My 1944 Willys MB 390908

jpet wrote: How did the fuel tank tun out after electrolysis? .. or are you still at it.

Jeff,

   I emptied the tank this afternoon and some of the rust was removed, but it still needs some work.  In my first attempt I ran the charger at 6v.  I have it setup again to run at 12v.  The charger is measuring about 2amps which I believe is correct.  Hopefully the results will improve. 

Working in the garage today - installed new points and condenser and that fixed my spark issue.  With some help from a very knowledgeable friend, started the rebuild on the rear of the jeep.  It turns out this MB haa a GPW Dana 23 rear.  Previous owner did not set the rear up correctly and also ground the front of the pinion gear to fit properly.  As it turns out, the inner pinion bearing was not set correctly.  Also there is some damage to the pinion gear.  I posted a question in the Tech section looking for a good source to replace the ring an pinion set (4.88) (ring is actually in good shape).  Here is a picture of the pinion- you can see there is a .062" gap between the inner bearing and the front of the pinion. I have new bearings sets, seals, and a few other parts on order. 

 

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. 

  I was able to get the rear axle housing cleaned out - mostly surface rust and it's now ready for a new ring and pinion set.  Also have new bearings and seals on there way.  If anyone has a good reference to start for a pinion setup for a Willy MB, I would be open to references to help prepare for that install.  Also working the front axle.  When I pulled the front diff cover, there was plenty of fluid, but it did not smell like gear oil.  It was all black and smelled more like a mix of grease and oil.  The ring and pinion look good with some wear.  Date on the ring gear is 11-4-1944 so it might be original as this data plate has 11-21-44 stamped.  I also found that I have a bendix short shaft and a Rzeppa long shaft.  There seems to be a lot of grease inside the axle shaft on the long side and I suspect some of that made it down into the pumpkin. I have some new inner seals coming in this week so I can replace the old, worn out seals. 

Here are some pics and always open to comments or suggestions.

Front shafts: 

Front axle after I removed most of the thick gunk - at least the gunk protected everything from rusting!

Rear axle housing - still have some fine cleaning to finish.

 

Some people like the electrolysis method. I recently tried it on a driver side heater and got crappy results.

 

Nice Jeep.

 

Micah 

Today I finished cleaning out the front axle housing and I installed the radiator and new temperature gauge. I primed the fuel pump and setup a temporary fuel source and started the engine for the first time.  Sounds pretty good but I have a few kinks to work out. I ran the engine for about 20 minutes to let it get to full temperature and to make sure the oil pressure and coolant exchange was good.  Oil pressure is about 20 at idle and 40+ at about 2500 rpms.  I just have water in the system now to test all the seals, but everything is looking good so far.  I still need to fine tune timing and carb a bit (points are set as well as the valves) One item that will need attention, the Delco 10si alternator that came with the jeep sounds like it has a bad bearing - will likely need a rebuild.  Also sourced the 4.88 ring and pinion set I needed for the rear rebuild - NOS Spicer.  More to follow.

Michaeltru wrote: Check out POR-15, Eastwood or Bill Hirsh for their kits which include chemicals to clean inside of tank, then neutralize and line the tank to seal it. Probably other kits out there, too.

Will do - thanks for the tip.