76 CJ5 what to do with the frame?

[SarTech]

Hello to all, Im am starting a rebuild project on a 76 CJ5 that was given to me by my uncle before he passed away. His wish is that I keep it in the family. It has 50K and is in very good shape, it has been in storage in north Texas for the last ten years. I plan on refurbishing and making it into a daily driver. The body is in good shape and the frame appears to have only surface rust.
I am taking the body off and going to rebuild as needed and update where needed.
My questions are; what should I look for and do to improve the frame, leaf springs and suspension?
Should I paint the frame, or is there something better than paint?
I will have more questions later, but just looking for frame and suspension info for now.
Thanks very much for you help.
Pat

 

[CJKrawler]

If it is just a DD, just go through, make sure there are no cracks in the metal, ang clean it up. You can either put a good quality paint on it, or for longer protection, use POR-15 for it. If you are going to build it, how big and what you will be doing will dictate a lot.

 

[SarTech]

I will look for cracks.
Thanks.
Pat.