TECH TIPS
M38 MATTERS
Q: I wear out the pages reading your Tech Tips. I’m a small-time Jeeper since the 1950s, mostly CJ-2s, M38s and M38Als. Question about my M38: when I back up, the brakes lock. Pull forward and it’s OK. I put brakes on it three or four years ago. Before I pull the brake drums I wanted to hear from you. My transmission shifts OK, except sometimes it’s hard to get it from 4-wheel drive back into 2-wheel drive. If I stop and go into reverse with a little clutch movement, it slips into 2-wheel drive and away I go. I broke down in Prescott, Arizona a few years back with my M38 ... naturally at 5:30 p.m. at a stoplight. The jeep had no spark. After a couple of days checking and rechecking and wearing out all the Irish bloopers I knew, a friend of mine suggested it was the capacitor in the distributor: All-knowing me said they never break down. I had to eat those words! Also, my M38 has never had a working instrument cluster.
Keep on writing the good stuff.
— R.L. White
A: Thank you for your kind words about Tech Tips. In regard to your question about the brakes locking when you back up your M38, first, are you sure it’s the brakes? There are cases where the main shaft in the transmission becomes loose, either because of badly worn bearings
