I’m in a race against time. In early April, I have to drive a World War II Jeep from LA to Moab, Utah. The only issue? Right now, all I have is a collection of many hundreds of excellent Jeep parts purchased from eBay; putting those parts together could take a normal person a lifetime. I have less than two months. In order to attempt to achieve this feat, I have flown in my friend and Autopian contributor Laurence Rogers. Here’s how things are going so far.
The year was 2022, and The Autopian was just getting its start. Jason Torchinsky and I had written a ton of articles, discovered and edited talented new writers, and done our very best to welcome the most amazing readership to the site. But I felt The Autopian needed a spark — something different. So I impulse-bought an impossibly broken 1969 Chrysler Valiant Ute all the way in Australia, with the aim of fixing it up to drive it to the Deni Ute Muster — the biggest ute show in the world.
What happened over there in Australia still boggles my mind. For three straight weeks, Laurence and I worked endlessly in his garage (or “shed,” as Australians call it), abandoning the original vehicle in favor of its parts car, which, unlike the vehicle I had flown to Australia to fix, actually had some body structure left to work with. We managed to get the ute through Australia’s rather strict inspection process, and then to the Ute Muster just in the nick of time. It was truly epic.
Can lighting strike twice?
That’s the question I’m hoping to answer by flying my all-star wrenching buddy Laurence out to LA (prices were dirt cheap from Sydney). I need a ton of help getting this Jeep going; I know that, if I can’t get this brand new, eBay-purchased engine running this month, I’m not leaving myself enough time to do everything else. And “everything else” is a lot. Here’s an abbreviated list of things that need to happen in the new few weeks:
- Rebuild transfer case
- Finish rebuilding engine. Install engine with transmission and transfer case
- Replace driveshaft U-joints; install driveshafts
- Rebuild steering box
- Install all brakes — master cylinder, brake lines, slave cylinders, etc.
- Install new steering drag link/tie rods
- Install body tub onto frame
- Install cooling system
- Install fuel system
- Install entire electrical system
- Go through the axles
- Replace steering kingpins and possibly wheel bearings
And on and on. It’s a ton of work, and it’s not a lot of time.
In truth, though, this project is quite a bit harder than Project Cactus, and any other project I’ve ever taken on. Whereas before I was just trying to rig something up, this time around I’m trying to build something new. I’m not just taking parts off, replacing what doesn’t work, and putting it all back together. Instead, I’m sourcing every single part, making sure all of these parts — which come from India, France, the Philippines, the UK, USA, Britain, and on and on — actually fit, and I’m having to rebuild and tune everything so it’s all in excellent shape. This is not a $500 junker build: This is going to be a $50,000+ new Jeep.
And while the timeline, and, frankly, my abilities, are going to constrain this build in certain ways (in other words, this thing isn’t going to be a concours build), I do need to make sure that I take no shortcuts on the brand new ~$8000 engine. I have to make sure that that shiny new motor sends power to a freshly rebuilt transmission and transfer case. I have to make sure my axles are in good order, I have to make sure my brand new frame has a freshly rebuilt steering box attached to it, I have to make sure my brakes are perfect, and on and on.
The vehicle isn’t going to look like a shiny new WWII Jeep — I anticipate it having lots of different-colored parts on it, and the body will likely be in primer-red by the time I (hopefully) start the trip — but it’s going to be a new WWII Jeep nonetheless. It will be a combination of hundreds and hundreds of parts, all carefully assembled by a regular dad in his backyard with the help of some friends.
That brings me to Laurence:
Hi, It’s Laurence!
Two full days in America and it’s been great so far. The weather has been rather warm (~24C), great for getting on the spanners and a good bit cooler than the summer heat when I left home (40C plus).
“We went to the Grand National Roadster Show on the Sunday. Crowds seemed a bit light but there was a great variety of cars and it was pretty amazing to see the ‘Deuce Coupe’ from the Beach Boys album cover after a total restoration. I finally got to see my first Corvair sedan (a couple in Dubbo have a Rampside and a Greenbrier which are super cool) and I’d totally love one if I had the space!
We went to In and Out Burgers, DT tells me the stand we went to is one of the oldest still around. The burgers were pretty damn good; sadly the fries I could not say the same. Fortunately I brought a jar of Chicken Salt as a gift for Dave and his wife. This livened up the fries! David has been trying Chicken Salt on everything these past two days, most have been a success but I won’t forget the look of instant regret when he tried some on a slice of fresh apple!
The Comanche is a damn fine ute, and if circumstances where different in the ’90s I think they would have garnered a following in Australia for sure. More tray space and comfort than a Landcruiser ute and 4×4 which the Falcon and Commodore utes didn’t have (excepting that limited run of XY Falcon utes in the early 70s).
I met Griffin today, cool bloke and went for a run in his sick Corvette to my first proper Mexican restaurant for some awesome tacos. I also saw a squirrel for the first time on David’s fence, this one was a big fella and nearly the size of a cat!
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We’re making some steady progress on the Jeep. The transfer case has been a mission, it’s really one of the most complicated parts of the whole vehicle so it’s taking some time to make sure it is absolutely correct before we mate up the gearbox and then the rest of the driveline.
