Lets take things chronologically here.
Monday:
I did take the day off as Dawn noted in entry 86. The windshield frame had
a chance to soak in WD40 all day Sunday and I was able to persuade the two
halves to part without breaking the good glass on the driver's side. I did
have some trouble with the sealant, said clear on the tube, came out white,
ultimately did dry clear though. Re-assembled, re-masked, and re-painted
the windshield and set it aside to dry.
I put the front bench seat in next, four bolts, easy enough.
Tailgate was next on the list. First I had to put the latch mechanisms
back in. These shouldn't have been difficult, but the hardware was in
rough shape and had to be cleaned up more. The tailgate itself entailed
six bolts, a little harder to reach, but no real trouble. Issues came up
when I brought it up to latch. I had MIG'd up a crack on the top inside
center of the gate. Thinking it had fatigued at that point I drew the
crack together by putting tension on the outer edges, in effect increasing
the curve of the gate. Unfortunately I had put too much curve into it and
the top gate would hit the lower gate before it could latch. So I pulled
out the skill saw with the metal blade and "un-welded" it. Then I let the
gate down and braced the center on a 2x4. Dawn and I sat on the edge of
the gate to bend it back to the correct curve. The cut will need to be
patched, but it was inside and didn't show, so I left it for now.
Tail lights went into the brackets and I played with the wiring for a
while. Also put the head light bulbs in. Worked on interior trim pieces
some more, giving up on the idea of having the rear windows and winding
mechanisms in before the parade.
I put the middle seat in with some help from my daughter, Emily.
Deryk came by again to help put the windshield in but we decided adhesive
was needed to help the windshield molding stay put. We made a auto parts
store run and applied the adhesive, leaving it overnight to set up.
Deryk and I trouble shot the tail lights, finding we had a bad ground for
one housing. I worked on the wiring after Deryk left, finally finding I
had swapped a lead at the fire wall junction block, and the brake light
switch was bad, AND the tail light housing wasn't getting a good ground! I
resolved everything but the bad brake light switch and went to bed.
Tuesday:
Dawn helped me put the windshield in. I put the passenger side front floor
plate in. I topped off all the fluids, radiator, differentials,
transmission, transfer case, changed the oil, and the brake fluid.
Then is was time for the test drive. I hooked the battery up, climbed
across to the driver's seat and put the key in, and then realized I didn't
have a steering wheel! Back out, found the wheel, stuck it back on and
hand tightened the retaining nut. Off I went. My double clutching skills
were rusty, but I got it to the gas satiation and filled it up. I find I
need to add fuel slowly or it backs up... anyone else have this
problem? Any solutions? Took a long time to fill.
Once I had a tank of gas the ride began in earnest. I found open road and
brought it up to 45 MPH where I encountered a front end shimmy. I pushed
through to a little over 50 and found things smoothed out, but if I hit any
sort of bump it would shimmy badly so I stayed under 45. Plenty of power
available from the engine though... could have maintained 55 easily enough
if the front end wasn't hopping.
It sure has a rougher ride than the M37! Maybe my knee shocks need to be
overhauled, or maybe that's just the way it is. Overall I was happy with
it though. I ran it long enough to let the engine get good and warm, make
sure the oil pressure was good and the radiator could keep up. The
transfer case leaked pretty good, but nothing was found to stop me from
taking it to the parade the next day!
I worked on trim again until Deryk and his son Brice came by to help with
painting stars. They knocked them out quick using photo copies from "The
All American Wonder" jeep book and contact paper to mask with. I put the
horn button in and finished up the passenger side interior trim. Then we
went to mount the spare and found I was missing a the plate that goes on
the tower to hold the spare in place. We cut a piece of angle iron to fit,
got creative to make a big enough hole in it to fit over the carrier stud,
buffed the edges, painted it OD and got that spare mounted! Deryk and
Brice left after that to put finishing touches on his Command Car "Baby"
and I worked on my short list.
Mounted the water can holder on the drive's side running board. Added
water can, straps, and water bag.
Found two more bolts for the spare tire tower (it was only held by two and
should have been four).
Put a second battery in the battery box just in case.
Painted and mounted the windshield wiper access covers
Mounted the glove box door
Put the tool box and stepping stool in the back.
Cleaned the windows
Put the Armor All in with some rags so I could hit the tires the next day
before the parade.
Called it a night.
Wednesday:
I don't have time to give a full account of the fourth, but it went
well. We had two WWII jeeps, a WC52 Weapons Carrier, Deryk's WC56 Command
Car, My WC53 and Sandy's post war Navy Power Wagon. The Pearl Harbor
Survivors were great, everyone who needed a seat could find one. My kids
were well behaved, and the truck ran fine. The water pump leak came back
though, but not bad enough to be a real concern.
I took the truck home after a luncheon with the Pearl Harbor Survivors. I
had the fuel filter load up and had to stop and clean it. I kept having
fuel supply problems until it occurred to me that the secondary filter may
need cleaning too. Sure enough it was dirty too and I had no trouble after
I cleaned it out.
Still have windows and crank mechanisms to put in. Need a new stop light
switch. New seals for the transfer case. New water pump in. Hood
numbers, etc. But I made it!
Thanks again everyone!
Chris Davis
MVPA# 20000
Lake Forest, CA
'42 WC53 Carryall
'66 M274A2 Mule
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