Being fed up with the transmission rebuild, or lack there of, I decided to put the 76 transmission and transfer case into the Deuce. Thanks Humpty! Not that it’s a great transmission, but it should allow me to drive it around so I can find more shit to fix.

First thing was to check that the clutch and input shaft would mate. I used to clutch alignment tool and it slid into both just fine. I would have to swap over the bell housing and drive shafts since the input shaft on the 76 is about 1.5 inches longer, moving everything with it. I know the bellhousing will fit, as it is the same engine block on the two engines. Drive shafts will easily fit as they use the same u-joints. There are a ton of holes on the frame, so the crossmember is bound to fit somewhere.

I bolt the transmission and transfer case back together. This all goes smoothly except the one nut decided to play hide and seek. After 10 mins of looking, I just took the one off the 75 t-case. As long as the nut didn’t fall into the case, it’s all good.

Pull off the transmission shifter, and take off one bolt on t-case shifter so it folds down and place it on the transmission jack. And it juuust slides in under the muffler. Nice.

Jack it up and slide it forward. It goes together nice and easy. Slide it forward with a bit of side to side jiggling and it gets close enough to throw the 4 big bolts in. I get my situp exercises in for the month going back and forth, slowly drawing the transmission onto the bellhousing. It was smooth sailing, although not quick, until the last quarter of an inch when it got started taking a bit more effort. Eventually, I pulled it in evenly.

Go up top to put the shifter on and… Shit. So, this trans/t-case combo sits back 1.5 inches from the set I took out; however, it puts the driveline back to the stock location. So, no problem, right? Wrong. Looking in from the top, the small transmission shifter plate isn’t quite big enough to install the shifter through, but that’s fine because there is a bigger floor plate that can be removed for this purpose. Except that on the Deuce, someone glued and welded it on. No bolts. Those asshats.

I try dropping the jack to gain clearance, but there is just not enough room to get the trans shifter in through the top while dropping the forks into the trans. Shit shit shit. OK, fine. Fuck it. I break out the cutting wheel and cut the larger plate straight back on either side and bend the plate vertical. I also have to bend two corners out of the way.

Now, doing this and angling the transmission JUST RIGHT and pulling the reverse switch off, it fits if I hit it with a hammer and pry with a screw driver. Then I have to take it back off as I didn’t put RTV on it yet. Back together, RTV all over my hands, I declare success!

One thing I had to modify was the hydraulic slave cylinder for the clutch. I needed a rod that was 1.5 inches longer. I make one up, install it and test it out.

Oh, what’s that on the ground? My missing transfer case nut. So I put it back with the 75 t-case. At least I don’t have to check inside the t-case.

The clutch feels weird. Like it isn’t fully disengaging. Testing the rear driveshaft, it won’t turn when the transmission is in gear. In neutral, everything spins nice, but the input shaft won’t disengage at the clutch when you select a gear.

The throwout bearing and the clutch look like they have decent contact through the bellhouse window. Huh. I know it is the 75 clutch and pressure plate, but it all seemed similar. Then I remember that I didn’t measure the 75 pressure plate and clutch as I left them installed. Oops. Could that be the problem? I decide it’s dinner time and quit for the night.

That evening I decide I might as well take it back apart and make sure everything is correct. Sigh.

The next morning, I pull off the reverse switch, pop the transmission shifter off (getting good at that struggle) and lay down the t-case shifter. Four more bolts and I pull the drive train back. It’s a bit hard initially, mimicking the struggle to tighten it up. After 1/4″, it slides right out. Hmmm. Clue.

Knowing I’m going to put it back it, I leave it jacked up on the trans jack. Throw the calipers on the pilot tip of the input shaft and then check it against the 75 trans. Oh, that’s not the same. The worst part was that I thought that was the first thing I checked. Guess not.

And that would definitely cause the input shaft not to spin… Hard contact into an undersized bushing.

Luckily, the pilot bearing comes out of the donor engine really easily with a couple of pulls of the sliding hammer. To get to the Deuce’s pilot bearing, it would be best if I removed the pressure plate and clutch. This is an easy decision as I want to check those components as well. So, off them come.

The clutch has a slightly different construction and is 1/4″ different in axlial length. I doubt that is any problem. The pressure plate in about 1/2″ taller at the fingers. Not too different, but maybe just enough.

So, I start again. Install the clutch and pressure plate. Now, because the clutch alignment tool I used was designed for the smaller pilot bushings, I had to wrap the end with electrical tape to get the required diameter. But it worked. Or I’ll know soon enough when I install the trans.

Bolt up the bellhousing, starter and clutch slave cylinder. Line up the transmission and transfer case combo and slide it in. It goes together MUCH easier the last 1/4 inch. Torque up the four big bolts, and before I put the shifter on, I test the transmission again. With the clutch pedal wedged to the floor, I can barely turn the trans. It isn’t the easiest as small as the output flange is. But movement means it’s good, right?

