My J-4500

[Crankyolman]

Stopped at the auto parts store on my way home from work and picked up some gear oil to top up the rear differential. It didn't need all that much but I'm glad it's topped up now. While I was under there I figured I'd take a few pictures of what markings were there.

As you can see there are no tags



It's definitely a Dana 44






I have no idea what those last two might mean but they might mean something to somebody. Actually looking at that last picture I think the first 2 numbers may just be date marks, 5 for the month and 2 for year not sure what the 2c3 could mean.
Edit: I found a website that shows what those numbers on the axle shaft mean. I was correct, the 5 is the month, there should be a day number that seems to be missing that accounts for the space, the 2 is the year. The 2c is the build line and 3 was the shift.




While I was at it I figured I may as well top up the front differential. It was a bit dirty so I took a wire brush to it and discovered this

I'm not sure what one of those is, s/n maybe but one of them is clear, 3.73 which of course means the the ring gear has 41 teeth and the pinion 11, just as shown on the tag. This is a bit of a surprise since according to the service manual it was only available with 4.09 gearing. Perhaps this is why the custom order tag is under the hood or perhaps the gearing was changed at some point in it's life. This does explain why 3,000RPM is around 70 MPH.



Of course my little outside helper had to come supervise while I worked.

This is my same little helper who saved the interior when a bird got in through the transmission cover. He left greasy little paw prints all over the inside including on the new upholstery but the bird didn't do any damage.

[Crankyolman]

It's funny how things can change suddenly.


A couple days ago I managed to pick this up


for only $200


What you can't see in that picture is that it also has the radiator core support and hood latch.



What I'm considering is using the header, headlight buckets and headlight trim rings on my truck and selling the grill and pie pans to offset the cost or maybe just putting the grill and pie pans back in case I get another truck in the future.

[SOLSAKS]

great find,...NICE !!!
dave in NC

[Crankyolman]

great find,...NICE !!!
dave in NC

Thank you, It's actually in quite good condition. The people I bought it from said they have had it in the garage for 30 years. It came off their '69 Gladiator and was mounted on the wall with the lights hooked up so they could be turned on.

[Crankyolman]

Today I finally managed to get the headlight buckets and trim rings from the '69 header installed in my truck. I think it looks much more finished now.



I would like to note that these original bezels have the shoulder for the retainer screws, unlike the new one I bought a while back.



Another thing I noticed that may be worth noting is this

The markings on the headlight bucket include a Chrysler emblem and the letter CC which I assume stands for Chrysler Corporation and SAE H 68 TT



On the back of the bucket is this

which is the number 2 and the word HALLAMP

[bigbadjeep]

Sounds like a good adventure in an older truck. Great job on keeping it going. I live in Carnation, 20 min out of Monroe. I believe I've seen this truck before. Not to Manny jeep pickups around here. But it also was a little over a decade ago.

[Crankyolman]

Sounds like a good adventure in an older truck. Great job on keeping it going. I live in Carnation, 20 min out of Monroe. I believe I've seen this truck before. Not to Manny jeep pickups around here. But it also was a little over a decade ago.

I love my truck, I have no doubt it is the one you saw, there really aren't many of these around. I guess that's why when I was sitting at a stop light one day and a 57 Chevy convertible followed by a 65 mustang convertible drove by both drivers heads swiveled to stare at me as they passed. I had to laugh because both those cars are considered iconic but they seem so common compared to a jeep pickup.

[Jpzyr]

you're doing great

[bigbadjeep]

Ain't that the truth!

[Crankyolman]

Thank you but right now most everything has been put on hold. We are trying to get the house ready to sell next spring and with a potential pending move I can't do any of the big stuff.



I am getting close to having enough money for the Fitech 2 barrel setup I hope to buy soon. I want the 2 barrel because it will bolt to my existing intake manifold and for the most part look close to stock with a stock air cleaner. I have both a 2 barrel and 4 barrel air cleaners that look the same, when I get the Fi installed and figure out which one I'm going to use I'm going to convert it to a duel snorkel that should look factory.



Also my wife's birthday is coming up and I plan to buy her a mig welder so she can replace the floorboards on her Buicedes. She also wants to do the work on my bed when we get settled somewhere where we have enough space to work on stuff.

[SOLSAKS]

"Also my wife's birthday is coming up and I plan to buy her a mig welder so she can replace the floorboards on her Buicedes."

WOW: "buy my wife a welder for her birthday" !!!

that is a something rarely said !

i love it.

sounds like you got a cool wife.

take care, good luck with the move/sale, etc.

dave in NC

[Crankyolman]

"Also my wife's birthday is coming up and I plan to buy her a mig welder so she can replace the floorboards on her Buicedes."

