81 CJ-7 bone stock. Got $5k to spend.

[danattherock]

If you do find the narrow-tracs "tippy", it's perfectly acceptable to add some moderate (1.5" on each side) wheel spacers to end up with wide-trac width. As Tony says, the 3" overall increase in width is definitely noticeable.

.

Could you tell me more about this. I am not familiar with wheel spacers (imagine that)

Any pros/cons. Where would I buy them? Thanks for any thoughts. In my mind, it looks cool on the Jeep perhaps.

 

[danattherock]

Careful, your noobie is showing .

:

To be honest, I am not trying to hide it

Hoping you guys will bring me up to speed a bit if you know how bad I need the help. You have to remember, I have had this CJ since I was 15 years old (20 years). All I have done is put spark plugs in it and change the oil. Nothing has ever broken or been replaced. With no upgrades done, and nothing to be repaired, there has not been much for me to learn. Everything is as it came from the dealer in 1980 except the radio, battery, and tires.

 

[RenegadeT]

Renegade,
What brand axle shafts do you suggest? I may do front and rear if I can afford it. Maybe a full time locker on the front.
And for the steering, I have power steering. You are talking about a stronger bracket. Where would I buy something like that. I like being proactive. Something that may break is something I would like to address ahead of time. It is that very reason I am so preoccupied with the axle shafts and U joint upgrades. Same for the new oil pump with the motor rebuild.

http://www.rockcrawler.com/techreports/bigdaddy_cj_steering_bracket/index.asp
I have the Big Daddy bracket. M.O.R.E. has one too. The crossbrace is a good idea too, I've noticed that stiffens up my CJ, improves streetability.
When I rebuilt my motor, I used a Mopar Performance High Volume oil pump.

 

[danattherock]

Screw the selectable lockers. A lunchbox liker like a LockRite (~$250) or NoSlip ($400) will be fine. Road manners arent bad at all with a NoSlip, I speak from experience. I drove about 5 years setup like your Jeep, then the last 10 locked front and rear.

Are you saying I can put Lock Rite's or No slips on the front and rear and drive it on the highway, around town, off road, etc.. and not have any drawbacks in doing so? These are certainly less expensive than the ARB's I was looking into. I know I can't afford $2,500 for front and back ARB's. But front and back axle shaft upgrades, U joints, and Lock Rites or No slips, maybe. I had been led to believe it was not adivisable to run these type of lockers all the time. Which is why I was leaning towards one only on the front, where it will be unused except for when I am in 4wd (off road). If I can run these non selectable type lockers on front and back, I would be interested to hear more. Aside from trails and what not, I ride the Jeep around town (80% of its use) and occasionally will ride down to the beach (2-4 hours). Any thoughts on this appreciated.


Renegade, thanks for the steering box bracket and oil pump suggestion!

 

[RenegadeT]

Are you saying I can put Lock Rite's or No slips on the front and rear and drive it on the highway, around town, off road, etc.. and not have any drawbacks in doing so? These are certainly less expensive than the ARB's I was looking into. I know I can't afford $2,500 for front and back ARB's. But front and back axle shaft upgrades, U joints, and Lock Rites or No slips, maybe. I had been led to believe it was not adivisable to run these type of lockers all the time. Which is why I was leaning towards one only on the front, where it will be unused except for when I am in 4wd (off road). If I can run these non selectable type lockers on front and back, I would be interested to hear more. Aside from trails and what not, I ride the Jeep around town (80% of its use) and occasionally will ride down to the beach (2-4 hours). Any thoughts on this appreciated.

yes, you can ride a locker on the street.

 

[RenegadeT]

Could you tell me more about this. I am not familiar with wheel spacers (imagine that)
Any pros/cons. Where would I buy them? Thanks for any thoughts. In my mind, it looks cool on the Jeep perhaps.

http://www.4x4xplor.com/wheelspacers.html

I have no experience with wheel spacers. Its gonna put more stress on the wheel bearings, no different than offset wheels would. People use 'em, can't be too bad.
One thing I noticed when I went with widetrack axles was the wheels no longer stuffed inside the fenderwells, they rubbed, but nothing a cutoff wheel couldnt fix

 

[banditbasser]

If it were me I would spend the majority of the money on getting the body perfect and rust proofed as it inevitably has rust starting. Then I would slowly add the rest. 1-piece shafts are definitely a necessity even without a locker, I found that out on my first light wheeling trip in my '85 on 30" AT's, 258, 4 speed. Future upgrades I was planning on were a 2" YJ lift and a rear aussie or lock-rite locker, steering brace, 8k winch, etc. Any more than that and just get a second beater jeep like other people said, you just don't see many originals these days. Sweet looking jeep by the way!