Slide, hammer and pry the shifter cover back on, install the reverse switch and bolt the t-case shifter back together. I bend the floor panels back to shape with a little hammering just to work out some stress. Good enough. The shift boot for the transmission isn’t great. It’s an aftermarket boot placed too far forward. So I unbolt it and dig out the donor shift boot. It lines up to the rear stock location. Score. The front doesn’t line up because they had cut that section out. So I have a 4×4 hole in the floor in front of the shifter that I’ll need to figure out. The t-case shifter is much easier. It just fits.

Grab the 76 front driveshaft and clean up the caps and grease fittings. Then install and grease. Install the crossmember and skid plate. I get 3 of 4 bolts installed. The fourth? I’ll have to drill a new hole for that one. Three quarters of the bolts are good enough to remove the jack and behold the magnificence of an installed drive train.

Except the 76 rear drive shaft has gone walkabout. I spend way too much time looking for it. Double check the rear axle still attached to the Deuce and it’s definitely 1.5 inches too long. Huh. Give up and go in for dinner.

The next day after work, I head into the garage and start digging around my jeep parts. There are a lot of them, but I’ve been attempting to be smart and boxing parts by vehicle. Sure enough, there in the Humpty Dumpty box is the rear driveshaft. How does a driveshaft fit into a box? It’s only 15″ long. Amazing how short that is.

Throw on the rear axle and finish the crossmember install. Just drilling a new hole in the frame. No big deal. Time to fill up the cases with gear oil. Except that with the skid plate on, there is no way to tighten (or later loosen) the drain plug. Rather than drop the skip plate, I figure it would work better if I drilled an access hole in the skid plate for future gear oil changes. So, make a big hole with metal bits everywhere!

Then it is time to pump gear oil into the trans and t-case. And on the floor. And all over myself. I really need to get a better oil pump.

Since it is now late at night, I decide it’s more diplomatic not to start and test drive the Deuce. My neighbor’s dog already alerts everyone when I go outside.

The next time in the garage, I’m busy with another vehicle but the Deuce keeps calling. Eventually, I break down and start him up. I do this with the transfer case in neutral, just in case the clutch won’t release. And guess what? It doesn’t.

WTF? At this point everything except the flywheel and engine is from Humpty. Even though it feels like the pressure plate is being released, the clutch won’t spin. I’m not using the clutch lever from Humpty, but rather the hydraulic cylinder that was on the Deuce, except I substituted a longer rod to make up the extra distance. While laying under the Deuce with the back tires off the ground, I can actuate the lever as far as it will go, and the wheels still won’t turn the clutch.

At this point, I start researching throw out bearings. It seems there are 8 different sizes. While I had assumed that the one taken from Humpty was correct, I had no proof it was. To move Humpty around, you just threw it in neutral and all was happy. Never had a need to push in the clutch. This was from the same “mechanic” who had blown his freshly rebuilt 304 V8 in 5 minutes. No telling what other horrors lurked on that beast.

I had seen several of these horrors already during the teardown. Bailing wire holding the choke cable together. A pice of a street sign as a firewall plate. Electrical wires twisted around a bare connector. Heck, the frame had been cracked, welded and cracked in another place. Not to mention it was bent. So why did I assume his work was legit. Call me an optimist.

Playing around under the Deuce, it is plain to see that the throwout bearing could be longer. Plenty of room on the relaxed side and it felt like it stopped hard just before the pressure plate completely disengaged.

There is a lot of heavy sighing.

Rather than dive into fixing it immediately, I work on getting my wife’s old Z28 for sale. There isn’t much wrong with it except for a bad window motor, a cracked dash and a dead battery. Need to remove the nest by the air intake. Oh, and throw out a bad O2 sensor once I start driving it.

I also start organizing the garage. Can you tell I’m avoiding the Deuce? Now that I just put up two large 4′ x 12′ storage platforms, I have plenty of storage. Right? I fill them with plastic bins filled with Vixen parts, boxes of jeep parts, lots of spares, and tools that I don’t use that often. They are packed and there is still stuff on the floor. Oh well.

Some of the parts I was moving around were the power steering parts off of Humpty and the original bumper and winch from the Deuce. Why not throw those on? At least least it isn’t pulling the transmission again. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it. When I’m damned ready.

The winch wasn’t too hard to install, yet the control box didn’t want to go back on where I had removed it a few years ago. The biggest issue was figuring out that there was one wiring missing from the setup; the big ground wire from the winch to the battery. I measure it out and add it to my shopping list.

