CJ3b....That is what the vin tag says.

[vwtipeii]

next week... she is getting painted today and tomorrow

[jonah]

Well, the last run out to Cougar Buttes caused me some trouble. I had added some wheel spacers so I had a little room for additional turning. I adjusted the stops and also finally adjusted my drag link to center my steering wheel. Somehow these changes caused this to happen:



I don't know how it got bent down. The only thing I can figure is that it got under the spring somehow while flexed up and got bent when the axle dropped.

Anyway, got this pitman from Sam's Offroad and adjusted it away from the spring:



It was drilled for GM one ton TRE so I had to make a new draglink, but now I have all 1 ton TRE so that is good. Now I am on to adding a reservoir for my steering pump and I hope to end the squealing I get due to air getting in my power steering lines.

[aw12345]

Just make sure your draglink clears the springs or you might end up breaking the sector shaft

[jonah]

I was kind of surprised it didn't break this time. Previously the pitman arm would stop a little over an inch from the spring and it ran fine that way for a couple years. When I adjusted the steering it came within a half inch of the spring but I didn't think that the spring could come over enough to hit it. I guess I was wrong. I have it now so it is at least an inch away at rest but I am going to flex it and try to see what is happening.

[inVERt'D]

Just link it

[aw12345]

I was kind of surprised it didn't break this time. Previously the pitman arm would stop a little over an inch from the spring and it ran fine that way for a couple years. When I adjusted the steering it came within a half inch of the spring but I didn't think that the spring could come over enough to hit it. I guess I was wrong. I have it now so it is at least an inch away at rest but I am going to flex it and try to see what is happening.

Do you have a cherry picker? Pull the offending front wheel as high up in the air till the rear wheel comes of the ground and the front is on the bumpstop, then turn the steering and see where you are at

[jonah]

Just link it

You can't link a willys, it is just wrong! lol

Do you have a cherry picker? Pull the offending front wheel as high up in the air till the rear wheel comes of the ground and the front is on the bumpstop, then turn the steering and see where you are at

I will have to go borrow my neighbor's cherry picker. But, I think I am safe now that I have the pitman adjusted to the way it was. The new pitman can be indexed (it doesn't have the flat spots in the splines like the factory arm) so I moved it one spline over and made a new shorter draglink. Now at full drivers lock I have a good inch of clearance.

I also was having trouble with air getting in the power steering lines so I added this junkyard reservoir:
It just about doubles my fluid capacity and hopefully it will reduce the amount of air bubbles getting in the pump. Anyway, for $16 it is worth a try.

[curtis]

Joanh the things you fab are very impressive. I have been around racing and fab work for some time and you have a very open mind to making it work.

[RAT]

Joanh the things you fab are very impressive. I have been around racing and fab work for some time and you have a very open mind to making it work.

Agreed. Jonah's build thread is always fun to watch. Opy is looking good boahhh

[dirtman13]

Good choice on that Pitman. That's the one I'm running. I don't ever see that thing breaking. It's pure beef.

[jonah]

Joanh the things you fab are very impressive. I have been around racing and fab work for some time and you have a very open mind to making it work.

Agreed. Jonah's build thread is always fun to watch. Opy is looking good boahhh

Thanks guys! I am not in a position to spend tons of money on my jeep, so I need to find ways to make it work - plus I like figuring stuff out. This solution came from walking around pick a part and I saw these items and it looked like an easy solution. If anyone wants to do something like this the parts are easy to find at the junkyard. Mid 90s astro van (or the GMC version) for the reservoir/hose (get the hose it costs about $1/inch at the FLAPS) and the rubber boot adapter to the saginaw pump is from a mid 90s town and country van. I had to use some copper pipe to connect because of the tight bends but you could just run the hose to the pump with a connector if you could run the hose in a convenient way without kinking. I thought about switching to the astro pump housing which would be a little cleaner install but I see how this works for now.

Good choice on that Pitman. That's the one I'm running. I don't ever see that thing breaking. It's pure beef.

I think the jeep could be hit by bomb and the only thing you would find is that pitman arm. I really need to make sure it doesn't hit again because the box will break before that arm bends.

[vwtipeii]

Looking good Jonah! Soo is Opy! Just need to prioritize and add more LED lights to the cab...

[jonah]

Yeah, who needs good steering when you can light up the mountain! Next week...

[jonah]

So after I rebuilt my Buick 225 V6 it was running good but the rear main leaked from day one. So I finally got around to pulling the motor to change the seal and I found some silver flakes in the oil pan, not good. Must have got a little low on oil at some point. I Pulled it all apart and sure enough the #3 main bearing had started to come apart. In my frustration I went on craigslist and found this kenne bell 252 buick V6, he made all the go fast stuff for the buicks back in the 80s. This one has his intake, and roller rockers. Most likely his cam too but I didn't pull it apart that far.



Fired it up for a short run and it sounds pretty good. Now I am reworking my power steering pump and air compressor placement which I have never been that happy with. Can't wait to run it!

The old motor needs a line bore, new mains, and a crank polish. But I don't know if i am going to bother with it if this one is working good.

[curtis]

That is Sweet Joanh. I had a buddy who had one in his CJ back when. That jeep out ran alot of the smaller V8 jeeps.