The %^!$@! Shackle Bushing Outer Shells

The shackle bushings consist of two concentric metal cylinders with rubber between them.  The inner shell and the rubber comes out easily, but the outer shell seems like it's welded into the frame hanger.  Here's a picture (the offending piece is the thin ring around the hole):

This has to come out or the new bushings won't fit.  After scouring the forums and getting through this myself, here's what seems to work best: Using a hacksaw, cut through the shell at two locations on opposite sides, and then use a chisel and hammer to push the two half-shells out.  If it doesn't come out with a few taps, it's probably because you didn't cut all the way through the shell -- even through it seems like you are sawing straight, the ends seem to cut faster than the middle.

Here's a bad way I found to do:  Use a 7/8-in step bit to clear a little bit of the shell on one end, and then a 7/8-in hole saw to drill the shell the rest of the way out.  It feels great to end that sucker with a power tool, but the problem is the resulting hole ends up a little larger than 7/8-in, probably because it is impossible to hold the drill exactly on-center during the excavation. So, I now have one shackle bushing which fits, but does not fit snug; it has a little play in it.  It seems OK otherwise, but in retrospect I would rather not have done this. 

Repairing an Upper Rear Shock Mount

In my Nov 19, 2011, I reported that I managed to damaged the passenger-side upper shock mount.  The part of the mount containing the threads came off with the nut.  This has turned out to be remarkably easy to fix.  Rather than replacing the entire mount, I ground down the broken (thread-bearing) part smooth, then drilled and tapped a hole for a new 3/8-16 bolt.

Rear axle freed

Finished dismantling the passenger side rear leaf spring assembly today, so now the rear axle is completely separated from the car.  For a change, no bolts were broken today -- instead I broke my breaker bar!  The hinge fell apart.  It's a Craftsman so we'll see if they still replace broken tools...

Things to Know if You're New to Early CJ5's

• The tire lug nuts are NOT "lefty-loosey" on the drivers side.  To loosen, it's CLOCKWISE on the driver's side, and counter-clockwise on the passenger side.  Good thing the PO mentioned this when I bought it or I would have surely broken a stud.
• The lid to the oil filter compartment leaks unless it is torqued down very tight.  When I first changed the oil filter and fired up the engine, oil went everywhere (of course it was in the garage at the time, so 2 hours to clean up that mess).  I thought I must have twisted the gasket, but no, it was perfectly seated, and the contact between the lid and cannister seems OK.  The only thing that seemed to stem the flow from underneath the lid seemed to be just to keep tightening.  Given the number of bolts I've already broken on this thing, this makes me really nervous, but I see no alternative.  Next time I have it off I must remember to measure the torque that does the trick. 

Silly Stuff: Shock Color

The suspension rebuild kit came with white-colored shocks.  This didn't really bother me until I held one in place and realized how awful white was going to look after a coating of road crud.  So I painted them with yellow Rustoleum.  This looks a lot better against the green body and black undercarriage. 

Suspension Rebuild Kit

Here's the suspension rebuild kit I am using:
Quadratec Master Suspension Rebuild Kit
Surprisingly, I received it 3 days after I ordered it.  Not surprisingly, one of the eight U-bolt assemblies is wrong, and one of the shocks was delivered short a bushing insert.  Contacted Quadratec customer service using the email method, and they responded the next day that they had "issued a warranty for these items and this will ship directly from the manufacture", which was 6 days ago.  So apparently 200 lbs of parts takes 3 days to deliver, whereas 1 lbs of parts takes at least twice as long (the original shipment was also direct from the vendor, which appears to be Rugged Ridge).  Not really holding anything up at the moment though.

Here's a picture of the parts I've removed from the driver's side rear compared to the replacement parts:

It's probably a bit hard to see from the picture, but the original leaf spring bushings (still in the leaf springs) had turned into a crusty deformed sludge and were not supporting any weight, so these connections were basically metal against metal.
 
The kit does not include replacement clip plates, so I guess I will try to clean up the rear driver's side plate (shown) and will have to buy a replacement for the rear passenger side clip plate (which has the broken shock mount).

Suspension Tear-Down, Part 1

Starting the tear-down for the suspension rebuild.  Here's what the driver's side rear looks like before:

And here's what it looks like after removing everything except the axle:

It was a 3-1/2 hour PITA to get this far with hand tools.  Every single nut was corroded and frozen.  I hit everything with PB Blaster once a day for a week before starting, but I don't think it made much difference.  I broke the front pivot bolt and one of the U-bolts for the driver's side rear leaf spring -- neither is a big deal since they will be replaced.  However, I also broke the upper shock mount on the rear passenger side:

Note the shock mount is one piece welded to the frame, so this poses a problem.  I think I'm going to try grinding it smooth and then tap what's left of the mount to accommodate a new retaining bolt.   

"There, I Fixed It!"

I spent most of the day poking around underneath, where I knew most of the problems would be.  The frame still look good -- rust-free and straight as far as I can tell.  The body tub on the other hand is is badly rusted and has had crude repairs which should probably be fixed, but nothing that can't wait.  The worst thing I found was this (see picture) -- apparently someone broke the lower mount bolt on the passenger side rear last time the shock absorber was replaced.  Instead of replacing the shock mount / clip plate assembly, they just wrapped some wire around the shock and the leaf spring to keep it from walking off what was left of the shock mount.  It's obviously been there for a long time, because the wire was so badly corroded I was able to break it by prying with a screwdriver.   No big deal since I was planning on rebuilding the suspension anyway.