How to build a Jeep CJ7 bug out vehicle.

[daddyusmaximus]

Shoulder surgery did not go as planned. Recovery has been more painful than the last time. I am 20 yeas older, and I may have done a bit too much too early, but it's starting to settle down a bit, so Today I went out to the garage to tinker on the Jeep for the first time in what seems like forever.

Nothing real heavy. I drilled, and tapped 8 holes in my rear bumper. These will be for mounting the bumperettes that the bumper numbers will go on to complete the M38A1 look this needs to pull off the military tribute.





I ran into one problem... the tow clevis mounts. If I put the bumperetts on, I can't use the recovery points. Lucky for me, I have American ingenuity to make up for actual mechanical skills. I cut slots in the mounting holes in the bumperetts. Now I just have to loosen the bolts up a turn or two, pull one end off, (they are very flexible) then slide off the other end. Bingo... recovery points.




I also decided to mount the tire carrier to the bumper, as it's been sitting around for months.. Had to sand the paint off the spindle though. the bushing is a very precise fit. I'll have to wait till payday to get some degreaser so I can paint it.



That was about all I could handle for today, so I called it quits, and went in. Felt good to get something done on it though.

[daddyusmaximus]

I managed to locate my torque arm bolt I thought was missing. Hell, I don't even remember taking it off, and it wasn't what I was looking for at the time... lol. Why don't I remember taking it off? Because I didn't. I went to move the skid plate, and there it was... giving me the finger.

Good deal, God loves me. I ordered up a bushing set, so we'll see what happens when that gets here.




Then, I went to take the purple motor mounts off my green engine...



Whoever built that CJ5 I got this drivetrain from had awful taste in colors.

So, I'll soon be putting the drivetrain back in the frame, (soon, as in "this summer") and I got to thinking about the engine itself. It was running strong when I pulled it from the CJ5, but it's been sitting on an engine stand for over a year now. It did have some issues, but nothing I was worried about at the time.

1. It got bad fuel mileage. Duh, a Mopar 360, 4.88 gears, no overdrive, and 33s.
2. It did have a very slow leak at the weep hole of the water pump. (easy fix)
3. It was difficult to start during cold weather. Duh again, big ole v-8, 4 barrel with no choke.

Other than that, she ran like a striped ape. I'm concerned about the fact that it has sat for such a long time. I'll be hand cranking it... and all that. I never really paid attention before when I was tearing the CJ5 down, but now I notice that the drivers side of the engine is dry, and the passenger side is all oily... All 40 year old engines burn a little, or leak a bit, but I never noticed it when I was driving the green jeep...now I'm kinda worried, but I don't want to have to open her up, and kill my budget. if I don't have to. I have other expensive crap to get like fuel injection.







Here is more of that wonderful purple that will be going away...





I also picked up a gallon of simple green in preparation for getting a neighbor kid to help scrub the engine down this week....

[daddyusmaximus]

I made a little progress today. A little. I went out to paint the tire carrier as I was worried about it being still bare steel. Did the bumperettes as well. I also found a slightly darker color, (Khaki). It's closer to what out vehicles looked like in Iraq, so I'll be going with that.




Now normally (being a redneck) I just shake the spray can, and shoot. However, with this being my first frame up vehicle build... I decided to use some of that prep stuff first to clean the metal... Then, I shot it with some primer... Them I shot it with paint... Then for the first time ever, I got more than just my normal runs from putting it on too heavy. I got cracks. This didn't happen with the frame, or the bumper... Maybe because I hit that with the chassis saver first...



Not a big deal breaker, but enough to piss me off a bit. First time painting bare steel, so maybe there's a trick to it... I'm normally painting over stuff. I'll paint over it again in a day or so, and see how it comes out... It's going to be a rough looking military build anyway... In 28 years, I ain't never had a pristine military vehicle, besides, I want it so that when it gets dinged up on the trail, I can come home, and spray paint the scratches.

