58 willys truck

A rebuild with new seals and bearings is not that expensive for a manual tranny. If it were my project, I would clean up the tranny and take it to a reputable gear shop for an inspection, replacement of all seals, and bearings, synchros, etc. as necessary. Better now than later.

Robert Bills KG6LMV Orange County CA

On 29 Dec 2003 08:25 AM, Alan Haley posted the following:

I replaced a perfectly functional automatic transmission in my truck that probably only needed new seals where it was leaking. It was the original 28 year old transmission and I knew it would never be any easier to replace than it was right then with the cab off the truck. The overhauled unit cost me some bucks but the peace of mind is worth it. I also put a new $20 flexplate in although there was nothing really wrong with the old one which had been replaced with the engine a few thousand miles previously. Not changing out parts like that is just bad karma.

---------------------------------------------------- Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email. Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:

When I did my 86 with a 'glass body, I put seals in the tranny and in the t-case. It sure needed them, especially the shift fork seals on the t-case....

I put a new clutch kit in too, just because it was open... It still had a fair bit of wear left.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Alan Haley wrote:

First, I think that it is great that you are building a nice Willys. We have a '49. It is a 'preservation' as opposed to a 'renovation' and we have a lot of fun with her. I know that you will have a lot of fun with yours. Don't forget that the job is not complete until you replace all the mud and dirt and grease you knock off tinkering with it.

I had a catastrophe with the linkages from the column shifter and ended up loosing lots of teeth from a couple of gears. I had it rebuilt with a tower shifter that goes straight down into transmission and junked the three-on-the-tree thing. I would recommend that you make this modification. Also, if you have only one lever for

2-4H-N-4L on the transfer case I recommend junking that thing and going to the one with two levers - one for 2-N-4 and the other for Hi-Low.

Do you have the Timkin rear axle with the 5.38's? Molly has the

134c.i. flat head and that rear end. Once I thought I had a bent axel but it was really a bent wheel. I had been trying to pull a big tree out of a creek but only managed to rut up the pasture. Later someone following me pointed out that passenger rear tire had a bad wobble. What threw me was when I put the spare on to check for true the spare was bent too! Finally, I found a true wheel and discovered that the axel was ok. Hope this anecdote keeps someone else from overhalling a rear end needlessly. (I have no expectation of stopping anyone from trying to drag off downed trees or doing other silly things with thier jeep.)

Good Luck. Yahoo has a very good Willys Tech group that will provide you with lots of good info.

Alan,

Do you enjoy playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded pistol? While you have it out, rebuild it! It is almost 50 years old - the seals have to be shot unless they were changed very recently. You could try checking the lubricant level. If it is full and clean, you may have a chance, but my guess is that the level is low and it is filthy, both of which would be bad news.

Thanks for all the advice. I should have known-of course it needs to be rebuilt.