Build Thread 1980 CJ7 "Love ya Blue"

Build Thread 1980 CJ7 "Love ya Blue"
Got a lot done yesterday on this first phase of the rebuild. Reassembled the spring/axle assemblies including my new OME springs. Was glad to discover that all the ubolts/skidplates/axles lined up and went together well - although you really need 3 hands to do this. Snugged up the bolts and will torque later once I get my new Crabtree hangars and shackles. I'm applying anti-sieze to all the bolts but am wondering when to use loc-tite vs. anti-sieze. If anyone can point me to a good thread on that I would appreciate it. Here's a few pics of work done this weekend.
 
So here's where she sits today. I'm going to pick up my tub at the painter today. I'll keep it stored until I'm ready to mount it on the frame - hopefully soon, as I said in a previous post, this is very tedious (but fun). I have to keep reminding myself that this is why I bought it. Although I can't wait to drive it and show it off, the process of rebuilding it is why I really bought it. I guess that's another one of those Jeep things. :)
 
I like that color. Looks like you are making good progress.
 
Man - If I had that much room to work on mine I'd loose myself. If you were to drop an X-acto blade you could see it from 20 feet. I can drop a leaf spring and not find it!!! Looks great - can't wait to see it finished.....
 
Well...I'm finally back...four years later. Work just got too crazy as I was nearing the end of my career and there was little time to work on the Jeep, although I did get a few things done. I'm now retired - yahoo - and am slowly getting back to it. Hope those of you that were following my build thread are still there and will enjoy the progress to come.

Last post was in March 2015. At that time I had just gotten springs attached to axles and attached to frame at inboard spring hangers, while waiting for the paint to dry on my Crabtree hangers. I got those all installed with new shackles, more details in following posts, along with a heavy duty steering box bracket, adapters for new front bumper, brakes, fuel & brake lines, and maybe a couple of other things.

Glad to be back at it!
 
Glad you’re back!! Fresh bag of popcorn and I’m ready for some updates......

Oh - with a side of pics please


Sent..... Just sent.
 
Sweet dude I’m still here and can’t wait to see your progress hint hint see your progress lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OK I know, no pictures it didn't happen. Getting caught up I've realized I didn't take as many of the process as I intended to, but enough to document the work done.

I installed the spring hangars from Crabtree. With the OME YJ conversion springs, the front springs are wider and 1" longer than original equipment - thus the new hangers. No modification needed in the rear, same size as original.
Since the front has to move forward 1", hangers require a new hole in the bottom of the frame to accommodate and it is easy to do. There is a huge rivet head that would get in the way of this move, but Crabtree incorporated a hole in the hanger to allow for it. The hangers fit great along with the new Crabtree spring shackles.
You may notice I left the front bolt off until I was sure it did not need to also secure the new XRC bumper or adapter. It did not and the bumper has since been installed - you'll see it later. Here's pictures, you'll see other components that I'll also discuss later.
 
OK, let's talk about that last photo. What you see is the HD Steering Box Bracket from Rugged Ridge. Admitting I will probably never need this beefy bracket on this vehicle, it does look cool, and I read a lot of stories about these bending or breaking, so I bought one.

Installing the bracket made me feel like a one-armed paper hanger. You will see there are four, make that five (5) components all being bolted together at the same time (bracket, steering box, frame, bumper adapter, spring hanger) and the steering box is not light. If I remember right, I think I actually used a floor jack to support it while somehow getting all the bolts in. Amazing that it all fit together as well as it did. Kudos to Rugged Ridge and Smittybilt (bumper) for getting all the holes lined up.
 
74G8R2 said:
OK, let's talk about that last photo. What you see is the HD Steering Box Bracket from Rugged Ridge. Admitting I will probably never need this beefy bracket on this vehicle, it does look cool, and I read a lot of stories about these bending or breaking, so I bought one.

Installing the bracket made me feel like a one-armed paper hanger. You will see there are four, make that five (5) components all being bolted together at the same time (bracket, steering box, frame, bumper adapter, spring hanger) and the steering box is not light. If I remember right, I think I actually used a floor jack to support it while somehow getting all the bolts in. Amazing that it all fit together as well as it did. Kudos to Rugged Ridge and Smittybilt (bumper) for getting all the holes lined up.
Click to expand...


Nice build 74G8R2,
I just caught up on the thread, and saved 4 years of waiting on posts, perfect! I'm not getting any younger, so that part works for me.
I scrutinized some of the old pics, and was amazed at the original shape overall.
The way you're doing it up is going to make it last for a long time go come, and maybe your great grandkids will find climbing all over it will give them a comfortable familiar feeling lol.

I'm liking the color too, it will be a magnet for sure,
Happy building, J.
 
Okay, let's try getting at this again. Well, I decided to send the steering box and PS pump out for overhaul at Power Steering Services, Inc. Came back looking great and I'm glad I took the extra step to get it done. Of course that meant removing the box, HD bracket, etc. But having done it twice now, it all went back together pretty easy.
 
while your at it, may as well go disc brakes on the back.
 
Trying to work from the bottom up on this project to avoid having to work under it on my back. Sure to be some of that, but trying to think ahead to minimize it. So up front, I need to finish work on steering components. I bought the Rugged Ridge HD tie rod kit and it's next on the rebuild plan. Used the old ones to get a rough estimate on initial setup (alignment check will come much later). The install went well but the drag link had interference from a bracket on the new YJ springs, so I was going to have to flip it. Looked like that would give me better alignment with the Pitman Arm anyway, so bought the Rock Equipment tie rod flip kit and it worked perfectly. If you ever use this, you need to follow the instructions really close or you risk over-boring the steering knuckle - that would be bad.
 
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