Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Create a thread to track the progress of you MB/GPW restoration progress. Previously a General Discussion board.
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ILikePlanesToo
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:09 pm

I had to work a bit extra at work this week, but I still managed to go some work on the brakes. I had ordered new wheel cylinders a while back, but I actually think the original cylinders are totaly rebuildable. I decided to put the new ones on and see if I like them.

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:09 pm

I just finished up my rear brake drums. I tried something I had not done before. I turned the old drums myself.... I took my time and it went really well.

I started out by measuring the drums. They were pretty worn and had some really deep grooves. The surface was a bit irregular and hard to measure, but they were at about 9.035 inch inside diameter, so I decided to give it a try.

I started by turning an aluminum plug on my lathe that fit nice and tight into the outer bearing bore. I left the plug in the lathe so it would run nice and true with the chuck and I lightly pressed the brake drum onto the plug. I then ran a section of 3/8 all-thread through the lathe bore and clamped the drum up agents the aluminum plug. I then used a dial indicator to check the run-out on the inner bearing race. I gently tapped the drum until I only had about 0.002 inch run-out. I used a normal carbide boring bar and slowly skim cut the shoe surface until it was just nice and smooth. I took about 0.002 inches off the diameter per pass. I then remeasured the bore to make sure I hadn't overshot the max diameter. I still had about 0.020 more I could go, so I called it quits.

They are within about 0.007 inches of each other in diameter and the run-out is probably less than 0.003 with the bearing, so I think they should be ready to go. It was a neat learning experience and I'm happy with how they turned out.

I sure hope my front drums have enough meat on them to clean up nice like the rear ones did.

The inside of the drums is just regular GCI red oxide primer. I don't know why it looks so purple in the photos......

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:40 pm

Very nice Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:32 pm

The weather here has been windy and cold for a few weeks, so I was struggling to get some of the bigger bits cleaned up, but Thursday the weather turned beautiful out. We have hid 60F every day this weekend. It was really nice here. I jumped at the chance to clean some parts in the sun. I ended up having a pretty productive weekend. I disassembled the front axle and started rebuilding it. I have most of it cleaned up and the axle housing blasted, primed, and painted. I was really careful not to get any abrasive in the axle housing. It seemed to work ok, but I think it could have been a bit of a disaster if the masking let go.

I also had to modify the new steering bellcrank pin. I think Zeph and others had a similar problem. The slot in the pin was just not the right size. I milled a new slot and it seems to fit check up nicely now.

I hope you all had a good weekend as well,
Michale
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:35 pm

Some axle photos.

I put new seals and gaskets in and inspected the differential before painting. It had a very small amount more backlash than the rear differential, but nothing that necessitated a full rebuild.

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by zepher11 » Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:24 pm

Michael, that is so cool that you could turn your drums yourself. I had the local O'Reilly Autoparts turm mine. They seem to have "turned" out okay. On your front axle housing, what type of axles do you have? Are they the Bendix or Rzeppa style? And I did have the bell crank pin issue. That was a pain, but all is good now. :D

I know what you mean about the weather. I spent most of last week in San Francisco. It was very nice down there, and it has been right around the 70's here. I wish I woulda had more time for the project today, but got dragged to a Super Bowl event. I managed to sneak home right around halftime, however.

Keep up the great work!

Regards,
Zeph

'42 Script GPW Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!

'41 Dodge WC16 Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:57 pm

zepher11 wrote:Are they the Bendix or Rzeppa style?
Hey Zeph,
My axles are Bendix style. They were a little odd to get apart. They are a little warn, but seem to be in pretty good shape. It was an incredible mess to clean them up. There was a ton of grease on them.

I've been keeping an eye on your tub progress. It's looking good. I know it's a tough part in the project. Keep at it!

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by zepher11 » Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:00 am

ILikePlanesToo wrote:
zepher11 wrote:Are they the Bendix or Rzeppa style?
Hey Zeph,
My axles are Bendix style. They were a little odd to get apart. They are a little warn, but seem to be in pretty good shape. It was an incredible mess to clean them up. There was a ton of grease on them.

