Build Thread The $120 Jeep CJ7 build thread

[shum8]

Looks good. Nice job


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[mtnwhlr]

Damn I have never wore out a wire brush like that. Your lucky your arms didn't just fall off.

 

[gert]

Lol dang it takes me along time to wear one of those out


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[shum8]

Aw, you girls........


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[Belizean]

Aw, you girls........


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.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Had to get the skidplate off to finish the frame scraping and painting. Guess what? Yup, broke another 38 year old bolt. Is there anything more infuriating than drilling out damn broken bolts? Can I get an Amen?



However, I finally got the rest of the frame Chassis Saver black. (well, at least the bottom and sides) I'll let her dry for a few days, then hit her with the rattle can desert sand. Soon after, I'll flip her over, get on her wheels, and do the top of the frame.

 

[shum8]

Is there anything more infuriating than drilling out damn broken bolts? Can I get an Amen?

Amen, brother.

But I would add a close second is breaking a brake line connection while driving.

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[gert]

Amen, brother.

But I would add a close second is breaking a brake line connection while driving.

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Lol oh snap


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[gert]

I will add doing a weld repair on cast iron and it cracking on you


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[daddyusmaximus]

First coat of desert sand is on the frame...

 

[gert]

Oh boy I recognize that color real well good job


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[Belizean]

yea nice color !

 

[shum8]

Nicely done - Looking forward to seeing it done!!


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[daddyusmaximus]

Got the springs painted, and on, hopefully for the last time. I'm pretty sure they won't be coming off any more so I went ahead, and did a final red Locktite, and proper torque on them. PLEASE GOD... don't make me have to take them off again. The hope is to move on from here. I'll give her a few days for the paint to cure up, then I'll flip her over and test fit the axles to see if I should have waited on the Locktite or not... lol. They'll come off later for a full rebuild, all new seals, and bearings, and what not. Air lockers if I can swing it.

Motor mounts are ordered, and on the way for the Mopar 360. I'll need to get some brake and fuel line stuff. This should be interesting. Never bent hard line before. There's shock mounts, steering box, and a few other things to get taken care of before I start in on the tub. Fun winter ahead...

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Today I started out with one goal, but completely changed gears. My Eastwood Internal Frame Coating came in the other day. I didn’t want my frame to rust from the inside out, so I set to getting as much of the debris out of it as I could to ready it for the coating. Not fun holding the shop vac up to one hole, while blowing the air compressor into another… all the while having to quickly shut down the shop vac every time the air compressor kicked in to keep from blowing the garage circuit breaker. Yeah, everything is on one breaker. 120 year old house, 50 year old garage…

Realizing the coating would settle as it dries, and that water and mud also settle… I figured the frame should be right side up for this process. This is where everything changed. Once I got the frame flipped, I remembered how much I was looking forward to setting her on her axles… So I figured I could coat the inside of the frame later… with her sitting on her axles.

I used the cherrypicker to lift the frame high enough to wheel the rear axle under it.





I had remembered that I needed to put anti-seize on all the shackle bolts, so I needed to take them off anyway, even though I had got a bit ahead of myself torqueing them down. Thankfully, I thought of this before I went to bolt the axle in, and loosened them. I was so damn pleased with myself. My short term memory is totally shot with my TBI, (Lots of long term stuff missing too) and this really saved me a lot of frustration today. The amount of cussing I would have done had I tried to line up the leaf pins with them torqued would have been great. Also, someone else had pointed out (rightly so) you torque them with the weight of the vehicle on them…

I forgot to get a photo of the front going in, but she’s a roller.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Here’s a shot of the front Dodge truck Dana 44 axle.


This isn’t the one that was in the Jeep I got the drive train from. I was driving that CJ5 up until I blew a hub at The Badlands offroad park in Attica, IN. I still have that axle, and will have to use it for parts to rebuild this one. Scrapyards being what they are these days, I couldn’t get one to sell me parts. Had to buy an axle, but that’s no biggie, as the other one had a slightly tweeked long tube anyhow.





I’ll have to use the outer from the old axle as it has the proper crossover high steer conversion done to it that was being used on the CJ5 . Those components will come over to the CJ7 .

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Here is the rear Dodge truck Chrisler 9.25 axle.



Here you can see both the good, and the bad. It’s been converted to 4 wheel discs, and they worked very well on the CJ5 . I kept the Wilwood propotion valve to use on this, but I will add power brakes. Cool thing is whoever did the conversion used the same calipers as the front. You can hardly see them inthis shot, but the builder mounted new spring pads, without cutting off the old truck pads. They are behind the leafs. The towers were for home made traction bars, but they didn’t allow for spring movement, and kinds put the suspension in a bind. They were just single arms with heim joints at the ends. You can also see how long Napa U-bolts are…

 

[daddyusmaximus]

After making the bottom and sides of the frame look nice, the top of it needs the same treatment now. I still have to do the internal coating as well.




My Advance Adaptors motor mounts came in too. (the CJ5 had a homemade set welded in with no rubber to absorb the vibrations) Now I’ll be able to place the Mopar 360 in it’s new home sometime over the winter.

 

[gert]

Sure is looking good, that’s pretty cool that your PO used the Chrysler sliding caliper front and rear that’s a lot of brake


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[daddyusmaximus]

The drivetrain (Mopar 360, Torquflite 727, 4.88 gears) came out of a stripped down little '79 CJ5 on 33s that was built as a sand toy. It was quick as hell... until I blew that hub.