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Brody
June 18th, 2011, 09:29 AM
Chris brought me this CJ5 which had all the basic good stuff, but needed a bit of TLC. I took care of a lot of the TLC issues in round #1. Chris is on his way to his father in law's house today for the tune up stuff that I did a token "get it running better" adjustment on.

Keep in mind that a lot of the frame repair work is all going to get redone when the frame gets stretched this coming winter. New spring hangers are going to be used all the way around in addition to new springs. Other wise, I would have cut off and either built or bought new hangers and welded them up nicely..:D

Here is the list of stuff that got taken care of on round one:

June, 2011
WORK PERFORMED TO DATE:
Rock Rails/Sliders : Due to damaged pinch weld on the body, which was where the outer portion of the sliders was going to attach, an additional plate was needed along the body line from fender well to fender well for this mounting point. This further strengthened the entire lower body for this section.
Swing Down Tire Carrier
Clipped and boxed front bumper
Re Welded all spring hanger mounts front and rear (8 total). There was a lot of spring perch to frame rust so the welds didn't come out "pretty". They are strong, though.
Replaced all spring and shackle bushings front and rear. The picture of the bushings in the rear pretty much shows the state of all the bushings. They all had to be burnt and chiseled out.

Installed front differential breather hose
Replaced rear axle U joint
Replaced rear axle U joint-again….See end notes about axle suggestions
Bent gas pedal lever for better control
Heated and bent gear shift lever for better access
Added access panel to rear deck plate
Pressure washed entire engine compartment and undercarriage
Re welded broken front frame cross member brace and welded in a ¼”x2x2” angle for additional support. The frame had to be clamped together as it had started to twist due to broken welds on the original frame brace.

Re Welded front bull bar
Added ¼” plating for all roll bar through mounts and mounted them with four 3/8” bolts per mounting point (three points per side). Suggestion is to tie these in to the frame with tubing for more strength. Original roll cage was mounted in with three 3/8" bolts and one 5/16" bolt per side. Now it is mounted with 24 3/8' bolts that sandwich through 1/4" plate.

Removed old seat mounts, made new steel mounts for Ranger seats
Mounted new seats. This required cutting out the rear horizontal roll bar tube, welding in new side tubes and relocating the horizontal tube farther back, cutting out the bed sides and floor board to accommodate the new seat dimensions and replacing the cut out panels with new sheet metal.
Repaired the power steering hoses and bled the power steering. Added new low pressure line.
Cut the spring perches rear axle and rotated the axle to align the drive shaft angle. Re welded the spring perches. Added additional shims as necessary to fine tune angle.
Added ¼” steel spring perch plate to accommodate moving the rear axle rearward 1 1/2
Adjusted carb-partial. Needs fine tuning. I just did this by ear and the timing is a little off.
Adjusted clutch-partial. Needs fine tuning. Possibly a combination of a lighter spring and adjusting
Installed new aftermarket air intake to clear throttle linkage on carb. Stock air cleaner was touching the accelerator pump lever and forcing it down as the cleaner was tightened.
Installed new aftermarket oil breather as the stock one didn’t work with the new aftermarket air cleaner.

Installed new hood hold downs.
Removed two leaves from rear spring pack to soften ride quality. Cut off two spring clamps to also help.
Removed two leafs from front spring pack. Cut secondary leaf down to 5” for spacer and reinstalled.
Replaced both damaged/leaking brake hard lines on rear axle. Bled brakes.
Added 4 quarts of heavy duty oil to differentials, transfer case, and transmission.
Tightened all under carriage bolts, almost all of which were loose. This included transmission mounts, motor mounts, transfer case bolts, transmission bolts, etc.
Cleaned up and rerouted all plug wires and hoses in the engine compartment, adding grommets where necessary for firewall passages.
Replaced leaking exhaust manifold gaskets.
Cut off and re welded exhaust pipe ends due to slider location.
Replaced clogged fuel filter, removed old electric fuel pump (also clogged), rerouted gas line from rear of vehicle to engine bay.
Added ¼” steel plate for rear spring hanger bracing back to bumper for additional support.
Fabricated mounts and installed Hi Lift jack.
Added front tow points
Added rear tow points
Modified rear tow points to accommodate ¾” shackles.
Repaired old electric fuel pump to use as back up pump (not re installed)
Installed used after market seat covers.
Replaced passenger side exhaust hanger
Replaced all grease zerk fittings
Greased entire undercarriage
Reduced tire pressure down to 25psi for street use. Re check using chalk mark across tire or paint.
Rebuilt clutch mechanical lever

Brody
June 18th, 2011, 09:33 AM
More photos:

Brad
June 18th, 2011, 10:26 PM
Amazing work!! Well done! :thumb:

Heather
June 18th, 2011, 10:41 PM
:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: Can't thank you enough, Pete! He is a new, much improved Beast!

