CJ7 project - lipstick on a pig

lojones · Jun 23, 2007

It's been hard getting motivated to work on the heep lately so i am hoping posting a build will light a fire under my :kissmyass:

Goal is to make the rig safe for my twin girls to someday ride in the back and make it look perty for the wife. I want to narrow the front end a bit, its 81" now, and lower the the rig some too.

current projects

Cage is 95% done, just need to add 3 more bars, get the rust off, and paint it.
New leather seats are mounted and tied in to cage.
Started building center console and custom dash.
Mounted new shifter and made twin stick cable shifters.
Ripping it all apart and starting from scratch

projects up next

bumpers, sliders, tube fenders
plate rear quarters and clearance for bigger tires
new tcase mount/skid for the Atlas
traction bar
herculine interior and paint everything
New axles 60/60 or 60/14, thinking arb front, detroit rear
New cooling system, aluminum radiator and shroud, trans cooler w/ fan
Clean up the frame, underbody, and wiring to look nice.

UPDATE 12.04.07
Well its been a few months. After my labor day trip to Rimrock I decided to just rip the jeep down and start over and make it the way i want it once and for all

Reading all those TJ build threads on Pirate, with their nice clean frames and pristine underbodies makes you a bit self conscience about your old junk.

Ive been stripping the jeep down and selling parts to fund the build. I bought an atlas a couple months ago that was too good to pass up. Been waiting to sell the axles to really get started. So now I am in the purchasing phase.

UPDATE 6.27.08

Its been a rough year for our family health wise but i'm back out getting a lot done on the jeep. 60/14 are in, suspension is done, atlas is in... I will post a reply with more info, this page is getting long.

UPDATE 6.11.09

Well a year later and i drove it out of the garage and its near done. lots of new pics.

lojones · Jun 23, 2007

twin stick cable shifters and new auto shifter. It's a gate shifter with the reverse lockout removed to make it more like an art carr for half the $.

landbruiser1 · Jun 23, 2007

Looks good.. Keep the build updated.

1 grumpy · Jun 23, 2007

landbruiser1 said:
Looks good.. Keep the build updated.

Hell yeah great job keep on truckin you'll be done before you know it and out wheeling it.:awesomework:

lojones · Jun 23, 2007

New seats are from a Chrysler Sebring convertible. Nice to have the seatbelts built in. Made seat brackets tied in to cage. I need to pick up some aluminum this week to finish the console and dash.

mostly spent the day cleaning the garage so i would have room to work and pressure washing the rig to get Naches mud off.

jeremybigs · Jun 23, 2007

LiLBKO · Jun 23, 2007

It looks good :beer:

1 grumpy · Jun 24, 2007

lojones said:
New seats are from a Chrysler Sebring convertible. Nice to have the seatbelts built in. Made seat brackets tied in to cage. I need to pick up some aluminum this week to finish the console and dash.

How much do you need and where do you work at.I f your close to Everett I might have a peace that'll work.let me know.oh and awesome work:awesomework:

lojones · Jun 26, 2007

Thanks for the kudos guys. I started on the tube fenders and hope to get enough time in the garage this week to finish something worthy of pictures.

Grumpy - Thanks for the offer, I work in the U-district, and could prob get up to Everett after work. I will measure up tonight and let you know what i need.

crash2 · Jun 26, 2007

Lookin good--keep the momentum going :awesomework:

1 grumpy · Jun 26, 2007

lojones said:
Thanks for the kudos guys. I started on the tube fenders and hope to get enough time in the garage this week to finish something worthy of pictures.

Grumpy - Thanks for the offer, I work in the U-district, and could prob get up to Everett after work. I will measure up tonight and let you know what i need.

sounds good just pm me

lojones · Jun 27, 2007

Wife let me play in the garage for a bit, got the brackets and main tubes on for the fenders.

