I guess a 43-year-old CJ7 doesn't get much forum activity. My turn.

Howdy folks. I laid out much of my "priors" in my post in the introduction forum, so now I'll move over to this forum and play with my Jeep.

I've always love CJ's--who doesn't? Trouble is, CJ's were always for people a lot shorter than my lanky, 6-ft. frame. I just didn't fit. When CJ7's did finally come out in 76 I was nowhere near being a Jeep owner. I was into larger vehicles. I never had a close friend with a Jeep to goad me into ownership. Being retired now (and a lot less active than I'd like), things are different. I also don't like new things that much. Instead of a new or newish Jeep with no problems, I wanted something I could shed a little love and blood on. I'm like the Steve McQueen character in The Hunter: "Haven't you got anything older?"

We picked up a brown, 1981 CJ-7 a couple weeks back from a guy up north near Anacortes. Like most CJ7's that are not complete piles of rust, it was more money than I wanted to pay, but that didn't stop me. I liked what I saw. It had good bones. It also had a lot of stuff on it I didn't want, but hey--don't all used vehicles? We gotta make 'em our own! My skills at old vehicle archeology (especially old motorcycles) has provided me with enough skills at things like welding and rusty fastener removal that I'm ready to take on a Jeep. I don't know if I'm a glutton for punishment or what, but I drove this one almost 175 miles home, white-knuckled occasionally thanks to rush hour Seattle/Everett traffic and bad brakes. It drove fairly well, and thanks to the 33" tires on it, it felt like I was in overdrive all the time. Too big of tires for that gearing! The steering was predictable, but still had quite a bit of free play slop in it. The power brakes were a nice, solid pedal that slowed you down a little but not much more. Luckily, I've always been a good following distance person. I got home fine, but needed a bong hit afterwards... whew. In retrospect, it looks like a person prior to the guy I bought it from did a lot of expensive upgrades and did them well, but the last owner was not a car guy. Mechanically, there were a lot of things wrong--a lot--all normal maintenance items that were not done and allowed to accumulate. I think the last guy probably hoped to have a bunch repairs done until he was quoted a shop's estimate to do it all. Likely way more than it was worth to him, he put it up for sale. It's running a (supposedly) rebuilt 258 with a Clifford 6=8 intake/headers setup into two-into-one exhaust, Holley 390cfm 4-barrel, and D.U.I. HEI distributor with Livewire plug wires. It runs great, sounds good (almost V8-ish), and has good power. Non-engine items that were added (likely by that same savvy guy that had the engine upgrades done), were the Mile Marker 10,900 hydraulic winch, the new top, windshield, seats, tires/wheels, 4" Skyjacker lift, 4" shackles, 1.5" body lift, heavy tie rods, steering box bracing, quick-disconnects on the sway bar, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting.

The body lift removal is already underway (coinciding with running all the brake lines), the wheels and tires have been sold and replaced with smaller ones (I've got nothing to prove), the shackles are coming off, and likely various other parts will be removed in the process. I'm hoping I may be able to not remove the whole lift kit, so I'll be going little-by-little and playing with tire clearances and my picky satisfaction (or not).

Here's what it looked like the day after I brought it home, with nothing touched yet. Stay tuned.

 

I still haven't taken the time to check my gear ratio, but let's just say it's got high speed gearing. From what I've gathered regarding CJ7's of the same vintage as mine, it likely has stock 2.73 gearsets in it. That might be a pretty good ratio if you drove on 21575R15 street tires, but for the 33" tires that were on the rig when we bought it, it was too much. The poor clutch is really subject to more finesse than it should be when taking off from a stop with that ratio.

As much as I liked the look, those mags and 33's had to go. (They sold quickly.) I spent quite a while looking and finally settled on a set of black steelies. At only 8 inches wide instead of the 10" wheels it had before, they fit a lot nicer within the fenderwells:



I was fortunate to still have the big set on hand when I got the new tires mounted up. Here's what the tires and wheel combos looked like side-by-side. Both height and width were more than I cared to deal with. Quite a difference. I'm sure the clutch with think, "Hey, every little bit helps..."

 

Why are wave washers so damn hard to find anymore? You'd think the vastness of the internet would provide us with ample choices throughout the world, but no. I ended up finding these NOS items on Ebay. Seems odd the only place you might find one is in a package of brake hardware, but even that's pretty iffy.

 

Those are known as Belleville washers. McMaster-Carr has a substantial listing of them.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/washers/belleville-spring-lock-washers/?s=bellview+washers

I have used those in numerous places on my CJ 3B. McMaster-Carr is a stellar vendor. Prompt shipping and in the 50 something years I have been a customer, they have never messed up a single order.

 

I have used McMaster-Carr quite a few times. Usually get it in the next day.

 

Good to know, thanks guys. I wonder if you don't see those washers much because they were always used as a "slop filler" or "low-tolerance fit fixer". With everything computer-designed with tight tolerances, they probably have little use for them any more. With old anal me, it seems like every time I put any sort of fastener together I'm analyzing the fit and function and heading to a bolt or washer box...

 

The places I utilize those are where you want movement available but no slop/rattles. Like shift linkages and recovery clevis mounts. Even if you did manage to create a zero slop fit on a lot of applications, they would not remain so with any wear.

 

I've managed to cob a little group of "best of" pictures for your enjoyment. Some aren't that unusual, but others make you wonder... I know there will be more--it's old after all!

This was the driver's side axle u-joint. Those multi-length needle bearings all came out of one cup. The others were rusty airspace.




The passenger side was quite a bit better. Sorta. All the cups had bearings in them, and two even had grease!




I'm starting to think someone drove this Jeep with only one side in the water a lot... Hershey's anyone?




The other rear was from a desert climate. Rock solid--would not budge.




This wasn't the main feed line, but still...




Then there's the self-grounding parking light...




The clutch linkage rod was on its last legs. Both ends were almost a match.




Speaking of self-grounding, this dampener was apparently looking for a good connection too.

 

Way back in ancient history, probably in 1973, I was piloting my 55 CJ3B home from a job in Hot Sulphur Springs, CO to Ft Collins and the clutch linkage had worn like that at popped off at a stoplight in downtown Boulder. I turned the Willys off until the light changed and started it in first gear. There was a lot of double clutching and a bit of gear grinding but a successful trip home. I removed that linkage, cut the worn ends off, threaded both ends and installed heim joints (McMaster-Carr items). A permanent end to the problem.

 

I guess if you didn’t have clutch linkage you would be doing a lot of shifting without the clutch correct?

 

Yep

 

I had a similar experience when I was a delivery driver. I drove a Volvo flat-nose with a short, 23-foot trailer all around the Seattle area. One morning I had just gotten to my very first stop, about an hour north of town. I stopped behind the store, opened my doors, and got in to back up when the clutch cable snapped. So, I could wait a couple hours (maybe) for a replacement tractor, or forge on. I opted to do the exact thing you did, MTGeezer, but with the Volvo diesel it was probably a little easier. I found it kind of fun, so I called in and told the dispatcher what I was doing and continued on. I finished the whole day that way! Coasting to a stop, shutting it off, putting it in gear, and waiting for a green light to hit the key again. The only hard thing was backing to the several loading docks I had during the day. It was kind of a "best guestimate" as to when to whip it into neutral when I was backing up to the dock. There were a couple hard hits, but none bad enough to worry about. Fun day!