The power steering was interesting. Figuring out where the pump bracket mounted to the engine was easy, just needed a tap run into the threaded holes to remove decades of road crud. Also, one of the water pump bolts needed to be replaced with a double ended stud. Luckily, I had one I had taken off Humpty. And I knew exactly where it was. Up on top of the parts pile on the new shelves. Luckily, I had placed the water pump and all parts in one small box. Easy peasy.

As I removed the Deuce’s original water pump bolt, I notice that it is rusted. Looking as if it sat it water for a while. Hmmm. Maybe they didn’t seal around the pump well. I notice that the pump is already seeping a little. I throw the double ended stud in, hoping it will tighten up.

Getting the whole two piece pump bracket installed is fun, especially since there in an air pump installed on the left inside fender. But miracles of miracles, it all fits. If you consider 1/8″ clearance good. After I get it all snugged up, I assess the fitment. The distributor might need to be rotated and wires swapped as the vacuum advance hose looks like it would go under then over the power steering belt. A couple of plug wires graze the pump bracket leaving the distributor. The fuel supply line and return lines, both hoses, need rerouting. The supply is pushed back way too close to the exhaust manifold, and the return line goes right across where the belt will be.

I also notice that the coolant is still seeping from the left side of the water pump. Great. Do I have to remove it all to reseal the pump? I’ll wait until tomorrow to see if it self heals.

Denial: the most effective human mental coping mechanism.

Looking at fuel lines from various internet pictures, it appears that originally there were hard lines between the pump and the carb. Mine is almost exclusively hose. Hmm. If it needs fixing anyway, maybe I can do it correctly. Maybe.

A week later, I get a couple of days to work in the garage. It’s time to quit ignoring the issue and tackle this transmission. Again.

This is becoming old hat. I can probably do it in my sleep. Disconnect the drive shafts and drop the skidplate/crossmember combo. Pull of reverse switch. Bend the floor sheet metal just right and pull the shifter. I even have a cover to prevent dirt and tools from falling into the trans to throw on. Four more bolts and pull the transmission and transfer case back.

After pulling out the throwout bearing and measuring it, it is already longer than the longest one on the possible throwout bearing list I ran across. Humph.

There is one other thing to try; lengthening the pivot point. This is a small tower that screws into bell housing and has a cup at the top for the throwout arm to pivot around. And the nice part about moving this is that it requires only half the distance that I needed to cover with the bearing. I screw it out, find an appropriate fat washer and reinstall.

I reinstall the clutch slave cylinder and try the clutch. The friction point feels like it is halfway down the pedal. Better than on the floor or way up at the top of pedal movement. The arm looks much better positioned inside the bellhousing. And I can even rotate the clutch disk by hand when the clutch is pressed. This is looking good.

Or at least better.

I check the alignment of the clutch disk with the centering tool. Then I push the trans back in and bolt it up. Again, I check the operation. Clutch out, I can’t spin rear drive flange. Clutch in, and I can! Much more promising than last time.

Time to put it all back together. But, as always, there is something to fix first. When I initially installed the shifter cover, I used my trusty old tube of ultra copper as the color goes well with the jeep. Or whatever, it was the first rtv tube I grabbed. Well, it never cured. When I first applied it, it was a bit cool, but after 4 days, it was seemly more liquid than when I applied it. Did some research and it turns out that can happen to unused rtv that sits around for a while.

You know how rtv loves to stick to everything and not come off? Yup. My whole hands were orange (gloved, thankfully) and I went through a ton of paper towels getting all the old crap off. At some point, I just gave up with some areas having a slightly orange hue to them. At least the gasket surfaces were cleaned.

And then reapply new rtv. This time black. Worked great.

I finish up the re-re-reinstall of the trans and all its components. Should I try it out? Looking at the clock makes me think I should wait just to keep the neighbors for rioting. The Deuce is less than quiet, even at idle. Instead, I’ll look at where I left the power steering install.

The pump is installed, but that is all. Oh, and that coolant leak didn’t magically fix itself. Sigh. Oh well, I’ll tackle all that tomorrow.

First thing I do is locate the power steering box from Humpty. It is filthy, so I scrub it down. This is way more effort than it sounds. I pull the manual box off the mount and put try to bolt up the power box. This is when I realize that the steering shafts aren’t the exact same diameter. Of course not. Leaving the box hanging by one bolt, quickly compare lengths of the existing steering rod and the one off Humpty. I discover that they are the same length, giving a thankful shout.

Unbolt the old, throw on the new and finish installing the power box. One added bonus, the power box and shalf are just about a half inch longer to the u-joint. This helps push the joint off the exhaust! I had been looking at ways to pull the steering wheel up, but this works just as good.

Then I go to install the fittings. Of course, they are so close to the bottom of the radiator, that I can’t install them without removing 2 of the 3 pump bolts. Again. Lines attached, I bolt the pump up a third time and torque it up. Final torque on pressure lines, I hope, and I call it good.