1 grumpy · Jun 27, 2007

THAT'S ALOT OF DIAMOND PLATE BUT I MIGHT HAVE IT..I'll P.M.you tomarrow and let you know:awesomework:

lojones · Jun 28, 2007

Heya Grumpy, I am actually needing some plain old aluminum non-diamond plate. If you don't have any that's ok, a family friend just did a boat interior and says he may have some left over or i can just run down to specialty metals...

thanks

Bunk1 · Jun 28, 2007

Looking good, Are the girls keeping ya on the 4 hr sleep regiment still??

lojones · Jun 28, 2007

I am up to about 6 with 4 hours of it being uninterrupted

It was definately rough when i talked with you last, they both had colds for a couple weeks. 4 hours a night in 30 minute chunks wears ya down fast.

And thanks for all the tube Joe!

lojones · Dec 5, 2007

Well its been a few months. After my labor day trip to Rimrock I decided to just rip the jeep down and start over and make it the way i want it once and for all

Reading all those TJ build threads on Pirate, with their nice clean frames and pristine underbodies makes you a bit self conscience about your old junk.

Ive been stripping the jeep down and selling parts to fund the build. I bought an atlas a couple months ago that was too good to pass up Been waiting to sell the axles to really get started. So now I am in the purchasing phase and will start posting up some pics soon as it starts going back together.

New Goals:

Narrow the front end width a bit, it was 81", trying for 78"
Taller, narrower tire.
Lower the jeep down a bit.

Shopping list:

60/60 or 60/14, thinking arb front, detroit rear.
hummer h1 rims
aluminum radiator
trans cooler with fan
38x12.5x16.5 TSL SX

lojones · Jun 27, 2008

UPDATE: Well its been a tough year so far. My girls got real sick and had to spend some time in the hospital and I had a 6 week bout with a kidney stone. (3 trips to the ER, 4 surgeries, and had to have a tube sticking out of my kidney to drain it for 3 weeks, good times).

As far as the jeep, i ripped it apart, sold all my old stuff and bought new stuff

The goal was to go with bigger axles, bigger tires, but narrow the jeep from it's previous 81" as well as lowering it as much as possible. Also needed to fix cooling issues i was having.

Front axle is a chevy 60 with a detroit, 5.13s, 35spline alloys and hubs.
Rear axle is a 14bolt with a detroit, 5.13s, disk brakes, and shaved a bit.
Tires 38.5x14.16.5 SX's, grooved.
Wheels are 12 bolt h1 double beadlocks with Cryo Dean's metal inserts.
Atlas 4.3 with 32 spline ouputs and my homebuilt cable shifter.
Rebuilt th400 with 32 spline short output
Got my drivelines shortened a couple inches.
Got my PSC steering box ported for hydro assist
Aluminum radiator, shroud, electric fan, plate style trans cooler.

lojones · Jun 27, 2008

Getting the front narrow and being able to turn without hitting the springs was a tough project. I decided to narrow the axle 4 inches on the long side and add 2" wheel spacers. This allowed me to:

Remove the full width kit and put the springs back under the frame to keep the tires from hitting them.
Run stock offset H1's without hitting the tie rod mount on the knuckles.
Tucked the hubs back inside the wheels so they arent sticking way out.
Overall width from outside of tires should be about 78-79"

Narrowing the 60 was a lot easier then i thought it would be. Took about 2 hours of cutting and grinding then i baked the C and cooled the housing to slide the C back on (ok pound it with a sledge, it still didnt slide on easy). Had the shaft shortened and resplined by Doug Dye.

lojones · Jun 27, 2008

To get the jeep lowered down was another big project, It was already too high for Rimrock, i fit everywhere but just barely and i would constantly have to be on my toes to watch the windshield frame on trails like Leaning Tree. Between the axles and tires i had just lifted it up another 6" or so

Lowering the front with a shackle reversal was tough. I decided to french the shackles up into the frame and build new front hangers. This also brought the springs to zero degrees which was nice since shackle reversals put the springs at a steep angle which hurts pinion angle with the builtin spring mount of a 60. This lowered the jeep about 4".

I got another 1.5"+ lower by taking out the bottom 4 leaves of my 7 leaf waggy pack and putting in the bottom 3 leaves from a YJ pack.

If its still not low enough once it's finally rolling and has all the weight on it, the last thing i can do is shave down the builtin spring perch. That thing is about 1.75" high, i could prob shave off .75"