82 CJ7 (Jamboree) front & rear axle upgrades

[dreeves]

Ok, the time has come! I purchased this Jambo back in early 1990. The entire power plant (AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l /AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l ) and drive train is bone stock. Here in Northern Michigan I bring her out of storage for about 6 months out of the year. We drive about 70/30 street/off road. A couple of years ago I installed a BDS 4 1/2" lift with a YJ spring conversion kit. Love it! I am currently running 32" Wild Country All Terrain Radials wanting to upgrade to 33's. I have a Dana 30 front and an AMC20 rear. I plan on keeping both. I know about the AMC20 short falls and this is where I begin. The two piece rear shafts have given up the ghost (FINALLY). I'm turning to the CJ forum for inputs. My intentions are: replace the two piece rear axles with solids, install a Detroit Locker in the rear and a Detroit TrueTrac up front, upgrade the R&P gears to 4:10's and install ALL NEW bearings and seals throughout both. During the upgrade I will weld the AMC20 axle tubes to housing which will take care of one of the weak points. An axle truss will come later if needed but for now that would be overkill for our style of wheeling. Here when your off roading it is primarily two tracking with nothing challenging. Also I am now looking for a Ford T-18 Transmission for the next phase of up grades. I would really like the very low first gear option. Ok, hit me up with all the pros/cons I'm open! My wife and I are seniors and NOW both retired. We love driving this Jeep and are wanting to do a lot more wheeling. We are tooled up to flat tow using either our 98 or 01 Grand Cherokee's. Yes, thats right, we are a total jeep family. Oh, and please don't hammer on me for modifying a Jamboree Edition CJ. Back when I bought it California I got rid of all the smog and built a full roll cage for it. The front gold trimmed seats were in rough shape so I replaced them. It wasn't until years later that I realized what the whole Jamboree thing was all about.

 

[Torxhead]

Congrats on your retirement. Sounds like you are on the right track with the drivetrain. Have you considered joining a Jeep club?

 

[dreeves]

Have thought about it off and on. I did a lot of jeep'n out in California when I was station out there in the Coast Guard. We played up on the Rubicon trail. My Jambo was bone stock and I was a newbie back then so I threaded very lightly back then. How do you like your T-18 ?

 

[Torxhead]

The T-18 is a rock solid tranny and it cruises over the big rocks. As a suggestion, you could consider a 4 to 1 Transfer Case gear change and keeping the T-5 . This would still give you the low 1st gear and have a good highway speed. Flat towing a fairly heavy CJ with a GC is kinda like the tail wagging the dog. Not to mention trying to stop the thing.

 

[dreeves]

What do you mean by a 4 to 1 Transfer Case ? Some years back I installed an AGR aftermarket steering gearbox with heavy duty mounting bracket and brace. This really aided with the drivability of my CJ. However, I am still uncomfortable with driving speeds much over 50 mph. Everything in the steering is nice and tight and very responsive. I never use my hardtop anymore. I have every top and door combo there is. 99.9% of the time we use the bikini top and go doorless which reduces to overall weight of the CJ. I have logged a few miles now flat towing with the JGC's and although I would not consider cross country trips doing this it seems to be just fine for those trips under 200 miles and staying off the freeway where the speed limit is a posted 55 mph. What is your deferential set up and gearing?

 

[Torxhead]

Jeep Parts, Jeep Accessories & Jeep Soft Tops From The Jeep Parts Experts - Quadratec
You can install a gearset in the tc for a lower crawl ratio and still maintain a 1 to 1 high range.