My $120 CJ7 build

With the wife taking most of our money for Christmas, I decided to do some more test fitting, and planning. Stuff that doesn't require new parts. I put one of the front fenders on to check how centered the front axle is. Not bad, plus still no weight on it... I think I will spring for new ones though. the rust damage on the sides is pretty bad.

I noticed a bulge in the inner fender right where the shocks went, and there is room in the pocket for the Super Duty shock towers to go in the stock position. In fact, they have to to avoid inner fender mods.

I lined up the shock with my new tabs, and noticed something. The spring plates have a nice mount where the stock shocks went. I bolted up the sway bar to see where it lined up. It's inline, but pointing the wrong direction.

I went to the other side and flipped the plate around. Bingo. I can use the factory sway bar. I'll get longer, adjustable, quick disconnect links to make the fit right, and allow for better trail riding. I can't flip the other side because of the way it bolts to the pumpkin. I'll get that mount cut off the plate, and welded back on pointing the other way.

I can also keep the stock bump stops, if they have something to hit. I got the spring plates from the CJ5 the drivetrain came out of. If I hog out the holes a bit, and cut one of them in half, I'll have two nice bump stop plates. Rather than bump right off the axles, now they will bump off these plates. It should be just high enough to make up for the difference in tires. I'll be running 35s. Recycle baby...

 

I dropped off the front right spring plate at the welder to have him cut off and turn around that shock bracket, that will now be my sway bar link mount.

I also dropped off the fuel tank at another shop (they have a huge brake) to have a skidplate bent up to match.

When I got home it was just too nice a day not to spend some time on the Jeep, so I headed for the garage to tinker for a bit. I found some stuff out. The fenders on both the green CJ5, and the brown CJ7 were all rusty.



I was hoping to save them since the rust is all in the same spot on all four... the flat side piece. However, I happened on a almost new set for sale on facebook the other day. I had to drive 2 hrs to get them, but I got both for $150. Not a dent or scratch on them. Of course I had to test fit them.





This is when I fount out that my replacement tub (a 1976) is a bit different. There is no place to mount the top fender brace. I'll have to drill a hole for a bolt when the time comes.



Next I decided to open the box to the tire carrier that goes on the bumper. Sadly I couldn't put it on the spindle. Apparently they sized the bushings just perfect, but now I have the spindle painted. I'll have to get some sand paper and take off the paint. While I was in the back of the tub, I decided to fit up my Army truck tail lights. Had to drill some new holes, and slightly enlarge two existing ones, but they will work just fine.

 

I got to thinking... 1980 frame, '76 tub, '77 CJ5 fenders, '79 CJ5 windshield, Dodge truck drivetrain, YJ springs, Ford Super Duty shock towers, Army truck lights... I think it has to be named Frankenstein.

 

Got the spring plate back from the machine shop the other day. They wanted to get the bracket off in good shape so they ended up digging into the plate a bit to get the factory weld off, but they filled it all back in. Once turned around, they burned in in place and all is well.

Home, and on to test the fit... everything lines up just fine. I'll be using the factory sway bar with my Dodge truck Dana 44... God likes me.

About an hr ago, I got a call from the other machine shop. The fuel tank skid plate is done. They had called me and warned me that it would be much more expensive to do it in one piece. The guy asked If I was ok with a welded two piece one, and I OK'd it. I also went with 3/16ths rather than 1/4, not only to save some $ but some weight.

This is a lot more confidence inspiring than a naked aluminium fuel tank.

I'm wondering now if I should maybe paint the inside of the skid plate with underliner to help cushion between the surfaces. Anyone think there would be a problem with the tank rubbing on the skid plate. Should I have made then contour it so closely to the tank? I will put a couple washers between them to space it down, but nothing I can do about the sides. I had to have the mounting tabs match. I wouldn't think there'd be a problem. Lots of tanks are mounted with straps, but those are so tight there is no movement...

 

The challenging sway bar mount was solved successfully I'm leaning towards more "impact" space between the skid and fuel tank. Any chance on adding more flange material on top and bending the skid wider to get a bit more impact space on the sides? What was the plan to secure the tank...straps?

 

No straps. As you can see I had it built with bends in the top that match the tabs on the tank. All I have to do is drill holes, to match, then mount it together with the tank. I replaced the tank's carriage bolts with Grade 8 bolts welded to the frame. If I widened the skid plate, the top rail would go inward, rather than outward. That would mean I couldn't reach up from the bottom to bolt it in, as I'd be going "through" the skid plate. An impact may bend the skid plate inward, and the tank may bend with it, but it won't puncture. It can be repaired. The idea is not to be stuck on the trail...not to be completely IED proof. It's not gonna be an MRAP. I'm also building a general purpose rig for overlanding, not a rock bouncer.

