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Day 2: Patterson Arrives in Pasco

July 22, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Alaska Or Rust Trip, Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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<– Day 1: July 21, Alaska Or Rust Has Begun | Day 3: July 23,  Alaska Updates  –>

UPDATE: To clarify this post, I’d been spending several weeks getting Patterson ready for the trip. Like everyone else, I had to deal with last minute issues, like my front hubs getting too warm. Here’s my efforts to pull our 1956 DJ-3A from Seattle to Pasco, Washington, where we would officially start our leg of the trip with Brazilians Hugo and Fernando Vidal.

Original Post July 22, 2017: Well, folks, we are one step closer to Alaska; I successfully pulled Patterson over to Pasco yesterday. Normally, the drive takes just over three hours. However, I took the scenic, slow route, with some stops along the way to adjust my front wheel bearings. Apparently, I tightened them too tight (I thought I had left some play, but I guess not enough). I suspected this when I finished installing them on Friday, which is why I made a decision to bring along my hub puller.

About 10 minutes into my journey I pulled over and felt both front hubs. They didn’t feel hot. Then, I got stuck in stop-and-go traffic for about an hour heading eastbound on I90 (for those that know the area … from Tiger Mountain on Highway 18 all the way to the first big curve on I90 east of North Bend).

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Traffic was awful!

I climbed the pass on Interstate 90, then pulled off at Snoqualmie and felt the hubs. They were hot to the touch. So, I loosened the bolts, let them cool, and had some delicious BBQ at Webbs. We’ve eaten there twice and everything that we’ve tried — pulled pork, brisket, sausage, potatoes, coleslaw and corner bread — have been excellent and surprisingly affordable!

2017-07-21-snoqualmie-passThere are worse places to hangout and eat.

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Everything was delicious!

The hubs were still feeling hot by the time I reached Indian John Hill east of Cle Elum. So, I readjusted them again. About that time, a father and his sons walked up and asked about the jeep, so I had them sign the right fender.

After Ellensburg, I took the Ellensburg-Selah Canyon Road (not sure what the name is offhand) and stopped to feel the hubs again. Loosening the bolt wasn’t working, so I retrieved my tools and worked on the driver’s hub.

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Nice evening and view for working on the hubs. This passenger side hub was particularly difficult.

It wasn’t easy, but I finally got one stubborn hub to give. The second hub (passenger side) was more difficult and, after breaking an older torque wrench (it was already in bad shape) I decided to leave the nut a little loose AND try some rougher back roads. It took several hours at 30-40 mph, but finally the bearing was pushed out a little. After that, I was able to up my speed to 60 mph without any heat buildup.

I made it back to Pasco about midnight feeling victorious!

<– Day 1: July 21, Alaska Or Rust Has Begun | Day 3: July 23,  Alaska Updates  –>

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Day 1: Alaska Or Rust Has Begun!

July 21, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Alaska Or Rust Trip, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Day 2: July 22, Patterson Arrives in Pasco –>

UPDATE: The following series of posts details the Alaska Or Rust crew’s adventures (view crew and jeeps here), starting with our separate trips to Dawson Creek, BC, Canada, the official start of the Alaska Or Rust adventure (see overview and why we did the trip here).

There were 11 jeeps and 25 people that headed to the starting line. Our goal was for everyone to meet in Dawson Creek on July 27th, 2017. 

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After centuries of planning, or maybe it just feels that way, the first intrepid jeepers are on their way. Scott Gilbert, Rick Pacholski, and Bob Christy are leaving Cincinnati, Ohio, in Scott’s wagon, bound for Paris, Illinois.

Meanwhile, Bill Reiss is about ready to leave Pennsylvania in his updated former Dually Trencher CJ-5 and custom trailer.:

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Merlin and Britt will be leaving soon in their WWII Willys MB, now that his tow rig has a new tranny (these things have to come at the worst time!), along with Joe and Emily in their CJ-3B.

Hugo and Fernando Vidal are flying out late tonight and will be arriving in Portland early Saturday morning. They’ll be driving up to Seattle to pick up their Wrangler (thanks to Jeep’s parent company FCA) and then driving to meet us in Pasco. We plan to leave on the 24th. However, the western fires in British Columbia have led to change our route north slightly.