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Day 3, we got the transfer case mated to the gearbox and sorted out the park brake which is a pretty wild contraption with a drum and a band that attaches to the back of the transfer case. Real 1940s stuff, it took the workshop manuals plus videos on Youtube from India and a couple other locations to work it all out
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We went to the grocery store and picked up some stuff so I could make the fellas some sausage sangas. Just a sausage, onion, bread and sauce, they are really simple and commonly available out the front of Bunnings from a community group for fund-raising or outside the voting booths on election day back home. The secret is to go for the cheapest ingredients, if you get too fancy it’s not the same.
Had some Funyons and Takis Fuego, I enjoyed both. We get some US snacks back home but haven’t had these. There was a servo (gas station) in the Outback that used to randomly stock a bunch of stuff which my wife Bek used to buy when she worked at a mine out that way.
Hey, It’s David Again
So, a couple of days in, and we have a rebuilt transfer case mated to a rebuilt transmission, and the park brake mechanism is all sorted out. I’d like to give a shoutout to YouTuber Redeye_Garage for this instructional video:
I like to mix paper repair manuals with YouTube videos when I fix things, and the above video was really straightforward. Honestly, repairing this transfer case, while a little time-consuming given the level of precision required, wasn’t really that hard. It helped that the gears in the transfer case I bought from an eBay seller up in Washington ended up being in excellent shape after Laurence cleaned them up:
Rebuilding the case basically just involved hammering off/on some bearings/seals, installing thrust washers and snap rings, and basically just making sure all the gears are in the right position and spinning on some bearings.
The most complex part was just checking the endplay of the output shaft.
This process involved placing a dial indicator on the case, placing the plunger on the output shaft, and then wiggling the shaft in and out to see how much it moved. I adjusted that movement (called the endplay) by changing how many thin metal shims were between the green bearing retainer casting you see in the image below and the main housing. A thicker shim-stack means that casting isn’t squeezing the bearing as hard, so there’s more end-play. Fewer shims means the bearing is squeezed harder, so there’s less.
I determined the right number of shims to reach the endplay spec specified in the U.S. Army service manual, I sprayed all the shims with copper gasket spray to prevent leaks between the shims, and boom — I was done.
Well, Laurence and I weren’t completely done with the transfer case. We still had to throw on the rather complicated park brake mechanism:
Laurence found a YouTube video, and the both of us found some photos, and this was enough to put the rear band brake/emergency brake together. It’s quite a cool contraption!
So Laurence’s first few days visiting yielded decent progress (and lots of fun; it’s been cool showing this excellent wrencher the ropes of flatfender Jeeps just like he showed me the ropes of Chrysler Valiant utes in Australia), but we’ve still got a brand new, France-casted motor to dive into. Hopefully it runs!
And that’s just the start. A running motor going through a good transmission and transfer case still requires a good set of axles, and mine seem to need new seals. I filled the front differential with oil, and within a day there was a huge pool under the pumpkin. Then there’s the cooling system, the fuel system, the gauges, the seats, the whole electrical system, the windshield, and on and on.
One step at a time, with the latter word being something I don’t have nearly enough of.
[Ed note: David mentioned the idea of building a brand new WWII Jeep to the team at eBay, and they loved the idea so much they said, “How can we help?” Their financial support and David’s Jeep-obsession are the fuel behind this crazy build. – MH]
I think this is so cool! Good luck with the build, David and Laurence!
I’ve eaten In-and-Out 2 times since being on the west coast now, and I’m not impressed. I fully agree with Laurence, the fries suck. Burgers are average. I did try the fancy sauce (they call it “Animal” style, I guess), and was also not impressed. Too much hype. Still won’t stop me from going again, though. I like average burgers too.
In-N-Out: Our burgers are average and our fries are an abomination. Have you tried the pink lemonade, though?
I haven’t bet against David Tracy and any of his Projects, and I’m not starting now.
Bonus, when the Jeep’s running, LA to Moab is a much shorter trip than Detroit to Moab.
“We went to In and Out Burgers, DT tells me the stand we went to is one of the oldest still around.”
Try Rubio’s for fish tacos. Preferably on a Tuesday after 2:30 when they’re cheapest. Make sure to load up at the salsa bar too.
“I also saw a squirrel for the first time on David’s fence, this one was a big fella and nearly the size of a cat!”
Keep an eye out for possums too. Like yours they’re nocturnal marsupials (our only native marsupial) but I think ours are even weirder, possibly Satanic. Their *junk* is forked and literally backwards. They have 13 nipples. They eat the dead. And they’re cute as Hell. Personally I love ’em. They also get cat sized.
But watch out for Black Widows. This time of year you might find them in a shed. I found a huge one in my garage a few days ago. They’re not aggressive but will bite if they feel the need and that’s just as unpleasant as your Redbacks.
“The secret is to go for the cheapest ingredients, if you get too fancy it’s not the same.”
Bar S and Wonderbread?
Damn! Mission accomplished!
Good luck with the build, I hope you’re well stocked with “Start Ya Bastard!” and “Shift Ya Bastard!”.
Welcome to America. ????
Edit: Ugh! Apparently emojis don’t work :/ What I was trying to say was
Welcome to America 🙂
Wow a WWII Jeep costs over $50k? That is a budget item I would have a hard time justifying. Just buy a comic book and order one from the back for $50.