The quest for vintage jeep parts.......

In a world of wild technology, with the ability to access the internet and communicate with anyone in this world, anywhere, from your couch, you'd think you would be able to go down to the local auto parts and purchase something as simple as a axle seal. But that isn't the case. Within the last 10 months i have been steadily fixing up my '65 jeep j-200 gladiator that i got for $590 on eBay. Its largely original with only a few modifications. It has a 230 ohc six, a T-90 3-speed, a dana 20 t-case and dana 44s front and rear with 4.27 gears.


I had an interesting experience about four months ago. When I was driving down a trail on our property, I got stuck, then ran out of gas. So I went to our garage and got some gas, put it in, and I backed out of the hole I was stuck in. Then I started going down my driveway and the truck began to steer to the left despite my steering to the right. So I look out my side window and the drivers side tire is compleatlly flopped out to the left, then upon further inspection I find that the drivers side steer arm was not attached to the knuckle anymore. It had sheered the four studs off on the top of the knuckle. If you havn't figured it out yet, it still has the factory closed knuckle 44. Not exactly the best diff. to wheel with. So I tried to drive it back to the garage with no avail. But the wheel would track with the truck when I backed up, so I had to back it to the garage. Then I looked at it closer and three of the steer arm studs were rusted where they had broken off and only one was shiny. So that means that I had been driving around with only one stud holding the steer arm on that side. Note to anyone running a closed knuckle axle, with the amount of leverage put on these studs, it makes sense that you should routinely tighten them up so you don't end up stranded on some remote trail in the middle of absolute nowhere. Because if there loose, they'll break off the first time it has any stress on it.

So knowing next to nothing about closed knuckle axles we tear it down all the way to the knuckle and proceed to find out that my axle seal is bad because it had gear oil in the axle tube. So I assume that the other side is in the same condition. Then we proceed to tear down the other side and not to my surprise the seal was leaking just as much. After that we go to the local orilley auto parts, expecting to at most have to order it. We get there and the guy behind the counter said, "how may I hep you?" I said, "I need a axle seal". Then after 3 or 4 questions about my jeep his computer says to look in the book. So he gets out his book and starts looking, he finds one and says he will order it and it will be here in 3 days. I also ordered parts for the breaks and new bearings. I tried to look up new knuckle seals, but they didn't have any. So I had to call a local vintage jeep parts place and order them there. This is on a Saturday and I can only pick up the seals on weekends so I will have to pick it up next sat. Then i return to my garage and clean up the inside of the axle tubes and some other parts.

The next week we go back to oreillys and get the seals, we return home and try to install them. They fit in the axle housing but I tried it on the axle shaft and there loose enough to seep oil. So I try that vintage jeep place that I ordered the knuckle seals from and he says that he can get them. The only issue is that they are about 80mi. from my house so I'll have to have them shipped here. So there goes another week that I can't drive this thing. Fast foward to the next weekend. I get the seals and they are around 1/8 in. to big on the axle shafts. I call the guy and he says that he will ship different ones to me. One more week goes by. If you've lost count thats three weeks allready passed by. The following Fri. I get the seals and they have to large diameter to fit in the axle tubes. I call the guy and he says that he can't get any more seals. Because I cannot find any other seals, even on the internet, I end up putting the seals from oreillys in even though they arn't very tight. It ended up taking another two weeks to acquire all the parts and complete the job. You'd think it would be relatively simple to get axle seals for a dana 44, one of the most common axles. But its not . Its very frustrating to have to deal with this parts chasing just to complete a simple job. I suppose some of the complications are a result of my choice of vehicle, but lately auto parts houses don't even stock the most common of parts. Its getting ridicules how hard it is to get them. I think the parts houses should stock a wide variety of parts extending further than GM, Ford and Dodge. But I will push on and deal with the parts chasing, with my oddball jeep. I suppose this concludes my rant session this time but I think that my opinion is shared by many jeepers and automotive enthusiasts in general. Heres a list of everything i replaced during my six week project .


new brakes:

shoes
springs
wheel cylinders
brake hose (i had to combine two hoses on one side because they were to short)

knuckle berrings
knuckle seals
both inner axle seals
both hub seals
one axle bushing
four new steer arm "studs"
five new wheel studs on drivers side

Total cost aprox. $250


The Jeeper