bkahler

I got the final color coat on the axle housing yesterday and today I rolled it under the truck. With luck tomorrow I'll get it fastened to the leaf springs. After that it'll be new axle bearings and seals, pinion seal and yoke and then the brakes. I'm really hoping I can have it setting on it's rear wheels by the end of the weekend Brad

Vic's Dodge Garage is also a site supporter. Good selection of parts and re-pops

Finally had a decent enough day that I could apply the first coat of paint to the Cherokee axle. This was a coat of POR-15. I'm hoping to get the finish coat done sometime this week but rain is forecast for the whole week so who knows. I'll be using Bill Hirsch's Chassis black spray paint for the finish coat. Oh yeah, I also painted the Rustyhope caliper brackets with POR-15 as well. They will get the same Chassis black paint as well. Brad

Well whaddya know......there really are three flat blade terminals! ?

Ok, got it! These old eyes don't see things so well anymore! My focus just zeroed in on those round tips and that's all I saw Thanks!

I could be wrong here but I seem to remember the three connections on my 51 were all flat blade connectors as were all the other bulbs of I've seen in American vehicles of the 40s through the 80s. This bulb seems to have one flat and two round studs. Am I missing something?

Well......I need to learn to get my facts straight before I open my mouth. I went to the Motive Gear website to get their contact info and took a closer look at their listings. It turns out they don't show the c-clip or studs. So I went and checked out all of the other sites I had been checking out when I was looking for axles and they ALL show c-clips and studs with their axles. So I'm the guilty party for not paying attention to the listings. The good news is even after buying new wheel studs and c-clips their price was still considerably cheaper than everyone else. So I really have nothing to complain about other than my own failings! Brad

Based on the pictures of the axles when ordered the wheel studs and c-clips were included in the order. Based on the fact that I have received the axles and there are NO wheel studs or c-clips I'd have to say their picture is in error Wheel studs are now on order as are replacement c-clips although one c-clip is back ordered. Some days you just can't win.

I've finally got all of the bits and pieces together or arriving shortly to assemble the Cherokee axle. Since it's somewhat of an odd ball aluminum housing Dana 44 I've had to send a few pieces back. The axles arrive tomorrow and I'm really hoping they are the right ones. Their listed dimensions match my original axles so maybe I'll get lucky! So now it's down to painting the axle housing. I spent this afternoon moving the original axle off my Truckster and it's now sitting on a trailer. I'm not really sure what to do with it. I suppose I can list it in the classifieds, maybe someone can use it. While shuffling things around I made a quick and dirty A-frame stand to suspend the axle housing in the air so I can paint it. It's not the prettiest thing I've thrown together but it was 25 degrees out while I was building it so I don't feel to bad With luck I'll have the housing at least primered this weekend with final coat to follow later in the week. Brad

I got lucky. About the time I was ready to take my Plymouth engine to the machine shop I found a T306 block in the junk yard. $50 later the T306 block was on it's way to the builder

Based on the pictures I wouldn't have any hesitation in buying that engine block. I would be surprised if it has been bored oversize. I would venture to say someone has definitely been in the engine and done a few things but I don't see anything that would scare me away. The only information you don't have is condition of crank and there's no way to see that without pulling the pan.

Here is a listing on ebay for a 46-48 Desoto radiator that is the same as mine. It has a puncture hole in the top tank but that should be repairable. I didn't realize mine was not original to the truck until Brian posted the information he linked to above.

My 51 B3B 1/2 ton has a radiator in it from a Desoto and I didn't realize it was from a Desoto until just recently. There are aluminum Desoto replacement radiators available on ebay if you care to go that route. Brad

Well.....never a dull moment ? I finally took a closer look at the axles and realized they are not what I would call perfect specimens. In fact I think they are marginal enough that they should probably be replaced. Not exactly what I had hoped for when I bought the axle assembly but it's a little late to turn back now If I was using the original bearings and seals I might have considered running these axles for a while but with new bearings and seals going in I don't think I have a whole lot of choice in the matter. I can buy a new pair of axles from a company called Motive Gear for around $200 delivered. At the moment this is probably the route I'm going to take. Brad

I think the one I ended up ordering was called a Redi-Sleeve, cost was about $28. I've not heard of Sturdi brand before. I'm still considering whether to put sleeves on the axles themselves so if I do I'll look into the Sturdi brand. To install on the axles I'm going to need the right size tube long enough to reach. That will likely be the deciding factor on whether to try and replace them. Thanks! Brad

