83 CJ7 - 12 years of love and hate

[67tank]

Transmission - part three

I sold my Dana 30 last year to another CJ owner - seemed like a solid dude. He emailed me the other day and wanted to know if I wanted to join him and his off road club on a weekend trip up to the Rubicon in a couple of weeks. When I told him I had sheared my trans mount, again, he sent me the following link. http://www.civilianjeep.info/Transmission/TransTorqueArm01.gif for a CJ-5 with the stock V-8 and how the jeep engineers had put on the torque arm to dampen the rotational force on the trans/transfer case. Swapping out the straight 6 and manual trans with the small block Chevy/700R4 I had not considered adding the torque arm. May explain another sheared mount?



Second issue I am running into with the new transmission is that it has been running hot. When the trans was installed - We placed a trans cooler in the rear of the Jeep with a fan. I called Novak tech department and explained the issue. The tech I was speaking to is leaning on the idea that the cooler is not doing it's job. I am using a fin/tube design for the cooler and they recommended the stacked plate design. Additionally, they suggest moving the cooler in front of the engine radiator. I moved the trans cooler to the rear initially thinking that I was going to put an oil cooler up front.....
The old Bowtie transmission I had had the torque converter lock up in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th...preventing energy loss ie heat transfer to the trans. The new transmission did not come wired for that, going to make some changes.

Build, drive, break, repeat

 

[67tank]

Body Work


In 2008, I got up, got dressed for work and walked outside to my commute car and notice one of my garbage cans was against the front of my jeep. I usually garage my rig but had left it outside due to some project I was working on at the house. It was then that in noticed my boat trailer was poking through my fence. Pulled the can away to see my front fender smashed in. There was burnt rubber tracks on the street.....looked like some kids lost control of their car while backing up (I'm on a dead end) and popped up onto my driveway - pushing the trailer through the fence, and the can into the jeep's fender. I started to laugh. Couldn't get angry - my brother and I (especially my brother) did far worse when we were kids. And from the look of things - they probably did more damage to their car hitting a steel trailer.....
I cut away the damage on the fender, looked at the growing rust on the tub, and decided now was the time to upgrade the body. The tub I had picked up in Jersey was being held together by the liner the PO had coated over the East coast rust. A lifelong friend had a CJ tub (all California roads) that was perfect and he basically gave it to me.

You can see the cut away fender here


I picked up the first generation of steel fenders from Gen-Right. I like them but they are Heavy - wished I waited and went with the aluminium.



That winter I tore the jeep back down to the frame, took all the body parts to a powdercoater and had it all powdercoated Olive Drab (think the official name was Army Green). Was cheaper than having it painted.
During the sandblasting process, the few remaining body parts from the original Jeep were too rotted out to save. The only piece that has remained from the original Jeep is the tailgate.

 

[67tank]

Dash/gauges and center console

I needed to replace my original Jeep steel dash. Rust, holes that I didn't need and the decsion to move my guages to the roll bar at eye level. Heard a lot about Dan over at Double D Fab. This guy is fantastic. If you can think it, the man can build it -CJ/YJ/TJ I highly RECOMMEND Dan - http://www.doubledfab.com/ Notice the 2nd Armored Division patch for the speaker cutouts




I initially had a Tuff Box center console. Good product.


But I added rigid lights and a front locker and needed some switches. Wanted to upgrade. Went back to Dan and he made me the following.

 

[67tank]

axles



I started in 2002 with 4.10 gears. Ford 9 inch in the rear with a Detroit Locker and the stock Dana 30 with Warn chromoly axles in the front (no locker). As soon as I got the jeep across country I upgraded to 35 inch BFG MT's. Combo worked pretty well for the next 8 years or so. Just took it easy on the skinny pedal when I was off-road.

Last year my girlfriend bought me a Dana 44 with the OX Locker for the front. Pretty good girlfriend, huh? Since I had a stronger front, I went to 4.56 gears



Had to go with high steer knuckles. Couldn't get the tie rod past the D44 pumpkin.
The photos do not reflect the sway bar. I can run the sway bar on the hardball, but as soon as you take this rig onto the dirt you have to disconnect it. After the adventure on the Lost Coast Trail, I am taking the sway bar completely off. I also run a steering stabilizer, but am considering removing that. If I go to 37's, I will upgrade the steering.....

 

[bdp1978]

Man, I love your Jeep. Makes me miss my '89, it was setup very similar to yours......other than my square headlights. Of course if I had to jump in it for a trip now after owning a JKU for a couple years I may think differently!! But I still miss it!!!

Keep up the great pics and tech in this thread.

