1948 CJ2a "Hefty Horse"

So ita still acting weird,  I adjusted the points to a loose .020 and it ran with more power but idles at 1100 with a 50 degree dwell. But earlier I got it at 41 degree dwell and 600 rpm idle but didnt have any power. 

Edited by General Eisenhower - 13 Dec. 2021 at 9:10pm

The wife wanted the jeep to be used at a light show for her school, all I did was drive it there.

So it's been almost a year since I started this thread, we got a and are still getting a good bit of snow and so I took the jeep out once before I tear into the manifold and adjust my valves, Scoutpilot suspects that's my issue...

To add on to it, I jacked the front end and I hold one wheel, and the other will rotate 90 degrees. They roll together and when I engage the front wheel drive it tries to drag the jeep forward (back end is still on the ground)

Looking at the video, I believe that you are not getting power to the front axle. I would first check to make sure that there is no interference with the body on the transfer case shift levers. Interference there can prevent the transfer case from shifting to 4WD.

You have hub locks installed. Assuming you do not have a locking differential installed in the front axle, failure of one or both hub locks to engage would definitely cause the symptoms you are experiencing. This is a very likely cause. Given the cold weather it is entirely possible that the grease in the hub locks is very stiff. It may have not had a chance to engage. To check this, you could reach under the passenger side and attempt to rotate the front driveshaft. With the hub locks in the engaged position, and the transfer case in 2WD you should NOT be able to rotate the driveshaft. If you can rotate the driveshaft, then one or both hub locks are not engaged. They will need to thaw out. Before applying power to a front axle in cold weather it is important to make sure that the hub locks are fully engaged, otherwise damage could occur to the gears in the hub lock as they attempt to engage under power.

A broken front axle shaft would also have the same effect of no pull from the front axle. A broken differential cross pin would do the same thing but you would more than likely hear a noise from the pin hitting the axle housing. Stripped differential gears would produce the same effect.

When I owned my driveline shop several years ago, many of my customers were cattlemen that used their 4WD pickup trucks to feed cattle in the winter. I always cautioned them to leave their hubs locked in during extreme cold weather so that a problem wouldn't occur under hard use. A hard engagement of hub locks under power will almost always damage them. Compounding the problem of stiff grease in a hub lock is the possibility of frozen water in the hub locks. Many of my ranch customers had to ford mud or water at least some of the time during the year. When extreme cold weather hit in the winter the problems with hub locks did increase.

Just some suggestions to check for. The hub locks being frozen is the most likely.

Edited by SE Kansas 46 CJ-2A - 04 Jan. 2022 at 12:08pm

Or just take them off and go back to stock drive flanges....

rocnroll wrote: Or just take them off and go back to stock drive flanges....

You can see from my icon picture that Ol' Red has drive flanges installed and they have been that way since I owned her. One less thing to go wrong...

General Eisenhower wrote: I will absolutely check into that, it has been below freezing pretty much since Saturday and obviously you see the snow, the the jeep as had plenty of time to freeze both before and since the video.  Could something like a hair dryer help thaw to expedite the process and solve the mystery? Forgive my ignorance, I just want to understand The way it sounds, even though I turned the hubs something inside isnt engaging or isnt fully engaging and this is probably due to frozen grease?

It is definitely possible for the hub locks to read like they are in the locked position and yet they are not locked. This can be caused by stiff grease, frozen water, or damaged gears inside the hub lock.

Back in the day when I was servicing 4WD vehicles in my shop and had the occasion to have the hub locks off of a truck, I always used a light grease when servicing the hub locks and not much of that either. The brand I always used was Valvoline #632 Molybdenum Sulfide #2 NLGI grade grease. It is usually available at NAPA. Chassis grade ropy grease is a no-no in a hub lock.

SE Kansas 46 CJ-2A wrote:   You can see from my icon picture that Ol' Red has drive flanges installed and they have been that way since I owned her. One less thing to go wrong...