Staring at the front of the motor, I just can’t ignore the water pump seeping. So, time to yank that. Fan, off. Alternator, yoink. Alternator bracket, sigh then pull. Power steering pump brackets, swear, then remove. Hoses? Better drain the radiator first. Doesn’t matter, they all still drool coolant anyways. Oh, and they don’t like coming off. The hose for the heater gets destroyed during removal. The upper hose, the thermostat bypass, looks to have been leaking already. The lower hose eventually gives up.

The water pump is held on by 4 large bolts, 1 of which got pulled when I removed the alternator bracket, and 7 small bolts. The first small bolt snaps off as soon as I put any torque on it. Oh, this is going to be a shitshow. I work the other bolts out slowly. Most come out easily, but one of the bottom bolts starts to become difficult and I just wait for it to snap as I slooowly back it out. After 20 minutes, it is free, but I trash it, just in case it stretched. Inspecting the other bolts, they are all grade 5, expect the one that snapped. Go figure. Luckily, extracting the remainder of the bolt was relatively easy. The previous installer must have just over-torqued and stretched the bolt. Much less of a shitshow than I expected.

Off come the big bolts and the water pump basically falls off. Not a lot of grip there. Whatever gasket they used is now rock hard. It is well stuck to the pump, but definitely not the housing. Now I understand why some of the bolt holes are full of coolant.

The pump itself spins freely and smooth, so I spend the 45 mins scrapping and cleaning up the old hard gasket surface. A big flat file points out a few high spots that get knocked down. Brake clean and wipe both surfaces and ready for RTV. I make sure I have the correct hardware and clean up the threads. Tap all of the holes and blow them out. Reinstall the pump and torque it up.

Digging through my old spares box, I find a prebent heater hose, that if I cut it correctly, can replace both old ones. I thought I had a new lower radiator hose, but nope. And the one from Humpty looks rough. Meh, I can reuse the old one. Throw on the hoses.

Reinstall everything that I yanked off, finishing with the fan. Realize that I have no regular coolant. I’ve got the GM dexcool that gels up. And the Asian stuff for the wife’s Honda. Since my system isn’t 100% drained, I don’t want to mix. So, it’s off to the store.

Get home and fill the radiator. Hey, my feet aren’t wet yet. That’s a good sign. I also fill the power steering reservoir and spin it to bleed the bubbles out. At this point, I realize I have no power steering belt. There should have been one off Humpty, but all I can find is an old fan belt. It would have been smart to get that while I was buying the coolant. Would have.

And once again, it’s late at night so I have to wait until shops open and neighbors are awake. Sigh.

The next morning, I just poke my head into the garage to make sure there isn’t a puddle of coolant on the floor. There isn’t. Mainly because I left a drip pan in a very strategic location. It appears there is coolant leaking from the lower radiator hose at the pump, which drips down onto the new power steering pressure hose and drips into the pan once every 10 seconds.

This was fortuitous as when I attempted to tighten the hose clamp, I saw that the screw head was touching the fan belt. Loosen clamp, rotate away from belt and retighten. The dripping stops. Miracles!

I also notice a couple of power steering drops floating amongst the coolant in the drip pan. Huh. Looking up, I see a drop forming on the low pressure return line to the pump. It does not appear to be coming from the fitting, but seeping from the hose weaving itself. I assume the hose behind the protective weave has a small pin hole. Every time I soak it up, it slowly seeps out again. I’ll just keep an eye on it.

Unfortunately, it’s off the work before I can fire it up. This work thing is really digging into my free time!

Eventually, my weekend rolls around. It just happens to be on a Tuesday. The power steering line is still slowly dripping, but not fast enough to watch. No new coolant! Time to open the garage door and see if all this work comes together.

The Deuce fires up with only a couple taps of the gas pedal. He’s raw and loud. Especially with the header exhaust gaskets leaks. Yes, multiple. I’ll fix those later. He need a bit of gas to idle as the cam it slightly more aggressive than stock, but soon it is popping and banging on its own.

Now, I’d left the rear axle jacked up and the transfer case in neutral to I could try out the clutch without having the jeep move around. The gearbox feels cold and stiff, and doesn’t shift easily, but the clutch feels like it works this time. Score!

Time for the real test. Trying to shift the transfer case into gear and I get some grinding. Push the clutch in and it goes into 2 low easily. Interesting. Let’s let the clutch out. The rear tires spin… But the trans is still in neutral. What?

I double check that, yes, I am still in neutral. And I can push the clutch in and the tires stop moving. Trying to select first gear results in lots of grinding. Second gear complains a little bit but goes in and the tires spin faster. Clutch in, they slow to a stop and clutch out in neutral, they spin again, albeit slowly. It’s as if the manual trans is acting like an automatic, with the output shaft being spun by the input shaft. Maybe I put in the wrong gear oil?