Here was mine Not as original as yours but I miss it.

alt="drivers2"></a>

 

[danattherock]

Nice jeep man.

As for mine, no rust and the body is perfect. I am going to do the Herculiner in a few weeks to the interior. Ripping all the carpet out and putting in new seats. May or may not put in a new carpet kit on top of the Herculiner. Still have not figured that out yet.

Still trying to decide on the other mods. BD 3" lift with 33's sounds good to me. Plan to use my stock wheels after a rechrome. Just can't figure out the axle upgrades and the lockers.

 

[banditbasser]

I did the herculiner as well and although it looks pretty bad in this pic it actually came out pretty nice. Using a light hand with a wire wheel on and angle grinder, sand paper and a solvent worked for me. Remove the entire interior, not that hard and it will be worth it. Take your time and do lots of prep if you want it to last. Here is a pic.

I had wide track axles to start with but if I didn't I would look for a used set before I added spacers (lots of rusted up cj's out there for parts), rebuild them in the garage, a good time to replace brakes, seals, lube, etc and paint them up and add the 1 piece axles, locker etc. then just swap them in when you are doing the lift it really won't be any more work. Or you could look for an '86 CJ dana 44 rear but just forget I mentioned that. Just don't let the upgrades get out of hand, its really easy to do that with a jeep.
Oh and congrats on a rust free one, but look REALLY good for the rust underneath on body seams etc. Mine had 67k original always garage kept by an older man and no visible rust at all, sure enough I found a few areas when I tore it down to a bare tub.

good luck with it.

 

[banditbasser]

Oh and I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet but with only 100k on the engine, do yourself a favor and do this simple free upgrade. Remove the emissions crap and do a modified nutter bypass. The upgrade is free, doesn't take long and it made a world of difference as far as power on mine. It will be worthwhile until you can get the engine rebuilt. I modified the original nutter bypass instructions and it worked better, can't really remember what I did off hand. You can also pull an HEI distributor from a chevy inline 6 and change the distributor gear for a cheap HEI upgrade. I had less than $10 into both of those mods on mine. A google search will bring up info on both.

 

[danattherock]

Mine had 67k original always garage kept by an older man and no visible rust at all, sure enough I found a few areas when I tore it down to a bare tub.


.

I hear you man. That is largely why I am ripping the carpet out and doing the Herculiner. Want to be sure there is no rust under it and if there is, I will sand it off and clean with POR degreaser and then POR metal prep (etching). Just ordered that a few hours ago from Quadratec website. That should make for a thorough prep job for the Herculiner. Like I said, I may still put a carpet kit over the Herculiner. I just want to be sure there is not rust under it, and at the same time protect it for years to come.

 

[danattherock]

Remove the emissions crap and do a modified nutter bypass. The upgrade is free, doesn't take long and it made a world of difference as far as power on mine.

.

I will research this a bit. Heard of it, but not really sure how it works. Thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps the "nutter bypass" along with a MC 2100 and DUI ignition/distributer would be all I need for now. Maybe I can put off the rebuild. If so, it would save me a bunch of dough.

 

[danattherock]

Trying to determine what gear I currently have. Found this info below. What is the actual gear?

The T-176 was used in CJs from 1980-1986 and other Jeep trucks from 1980-1987. The T-177 and T-178 were not used in CJs, only in other Jeep trucks.



Transmission 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Rev
T-176 3.52 2.27 1.46 1.00 3.52

 

[banditbasser]

Make sure you have a t-176, my 85 did. I think most CJ7s had an sr-4 or t-4(5) behind a 258 and I believe an 81 may have an SR4 but maybe a t176 though. ID it to be sure.

http://www.quadratec.com/jeep_knowle...article-41.htm

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/jeep/...on-factory.htm

 

[SHINTON]

As far as the Herculiner for the rear, honestly I wouldn't do it on a clean rig that you are gonna keep forever.

The reason is...IF (and when) you ever need to do any work on the rear, rust coming from the bottom up, etc, the liner is in the way.

You cannot IMAGINE the PITA to get that crap off...and unless it is applied perfectly it will flake off at random and that really looks like crap.

For a classic looking rig like yours, honestly I would simply scuff it and repaint the interior to stock IF it even needs anything!

I would use Herculiner all day long for a project where the body was already half rusted out, repatched together etc etc...in other words to cover UP ugliness! But NOT to cover up clean sheet metal!!

Dad is wrapping up his 46 Willys restoration now and we used the liner stuff under the FRONT seats / floorboard area because that part of the rig was rusted out / rebuilt with various new metal welded in, etc. The liner essentially makes that area "pretty"

In the rear of the willys, we bought/installed fresh new flooring, stamped metal, looks great. Nothing on it but primer and paint!!

ok...and for the lockers. Yes, you can ride around town with a noslip / Lock Right in the rear. When you make a sharp turn you will hear a racheting sound (just like a rachet wrench) as the teeth are clicking in/out.