WOW: "buy my wife a welder for her birthday" !!!

that is a something rarely said !

i love it.

sounds like you got a cool wife.

take care, good luck with the move/sale, etc.

dave in NC

Thanks, She really is cool She almost died on me a year ago after feeling bad for about 2 years before that. Doctors misdiagnosed the problem and she wound up in ICU for 7 days and progressive care 3 more before she decided she was well enough to come home. $250,000 later she is feeling better than she has in years and getting all motivated to do all kinds of things.



The guy we bought the car from does automotive restoration work and at the time we visited him he was working on replacing pretty much the entire lower half of a 55 Chevy convertible that looked like it had been left abandoned in the forest for 40 years. He explained the whole process to her and when we went back a couple weeks later to get some parts he had the floorboards and body patches all done.


My plan all along with that car was for me to replace the floorboards but a couple weeks after seeing the 55 Chevy she said she wanted to do it herself. This actually surprised me but she has been gathering stuff to make herself some purple welders leathers and learning as much as she can from the internet so I am going to buy her the welder and see how she does. Hopefully she likes it and I can put her to work fixing the body on my truck.

[Crankyolman]

It's been some time since I've written much on the truck. There really isn't all that much going on with it. The other day I found a "free" pile in front of a house and stopped to see what was there worth getting. What I found were 2 vacuum gauges. I really needed these because I have had my doubts about getting the intake on correctly and was concerned about vacuum leaks. The gauges confirmed there were no leaks but last year my defrost quit working. I wired the defrost actuator half way open so it kind of worked but it never really worked that well. Sunday, thanks to the vacuum gauges I was able to confirm the problem was a lack of vacuum at the actuator. I tracked the problem down to the switch that supplies vacuum to the actuator. This is really a pain to fix on the pre '73s but I tackled it anyway.


First I had to remove the switch panel from the dash. To do this you have to disconnect the electrical connector, remove 2 nuts and tilt it out of the dash from the bottom of the switch panel. It is held in at the top with a spring. Next it required disconnecting the temperature cable which was a simple matter of removing a clip and loosening one screw. The last thing was to check the connections with the vacuum gauge and sure enough there was vacuum in but not out.





At last at this point I knew where the problem was, I wasn't sure exactly what the problem was so I took one of the vacuum lines off and took the switch into the house. I made up some soapy water, poured it over the switch and blew into the hose. The result was bubbles all around the mating surfaces of the rotating switch.




The switch is simply 2 machined plates that are forced together by a spring. A screw and a spring clip keep the non moving half attached to the assembly. I took the switch apart and found dirt in the mating surfaces. I cleaned it up the best I could, put it back together and re-leak checked it. To my surprise It didn't leak and seemed to work normally. So I started putting it back together and dropped the spring retainer clip and couldn't find it. It didn't seem to effect the overall function so I put it back together without it.




After connecting and testing the vacuum switch I then put the switch assembly back in the dash which isn't very easy. There is a spring on top of the assembly you have to pry open a bit, then slip the assembly up into the hole in the dash, then slip in the bottom part. Once it is in place you have to find the clip that holds the bottom part in and install the 2 nuts that hold it in. Then I reconnect the electrical connector and verified that it functions. Everything seemed to function normally and I now seem to have a fully functioning defroster.







Because I lost that spring clip I bought another switch off ebay for $12 shipped but if I lose defrost again I'll just pull the vacuum lines off the rotating switch and tee them together until I can find time to fix it. Defrost is pretty necessary here in the winter, more than the floor heater.

[SOLSAKS]

man that controller is some kind of gadget
it takes a certain understanding of them to do what you are doing

one thing for sure
the shiny controller face plate, etc
looks way cooler on the older models.

hope you get it all working properly.

glad your wife has recovered and is going to be welding on the project.

i am impressed !

dave in NC

[Crankyolman]

man that controller is some kind of gadget
it takes a certain understanding of them to do what you are doing

one thing for sure
the shiny controller face plate, etc
looks way cooler on the older models.

hope you get it all working properly.

It is quite a gadget, it's kind of cool how it works. Before I tore into it I had no idea whatsoever how it worked, just figured it out as I went. Reluctance to dive into it and fear of breaking something is why I went all last winter with the defrost actuator wired partially open. It's actually not that bad to do which is why I tried to show in pictures how to do it, in case someone else runs into this problem.



I really prefer the look of the pre '73 dash and the chrome stuff that came with the super Wagoneer and custom cab over the white knobs and buttons. Even if it means replacement parts are scarce and I wind up having to figure

glad your wife has recovered and is going to be welding on the project.

i am impressed !

dave in NC

Thank you, she is pretty much all better and now puts me to shame. Her big concern with welding is she is worried she will break a nail while doing it. I've been married to her for a long time and this sort of thing is totally new with her. Before I was always the one who did all that stuff.