pics and videos

Had a couple requests for pics and videos of the commando working:

hood "patina"

walk around video

https://youtu.be/_iA3TCerSOU

startup at 50+ degrees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY7onhRbLJA

test drive around block in front wheel drive
                                          because
                                                            of
                                                                      this:

New shaft is supposed to be here beginning of march.  both have 7" slip yolk.

gauges

Anyone interested in a nice Commando?

I'm putting it up for sale :  Moved to a smaller house and could use some room.  Not imperitive that it sells,  its one of the cheapest to own vehicles that you could own, (costs me about $200/ year with hagerty and inspection)  I'd just like it to goto someone that would use and care for it.  There was only 20,xxx of them made 40+ years ago so its a rare bird too.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/5359217164.html

Replacing rear spring hangers and aal springs (new)

While driving the other day in the ROAD LEGAL Jeep, (yay- suck on that HOA!)
  I noticed that the tires chirped on right turns more than left turns.  I got under the Jeep and measured to make sure that I mounted the axle correctly on the leaf springs, - check. 
  Then I noticed that one spring shackle was almost straight up and down, and the other was canted about 30*.   So I turned my attention to the front hangers. 
  I started measuring from a fixed frame point to the bolts- oof.  The problem wasn't noticeable with a quick glance underneath, but the driver hanger was pushed up and back, and the passengers was down and forward.  5/8" on each side and 3/4" height difference from the frame.


drivers side



passengers side

I also put an add a leaf in the rear leaf pack in place of a spring that
took care of the spring wrap and makes it accelerate better.  I could go into
scientific stuff, but it just does.




 

  Going out to re measure the wheelbase I found the passenger side axle to be 1 1/2" forward of the stock 104" wheelbase.   That explains why it turned so good one direction. :)

So I'm cutting the weak original parts off and putting on a boxed, reinforced hanger up front.

tranny leak fix and top on

The tranny leak that plauged me for gallons of fluid got fixed.  It turns out the tv cable ( part that goes from tbi
on the engine to the transmission)
Was leaking at the tranny.  The gasket was half crushed instead of inserted in the pan.  1/2hr , $5 fix and no drips!

Winter is here... I spent about
An hour getting the top on for
The first time.  The garage hoist made it "easy".
Theres about 24 (8 front and 8 each rear side) 1/4" bolts to tighten it down & 2 - 5/16" nuts at the rear hatch.
I used epdm foam seal stuck on the
front top and all around the sides.
I found that the passenger side windshield needed to be strapped forward about 1/2" to line up the holes, the drivers side went on no problem.

Hot Springs, AR and new leaf springs

We decided to hit Superlift park at Hot Springs, AR instead of barnwell mountain in September
This was a great weekend with no breakage sans the old leaf springs finally collapsed.
A JK rubicon snapped its front axleshaft, a YJ wrangler bent his tie rods, and a XJ Cherokee snapped his outer steering joint and yolk.

Add caption

This was rock to boulder sized entrance that led to a large rock slab angled at 50*.  For reference the severely stuck XJ has 33 12.50-15 tires.  Unfortunately for him the XJs wheelbase fit perfectly between 2 rocks and stuck him like a champ.

Don't let the pics deceive you, there are some serious trails here.  We still have 141 trails left to hit too!
 I found a tail the commando couldn't conquer- Baileys boulders..

View from the top of the mountains..



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fixes...

These are dodge Durango leaf springs That I swapped afterwards. They are 2.5" wide and 56" long- like the commandos.
 There is a little drilling due to the 9/16" eye bolts, and I re-drilled the centering pin back 1" on the main leaf to keep the 104" wheelbase

tire carrier finished...

Its not stock, but I didn't want anything that looked like an erector set bolted on either...
I started off with a complete spindle kit 1.25" diameter, with bearings and seals...
I had heard that 1" spindles start snapping with 37" tires, so I went a bit bigger with the 35" spare...


  Spindle and mount

 

The box in the center holds a complete scout 2 wheel spindle, wheel hub, and lockout hub as a trail spare...

This rack can hold my 225 lbs at full swing, just rocks the jeep a bit.

 

About 2 days of work, and cussing...

The red handle is supposed to be rated at 750 lbs of clamping force...

There's enough room on top for a hi-lift that's sitting in the corner...

 

 

 

 

 

 

As nice as it turned out- there is a caveat!    Due to the racks angle matching the tailgate- the carrier has to come past 90* (more like 120*) out to open the tailgate- food for thought

 

Megarun fixes-

I went to several big parts stores for wheel studs AZ, Oreilly, etc.. and they all pointed at the computer screen and said its not available. (who makes the Scout??) 
Went to a parts + plus and the guy behind the counter pulled out the dorman book and found some longer 1/2-20 wheel studs with 1/2" more length.
#667 I think??
These went in well and are long enough  that the new replacement 3/8" wheel spacer for the front threads the lug nuts on fully. I may tack weld the heads in place for extra support.


While I was under there I noticed that the tie rod end spacers:
http://jims73commando.blogspot.com/2013/06/steering-finally_18.html
had snapped their weld on the passenger side and were spinning freely in
the steering arm and doing the turning instead of the tie rod end.
They had cracked welds on the drivers side but were still in
place.   I guess thats what you get for slamming a jeep down from 2-3' in the air!


So I re ground the steering arms , pre heated them with a propane torch, and welded the spacers
top and bottom then smoothed the flats out.  If I have a problem with them again, I'll replace the
steering knuckles with extras and re-work the steering.  If...


I'm hoping to take it out in another week and give another -mild- shake down run.  First I'll check
every bolt on the thing though!

The shake down run was fun, ended up going up dewoody, thankfully a strap over the cage kept it from flopping over the first rock, after that it was all about throttle, throttle, steering, and throttle.

The rear springs are going to have to be replaced, the stock passenger rear main leaf has 2 extra curves in it and its sitting low.

 I think a check of nuts and bolts and fluids and it'll be ready for hot springs in september!