 

Since the tank is aluminum I think the underliner could be a good choice to minimize rubbing, rattles, rust etc when everything is bolted together. The washers will give some "impact" space on the bottom where it's most likely needed.

 

Also thinking maybe some strips of an old innertube.

 

That looks great. I think you'll be hard pressed to put a dent in that.

 

It's been a busy time with my family due to my mother-in-law having a serious bout with pneumonia. We've spent a lot of time traveling back, and forth to the hospital, and now the rehab center. Top that off with very cold weather (today it was 20 below zero) and nothing is getting done on the Jeep.

However, I did hear from my transmission guy yesterday. It seems that whoever rebuilt the trans the last time didn't put some thrust washer in it and the main shaft bounced back, and forth inside and pretty much ruined the whole damn thing. It was mushroomed on the end, and he couldn't get the planetary off. Some of the clutches were welded together... He was questioning the fact that I was driving it before I took it out of the Jeep. Long story short, I'm looking at $1,400 or so to rebuilt it. Pretty much the entire thing other than the case, and the valve body is toast.

So I'm gonna have to look around junkyards for a good core. I'm also thinking about changing plans to a small block Chevy/700R4 swap if one can be found.

It would be easier to find an LS these days, but that's more money, and more electronics. I'm not rolling in money, and not great at electronics, but I'm considering it. The parts availability and good mileage and power would be nice. At least there is good aftermarket support.

 

I bet you can find a late 80s - 90s chevy truck with TBi and tranny with cpm and all at the yards pretty cheap. your issue will be the length of the tranny and making it all fit. the rear axle wiil have to be pushed back. I installed the th350 (shorter than the 700r4) in my cj7 and extended the rear axle 2in. I still only had an 18in driveshaft. 1200 sounds like a lot. if you pulled it and took it to him that would be $500 off. $700 sounds more reasonable, but still a lot here in Houston. The parts are easy to find on ebay, and there is a Pro trans guy on youtube that has great videos of how to build trannys. The older 3sp autos look to be pretty simple. Maybe you want to take a stab at it yourself. You look capable. I was going to rebuild my th350 that I put into my CJ7 and I told my tranny guy this. He said he'd do it for $300 if I gave him my rebuild kit. That was a no brainer. So I still don't have the experience of doing one myself, but again the old 3spd autos look pretty simple. when getting into the ODs it starts getting into less than straight forward steps.

Check this guys videos out and there are many others on youtube. . . https://www.youtube.com/user/hiramgutierrez/videos

 

I may look at some youtube videos and see how complicated it looks.

 

Wowww. Awesome progress. I'm really liking this thread and following your build @daddyusmaximus . Lookin good.

 

Well, it has been forever since I have been able to get anything done on the Jeep. Being a cripple makes life interesting. I have a lot of issues, and my left shoulder has been a big one since last spring. The VA has been dancing around the issue with shots, physical therapy, and the like, but I go under the knife on the 2nd. Lefts see if if gets fixed.
My mother-in-law was very sick since right after Christmas. Bronchitis, then Pneumonia, and finally Congestive Heat Failure. We buried her a week ago today. This left us in a cash bind with the wife being off work taking care of her.
Of course it had to be during this time that our furnace caught fire. We've been heating with a propane powered Mr Buddy, and a Kerosene heater, and a couple electric ones. Our $5,000 deductible insurance doesn't help any...
So... The transmission guy called me a while back, and said there were some big problems. Just because I was driving the '79 CJ5 around prior to tearing it down doesn't mean it was gonna be an easy refresh. Well, I had told him that I wanted it to be 100% so that once it goes in this time, it won't have to come out again...
First thing is he couldn't get the dang thing apart. The output shaft was mushroomed on the end and he couldn't get the planetary and front drum off. There was supposed to be some kind of thrust washer there that was missing.
The pump was scored, as was one other part. (I forget)
I ended up buying a core trans at a junk yard for parts. The output shaft was harder to find. Had to go to Ebay for that. Turns out my "Dodge truck" TF 727 is actually out of an old International. Apparently IH put Mopar stuff in some of their trucks back in the day. This also means there will be no changing over to the Dana 300.
The Dana 20 was gone through, and there were some problems here as well. One of the shift rails was boogered up. I had a spare Dana 20 and a rail was swapped out. One of the shafts was scored from bad roller bearings, but the spare case shaft was also bad so had to buy one. Then I had to get a repair sleeve for the front output yoke on the T-case. There was a groove from the seal on the old one, and my spare T-case is a Jeep model. The IH one is 26 spline, and the Jeep is 10 spline, so I couldn't use that yoke.
He ended up using the core case, as my original case also has 3 different size bolts in the pan from past owners messing things up... It's much cleaner so that will make painting it easier. The interlock pills have been taken out of the t-case so I'll be able to use my twin stick cable shifter. I have both the short IH and the longer Dodge shifter, and kickdown arms for the trans, so I should be able to get whatever shifter I find to work.
Here they are as I picked them up.