I've been keeping an eye on your tub progress. It's looking good. I know it's a tough part in the project. Keep at it!

Michael
Michael,

Yes, those are the same axles I had to deal with. Mine were a little sloppy and would come apart due to some goove wear and/or smaller/worn bearings. They are interesting to put together. Not bad once the process is figured out. If you need to tighten them up, let me know. I purchased some new ball bearings as well as center ball bearings with he holes in them. I think I have a few left over. I also have some new pins used for the center ball bearings I believe, or they may be the pin that is driven into the axle. I don't remember exactly now. I can measure the ball bearings for you if you would like to compare sizes and yours are loose. I think the new ones I picked up were .875 if I remember correctly. It took me awhile to get the correct combination, but they turned out fine.

Regards,
Zeph

'42 Script GPW Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!

'41 Dodge WC16 Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:20 am

Looking good Michael. Boy I wish I could exchange some of our warmer weather for your cold. I guess you always want what you can't have though :D .

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:36 pm

zepher11 wrote:Yes, those are the same axles I had to deal with. Mine were a little sloppy and would come apart due to some goove wear and/or smaller/worn bearings. They are interesting to put together. Not bad once the process is figured out. If you need to tighten them up, let me know. I purchased some new ball bearings as well as center ball bearings with he holes in them. I think I have a few left over. I also have some new pins used for the center ball bearings I believe, or they may be the pin that is driven into the axle. I don't remember exactly now. I can measure the ball bearings for you if you would like to compare sizes and yours are loose. I think the new ones I picked up were .875 if I remember correctly.
Hey Zeph,
Thanks for the offer. So, I just measured all the balls for the Bendix assembly with a micrometer. Most of the balls were right at 0.874 to 0.8745. Not much wear it seems. There was a little RTV on most of the sealing surfaces of the front end, so I actually think someone must have worked on the front end in the somewhat recent past. The rear axle was the same way. I think the previous owner might have partially rebuilt them while they were still mounted.

0.874 to 0.8745 seems pretty good to me actually. Do you think there is any reason to change the balls? The whole Bendix assembly didn't seem to feel too sloppy.

Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:37 pm

thidisbogus wrote:Looking good Michael. Boy I wish I could exchange some of our warmer weather for your cold. I guess you always want what you can't have though :D .
It got all windy and cold here again..... It looks like winter is back. At least I made good use of the sunny weather while it lasted! :)

Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:04 pm

I've been a little low on energy lately from work. My day job sure gets in the way of my hobbies!! :D

I've been getting a little done here and there cleaning up the front axle bits. Nothing too amazing, but I'm happy with the way the parts have been cleaning up.

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:06 pm

So, I ordered “V” “649783 spindle bushing” from Ron the other day. The bushing looks great, but it is a flanged “hat” bushing. The bushing in the figure is a straight tubular bushing and the bushings that are pressed into my spindle are also a simple tubular bushing. There seems to be a gap between the spindle and the bendix joint, but I don’t want to press in the new bushings just to find out later that they don’t fit. I can put them on my lathe and in no time trim the flange off and make my own tubular bushing, but I didn’t want to do that if they are supposed to be hat bushings.

Anyone have any input on this?

Thanks!
Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by wo2jeeper » Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:30 am

There is difference between GPW and MB so could also be on this one.

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by zepher11 » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:03 am

As I remember it, Michael, there are like three configurations related to the type of axle one has. I remember going through the same issue. Here's a link to my thread that talks about what you are asking. Maybe it will be of some assistance. I'll have to go back and read it myself to remember exactly what I did. Not having a lathe, I remember I had to hacksaw the hat off.... :D

Page 1: Bushing Link

Page 2: Bushing Link
Zeph

'42 Script GPW Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!

'41 Dodge WC16 Restoration Thread: CLICK HERE!


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