Cleanup October 15, 08

A nice fall weather day, so the boy and I decided to push the chassis outside and let it get some sun and start to scrape, chisel, soak, wire brush and sweep away 50 some odd years of dried mud, dust, dirt, rust and grease from the inside of the frame rails, covering the transfer case and T-90, from the surface of the skid plate and generally everywhere. A bit of elbow grease and Simple Green allowed to soak in for 15, 20 minutes and it started coming off. The grease, mud combo formed at the very least, a sort of waterproof barrier from rust. It was a solid coating that wouldn't come off without the gentle pryings from a screwdriver, cold chisel and the wire brush.




A few before pictures. The water proofing "jacket" of grease was about 1/2" to 3/4" thick.


A closer view of the transfer case and transmission. The shape of each is completely obscured. The blob of grease is from trying to shoot some grease into the fitting to get the xfer levers to shift smoother.


A large chunk of the grease/ dirt.


Lookit that, it really IS a T90 hiding under there!


It formed a pretty good pile underneath.




Some cleaner shots. You can tell that it isn't just some amorphous hunk of clay in between the rails.


The total pile probably weighed a good 8-10 pounds!

lifting the body

As she sat before I got the body off. The Mistress sat there patiently watching the replacement f-head.






Next was the body itself. With the steering wheel off, I could maneuver the body over the column without having to remove it or the steering box. With bascally only myself to lift it I had to get creative, though a couple two or three guys could easily lift it off. I bought a comealong and decided to look at the rafters I hemmed and hawed climbing way up into the 20' high rafters to attach a chain and the comealong, but got around to it. I probably could have used a couple of extra ratchet straps too, but I made do with what I had on hand and inched it up a bit at a time over the steering column while pushing the frame forward. Unfortunately I sorta painted myself in a corner because I couldn't push it farther than the end of the wall. But I managed to get the body down on the floor and on some 2X4s so I could push it out of the way.

the steering wheel

I was a standstill when it came time to get the steering wheel off. All it basically is is a large nut attached to the threaded end of the steering column. That came off easily. I thought that it may be simple after that, that it would slide right off or maybe it would be lightly pressed on. I bought a decent 3 jaw gear puller and tried... 50 some odd years had formed a nice neat attachment of rust between the column and the metal center section of the wheel. The original bakelite is already cracked and pitted, so I wanted to be careful and try to preserve the wheel. But I had no idea how I was going to remove it. I tried stacking 3 quarters under the center section of the puller and all it did was put a hole through the quarters before popping off. The wheel stayed firm and unmoving. I couldn't believe it. I soaked it in PB Blaster for weeks, but still no results.



I met another local jeeper who had an old military steering wheel remover kit. It was basically a large c-shaped device, sort of like a c-clamp about a foot in length. At the bottom, the end was flared into two fingers that fit exactly underneath the wheel and clasped the column. At the top was a screw fitting that tightened down against a couple of different sizers that came with the kit. It was like a solid socket that had pins of differing sizes that fit into the hollow end of the tube with the bolt removed. Craig had also welded another socket onto the top of an old steering wheel bolt with another spacer in there if you had a horn button still attached, so that it wouldn't get mashed. A couple of cranks and the wheel simply popped off with a satisfying light 'pop!'

The rest of the month

Over the course of the month of March my 2 year old son and I spent alot of time out in the barn, scraping and sweeping up rust and breaking bolts and generally inhaling alot of PB Blaster. Most of it was pretty easy stuff, that would have been harder had things been rustier than they are. The tailgate came off easily and the hinges were all in good shape. The front clip was simple too once I took off the front fenders, just remember to disconnect the radiator and shroud first and the hood too. With that off, the windshield frame is next. It was mainly clumsy for one person to remove due to the weight of the glass. And being broken, it was a chore getting it off without slicing up my hands. But luckily, the frame unlike many others that I've heard of is in good shape with no rust through spots. It really is just a matter of unscrewing bolts, which as I said were mainly in good shape. The bolts underneath the body securing it to the frame attachment points were another matter...