4finger
June 18th, 2011, 10:49 PM
yeah i guess its ok............... if you like work thats done right.:lmao:

hey pete-
the work you did on the rear well, is that so he can add bigger tires/ get more flex? or just to get rid of a rusty spot????

4finger
June 18th, 2011, 10:53 PM
:thumb:

its lookin good guys!!
the wheel base on jeeps are what freaks me out. but then again my truck has a large lift and big tires and i feel like im about to roll just turning in an intersection.

mattzj98
June 18th, 2011, 11:31 PM
That's an awesome cj5. Where's that tire carrier from? :confused:

Rob
June 18th, 2011, 11:58 PM
Where's that tire carrier from?

I believe that's a Brody original.

mattzj98
June 19th, 2011, 12:03 AM
It looks really good. I wish I had one

Mporter
June 19th, 2011, 05:01 AM
It looks really good. I wish I had one

Hit up Pete, he'll work with ya and probably have it done in a day.

Brody
June 19th, 2011, 06:38 AM
Thanks!

The cutting out behind the seats of the floor board and wheel well was simply to get some seat room going on. The way it was originally, with the racing seats and mounts, you could steer the wheel with your teeth. The seats were also set up high enough so that Chris was clocking his head on the roll bar every bump.

In order for the new seats (Ranger seats from Sean (1freaky1) to fit and be able to move back, that big chunk had to be removed as well as the horizontal bar directly behind the seat. I added two side tubes to the roll bar and moved the horizontal bar back and that plus the additional room allowed the new seats to fit. Next in line is going to be shortening the steering column about 6-8", but at least now Chris can actually sit in it with something approaching ergonomics...

Not going to worry about bigger tires until after the frame stretch.

The tire carrier was a lot more fun to design and make than making the seats work....:D

It looks really good. I wish I had one

I have a 98 Grand Cherokee as my DD. I'll take a look and see what can be done along the same lines. You have a receiver hitch?

tonkatoy
June 19th, 2011, 07:32 PM
looking good

mattzj98
June 19th, 2011, 08:50 PM
I do have a receiver hitch but might be getting a bumper so that one is gonna go. the new bumper will have one too though. i just dont like the tire carriers that come on those bumpers. id rather have one like yours
:thumb:

MelloYello
June 20th, 2011, 03:48 PM
Top notch work! Looks solid.

Aaron
June 20th, 2011, 04:39 PM
Lookin good Pete!

Aaron
June 20th, 2011, 04:39 PM
And Chris!

Brody
July 7th, 2011, 06:58 AM
Nice! Looks sweet!

If you managed to do this and still have all your fingers and both your eyeballs, then you must have done something right!

I almost did the same thing when I had Frank the other day, but it took too long to unass the clutch linkage, rebuild the whole thing and get it working right...

Now for the front fenders....

Brody
July 7th, 2011, 06:51 PM
Probably go 8" on the front and 10" on the rear. There isn't too much room to work with on the axle, so the springs may fall right in line with the frame, but just be flexier junkyarded 1/2 ton off a Ford van or Dakota. At some point it may get coils and links, but the main thing to do first is to get it stretched cheaply and junkyard springs do that. Rear hangers are going to be at the end of the frame points, pretty much like both yours and mine are now. Front hangers are going to probably be right at the ends of the extended rails in the front, too.

Extending the front solves the steering wheel in the nose issue as the box will just get shuffled forward.

For the front fenders, just mark the line of the existing fender well over the tire and carry that all the way around to the front part where it meets the grill/mount. That way there is enough top/front/flat plate that we can use that for tube fenders down the road. We will just run the tubing right under the fender and cut the remaining fender so that it is flat, then stitch it to the tube.

Stephen
July 8th, 2011, 10:25 AM
Nice work guys!

Michael4rnr
July 8th, 2011, 07:49 PM
Looks really good.

Brody
July 8th, 2011, 08:18 PM
Thanks for the pictures! looks good!

Brody
July 18th, 2011, 05:02 PM
Thanks Joe!

The rear springs are 1 1/2". Since we are already going to be redoing the springs to a flexy 2-2.5" the hangers are already going to have to be replaced.

HAHA on the traction bar. The PO did a decent one for one side, which I put back on as a substitute for not having a double cardan and dropping a leaf out of the rear pack. I mentioned to Chris that we need to do a centered anti wrap bar/trac bar (at least centered enough so that it affects more than one side, which the PO's one does), along with the double cardan drive shaft.

At any rate, we are holding off on the springs for a bit. I have sourced a set of Wranglers, I think, which should work well for the front or rear and am planning doing some $15 per spring flexy 1/2 ton junkyard units for the others...or all four if we have to. This will suffice until funds are available for a coil/link set up down the road and the expense of these springs isn't going to be a big hit.

