looking for input on a drivetrain setup...

looking for input on a drivetrain setup...
B

bubbz

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Location
Chattanooga, TN
Vehicle(s)
1979 cj5
Im new to the forum and may be a first time jeep owner. I have a chance to trade a boat for a 1978 CJ5 , 351 ford Windsor, c4 auto, Dana 18 Transfer Case , scout axles, 456 gears, arb air locker front, Detroit in rear, full roll cage, the cage is also an airtank with bungs for running tools. with clean title.
I know very little about what is good for off-roading and what is weak. I plan to drive this jeep at times to work and back, and do some mild 4x4 with the kids. just dont want to get a bad setup with out asking some pros what they think of it first. Also what are some spots to look for in a CJ5 . I know the body mounts are bad about rust and floor pans will rust out as well. I plan to go look this thing over early in the week so any advice or helpful hints would be great. Thanks
:chug:
 
Do you have any idea what size lift and tires are on it?
 
I would hope that with gearing that low that he is running at least 35's and probably 4"+ of lift.. That sounds like a decent set up for an overall package. The lockers are good thing for off road and the gearing sounds like some one has set it up pretty well. Make sure it has a air supply for the ARB. I saw the cage doubles as an air tank so do you need to fill it before you go out or does it have a on board compressor system.

As far of what to look for... Since he has it set up for some heavy duty wheeling check for sign of off road abuse. Look at the axles to make sure the tubes are straight, and not dinged all to hell. Yes the body to frame mounts do rot out but they are also replace able so they dont always worry me. I would how ever check the front frame and rear frame for rot. The front will rot between the motor mounts and front body mount.. the rear will rot behind the axle to the bumper. Take a screw driver with you and if any thing seems like its a litle bubbly or starting to rot poke at it and see how bad it is. Take some one with you or have the owner turn the front tires and see if the steering box is loose, when they run big tires some times the frame fails if its not reinforced well. If it has diamond plate on the sides or rear corner its probably hiding rust, same thing with bed liner on the out side.

Check the tub for rot also.. and around the windsheild frame.

How much is the boat your trading worth? Take alot of pics of the jeep. Load them into photo bucket and post the pics up here, it will help alot better then trying to describe it. Take pics of the front steering set up, rear, lift, tub and motor.
 
The guy that has it as of now just text me and said no lift, only wrangler springs and 35 12.50 bfg mud radials. looks like more lift to me.. The boat is worth around 3500 or so. This is the only pic so far..
attachment.php
 
If it has "no lift" and 35's it must be a spring over axle set-up, in which case we really need some pix of how it's set -up as theres alot of bad SOA set-ups out there. But if done right theres nothing wrong with them.
 
One thing I'd check is the spring hangers on the frame rail. See if there beat up. Also check frame for straightness and rust the screwdriver will tell the story.
 
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Like Jimbo said the big thing to look for is frame rust and or cracks.
otherweise take it for a drive and see how it handles on the road.
Pix of the steering set-up and the drivetrain will help us help you.
use a camera not a phone so we can see.
 
If this dont work I will try to figure out the pic upload process and put some pics up. Thanks for all the helpful hints.:chug:
 
Not a bad looker.. How good of a mechanic are you? your kind of in a funny area with it. Im not a big fan of owning a boat so I would trade it pretty quick. as far as is it a good deal?? if the motor Transmission and Transfer Case are solid its not horrible. the work that has been put into his axles if done right would be about 1500-2k in parts and labor. if it runs and drives good and theres not electrical bugs or frame rot it doesnt look to be to bad.

for it to sit like that and clear 35's it needs to have minimum 4" lift. If he's telling you theres no lift on it, it has probably been converted to spring over which will lift it up to 6" with stock springs. The issue with that is people get cheap and lazy and dont properly change the steering. I would go see it, test drive it, poke around it and take some pics. We all like ot see pics of other peoples rigs so the more the merrier. If he seems short about you driving it or nervous about looking it over he's probably hiding some thing. Also if it has a detroit in the rear it may feel a little funny at first.. CJ5 's being short wheel base get pretty squeaky in the rear.

Also make sure the front hubs operate ok and it goes into 4X4.