Second thing is I'm looking to get the powertrain in this week. This means I had to clean the skid plate. Oh, how I wish I had taken a before shot of it. That thing was caked with, in places, over 1/4" of crud. Putty knife, brush, simple green, water hose, and my shoulders are on fire. BUT, it's clean... ish.





I got some names of some mobile welders, so I'm hoping to get one of them to come out and weld in the motor mounts, and ford truck shock towers I'm using this later this week.

I also figured out a little bracket that will hold the tire carrier open so it won't swing around if it's opened on uneven ground. One thing LOD neglected to put into their design. The welder will have to do that as well.

[Diamondback]

Coming along nicely, DM. If I were in your 'hood, despite being neither young nor able-bodied, I'd offer to come over and pitch in a few hours of whatever help I could.

[daddyusmaximus]

Well, this was a long, hot, rainy day. However, I spent it in the garage with my best girl, and my Jeep, so tired, and sore though I may be, I'm happy.

After getting in contact with a couple area mobile welding guys, I thought it best to see how close I could get the engine to line up to where I need it to be. Today was all about test fitting the powertrain. First thing to go in was the skid plate. When you're a cripple working alone, and you're still nursing a sore shoulder, you do what you have to. I used my big labor saving device... the cherry picker.



Next came the trans, and t-case.



Now the sucky part. I have to put the tub back on, to make sure I have clearance... Here I discovered something. The stupid old cherry picker I've been wrestling with is a real PITA to move around, so I just left it in place and rolled the Jeep under it... The rollers it's on are much newer, and roll easier. Plus I don't have a swing load...



Perfect fit, or it looks that way. I was worried because the jeep this all came out of had home made motor mounts, and trans cross member all welded in solid... I'm using the Jeep trans mounts, and Advanced Adapters Dodge V-8 weld in kit.





Then I run into a bit of a hiccup. It seems the Advanced Adapters kit isn't so advanced... there is about a 1/2" gap between the mount and frame on the drivers side, and about a 2 1/2 in gap on the passenger side. the welder will have to build it up some. I don't want to send them back, I like the big rubber bushings, and the plates that mount on the engine. I go in and look them up online... They had sent me the mounts for a TJ... I hope I can get them to sen out the correct ones in a rush... I've had these sitting in the garage all winter... Just need to change out the motor plate part. The CJ part goes wider and has several holes to adjust for the width.



I stretched a chain across the frame to rest the engine on for a couple days till I can get the welder here. Don't want him here till my new torque arm bushing comes in the mail anyway... The engine will be a bit offset to the drivers side. It did squat the springs a bit when I took the weight off the cherry picker...

Next I marked the locations for the shock towers. I'm gonna have the welder knock those out while he's here.





As I was getting ready to turn off the lights Brandy started getting excited. she tend to get bored out in the garage with nothing to do but watch me work... funny she doesn't get bored inside with nothing to do except watch me watch TV... or at the VFW with nothing to do except watch me do paperwork and fill the gaming machines...

I just had to snap this shot of her staring at me...

[opngrnd]

I feel like I have developed an emotional investment in your Jeep, lol. Keep it up!

[daddyusmaximus]

Good news. Steve from Advance adapters says he's gonna send me out the correct parts I need got the engine mount kit. I explained what I have. He wanted photos of my kit, and the instruction sheet, as they couldn't find my order in the computer. I had cleaned out my e-mail, so I couldn't even tell when I got the kit until I came back to my build thread to see when I posted the kit arriving at my house... Back in Oct. Turns out they only sold 2 of those kits at that time... to Summit racing. Sounds about right. I do order from them a lot. Still, it's their kit, so they back it, and it had the wrong parts, so I'm grateful for the correct parts getting shipped out.



Not so good news. When I got the Jeep it had a complete basket case for a tub, so I found another. It's better, but still has quite a few issues. I managed to find (what seemed to be, or so I was told) an even better one on a facebook jeep page. Photos weren't high res, but looked good. So, I drive 3 hrs taking only one break (for about an hr, and a half in an Auto Zone parking lot to replace one set of my trailer wheel bearings, and hub) only to find out the Jeep tub was a rusty piece of ****. 1/8th " steel welded on the floor right over the Swiss cheese rust. No support, a couple body mounts missing... Completely rusted away. Yeah, I had to pass.