 

[Chris @ T&J Performance]

Im going to watch this thread like a hawk! Ive been wrenching on my 77 Cj7 that my dad bought new and then rebuilt in 89-90 and that was not the best vehicle to be driving a newborn (me) around in. So it sat for a few years and we would just take it out on camping trips and Sunday drives for a while. Then it sat for another 10 years till I got my license and I drove it to high school and then graduated and bought myself a new truck and it sat again.... but Ive got the itch to start driving it again and this thread is definitely lighting a fire under me! Great looking Cj btw! Bummer about the Xmember though

 

[67tank]

Im going to watch this thread like a hawk! Ive been wrenching on my 77 Cj7 that my dad bought new and then rebuilt in 89-90 and that was not the best vehicle to be driving a newborn (me) around in. So it sat for a few years and we would just take it out on camping trips and Sunday drives for a while. Then it sat for another 10 years till I got my license and I drove it to high school and then graduated and bought myself a new truck and it sat again.... but Ive got the itch to start driving it again and this thread is definitely lighting a fire under me! Great looking Cj btw! Bummer about the Xmember though

Thanks Chris - Post a build thread on the 77 CJ. Would like to see what you do with it.

 

[Chris @ T&J Performance]

Thanks Chris - Post a build thread on the 77 CJ. Would like to see what you do with it.

Been thinking about it. Ill have to post one when I actually do something note worthy.

 

[67tank]

Engine - A new direction

I know that it is odd, most people are always looking to squeeze more and more horsepower from their rigs, but I want less. I have decided to replace my high horsepower Chevy 350 with something a little bit more practical for running trails. I do not want to put a lot of money into this swap so am looking for a 1990's era late version of the Gen I engine with TBI. Since I am running a Gen I engine now, this will simplfy the swap - motor mounts, headers, transmission adapter, etc can all be re-used. According to what I have been able to find on the internet - the Gen I engines used for Chevy trucks during this period were around the 200 hp mark with over 300 ft-lb of torque. That's about what I am aiming for. There's some that may argue that you need more and more hp but if you look at the original military version of the Hummer it only came with 150 hp (at 3600 rpm) and close to 400 ft-lb of torque in the 6.2 diesel engine for a vehicle that weighed over 5000 lbs (Jeep CJ-7 should be around 3500). That beautiful vehicle will go about anywhere except Ft Knox mud holes

and has enough interior room that you don't need a RTT


I have already lined up a buyer for my current engine and am actively looking for an engine that meets my requirements. I am planning to keep this engine as stock as possible. I will post pictures of the swap as well as photos/descriptions of the roadblocks that pop up along the way.

 

[67tank]

Uganda Thread Detour

Just spent two weeks down in Uganda exploring. Ran into some unusual traffic jams.....



Saw some improvised and modern expedition rigs



If you ever get the chance - GO. Uganda was awesome.

 

[67tank]

Rear Bumper - Back on topic

As seen in some previous photos - the rear bumper is custom made. My buddy made it, we had it powder coated and bolted it right up. Holds a hi-lift jack, 2 five gallon cans, and the 35 inch spare. After a couple of years of wheeling, the bottom support tube cracked at the passenger side pivot point. There was just too much flex in the system allowing the bumper to flex forward and aft. A bolt that was sticking out from the tub 2 inches from the support tube was worn down from the flexing bumper - see photo.



I saw a swing away bumper on a M1114 hummer shear off on a road in Iraq and going bouncing down the road. I didn't think that would go over to well here in the states - so we did some preventive maintenance in this case. Placed a piece of steel plate in the gap to brace the pivot point and then welded a steel bracket to the top of the bumper and a quick disconnect on the roll cage frame. No more flexing.

 

[67tank]

Engine

Jeep is back from shop. Transmission is mounted where it should be. Figured out why she was stalling. Wrong fuel pump was recently installed and did not have enough pressure going to the fuel injection. Got her home but now have to deal with a motor mount going sideways. May have failed when the trans shifted and tore off her mount.


Decided not to sell engine just yet. Weighing some options before this winter's tear down-

 

[67tank]

Engine

The steel mounts are going to need to be reinforced. Passenger side mount is bent backwards. I think when the trans tore off it bent the passenger side motor mount as well. Maybe it was the other way around. Either way going to need to weld in some tabs after bending it back to shore up the mounts. Started taking things apart. Summer 2013 is done for this CJ.

 

[67tank]

Last Post

Our 2013 JKUR arrived Wed night. After 12-13 years of using the CJ-7 as a cross between a trail/expedition/hunting rig I am going to make some significant changes and make the jeep a pure trail rig only. Since it is no longer an expedition rig, this will be my last post for this thread on the Expedition Portal -
I am thinking of starting a build/adventure thread for my new Expedition rig - I will be making MINOR changes to the JKUR and applying lessons learned from all my travel.

Old and New

 

[scramfan01]

Fellow Tanker

I Loved the build thread (except the last posting). Your pics and comments about the Humvees and Fort Knox, brought back lots of memories. I was in a USMC Tank unit there. I have a 1982 CJ-8, I am modifying into a expedition vehicle. I hope to make a cross country journey to see an old Marine buddy. I'm also building a M416 to pull behind it. I will soon be posting my build threads. Yours is a great build, and I really enjoyed reading it. Just what I needed tonight.