Between doctor visits and various other activities I didn't get a lot of time today to work on the truck as much as I would have liked but I'll take what I can get. Other than reworking the pedal pushrod for the brake MC that project is pretty much done. Now I can start running the various brake lines. I still need to figure out where I want to mount the proportioning valve. It's probably going to end up somewhere back where the original Tee was located on the frame rail. For the past week or so I've been trying to get the rear axle bearings removed from the housing which turned into more of a chore than it should have. I didn't realize the axle seals had a flange on them so when I was trying to use a pry bar style seal puller it was just fighting itself. After watching a few youtube videos I finally realized how to remove the seals and I had them both out in about 3 minutes! The bearings were a different story. The first video I ran across showed a guy using a 3-jaw puller with a slide hammer. That method didn't work, all it did was pull the rollers out of the shell. So, back to youtube and found a video showing a different style of bearing puller. Ordered a Harbor Freight puller set from Amazon cheaper than I could buy it from the local Harbor Freight. Go figure..... The puller arrived today and I tried it on the busted bearing first with no success so I switched to the other bearing and it pulled right out. After thinking about the situation for a little bit I tried a slightly different approach with the busted bearing and it pulled right out as well. Now it's time to get bearings and seals on order. I also removed the pinion nut and pinion yoke so I can replace the pinion seal. Unfortunately the pinion yoke has a nice groove in it from the seal so I'm going to have to find a Speedi-Sleeve for it. In the mean time I dropped the yoke and nut into a tub of Evapo-rust to hopefully turn them into rust free pieces of metal Brad

Finished fabricating the adapter plate today. I opted to use a countersunk bolt on the bottom so I wouldn't have to grind on the master cylinder. The plate is made from 1/2" 6061 aluminum plate. It takes a little finagling but I was able to bolt the plate in place first and then I was able to wiggle the MC into place as well. I still need to weld a section onto the end of the push rod to make up about 5/16" difference in the first MC that I tried. I measured my original MC and it had 1-1/2" of piston stroke. This Wrangler MC seems to have about 1-5/8" stroke. I think that's close enough for government work Brad

I purchased a bunch of stuff from DCM last fall and was overall very pleased with the product received. The one item I was disappointed in they immediately refunded. Brad

I bought my spring perches from Amazon. I hadn't heard about WMS before either until I started to look into converting mine over to a Cherokee diff. It became pretty apparent that the important dimension is where do the wheels end up. Normally you would want the same WMS as your original axle unless you were looking to make a change in that area.

Did a little twisting and tweaking and the actuating arms now fit. While I was in there I also installed the defroster ducts. On to the next problem...... Brad

I've spent the last hour or so trying to get the actuating arms installed between the wiper motor and the wiper pivots. The picture below shows my motor and actuating arms just how they were when I pulled them from the truck back in the early mists of time. I have the motor installed and the arm attached to the wiper motor in the same orientation as the picture. I've looked closely at the wiper pivot and it appears the inside piece has to fit a certain contour so I've installed it in that orientation although I've tried flipping 180 degrees as well with no luck. The arm sits cockeyed on the two shafts. It's almost as if the actuating arm needs to be twisted slightly to bring the bores of the actuating arm in alignment with the pins. The pins are not in the same plane which is the problem. Anyone else face this dilemma when reinstalling their wiper assemblies? Thanks, Brad

The Wrangler is 1".

I think at best depending on the shape of MC I might be able to fit about 6-7/8" in the opening but that would leave little to no room between the MC and the steering column. As near as I can tell the Wrangler MC has a stroke that is about 1/8" longer than my original MC. Until I get a chance to test drive mine I won't know if I made the right choice. Worst case I'll just switch back to the original MC and call it good. I've had the front brakes fail before on a split system and the pedal still went to the floor and there was no real stopping power available at that point. I understand the concept of why split is supposed to be better but my one experience with it in real life didn't meet expectations.

For those interested in this sort of thing I've made a sketch of my original axle compared to the 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee Dana 44 axle showing the relationship of the perches from old to new. Brad

Steve, In looking at your pictures it seems that your Plymouth truck has more room in the area where the MC mounts. Could you verify the length of the MC that you used? I know for a fact on my 51 B3B there is only room for a 6-3/4" long MC. I tried one that is 8" long and it was nowhere near close to fitting. I like your install, especially the idea of using a boot. I'm going to see if I can find a boot that will slip over the end of the MC that sticks through the bell housing casting. Nice work Brad