Project HUM WEE started

[BrutalExJ]

Coming along good, kinda cool how you know what the numbers mean.

[4.3L XJ]

Thanks. Been messing around with these little guys for a long time an hanging around others who know also.

[4.3L XJ]

My son came down today to work on Junior. It was really hot today. I spent the day in my leathers welding up leaks on his aluminum gas tank and did not get them all yet. There were at least 30 pin holes. He got a new seal on an axle shaft and a set of brakes on one side. I tell you, we are both getting soft.



New seal and bearing pressed on the shaft



Nice shiny brakes. Notice they are genuine military double anchor. There is no hose on the back either. This diff is mounted solid to the frame so it is plumbed with a hard line and is upside down from most double anchor setups.

[ittray]

Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ

My son is coming this weekend and we are going to work on HUM WEE senior and junior. My granddaughter wants to drive junior. We need to clean the gas tanks on both. Senior has not had fresh gas in it for about 30 years and junior for about 2 years, maybe more. Anybody got any great ideas about how to get varnish out of the tank?

Check out the Eastwood Company. They have a gas tank treatment/sealer system I used on my chevelle. It worked really well. I haven't had any problems since.

[4.3L XJ]

Thanks. This tank has had electrolysis in it and developed lots of very small pin holes. I thought of pulling mine out and letting him use it and found mine was worse. Big surprise. I will probably seal mine and let him use it and then make a new one for mine.

[4.3L XJ]

Well, we got Hum Wee Junior running today

We had a problem with the gas tank. It leaked. We started looking for leaks and found 57 pin holes in the aluminum tank caused by electrolysis. So I converted the MIG over to aluminum and started welding. We kept finding more as we went and just couldn't get them all sealed. I kept filling it up with water and found that my water was so hard it plugged the holes with minerals and so we couldn't find them all and it eventually stopped. Filled it with gas and found it started leaking again. So we got some tank sealer and sealed it. We found three more holes where the tank sealer seeped through. Oh well.

So why not get a new tank? $800 for a new one. Here is the tank, sort of a unique little sucker.



It is only a ten gallon tank and has a place for a center frame member where the differential mounts as well as the military grade pintle hook capable of pulling just about anything the military put pintle hooks on.



The gas gauge sending unit was rusted into one position, so we got a new one and a gauge for it. Fortunately for us, it had a standard five hole mount common to all the early Jeeps.



All the old screws broke off, so I drilled and tapped new holes for the same size screws.
Got it mounted finally with lots of choice words from my son, I let him be underneath after all. Filled it up with gas and started easily and found the water pump we got rebuilt for a couple of six packs leaked like a sieve.



I took it apart and found he "rebuilt" it by putting a couple of sealed bearings in it instead of water pump bearings and a seal. So we started it up anyway and moved it around a little. We are on the hunt for a decently priced water pump now for a 57 Volvo.

Here is a couple of pics, one next to his YJ to show how small these little guys are.

[flawlesslydisturbed]

Hum Wee lookin awesome.

[4.3L XJ]

Just a quick update:

We got a new water pump for it and found the pulley was not on far enough. I put it in my press and the impeller shattered, so we have another one coming. We also found the Borg/Warner overdrive on it will not work in reverse. That is kind of inconvenient. So we will be removing it. I called my friend Mac, at Mac's Jeep Parts in Peoria, OR. I gave him the guts of my Mighty Mite many years ago. He still has my old rear drive line which he will ship down to me next week. I don't have real good pics of the overdrive, but here is a couple so you get the idea.

The back of the overdrive and stubby drive shaft.



Rear view of the overdrive.

[4.3L XJ]

We got HUM WEE running and drove on the highway today with it. It still needs some radiator work, but we got it figured out what we will do with it for that. O2 Subaru Outback radiator and dual electric fans fits almost perfectly. Here is a vid of some play in my field.

http://www.youtube.com/user/262XJ#p/u/0/X_cFysQRoXE

[jeepgod]

Awesome, now all you need is a hefty bumper and you could chase deer around and save bullets

[4.3L XJ]

It has one. Custom made for the winch

[XJPioneer]

Sir I would love to own that

[4.3L XJ]

Spent some quality time with HUM WEE today. Decided to start making up the new rear axel for it. I am using the Toyota 8". That might not seem like much to those who advocate D60s or go home, but in a rig that weighs less than 2,000# that is a D60.

I started with an old 4WD housing I had laying around. HUM WEE has true fully independent suspension, which I will retain since that is what it makes it perform so well. So you can't just go bolting straight axels into it. I needed to cut it down to make the shortest Toy axel in history. Just 13" wide. I started with this jig to hold the axel housing that I made out of scrap once upon a time.



I then put in the saw



And made it a little shorter



I have this alignment device I had machined up to fit a Toy 8" third member





Then this disc fits into the bearing receptacle on the outer axle bearing flange





Then the flange will fit something like this.



I gave it up for the night since the housing was too hot to handle and the welder was not set up for steel yet. So this will be continued later.

[4.3L XJ]

Just a little update: HUM WEE Jr went home to Grass Valley. It is now an official grocery getter, since it has gone to get the groceries. It has had the exhaust system repaired so it is quiet now. Paul says it goes much faster without the muffler. He is currently looking for five aluminum 5 on 5.5 wheels for some 10.5X31 TSLs. When he gets them we will post pics and take it wheeling.

[rob-xj]

awsome mite, seen one a very long time ago. lil thing moves like hell.