'77 A2 - My first project

[rickf]

That is surface rust and I will bet money that the bearings are just fine. I would cover the other parts of the tranny and go over that gear with a Dremmel and a wire wheel and get the rust off and then go to the other one that is rusty and use spray grease on the parts closest to the gear and cover the rest and do the same there. The spray grease will catch the stuff that you wire wheel off the gear and it will flush off with diesel fuel or gasoline. I use diesel since it is safer. Check the transfer case gears and clean them if necessary. Leave out the drain plug and flush out with Diesel fuel and then rotate and feel for roughness in the bearings. I bet you do not feel any. Fill it with oil and drive it. Change the oil after 50 miles and you should be good to go. These are a real pain in the arse to rebuild. Lots of blood loss involved. They are also a very robust and almost indestructible transmission. While it is out be sure to replace the transfer case shifter seal.

[Vzike]

I'm on it Rick. Thank you. Got the diesel and some brass brushes. It is surface rust, except for one spot on the big gear that has some pitting. The bearings feel fine. I have the gasket kit ordered from Red River, along with the output seals. I just need one of those drain plug wrenches. Complete repair shop, but no 1-1/8" thin wall socket to get that side fill plug out! go figure!

[halftracknut]

just grind your wrench down....

[Vzike]

Got the tranny cleaned up nicely, then proceeded to break a spacer washer. This was a roller bearing spacer between the tranny and transfer case. Does anyone have one?

P/N 7536194. There are two in each transfer case.
Item 34 on page 70-1 of the parts book.

[Vzike]

Found the part at Red River. $3.00. Cool!

[Vzike]

Big day. Gages in, drive train complete, mounted the seat, and started the engine. Have a float problem with the carb that I'll address tomorrow. I'll take a bunch of pictures then too. Thinking of driving it up to Mt Dora in March.

[Vzike]

As promised, more photos. Engine is running, but has a carb issue that needs to be resolved. Still has a few wiring issues, and I'll need to put 50 miles on it and change out the fluids, but this project is getting close. Almost ready to put on the road. We're close to getting it titled.






I plan to drive it up to the Mt Dora MVPA show in March. We may drive both this one and the Encore. Going out for a celebratory rum! Now I'm eyeballing an M37.

[lpcoating]

Looks great!

[csmith]

Very nice indeed! Love the sand color. What tires are you running? looking for a set of non military for my driver and they look just right.

[halftracknut]

Very nice...

[Vzike]

The tires are Cooper Discovery A/T3. I put them on my Encore over a year ago, and they are great. We drove it from the West Palm Beach, Florida area to Key West over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was about 250 miles one way. The tires performed very nicely in the rain we got on the way down, and on the Interstate. We cruised at 55 or 60. I'm very happy with them. In Special Operations, we had the option to move away from standard military tires. These are similar to the ones we used. Wider, better tread, and more stable.

For the 77 MUTT, I'm using the same tires, but putting the white lettering on the inside. I plan to put a cover on the spare.

[Vzike]

Yesterday was the test drive. I got it all buttoned up, and we worked out the carb issue, but still had a problem. Poured some water on the intake manifold, and the engine immediately bogged down. That had to be an intake manifold leak. We fixed those gaskets and got the engine running smooth.

Just before I backed it out, the water pump starts leaking very badly. It was a brand new water pump from AutoZone. It had a military core (875XXXX part number on the casting). I cannot get another one until Tuesday, but had the old one I pulled off it, and a rebuild kit I picked up off eBay last year. I rebuilt it and put the MUTT back together. Took it off the lift and backed it out. The pump is still dripping, so I may put another one in when it comes in.
The parking brake seems to be rubbing hard, even backed all the way out. I need to figure that out.

Drove it around the block a few times. Ran through the gears and checked out the transfer case. Put about a mile on it and brought it back in. The parking brake was smoking. The new engine paint was smelling a bit, but it ran very well.

I still have some electric issues. The only gage that is working is the alternator gage. Put in 4 gallons of fuel, but no registration on the gage. Reversed the wires on it, and it pegged. Temperature gage stays on 100 no matter how long the engine sits or runs. Pressure gage doesn't move. So, I have some work to do there.

The lights also have me scratching my head. The headlights come on when the service lights are turned on. The flashers do not work.

Any suggestions on the gage or lighting issue will be appreciated. Is there a trick to the e Brake?

Here is the proof:

[Horst]

the brake band needs to be correctly positioned with the alignment screws. Only them will make the brake band be round and not touch the brake drum. When you simply back it out all the way it still can touch the drum and it will not work when the brake is applied.

I would guess that you have grounding issues with all the fresh paint. Make sure that everything which needs to be grounded has good metal-to-metal contact and a star washer in between.

[rickf]

Lets start with the water pump, make sure the pump casting is not interfering with the top bolt of the timing cover. Very common problem. All you have to do is grind some off of the pump for clearance for the bolt and it will seal against the block. Pouring water on the intake will find the leak but it will also wreak havoc with the red hot stainless exhaust manifold! Better to use carb cleaner and spray around the intake. Emergency brake has two adjusting screws, one on either side plus the main band adjusting screw. It is way to much to explain how to go through all of that here but those two screws are the key, read the manual on that one. Four gallons in a 17 gallon tank are not going to register on the gauge, you will need to put about ten gallons in and see what it says, these gauges are notorious for being wrong. Check to make sure that the tank is grounded at at least one of the mounting clamps.
PRESSURE GAUGE!!!! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PRESSURE! THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE BEFORE DRIVING THE VEHICLE!!! Get a mechanical gauge and screw it into the hole by the oil filter, do that before doing anymore running of the engine.
Check the ground on the gauge panel to make sure it is connected and clean, I will run a separate ground wire with clips from the battery ground to the back of the panel to make sure I have a good ground for testing. I do this whenever a ground issue is suspected.

[Fil Bonica]

Looks to me it may be not worth fixing.
I'll take it offyour hands so you wont have to fuss with it!!!

Fil Bonica