A cripple needs the cherry picker to unload when he's all by himself...

For now, I'll just set the unit on a dolly and roll it out of the way.

After I get all healed up from my surgery, I hope to get the engine cleaned up. Then I can mate the power pack together, paint it, get the motor mounts, and trans mounts put in, and have it all sitting in the frame.
Right now I have to hurry up and build a golf hole for Barstool golf for the VFW. I started on that tonight. It's Jeep themed as well, but no photos til it's done.

 

Probably should have got this a year ago when I started this odyssey, but I finally picked up one of these.

Not sure how much it will help seeing as how there won't be much "Jeep" left in the thing by the time I get her done...

 

Good reference manual for the CJ that hasn't changed too much from '49-'86

 

Sorry to hear bout your issues and such, and the loss of your Mom in Law. You seem to be making some progress dispite them.
Best of luck with your surgery next month.

 

It's 58 out, and sunny... Perfect day to display my rather ordinary rattle can skills on the fuel tank and skidplate. Straight flat surfaces help.
This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen. Spring was going to come, and the VA was going to schedule my shoulder surgery (on the 2nd) so as to coincide my recovery with the nice weather... After all, we can't have me doing work on my Jeep now can we?



I did get finished with the Jeep related barstool golf hole at my VFW. Of course, as the Commander, I'll be there Saturday for the event. As a matter of fact, I'll be keeping score of the teams as they file through. I put it away soon as I finished it, because we have a fish fry Fri night, but I'll get photos of it Sat.

 

Eureka! The fuel tank and skidplate are in. That may seem like a relatively small milestone to the experienced builder, but to a first time novice like me, I'm very happy. This thing gave me fits today... I started on it myself, but warned my son (home on spring break) I may need some help once I get to the point of lifting it up, as it will swing around on the cherry picker.

First off, my idea of putting some rubber between the aluminum fuel tank, and the steel skidplate didn't work out too well. The machine shop followed my instructions all too well. I had told them make it to follow the lines of the tank. They did, but it fit so closely, I was worried about it rubbing. Enter the pieces of truck inner tube.

Perfect for cushion. Also perfect for spreading out the skidplate just far enough so the holes no longer matched up... They weren't elongated like those in the tank. I ended up taking them out and just putting one in the bottom.
As if that wasn't enough, my test fit was with the tank only. It has individual tabs. The skidplate is bent with one long tab. That means the straps I was using to lift it with the cherry picker were hitting the last crossmember... She wouldn't go up into place. I had to lower it and re-strap it sideways.

At this point, I told my son this whole mess has pretty much been trial, and error. I've had to repair vehicles before. I've modified them before a bit, but this is the first time I've ever been so bold as to attempt to build one from the frame up.
OK, So it's re-strapped, an up in place. Still won't go. Guess what? Those one piece tabs again. This time on the front edge of the tank. I wasn't thinking about how the crossmember turns down at the outside edges. I just told them to build it that way because it would be more simple. (less expensive)

OK, kid (he's 22) hand me the big grinder with the cut off wheel... He wanted to do it in place, and I almost let him, but the dad got the better of me, and we took it back down. Last thing I need was the wheel getting tweeked and exploding a month or two before he graduates college. He was never interested in learning before, as he was a band kid in high school, and plus I was gone a lot on deployments, so we did this the right way.
Took a long notch out of the passenger side and a tiny one out of the driver side.

Here's where it got bad. After we got that fixed I went arount to the rear to tighten up those, and you guessed it... the one piece tab again. However, it was just w tiny bit where the bumper connects to the rear crossmember, and there would be no having to reach over the rear axle, so I broke my own rule and did it in place. Yes I did a "Do as I say, not as I do." dad thing... Just took like 20 seconds to nip off the corner.

However... It's in.

Probably be the last thing I get to do for a month or two as my shoulder surgery is Tuesday, but I'll probably be trying to tinker a bit on one thing or another... I just hope it works so I can get to fixin' stuff once I'm healed.

 

Looks awesome @daddyusmaximus . Good place to leave off at while recovering from your nip and tuck. Lollll.
Good luck with that by the way...