progress.

It really helps the guys that haven't done one of the jobs you are documenting!

Just love your son and his bud knee deep in jeep.
Not much better day spent in my opinion.

One day when he's driving it, he can say,"Yep, me and my Dad
tore it all down and rebuilt it."

Then one day he can show his boy how to tear down and repack the knuckles.

Good job. Got to make you feel good inside.

Wow. Some of you ARE following along! Normally I post on another site dedicated to M151s (am I allowed to mention their name?) and yes, the M38 project is being posted there not as a technical reference but more of a how-to for noobs who are just getting into the hobby, hence the monologue that many of you are probably finding rather dreary by now.

So, I'm facing my first big question and that is how to install the seal on the axle. Appears that the bushing must first come out if I'm correct about that...but how to without making a mess of it?

Cheers,
Tj

I'm following, and CLOSELY. Great stuff! Please keep it coming.

And I wish I had the help that you do. Admirable young men.

Well, Ron. School is back in session so I'm doing much of this by myself. We'll have the boys involved on the weekend.

It may interest some of you to know what's going on in our lives because when the going gets tough....

My wife just tested negative for cancer (finally!) having waded through all the chemo and other magical treatments...and through it all, she is working and wrapping up her education to become a nurse practitioner. Her plate is a full one!

My son had brain surgery about one year ago (and missed a whole year of school last year) and suffers from a number of rather debilitating issues that we are still seeking a fix for.

I have a bad ticker that seems to be getting worse and yet, here we all are, still plugging away; forward...always forward.

Here's the lesson, whether you are wrenching on an old truck or just going through life. No one fails...until they give up.

Nothing but great American inspiration there. It motivates me to no end, and I thank you. This entire site is a treasure of it.

So, what do we call you m3a1? Is that shorthand for.....

Bradley (the Fighting Vehicle)
Stuart (the WW2 light tank)
Half-Track (the WW2 truck)
Scout (the WW2 car)
Grease Gun (the WW2 submachinegun)

I'm ok with calling you "Grease".

Regards, and tanks!

Well, I was a big fan of the Scout Car when I took that on. In fact, I had two of them...but they are gone now. I did manage to get a suitable consolation prize, tho.

Parts ordered. Weather blew in...just a short squall but we had to gather up our layouts and get them into boxes and get this boxes under cover. BUGGER!

I cleaned up some parts and though you ought to have a look at these king pin bearings; this one being the finest example of abuse. I cannot fathom how these got this damaged. I even cleaned up the steering knuckles just to try to figure it out and I've absolutely NO idea how they got this way. It could very well be someone swapped them into this vehicle from another without looking them over first.





Ooh! SHINY! One of these has a dirty little secret and it may need to be replaced.

Thanks for looking!
TJ

The bolts in the king pin caps are different sizes. The two longer ones attach the stone guard. If you switch them, they will make contact with the bearing cage.

You will need to set the bolts along side each other to pick out the slightly longer bolts and get them in the correct place.