Day 2 – July 22, Patterson Arrives in Pasco –>

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Wagon Photo from the Grunwald Center

July 21, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Steve passed along this interesting photo of Willys wagon printed in a Summer 2017 periodical. The text seems to be unrelated to the photo and offers not information about it.

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Brake Cleaning & Axle Swap

July 20, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I spent a long time in the garage and now it’s the wee hours of the morning, so just a few posts today. This isn’t much of a post, but you get the idea …

I pulled the brakes and wheel cylinders off the front. The front wheel cylinders were full of crud, but the cylinders themselves, along with the rubber, were still in good shape, so I honed the cylinders, cleaned the parts, and reassembled them.

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Since I have everything apart, I decided to installed a different axle. It’s clean and I’m not sure it’s every been used.

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1956 Photo of Jack Moore

July 19, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Jack’s son-in-law David Watson shared this photo of Jack when he was Staff Sergeant Jack L. Moore, USAF, pulling guard duty with his M-38 jeep, M-1 carbine and .45 pistol. The photo was taken at Aviano Air Base, Italy, circa 1956. Jack was a member of the 614th Fighter Squadron, a F-84 unit, at the time. Jack’s not 85 and doing well!

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To(w) Hell & Back

July 17, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Patterson looks ready for the big tow to Eastern Washington.

Claiming that Sunday was “Tow Hell” day might be a slight exaggeration, but I wouldn’t call it a winning day either. Let’s recap the last couple days as I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to photograph some of it.

I finally got the jeep running well on Friday after determining there was an air leak in a short piece of hose (let air in, but did not let gas out). I then timed it by ear and feel, rather than diagnostics, and that seemed to do the trick. On Saturday, I built a tow setup that utilized existing holes in the front bumper. I wanted some thing strong, but didn’t want to drill into the bumper.

Once the tow setup was ready, I turned to the exhaust. I’d already had Ann go to a muffler shop to replicate the 1.5″, 7′ section of tailpipe I needed (thankfully I had an original end section leftover from one of the DJs to use as a template). I combined the tail pipe with a Walker muffler I bought off Amazon and some Oreilly’s clamps and assembled the exhaust with relative ease.

I thought we were ready to head for Pasco on Sunday morning.

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The early DJ-3As has an exhaust that pretty much was straight. The only bends needed were 1) the bend on the front piece from the manifold down to the cross member, 2) the exhaust piece has to bend over the rear axle, and 3) the exhaust bends to the outside past the gas tank (not pictured). (1955 DJ-3A manual). Good luck finding a shop that had this series of bends in their shop manuals or computer!

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For comparison, this is the more likely setup that you’ll find at a muffler shop (if they have anything this old). It’s a more typical setup for 2As, 3As, 3Bs, etc. This doesn’t work for the DJ, because the muffler is positioned where the rear gas tank is installed.

We spent the first part of Sunday morning cleaning up the garage. It was a bit of a mess! Once that was done, we hooked up Patterson and began slowly towing him. We didn’t make it through the first intersection of my parent’s quiet neighborhood before I realized that the jeep wasn’t tracking around the corner. When I turned slowly right, it began to turn slowly left, forcing me to hit the brakes.

What the hell? I’ve towed a number of vehicles and never, ever run into this type of trouble.

We carefully tried a couple more corners and each was the same. The jeep began to turn the opposite way. I’d have to hop out and correct Patterson’s direction. After a trip around the block, we arrived at my parent’s house once more.

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Testing the tracking at a very slow pace.

I pulled out my googler, but couldn’t find anyone having a similar problem. I concluded the drag link/ross box was somehow interfering with the jeep from tracking properly. I did read were “Dr. Verne” (aka Verne Simmons) would remove his drag link to tow it, but my custom radiator made that strategy near impossible without disassembly of multiple items. I was just about ready to remove the drag link when I decided, on a lark, to unscrew the control screw(could be the wrong name for this) on the Ross box. My assumption was that this would loosen the Ross mechanism, freeing the drag link to spin the steering wheel more easily.

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Me trying to work through the steering problem.

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1946 Photo Camping Out For Jeeps

July 16, 2017 • CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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This June 1946 photo depicts two soldiers looking to buy a surplus  jeeps.

“Original press photo from June 1946 depicts veterans waiting in line at the war assets administration building to purchase one of the 1500 used jeeps that went on sale.”

View all the information on eBay

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