Short answer is 3500 doesnt sound to bad if its in decent shape.
 
heres a pic of my $800 find
79f48921.jpg

Heres the rot i found after not looking it over good.. would have been a $500 buy if I noticed it.

49beed29.jpg
 
I may have started this thread in the wrong area, But I drove the jeep and it drives ok I guess. I have never driven a jeep befor this one so i really dont know how it should ride. I do know that the steering seems tight and way way plenty of get up and go.. I does have one spring hanger that is bent from wheeling. I dont know how big a deal that will be. I found one small place of rust on the rear of the frame about a foot from the end where the exaust heats up next to it maybe. All other common bad spots looked ok to my "crash course trained eye". The motor runs and drives great. he put on a show for the kids with the lockers and wheel travel.


 
Whach spring hanger is bent? The front and rears that hold the shackles on are bolt ons.. 2 bolts for the rear and 3 for the front. If those are the ones that are bad you can buy a good hd set of replacement hangers from crabtreetools.com. If it's the ones that the springs them self bolt into they are also easily replace able.. I think they are only riveted on. You can cut the head off the rivet, remove the old one, use a bolt line up the new one and weld it back on. If they are weld ons they still are not that hard to replace. I would be concerned about replacing them.

The whole in the rear of the frame should be able to be cut out and a new patch peice welded in. Either replace just the bad spot or they sell repair peices that cover a large area othe rear. Same thing cut out and weld in new.

So far it doesn't sound like a bad deal to me.
 
My biggesest concerns would be if he used the correct front driveshaft with the shackle reversal, so the driveshaft has enough travel, and it doesn't bottom out on the Transfer Case .
Also he didn't use high steer knuckles with the spring over so you could have some steering problems.
It's all fixable though.:chug:
 
one thing I did see is , They mounted a bigger gas tank where the rear seat was. is there a way to mod a seat bracket from fender hump to fender hump. or will I have to relocate the tank to have a rear seat.. I have searched and cnt find any mods on the rear seat config..
 
Why did he move the tank? if the rear end is not stretched it shouldn't need the tank moved. You maybe able to move a tank back to the stock location.
 
Jimbos76cj said:
Whach spring hanger is bent? The front and rears that hold the shackles on are bolt ons.. 2 bolts for the rear and 3 for the front. If those are the ones that are bad you can buy a good hd set of replacement hangers from crabtreetools.com. If it's the ones that the springs them self bolt into they are also easily replace able.. I think they are only riveted on. You can cut the head off the rivet, remove the old one, use a bolt line up the new one and weld it back on. If they are weld ons they still are not that hard to replace. I would be concerned about replacing them.

The whole in the rear of the frame should be able to be cut out and a new patch peice welded in. Either replace just the bad spot or they sell repair peices that cover a large area othe rear. Same thing cut out and weld in new.
So far it doesn't sound like a bad deal to me.
Click to expand...
When I mentioned to look for bent spring hangers I should have added that that is a good sigh of what kind of wheeling it has seen. You know if one is bent its been wheeled hard. And in my opinion what kind of care he took of the jeep. If someone bends a spring hanger it may not be that big a deal. Depending on what you want it for, just wheeling or wheeling and steet. I would have repaired it if it was mine. Didn't mean it wasn't fixable. Just my 2 cents.:)
 
1986cj7 said:
And in my opinion what kind of care he took of the jeep. If someone bends a spring hanger it may not be that big a deal. I would have repaired it if it was mine. Didn't mean it wasn't fixable. Just my 2 cents.:)
Click to expand...

Good point. When I bend or break something I fix it before it sees the road or trail again.
 
I see your point for sure. The jeep has seen some pretty rough wheeling. but everything is still pretty sound. He said he has a hanger he planned to put on that he would let go. They have been wheeling the jeep for 8 to 10 years and it has held up this long. Im new to wheeling and owning a jeep all together, I think it will do for what me and the kids will put it through. Also found out it has new warn hubs on it with no trips on them yet. As soon as I get it I will deff. load up some good pics.

Some one was asking about the dana 18 and the scout axels.. Well he told me they used a , I think, waggy axel for the rear. which ever had the same offset as the dana 18. only draw back is 6 lug on back and 5 lug on front...IDK
 
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