Leaving the Deuce running up in jacks, I jump down and check the gear oil I used. It is the correct weight. Whew! I go back and grab one of the slowly spinning tires and it stops easily. OK.

Slowly, I realize that it has probably been a long, long time since this transmission has spun. Who knows how long it sat with the two previous owners. I had let it sit for over a year.

So I just let it spin around at idle in various gears.

And sure enough, as the fluid warmed up and flowed into all the little needle bearings, the shifting became easier, the grinding stopped (mostly), and the rear tires stopped spinning. Once new fluid was through the entire transmission, it was fine.

The worst thought crossed my mind: what if the clutch was working correctly the first time and it was just this fluid issue. Naw. That would be depressing.

So, finally, I drop the jack and the Deuce is on all four tires again. It goes forward. It goes back. It stops and steers! No coolant spraying everywhere. Only the power steering drips. I’ll call it 95% good and give myself an A.

After a bit, I take it out to a close local dirt trail. The power steering is so nice to have, that I don’t pay any attention to turning at slow speeds. Although, as the engine rocks on the motor mounts, the brackets does hit the air compressor with a light little tap, tap, tap.

The transmission is definitely different with the wider gearing and higher low range, but it works. Yet, as expected, first and reverse are a bit crunchy on shifting due to the condition of the gears. It’s fine.

I do see a little coolant sprayed around the left front wheel well, but it’s due to the previous owners electrical taped lid on the overflow bottle.

Although I’m really happy with the way its running and driving, I do need to address the header exhaust leaks. I hope it’s just a simple gasket replacement. But you know what? I’m not doing that today.

And while it was a cool day for a drive in a vehicle with no real top or sides, it is the warmest it will be for over a week. My next “weekend” it actually snows several inches, rather odd for March in this area.

Oh well, I’ll drive it when it warms up. At least it can go places now!

So, I stand over two sets of transmissions and transfer cases, one each from the Deuce and Humpty Dumpty, the donor jeep. From the 10 foot view, they look identical. Both T18 4 speed transmissions mated to a Dana 20 transfer case. Yeah, as if I am that lucky.

Checking the gears, the Deuce has the much more favorable low first gear, 6.32 vs 4.02. It also has the shorter input shaft, which is better for the short jeeps, but it also doesn’t match up with Humpty’s longer shaft. And the transfer case on the Deuce is also a 2.46 to 1 as opposed to Humpty’s 2 to 1. Rotating both by hand, the Deuce definitely has something wrong with the bearings. Lots of grit and lumps. Whereas the donor parts rotate smoothly.

I am considering throwing the whole Humpty Dumpty setup from the bell housing to the driveshafts into the Deuce just to get it rolling. Then I open the cases up.

The Deuce had a couple of bits of teeth at the bottom, but only a couple of spots where is gears are crunched. Humpty’s however, only has metal shavings in the oil…but the first/second gear sleeve is badly worn. Badly is a serious understatement. It appears that someone just didn’t like waiting to come to a complete stop before attempting to shift into reverse. The entire way around the gear is severely mangled. The reverse gear way down in the case does not look any better. That could not have been a good sound. At all.

So, the Deuce has bad bearings and Humpty has bad gears.

Well shit. My thoughts of Frankensteining one good transmission out of two gear sets are over. I decide to just tear into the Deuce’s parts are rebuild what I need. Later, I can rebuild the Humpty parts for a spare trans. It’ll be much easy that way. I think.

The first obstacle was getting the front bearing off. My gear puller is just not quite long enough to be used with the supplied threaded rods. Like 1/2 inch too short. I can use it if I double up the rods, but then it is almost twice as long as intended. And sure enough, it just leans over just as it starts to tighten up.

I still try it like 12 times.

I even leave them tentioned overnight after drowning the bearing in penetrating oil.

That was using the flat clamshell design puller with two puller rods. I look through my 3 jaw pullers, but they are all too short. I tried to extend the pivot arms on the pullers, but i didn’t have enough scrap metal to make the length I needed. And the two piece arms I attempted to make just failed hilariously.

Off to my favorite cheap tool store and they have a set that is long enough. Of course, the jaws are too deep to fit under the snap ring on the bearing. Take them over to the grinder and after three tries, I get them to fit.

I pull tension on the bearing, but it still just sits there flipping me off. I blast it with more penetrating oil. I torch it with heat. Nothing. So, again, I leave it tensioned all night.

The next morning, I again hit it with the torch and then hit it with the hammer. After 20 minutes, I’m about to give up, but then I notice that there is some minor movement to the bearing. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. More heat, more hammering. Oh YES! Definite movement. Crank, hammer, crank hammer. It starts out with sub-millimeter movements, but gains more and more slowly. The last little bit comes out with only cranking the puller.

