Link covers similarity of Willys and Roxor

aurthuritis

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collie
something you should know that all old jeep fellas already know is to keep an eye on the front spring shackles. they are mounted on the front of the spring instead of the rear as most other vehicles are and when they get worn or break you get a very dangerous stability problem that 9 out of 10 ends up with the jeep upside down. it isn't a big deal and they are very easy to check for play and even easy to fix.
 

aurthuritis

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since these roxor are basically a cj3b then another similarity is that if you get it in a bind you will either twist a rear axle shaft or more likely spin the axle in the hub. this was a good design intended to protect the much more expensive and hard to replace ring gear and pinion. so you might get a spare set of rear axles for when it happens and probably a hub. and when it does happen just slip it in 4wd and drive home with front wheel drive. you don't even need to jack it up to fix, just pull the floating axle and address the issue. a long skinny powerful magnet will really help get the stubby out of the housing. better check the parts book to make sure that roxor hasn't added a snap ring to the axle end but i bet they didn't.
 

California

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since these roxor are basically a cj3b then another similarity is that if you get it in a bind you will either twist a rear axle shaft or more likely spin the axle in the hub. this was a good design intended to protect the much more expensive and hard to replace ring gear and pinion.
Oh man that reminded me of my adventures with mid-50's Willys Wagons that I each owned a single year. Those were originally mostly sold to forestry crews etc, so at 20 years old they were pretty thrashed. I decided the first one simply wasn't safe on the road. A severe side angle could lift the body off its rusted mounts on the high side, and I shook the radiator loose on a dirt road into Bodie, a mining ghost town a couple hundred miles from home. I always made it home but after a while I realized every hour in 4wd cost me an hour of repairs.

I replace that one with one sold by a body shop that looked a lot better, and had the A/C and Ford 292 V8 from a Ford Galaxy 500 transferred into it. With the huge torque and low gears, and over drive, it would go up freeway grades full speed without even breathing hard. But ... on one adventure with friends aboard, I almost didn't make it home. Climbing the bluff up a Jeep trail leaving a back road, I twisted a spiral crack in the Ford/Flathead/Chrysler/Jeep bell housing stack of adapters and lost most of the ability to disengage the clutch. Made it home! But it took forever to find a replacement Ford Y-block to Jeep bell housing. Repaired and sold that one. Years later when I spoke to a subsequent owner he said the Warn overdrive's internal gears had stripped from the torque after awhile.

After that I bought a Navy Surplus Wagoneer that was indestructible, except its (unmodifed!) wiring was awful. Near killed me when I was tinkering with the dashboard lighting intensity on the headlight knob, and met a logging truck unexpectedly in a curve - and everything went black. I could still see by his lighting as he went by - but then nothing. I locked up the brakes and prayed I was still aimed in the right direction instead of over the bank into the creek. I drove that several more years but didn't trust it quite as much. I finally bought an Isuzu Trooper new and never hand any of those problems in 15 years.

Early jeeps are fun but I understand why some people trailer them in to where they are going to drive them ... ... its so they have a way to get home. :smile:
 

bordercollie

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California and Aurthuritis, Thats good to know. I hope I have better luck than that with mine. At least it's a simple machine to work on. I have noticed those shackles on the springs and hear some squeaking so will definitely check that out again..I need to find out the torque on them as I just tried a general tightening last week and they seemed very snug.
I see where the automatic transmission is now available at not far from $4000 extra ( the information I read about figured it) . I'm not much interested in it but would have been nice for coming to a rolling stop to use at gates and catch calves..Too late now ha.. Thanks ya'll. collie
 

California

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One point I've read about those front spring shackles: They are not a tow point!! Sure you can pull the shackle with a tow vehicle but the Jeep won't come along with it.
 

bordercollie

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Agreed California! I'm very glad I have the good bumper now .The oem basic Roxor front bumper is no thicker than a purlin.. very very thin and for practical purposes virtually worthless. Same thoughts for the rear thing called an oem basic back bumper. I can't believe they sell it that way . haha but I bought it like that and adapted it with my bils help. :) collie
 
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