The disappointment was the tool box. I was hoping that this rust catcher beneath the jeep was in better shape, but that wasn't to be. It looked as though a previous owner had spent time patching in aluminum panels and then applying some sort of body filler over the seams. It just added up to be a mess that I partly peeled and muscled out. Eventually I poked through the paper-thin floor beneath with a screwdriver and I knew that I had hit rock bottom. well, it looks like replacement panel time.



Hey, at least I made thirty cents off taking the gas tank out! I found these two underneath it. the gas tank was a matter of draining out the remaining foul smelling varnish that was left in the tank from the drain plug and then I had to cut through the gas line with a tubing cutter. The fitting was too rusted to ever move. But, the tank wasn't salvageable anyways, I figure. It stills sloshes around with the sound of pounds of rust inside hitting the interior baffles. A decent replacement of poly or steel is going to set me back more than a 100-150 bucks.


The floor, especially on the driver's side was pretty swiss cheesy too. well, I figure that I have to figure out how to weld with this project and I'm going to weld in new floor panels. At least the hat channels underneath the floor are in pretty good shape.


The busted nuts and bolts so far. each worth more than a few drops of sweat. I'm not going to try to reuse an awful lot of hardware anyways. A cheap investment.

The first few pictures of March

This is probably the worst part about the body. Its pretty solid all over except for the rear passenger quarter panel which is rusted away.



Spare F-head included to make way for the original. The cylinder head was removed and left apparently outside. It was on the driver's floor and is now a neat looking hunk of rust.


56,000 original miles?


Harrison heater, spare oil bath air cleaner and pile of rust.


Future patch work.


Passenger's side step.


Suspect patch panel on driver's side.


The wonderfully rusty paper weight.


The tool box that is in pretty good shape, but for the patch panel.


The mess that is the engine compartment.


Here you can see the towel that did so much to protect the cylinders from rust and debris.



Yes, that is a block of wood supporting the hood latch.


The windshield and seat frames are in good shape.


But, I doubt that the glass can be saved.

My 1953 jeep cj-3b project, the Mistress

Being a jeep lover, fan, fanatic, driver, repairer, painter, collector, and dreamer for the last 15 or so years, I have always wanted to experience one of every single model. One model that I had rarely seen, but always had a fascination for was the CJ-3B. Its the unique high hood design that supplanted the relatively short lived CJ-3A. Its higher hood design came along as a necessity for placing the new overhead valve f-head design of the 134 cu. in. four in between the fenders. It gave the jeep a sort of surprised expression to the front clip. Some people think they're ugly and some know that they're of a sort of looks that are so unusual that they are beautiful.
My time came this past March when I found one online for sale from an ended ebay auction down in New Jersey. I spoke with the guy who had her for sale and he still wanted to sell her for 700 bucks. What I got was a complete non-running 3B with ID plate #453-GB2 31318. I got her shipped up here with snow still on the ground in the month of March and a spot cleared in the barn.
She came complete with a frozen, abused engine that had had the valve cover and head removed and lovingly junked in the drivers side floor board. The 1st and 4th cylinders were coated with rust and the remains of old mouse nests and acorn shells. Luckily, the seller threw in a "running the last he knew..." replacement f-head that will still get an overhaul. The body was in good shape, but attention needs to be paid to the floorboards (of course...) and the interior of the tool box, the passenger's side rear quarter panel and along the driver's side running board. Amongst other things... But, the frame is in good shape, but both bumpers show evidence of collisions that need to be banged out. Two good seat frames, a Harrison heater and two boxes of miscellaneous parts rounded her out.
My wife jokingly decided that if I were to have an affair, it may as well be with the jeep, so hence, the 3B became "the Mistress." As soon as I get her on the road, the vanity plate will be MSTRESS. This is going to become my ongoing blog of the slow process of restoring the Mistress to a roughly stock condition. I plan on keeping her mainly stock, but going with a few upgrades and hopefully a Warn overdrive too. Ok, here we go.