Brody
July 18th, 2011, 05:58 PM
Thanks, man! We both appreciate it! Right now it is getting the $$ for the double cardan and the broken Dana 44 u joint. In other words, getting Frank functional again. I have most of the pieces for a trac bar from one I took off of my heap (I decided I didn't need mine after installing the 4 leaf Chevy springs and cutting the back off the overloads. Works sweet as an anti wrap bar) except one heim joint (we can rob that from the existing set up), some 1/4 wall tube, and an axle bracket.

Heather
July 18th, 2011, 09:14 PM
I guess that's the shitty thing about having a wife that wants to drive all the time

Really? REALLY? Bite me.

Beefy
July 18th, 2011, 09:24 PM
Really? REALLY? Bite me.

:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

Brody
July 19th, 2011, 06:27 AM
Oooops.....Chis be gonna walk fo awhile.....

Java
July 20th, 2011, 08:04 AM
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're a brave man, or just recently married... :lmao:

Brody
July 20th, 2011, 08:14 AM
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're a brave man, or just recently married...

He has been married for quite a number of years. Draw your own conclusions, but I wouldn't have used the word "Brave"....:D

Hypoid
August 28th, 2011, 01:52 AM
Sooooooooooooo, what's the story with them-thar axle shafts???

Brody
August 28th, 2011, 06:38 AM
The front axle seems to be out of a Scrambler. Yokes were hashed, and the guy you suggested at 4 To Go is going to check with some buddies to see what they may have lying around. we will hear back from them on Monday.

I should say that we "think' that the axle is out of a Scrambler. The width is right and the Scrambler pads fit the front discs...

Heather
August 28th, 2011, 08:10 AM
Huh. I missed the earlier portion of this thread. I have other ways of keeping him in check. Like, for example, last night I tried to give him a black eye.

Gotta say, Ollie at 4 to Go is pretty cool. He sat in my lap moments after we met. What a sweetheart!

Hoping for a quick and relatively inexpensive fix for Frank. Sure would be nice to have him out of the immediate area of our home sometime during what's left of this summer/season...

Brody
August 28th, 2011, 08:34 AM
You can usually run trails all the way up mid November without encountering too much snow, so there is still plenty of time. It is also not unusual to completely hash the axle yokes when a u joint breaks, but we were hoping for the best....

Hypoid
August 28th, 2011, 07:01 PM
I was at the N. Denver U-pull today, spied this '76 in the "premium" section.

Good news: They don't let every bonehead and his brother, touch these vehicles. That improves the chances of finding your parts in an unmolested condition.

Bad news: The "premium" section likely comes with a price.

They were closing the place when I took these pics. I didn't go back and ask about pricing. I'd think about buying the entire axle assembly. I've found that buying a few parts off an axle, cost nearly as much as buying the whole thing.

Brody
August 28th, 2011, 08:29 PM
Used to be $125 drum to drum or $150 disc to disc. Pretty much what I spent on spare axles for my Cherokee when I had it.

Robert B
August 28th, 2011, 08:35 PM
i think that pricing is still fairly close close brody my dad got a dana 44 rear for about that much so unless they have drastically changed in the last 2-3 years...:erm:

mattzj98
August 28th, 2011, 08:44 PM
i picked up a 30 for 450 bucks..

Fordguy77
August 28th, 2011, 09:05 PM
I was at the N. Denver U-pull today, spied this '76 in the "premium" section.

Good news: They don't let every bonehead and his brother, touch these vehicles. That improves the chances of finding your parts in an unmolested condition.

Bad news: The "premium" section likely comes with a price.

They were closing the place when I took these pics. I didn't go back and ask about pricing. I'd think about buying the entire axle assembly. I've found that buying a few parts off an axle, cost nearly as much as buying the whole thing.

Theres a premium section??? haha wow i never knew.

Brody
August 28th, 2011, 09:08 PM
Theres a premium section??? haha wow i never knew.

You are not alone. Now I am going to have to find out where it is and see if I have to dress better to pull parts. Mike looked all nice and clean when I saw him. Never would have guessed that those were his parts pulling clothes..

Hypoid
September 2nd, 2011, 10:55 PM
Got everything back together and talked him into starting. We then went for a stroll through the neighborhood....think he might be ready to stretch his legs a little. Guess we'll see Monday huh!
Sooooooooooooo, what did it take to get him off the stands? Where did you find new shafts?

Beefy
September 2nd, 2011, 10:58 PM
Wow, totally different from a couple weeks ago! Looking good Chris!! Can't wait to see it out on the trails!!

Beefy
October 23rd, 2011, 08:42 PM
Saweet!!

Stephen
October 23rd, 2011, 09:48 PM
Nice! I cannot go on runs with you! If my kid sees that paint, he'll never quit bugging me until I repaint mine! :D

Stephen
October 23rd, 2011, 09:57 PM
The digital camp pattern on the grill was a pain. It's actually 4 different colors. The hood is getting the same treatment, as well as the dash. It should look pretty cool, or at least different when finished. I say do yours

Right now I'm thinking tan or green, but I wanna wait 'til it's ten years old or so.