EVERY once in a while when you are turning a corner under acceleration the rear end will lock up and you will get some chirping / hopping. It sounds worse that it really it and you will get used to it VERY quickly.

That is really the major downside...oh and a Lock Right CAN 'wear out' after a while, that is usually on high mileage daily drivers though.

Again, Winch (to pull out Renegade T, when doing his Spiderman impression on upper 2), and then if you want lockers...put in the 1 pc set of rear axles and then Lock Right if you can handle the chirping, etc. (Anyone have a LR rear they can let him see/hear for himself?)

Front...would be the last place I would put the locker and again you WILL need to upgrade some parts/pieces or the locker/extra traction will start breaking stuff.

All that said...for light wheeling you don't need lockers. You Don't NEED front and rear lockers for certain, rear locker will amaze you...

And if you get addicted enough to the lifestyle, a trail rig is a REALLY good idea. I sold my 72 GMC Jimmy because it was too nice to destroy on the trail.

Good luck
Sam

 

[RenegadeT]

...
ok...and for the lockers. Yes, you can ride around town with a noslip / Lock Right in the rear. When you make a sharp turn you will hear a racheting sound (just like a rachet wrench) as the teeth are clicking in/out.
EVERY once in a while when you are turning a corner under acceleration the rear end will lock up and you will get some chirping / hopping. It sounds worse that it really it and you will get used to it VERY quickly.

I've never drove a LockRite, but heard them in the parking lot. My experince with the NoSlip in mine, and reading accounts of LockRite in the rear have me convinced the NoSlip is way smoother than a LR. the only time I hear mine is an occasional click when backing up with the front wheels cranked all the way. I am very happy with it. And its smooth, never jerky.

Again, Winch (to pull out Renegade T, when doing his Spiderman impression on upper 2)...

guilty as charged

 

[danattherock]

If that is what lockers do for you, I will pass

Kidding of course. Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Caver Dave]

If that is what lockers do for you, I will pass

Don't be scared... he just took the "stoopid" line!

Kidding aside, most times the rig will go where IT wants to go, usually towards the wheel/wheels that have traction. Many times it's completely unavoidable.

Now that you see what's possible with lockers and nobody's mentioned it... you may want to start looking at adding in the bits for a full cage (especially if you have kids that ride in the back)! IMO, this is always a great place to start. Additional occupant protection has it's place regardless of where you're riding/driving. Everyone's that seen a Jeep on it's lid (with the stock hoop) knows what the windshield frame *only* folds inward... usually into/onto the front occupants!

 

[danattherock]

If I ever got my CJ one her side, I would need a defibrillator, not a winch. I will not be in a position to need either.

 

[raleighjeepguy]

I would make it completely mint/restored and ride her bone stock proudly. How often do you stumble upon a cj like that? Thats a piece of work you have there.

 

[RenegadeT]

...the windshield frame *only* folds inward... usually into/onto the front occupants!

It doesnt fold inward if its folded forward before the trail ride

x100 on the rollcage, but I think the OP is looking at more street action. You never can be too careful, the first time i ended up on my side was in a traffic accident.

 

[Chuckman]

" Front...would be the last place I would put the locker and again you WILL need to upgrade some parts/pieces or the locker/extra traction will start breaking stuff. "

not that I know it all, but this isnt entirely true. if I had just one locker and this was a street rig, as I said before, put it in the front. you wont know its there at all, it wont make noise, wear out, change lanes on you when in rain, and will act/ drive normal so anyone that wants to drive it will feel safe. when you get into a tight spot, you can lock the hubs and you have awesome traction. if you are not beating on it, it will live forever and not kill parts. I drove my 84 with a TBI 350 and 33"s and beat the ever living hell out of it till I finally killed a stock shaft after about 6 years of HARD trail use. youve got to consider what you are going to do with this thing and what you are willing to put up with. if you dont want to beat on this thing, and I doubt that you will, remember that the aggressive stuff tends to have lots of side effects. TSLs are badass, but noisy, big lifts can get tippy and ride harsh, lockers can drive funny, etc etc etc.

 

[danattherock]

I would make it completely mint/restored and ride her bone stock proudly.

How often do you stumble upon a cj like that?

Every day for the last 28 years

Actually, I kind of have the intention of keeping her stock. Sans the 3" lift kit and 33's on my rechromed wheels. Nothing I can't undo of course. Just putting a little bass in her voice, not hacking her up. Don't worry.