Three days. There damn days. But I got it off. Sweet. It brings me back from the edge of insanity.

Next up is to remove the reverse lever from the side of the case so you can actually lift the gears out. Knock out the drift pin that hold the pivot in the case and you’re done. Simple, right?

I start knocking the pin through. It gets halfway through and gets stubborn. Slowly starts needing more and more effort to move it. About 3/4 of the way though, it stops. Wtf?

I take a break. I come back the next day and start again. No movement. Frustration. Then the hardened steel punch I’m using snaps off in the hole. Aw, come on!

Maybe I can grab the end of the pin and pull it out. Nope, it just snaps off. Grr. Maybe I can tap the tip of punch out by knocking the pin the opposite way through the hole. This time, just as I’m thinking I’m making progress, the tip of the punch snaps off again.

So now I have two hardened bit of punches stuck in either end of a case with no way to get a purchase on either one. How the hell am I going to get this out?

Drilling it seems to be my only option, but I don’t have the correct bits for the hardened steel of the punch tips. Not to mention the case is much softer, so if the drill bit slips off the punch, it’ll just eat the case.

After another day or two trying to make any progress, I just flip the transmission off and leave the garage.

Fuck it, I’m just going to throw Humpty’s transmission in so I can drive it around. Bad gear and all.

I had begun taking Humpty Dumpty apart shortly after dragging it home. My first concern was to pull the interior and trash the nasty carpet. The seats came out fairly easy. In order to remove a couple bolts, I realized that it would be easier if the exhaust was out of the way, so I pulled it off from the collector back.

There was a lot of debris in this thing. Bottle caps, pens, kids bracelets…I even made $0.32! Under the rear seat, which was in surprisingly good shape, was a paper wasp nest…luckily vacant. I cut up the carpet and sound deadening mat, and threw it out as soon as possible. It was just forcing the rust to grow. The rust was still damp. Shutter!

Next, I started pulling gage off the dash and pulled the heater out. A rather uniquely installed heater. I even pulled the windshield and put it in the garage. While I was pulling gages, I also started pulling off the engine accessories. Most of it should be good…as long as the broken rod hadn’t touched it.

I also pulled the power steering gearbox off the front frame. That should be good on the Deuce.

So when I got around to pulling the transmission and transfer case, easier done together, there wasn’t a lot in the way. The driveshalfts came off easily enough. I then noticed was that the transmission crossmember and skid plate was different between the 1975 Deuce and the 1976 Humpty Dumpty. Four bolts and it fits the ground.

Take off the transmission shifter and loosen the t-case shifter, and then it is just 4 bolts holding the trans to the bell housing. From there it is just a matter of managing disengagement of the front shaft from the clutch, while pulling backwards and controlling the fall.

This is when I notice that the front shaft is much longer on Humpty than the Deuce. Hmmm…well, maybe I can use it with a bell housing swap. A few more bolts and it is off. Oh, and nice looking starter too.

At this point, I’m staring at the engine being held from the firewall with a piece of wood. I realize that there are only 4 bolts holding the engine in place. Well, why not just remove the engine? The hood, front fender and grill come off easily as I had never really put more than the minimum number of bolts on. Drag over the engine hoist. Remove four bolts. And it’s out. I now had three disconnected engines in that garage. Details.

Things I noticed that were different about Humpty Dumpty. The biggest was that the front leaf springs were installed backwards, with the wedge angling the front pinion down instead of up towards the transfer case. Also, a plate around the steering column was cut from a construction sign.

At this point, there isn’t much left to Humpty Dumpty. It still has it’s axles, which I plan to steal for my CB build. There are a few lights left. The dash and all the interior is gutted. In fact, the dash panel is already in the garage. The steering column is still there, only because they welded the lower tube to the firewall as it passes through. And the roll bar is still in place, because they used carriage bolts set into round holes. I have yet to loosen those nuts. I’m thinking of grinding a slot in the top and using a screwdriver to hold and an impact on the nuts. But that’s for a later project.

Humpty is almost easier to move around now, except there is no steering.

Covid 19 had descended on the economy, meaning no one was traveling. Since the wife and I run a store that is dependant on people traveling, work slowed to a trickle. We decided to shut the store down as standing around in a mask a day for 2 or 3 customers just wasn’t worth it. We ended up being closed for 5 weeks.

Now, you’d think that with 5 weeks off work that I would have had plenty of time to work with my Jeeps. As it turned out, not so much. We had quite a few online orders. We spent several days up at our rustic cabin, doing lots of much needed repairs. We spent 3 days in BLM wilderness avoiding humans in general. And just as it heated up to the 90s, we graveled our back yard which had been only fine sand until now. Just 40 yards of gravel. I lost 10 pounds.

I was able to sneak a few projects in on Homer. If you recall, my last trip in Homer ended with both mufflers held up with a ratchet strap as the headers broke at the collectors.

