GPW axle horrorshow

[JGBallew]

Customer brought in his "new" jeep for some inspection and other work.
Found the following when I got under it.

Someone welded (badly) the steering arm to the knuckle housing.
That "bolt" I'm holding was dropped in the hole, and is actually an oil pan drain plug.

there's other serious issues, but this was a jaw dropper.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Bubba strikes again! Its amazing what some people will do.

 

[JGBallew]

Sad, cause he just bought this jeep, and now has to throw a ton of money at it.

Cosmetically it looks nice, but it's far more "show" than go.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Is a GPW steering knuckle hard to find/expensive?

 

[JGBallew]

Is a GPW steering knuckle hard to find/expensive?

both sides are welded, so considering the other issues, he might be better off finding a serviceable/rebuilt front axle assembly.

I'm betting that once I get into that front axle, there'll be a lot more wrong.

 

[bazookajoe]

If you need another gpw front axle I have two GPW's that I am parting out

 

[rchalmers3]

That's standard practice down here in the jungle, but the drop in bolt is definitely over the top and the waste of a good bolt.

If the original problem is that the steering arm mounting threads are pulled out of the knuckles, then smoothing off the bubba welds and repairing them with new thread inserts will certainly be the ticket. No need for big ticket items...... yet!

Rick

 

[quickfarms]

The welds look broken

 

[JGBallew]

Sorry for the slow reply, had a death in the family, then blew out my "good" knee.

I'm planning on lining up a serviceable axle, (Thanks for the offer Bazookajoe, I'll keep you in mind!) then tearing into the one on the vehicle to asess the damage. What I'm expecting is more of the same chicanery, but inside.

Yes, one weld is broken, one is "sound", (considering it looks like a typical "Chickenturd" done by someone abusing a stickwelder) so best case, I dress the gobs off, and rethread the studwells.

There is a lot that is just not right with this jeep, but considering it was used by a movie rental business, having it work for the camera took precedence over having it be right.