But hey, I like wasting 7 hrs of my time, $50 in fuel, having to replace wheel bearings on a trailer, and driving home at midnight in the rain for nothing.

Auto Zone tool loan program doesn't include a jack, so I now have an EXTRA new bottle jack I only needed once. That will probably go back tomorrow at my Auto Zone.

Felt like slapping the little snot nosed brat, but I didn't. The wife would be proud of my restraint.

[daddyusmaximus]

Holy crap, this heat is insane...

Tough week. Had to go back to the VA, and get a shot of steroids in the shoulder to calm it down. Good news is I didn't hurt anything they did during the surgery by doing too much too early like I thought. It's just all inflamed...

I've also been dealing with a pretty painful infection in my big toe. Had to get that drained... Not the tough guy I used to be... lol.

Today is good. Independence Day. Happy Birthday America! Well, the heat sucked real bad, but I got to be in a parade. Not with my Jeep though . In my daily driver... 2003 Marauder. I was representing the VFW that I'm commander of.










Went out to lunch at an Iron Skillet. They were advertising free meals for active duty, and veterans. They even had a missing man table to honor our fallen.



Then after a nap, and some freshly grilled hot dogs, I went out to put on the new motor mounts that Advance Adapters sent me. You can see the first set was not gonna work...



Now to watch Independence Day.

After all, Independence day is all about a Marine who marries a stripper, then saves the world.

[daddyusmaximus]

Guess who has motor mounts, and shock towers welded in?





Well, that happy feeling didn't last long... Guess who's brain damage, coupled with the inability to think in hot weather caused him to have the guy weld the motor mounts in the wrong place?





Having a TBI is not fun. I'm always forgetting things, losing things. I took off the rubber isolators and bolts, but to prevent me from losing them, I put them on the bolts... Now the guy shows up to weld, and I position the mounts without the rubber... He leaves... I remember the rubber... the engine sits too high with them, or just right without, but then it's mounted solid. I try to put them in, and the holes don't even line up. I remember from when I had the tub on, I should have room, but I really didn't want it that high anyhow. There is another issue...

The Jeep didn't come with this powertrain combo, and I had used the original trans mount (a new one) just to locate the engine in the frame. This places it in the correct place (front to rear) but a bit too high for good drive line angles.

So now I have a new plan... I have to modify the motor mounts on the engine block. Cut off the flat part on the bottom, and have it welded to the top, lowering them over the rubber isolators. Also, I don't need 4 inches of room between the transfer case and the skidplate, so I plan to have a machine shop remake me one bracket (red arrow) 1.5" shorter.



It's in for now, but it won't be in for good, for a while... I just don't want a complete fabricated solid mounted home made welded in set up like it had in the CJ5 it came out of.

Shock towers came out better. the tops are all perfect.

Rear.


Front.


Only problem here is the lower mounts on the left front are not in line properly, but they can be tweeked easily enough...



Last thing I had him do was a couple of little brackets I found in my scrap pile for my tire carrier. I needed a way to lock it open so it wouldn't swing back, and forth when I was using it. Now I can just open it, and drop a bolt or pin in there to lock it in place. I loved the LOD bumper when I looked at it online, but they didn't have a way to lock it open, and I didn't notice this at the time I ordered it. Problem fixed.

[daddyusmaximus]

One other thing I've noticed that will require attention... the longer YJ springs makes for very tight clearance on the big 20 gal fuel tank I took off the CJ5. I have about 1.5" of rearward movement before the pumpkin gets into the skid plate...




I can't have nothing nice...

This is with the tub on, but nothing in the tub. Those shackles are gonna flex more than that, so I'm gonna have to think of something... I couldn't use the CJ7s fuel tank. Way too rusty. I'm thinking maybe just put a cut out in the front of the skid plate, then a trans tunnel like depression in the front face of the tank about 3 inches deep...