I had a new set of Headman headers lying around, but they waited for me to have time. I had been trying to find a used sand blast cabinet for cheap, but finally just gave up and threw them on. Luckily, the local muffler shop was still open for business.

We explored a few options, but since I wanted to have the exhaust exit out the back, the only muffler they had short enough was a Flowmaster Super 10. It was super short and had very little baffling. Whatever. After they got the parts in, they called the next day for pickup. When I tried to pay, the guy handed me the key back and asked me to listen to it first.

I fire up Homer and it is a nice low gurgle. Much better than just the open headers I had driven their with. I rev the engine and while not quiet, it sounds nice with a low growl. Cool. The guy mentions that they can always put a resonator in but I thought it sounded good the way it was.

Leaving, I pull out and ease on the throttle. It’s a little louder with a load on it, but not bad. Hit 2nd gear and jump on it.

Holy Angry Gorilla! This thing is now officially rowdy. In 2nd gear, off throttle, it sounds angry. I like it, but doubt my wife will. And 3rd gear, full throttle about 60mph there is quite the noticeable BLAT on the passenger side.

Figuring that the nearly open muffler might not be the best long term solution, especially for my hearing, I buy some motorcycle muffler packing: stainless steel wool and fiberglass matting. I also decide it is time to clean off the new headers and properly paint them. I also throw on some old header wrap I had left over from an old project.

My first attempt at muffler packing lasted great… At idle. Above 2,000 rpm, it just all blew out in one wad. The second attempt lasted a few days before escaping out the tailpipe. Attempt number 3 incorporated a wire mess cage inserted into the muffler inlet to prevent everything else from blowing out the back. Now, the exhaust isn’t the loudest part of the ride!

It lasted about 4 rides before opening back up. Whatever. Hearing is overrated.

Meanwhile, I kept looking over at CB and seeing a lot of cool parts. Knowing it would be a while before CB had a working engine, I figured Homer could use the parts.

First were the tires and wheels. A nice matched set of tires with plenty of tread and some good looking matching aluminum wheels with a nice offset sure looked good on Homer. But they didn’t ride for shit. Uneven wear on the outer tread blocks made for a rough ride on smooth pavement. Shit biscuits.

Then I looked over at Humpty and while he had different tires front and rear, they all looked round. And these wheels had even more offset, so they stuck out noticeably. At least they rolled smoothly.

Next, the disassembled front bumper and winch were on the donation list. Besides having to flip the hi-lift jack mount bolt around (who put the threads sticking out?), it bolted and wired up easily.

I had also gotten a nice used soft top out of the deal with 2 frames. I took most of the mounting rails off HD and then the main hoop off CB and installed it on Homer. It didn’t seem to fit perfect as the windshield seemed to lean too far back. The soft doors didn’t fit well, but modifying the latched eventually worked. And the velcro was tired, so I had to use binder clips to encourage it to stay together. Office supplies to the rescue. While not waterproof, it would keep the heat in on cold nights.

And then it got hot and dry. So I took it back off in lieu of a bikini top. At least I’ll be ready for fall!

With the wider tires up front, Homer’s old front wheel bearings were becoming an issue I couldn’t ignore. I think I spent more time cleaning grease off the old hub than anything. With both sides with new inner and outer bearings, I still noticed a bit of slop in the wheel, no matter how I adjusted the bearings. I took the hub off again and noticed that the spindle was moving in relation to the axle. The locking tabs were not properly installed and 4 of the 6 bolts were visibly loose. Only 1 had any torque.

Clean it up, torque up the bolts, properly bend the locking tabs and magically no more movement. Reinstall the hubs and this time they feel good. The other side isn’t as bad, but still not classified as good.

While I am messing with the sloppy steering, I replace all the steering ball joints. Why not? They are all junk. They are greased, but stiff and clunky. Despite all that work, Homer still wanders around the road. I blame the wider tires and wheel offset. The only part left to rebuild is the steering box. I’ll get to that later.

As more and more placed faced lockdowns and Utah stayed open, our shop got more and more busy. So busy that I hardly did any Jeep work the entire some and fall. But with Homer driving better, I at least had a fun commuter vehicle.

My neighbors must love when I come home later after work.

One day in early March, I was trolling around the internet just keeping an eye out of local jeep parts for sale. It is something to do while waiting for customers to show up at work.

I ran across an ad that sounded eerily familiar. It claimed to be a 71 CJ5 along with a 76 CJ5 for parts. As someone who already had a 71 and a 75, these could be a great parts find! There were no pictures, but it hinted that it was partial torn down. I called and scheduled a meet up, but then work needed me that day so I had to cancel.

It turns out that the seller dropped the price after I canceled. I rescheduled a few days later and met up at the storage location.

