72 IH + ‘85 Alaskan = Questionable Judgment...
- Thread starter Nailhead
- Start date
Nailhead
Well-known member
Those tires and their split rims are long gone, given to a buddy in Glenrock, WY. Stay tuned, we're getting to that point...
Cruising speed is 65-70 on flat ground in calm conditions.
Nailhead
Well-known member
I love old trucks, so it was an easy choice. That, and the truck itself only set me back $2500.
Nailhead
Well-known member
Time stare denial in the face and open up these brakes. Yeah, sure, they’re brakes; they’re really important, but they’d worked just fine on the June ‘18 test drive, so I was fine not opening up a big drum-brake can-of-worms.
Can open, worms everywhere…
Time for seals, Speedi Sleeves, new axle brake lines, and a full brake rebuild. The wheel bearings were perfectly fine, thankfully.
We’d only cracked open the rear brakes at this point.
The fronts had a lot more work and spending in store.
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Can open, worms everywhere…
Time for seals, Speedi Sleeves, new axle brake lines, and a full brake rebuild. The wheel bearings were perfectly fine, thankfully.
We’d only cracked open the rear brakes at this point.
The fronts had a lot more work and spending in store.
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Nailhead
Well-known member
Next we moved to the front axle:
Got the drums off both sides, and removed all brake components because all new internal parts for the brakes on both ends were on order from Rock Auto. Front & rear brakes are identical, which is nice. The drums had next to no wear to them, which is even nicer because they are almost irreplaceable, and really expensive when you can find them ($1000+- ea).
Then we moved on to the knuckles, figuring while we’re here…
Good thing we did: this housing is supposed to be filled with grease-
No sign there was ever any grease in either side. You’d think there’d be at least some residual sign of some, even after all these years. The u-joints and king pin bearings rely on this grease for lubrication. The u-joints turned out to be fine. The king pin bearings didn’t:
The upper king pin rides in the bronze bushing on the right, presumably because it doesn’t carry the load the lower one with the (trashed) roller bearing on the left does. Some replace the bushings with roller bearings for decreased steering effort, but both bushings were in good condition after cleanup, and, besides, I have power steering, anyway. If this was the front axle on my M715 with its Armstrong steering, I might go ahead with such a conversion.
Off to Torque King for new ball seal and preload shim kits.
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Got the drums off both sides, and removed all brake components because all new internal parts for the brakes on both ends were on order from Rock Auto. Front & rear brakes are identical, which is nice. The drums had next to no wear to them, which is even nicer because they are almost irreplaceable, and really expensive when you can find them ($1000+- ea).
Then we moved on to the knuckles, figuring while we’re here…
Good thing we did: this housing is supposed to be filled with grease-
No sign there was ever any grease in either side. You’d think there’d be at least some residual sign of some, even after all these years. The u-joints and king pin bearings rely on this grease for lubrication. The u-joints turned out to be fine. The king pin bearings didn’t:
The upper king pin rides in the bronze bushing on the right, presumably because it doesn’t carry the load the lower one with the (trashed) roller bearing on the left does. Some replace the bushings with roller bearings for decreased steering effort, but both bushings were in good condition after cleanup, and, besides, I have power steering, anyway. If this was the front axle on my M715 with its Armstrong steering, I might go ahead with such a conversion.
Off to Torque King for new ball seal and preload shim kits.
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givemethewillys
Jonathan Chouinard
Good thing you looked in there! Early Jeeps have closed knuckle axles like that, and rely on "knuckle pudding" to keep things lubricated. It's more viscous than grease, but heavier than gear oil.
The closest thing that's made today for it is John Deere "corn head grease". Check it out, it should be just right for your application too!
The closest thing that's made today for it is John Deere "corn head grease". Check it out, it should be just right for your application too!
Nailhead
Well-known member
I’d bought these axle shaft seals after reading a thread on Binder Planet where the OP had removed the front diff after pulling the bearing caps and running a clean rag between the ring & pinion gears by twisting the drive shaft, thus avoiding the need for the case spreader he didn’t have.
It didn’t work— all we managed to do was shred several rags.
While I was in there, I replaced the old cover with this:
Because the old one sucked:
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It didn’t work— all we managed to do was shred several rags.
While I was in there, I replaced the old cover with this:
Because the old one sucked:
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Nailhead
Well-known member
Nailhead
Well-known member
While waiting for brake parts, I started putting my battery box together:
I included an SAE solar charge plug obtained from Amazon:
Other punch-list items included a rear axle drain plug protector:
Yeah, it’s just a big ol’ washer, but I think it’ll keep the new drain plug from getting mangled like the old one was.
We also installed the walkway grating and gas line/hose in the back:
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I included an SAE solar charge plug obtained from Amazon:
Other punch-list items included a rear axle drain plug protector:
Yeah, it’s just a big ol’ washer, but I think it’ll keep the new drain plug from getting mangled like the old one was.
We also installed the walkway grating and gas line/hose in the back:
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Nailhead
Well-known member
At this point, I got to take an unscheduled break from the trip north and work on the truck because of a huge snowstorm:
This is what we got here:
Wheatland got something like 36”, a quantity that the town public works department was simply unable to deal with. The town streets were impassable for something like a week and a half, and the snow was so wet and heavy the Harry got his M715 Jeep stuck multiple times, and a buddy of mine stuck a skid steer loader, a piece of equipment he’s no novice at operating.
Another consequence of this epic snowfall was roof slides, and this one put the heating in the shop out of commission:
Fixed, back to work after a two-week shutdown:
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This is what we got here:
Wheatland got something like 36”, a quantity that the town public works department was simply unable to deal with. The town streets were impassable for something like a week and a half, and the snow was so wet and heavy the Harry got his M715 Jeep stuck multiple times, and a buddy of mine stuck a skid steer loader, a piece of equipment he’s no novice at operating.
Another consequence of this epic snowfall was roof slides, and this one put the heating in the shop out of commission:
Fixed, back to work after a two-week shutdown:
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Nailhead
Well-known member
After the shop heated up, we got the knuckles back together:
These require a tube each side of John Deere corn head grease for the lubricating parts previously mentioned. Why this particular grease? Supposedly, it liquifies in motion and solidifies when stationary, keeping more of it in the knuckle for a longer period of time.
I rigged up a zerk fitting and several bushings so I could fill those knuckles quickly and cleanly:
Reassembled the hubs, too, swapping out the bolts for studs:
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These require a tube each side of John Deere corn head grease for the lubricating parts previously mentioned. Why this particular grease? Supposedly, it liquifies in motion and solidifies when stationary, keeping more of it in the knuckle for a longer period of time.
I rigged up a zerk fitting and several bushings so I could fill those knuckles quickly and cleanly:
Reassembled the hubs, too, swapping out the bolts for studs:
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