In typical abandoned project fashion, they were quite disassembled. The 71 had the V6 Odd-fire sitting in the next garage. The engine had run and sounded good when the seller bought it but “struggled to make 35mph”. Yikes. He claimed that it didn’t smoke, but regardless, he also had a 302 that he was planning on dropping in. Interesting.

Oh, and the tub had been removed and was just placed back on the frame, minus the body lift. Oh, and there’s the bucket of bolts that they threw everything in.

The 76 was bought for its T18 transmission and its axles. It had a rebuilt 304 with a hole in the oil pan. Neither had front fenders. The 71 had the radiator and grill off. On the 76, it was attached by only the headlight wires.

The 71 was kept inside but the 76 had been out long enough for the tarp to blow off. The body was loose on the 71, all set for a frame up restoration. The 76 had carpet. Soaked, dirty carpet.

Still there were plenty of good parts. Warn front hubs on the 71. Two matched sets of 4 aluminum mag wheels. All drive train, except reliable engines. A nice soft top with half and full door options. There was even a winch on the front of the 71.

We settled on a reasonable deal and I started trying to figure out the logistics of getting it home. I had a landscaping dump trailer I had inherited from my dad. It was either going to be just long enough or just NOT long enough.

A couple days later I drag dad’s trailer up there. The length was fine. But it’s too narrow. I hadn’t even thought about the width. Luckily, the seller has a trailer, but it just needed picked up. A mere 45 mins the wrong way. I fly down the road, grab the trailer and head back. This trailer is not only small, it lacks any confidence.

It wasn’t any wider and definitely shorter, but it had an open deck. Now, this trailer wasn’t in the best condition but all lights worked except the right blinker. Brakes? Surely you jest.

Since the 71 had a winch, we hooked it to a battery and winched it right up onto the trailer. Sweet. The proverbial 10 pounds of old jeep parts in a 5 pound bag. That’s how the saying goes, right? I had to strap from the transmission crossmember as the axle was too far back to strap properly.

Driving it was interesting as it was a very windy day. As I was approaching the interstate and considering my lack of a living will, I realized that there was no engine but a bunch of parts in the back of the jeep on the trailer. This made it rather tail heavy.

I pulled over and found that there was a rear swing spare tire holder sitting in the back. That thing weighed about as much as the tub. I threw that in the back of the tow vehicle, along with a few other parts, such as the front fenders that had been thrown in the back. It drastically helped keep the trailer straight.

I made it home without incident and ran up to work, only 3 hours late. Sorry hon!

Before going to grab the 76, the world started to get impacted noticeable by the Coronavirus. It also was approaching a local spring break, but the weather has decided to go back to winter mode with cold rain.

I managed to get the 71 unloaded by myself, with help from the winch, and put away in the garage.

It took a few days, but I took the seller’s trailer back up and we loaded the 76, this time with the winch from the 71 mounted to the trailer. Like I was going to use a come-along. The 76, being 6″ longer, just barely fit on the trailer. The rear tire contact patch ended at the end of the boards. Both side has 2″ of tires hanging off the sides. And the weight of a Jeep with an engine definitely strained the winch battery. But it was on and strapped tightly. That ain’t going nowhere.

We then preloaded the 302 spare engine and the original 225 V6 in my dad’s trailer and threw a tarp on.

Even with less wind, it was a much sketchier drive with the added weight. I focused on driving slow and smooth and missing the tire eating potholes.

Getting the 76 off the trailer was a little more difficult. Turns out that tires don’t like rolling with 8 to 10psi. Once they were pumped up to 30psi, I got it rolled out of the way and ran up to work. Only 1.5 hours late this time. Progress!

The next day, I returned the little trailer and considered it a miracle that I hadn’t lost a tire, since there was no spare and my spares were too big. Grabbed my dad’s trailer after checking our engine tiedowns and took off. Made it home easily and got the V6 off the trailer and in the garage. Since I didn’t have the correct length bolts to attach it to the engine stand, I just used the same old tire the previous owner had dropped it on. It’s fine.

Dragging the 302 to the back of the trailer where I could grab it with the engine hoist took some doing. By doing, I mean a lost of sweat and swear words. But honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. At least I didn’t roll the engine onto its side.

I named the 71 CB, short for Corona Build. I figured on that name because I’d probably work on it a lot with the mandatory shutdowns occurring.

The 76 I decided to name HD, as in Humpty Dumpty. It looked kind of sad outside with no fenders, hood or bumper and some plastic over the air intake. So I figured out which two of the four white front fenders belonged and attached the radiator and grill, fenders and hood, using a total of five bolts, hand tightened. Then I threw the hood on and bam! It looked pretty good to me.

With everything tucked away, I surveyed the garages. A total of four CJs, of which two ran, although one was up on jack stands awaiting a rearend rebuild. That’ll do nicely.