cj 5 build

Baker

Baker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Location
Suffolk, VA
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I bought this jeep from "bsmith" about 2 months ago.
The plans:
D60 front with an air locker not sure what i'm gonna do for front suspension yet still thinking about it.
GM 14 bolt rear locked/ 4 link suspension
amc 360
37 or 38 inch tires not sure yet
full cage
comp cut
custom bumpers front and rear
winch
corbeau's and 5 point harnesses
new steering column
i'm sure theres more stuff i'll do just minds drawing a blank right now.
This is what it looked like when i brought it home.
 
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forgot to post a picture of the motor. getting rebuilt as we speak. in the state of virginia its against to have a vehicle on your property unless its in a garage unregistered. so i had to register the jeep even tho i cant drive it at all right now
 
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Its good to have the tag on there, keeps you motivated to get it going.

Just someting to keep in mind, im sure you will be stretching it some, but go easy with it. Its real easy to make 5s unproportional (if thats a word) when stretched
 
i do plan to stretch it some. this is my first real build so i'm a "newb" as far as that goes. i've been wheeling for years but its always been very mild rigs or things i bought built already.
 
haven't made any progress lately due to being overseas on deployment but i'm throwing money in the jeep fund every paycheck so when i get home i'm gonna have a big list to go shopping with and hopefully get some progress made on this thing
 
A buddie of mine just finished rebuilding the motor for me so when i get back from deployment next month i can drop it in there. Currently the jeeps got a 3 speed and a dana 20. I plan to purchase a t-18 and a dana 300 and twin stick it. Plans are already in the making to bring the jeep to Marsfab Offroad and build a full cage and sliders and stretch the rear 7-8" and install a 14b with 4 link suspension and coil overs. I'll pick the jeep back up and keep working on some small stuff like dropping in the motor and drivetrain. Once i get the rest of some coin saved up i'll bring it back to Marsfab and do a 3 link front suspension with a d60 and a panhard bar also pushing the axle foward a few inches.

It sucks being 7000 thousand miles away and not being able to work on it. Anybody that has ideas or advice feel free to send it my way. also i'm trying to think of a name for the build so throw ideas for that my way as well. happy holidays everybody
 
I have some pics from my motor build but I cant get them to load up... If somebody can help me out i'll email them and they can post them up. I have to make a trip up to vermont to pick up the motor than the fun part begins. I am planning on taking off the front clip to make it easier and dropping the motor in its new home. I still have to figure out which transmission and transfercase i'm gonna run. i'm thinking a dana 300 twinstick for the case but still haven't decided on the tranny yet.
 
little progress lately working on the motor and gathering parts. I cleaned up the motor a bunch after these pics and dropped it off at the machine shop. 5 of the cylinders are out of spec so its getting bored .060 over. Ordered all my engine rebuild parts from Cleggengine.com here's some motor tear down pics
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I also picked up a new trailer yesterday so i'll be able to haul my jeep around without always having to beg, borrow, and steal a trailer haha.I know I need a drop hitch for the truck.
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Picked up this for the rear 2 weekends ago from a friend

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Picking this up tomorrow for the front.

Also picked up an sm465 4 speed from the same friend with the rear axle. I don't have any pictures of it yet though.

Also I have everything I need to rebuild my motor. I bought the complete engine overhaul kit from www.cleggengine.com and the journals on the crankshaft were tore up so I ordered one of those too. The block is at the machine shop right now to machine the cylinders, as soon as they call I'll be started the reassembly on it.
 
Forgot to mention the post before about my buddie building the motor for me fell through he just tore it down now I'm gonna be building it myself.
 
Yeah I scooped it up fairly cheap and I've been finding deals all over I've got 250 in a Dana 60 rear and sm465 tranny that a friend of mine just had laying around so I'm gonna go through trans and bolt it up to my motor pull the tub off clean up the frame drop the motor in it and set the tub back on it
 
Ok guys I just closed on my house so I finally have a garage. I have a bunch of shiny new motor parts sitting on my workbench I will grab a couple pics later and hopefully this week I'll start on the motor and yanking the tub off the jeep. I want to clean the frame up and touch up the spots that need it drop my drivetrain in, throw the tub back on than its off to Chris at Marsfab for some rear suspension work.
 
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All the parts sitting there waiting for the block to get back from the machine shop.
 
Ok so I've been super busy with work. Uncle Sam doesn't like to give me much time off, but I did tinker on the jeep a little tonight. Pulled off the top and the front seats. I'll get more done probably Thursday.

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Floorboards aren't terrible for the jeep being a 1978

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Worked on tearing down the jeep a little tonight.

Tore out all the seats and swept out the tub.

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Off with the hood

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And both the front fenders and grill

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Figured that was a good stopping point for tonight. No a/c in the garage so it was getting pretty warm. I have Saturday and Sunday off this weekend so I'm hoping to get some more work done on it.
 
So I popped open my transmission last night to find second gear has almost every tooth messed up ant the pto gear has a few teeth missing what would cause that? And where's a good place to buy replacements? I'm new to transmission work.

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well got my motor back from the machine shop bored .060 over and painted amc blue i'll have pics soon. wont be able to throw it in the cj until april when I come home from deployment though.
 
well deployment has slowed up my build yet again. I'm back to parts collecting mode. have been buying parts and shipping them to the house so i should have plenty to do when I get back. hopefully this is my last deployment for a while so I can really get some work done on this thing.
 
Alright so I'm deployed making pretty good money right now and its time to order some parts for the jeep. I am going to be ordering seats and harnesses real soon and I also need to buy a fuel cell. I'm wanting to mount the fuel cell where the back seat goes still unsure if i'll even have a back seat or not? What kind of cell should I look at and how big? the jeep is going to be trail only so not worried about road driving at all. Also with this being my first build what are some of the small things I can order and have waiting for me that you dont really think about until last minute that'll make the build go smoother? I can't wait to get home and drop the motor back in this thing its going to be such a nice feeling.
 
Running a back seat or not will affect the design and location of the fuel cell. When I was building my TJ, I planned on using the back seat so I had a fuel cell made that would fit tightly between the seat and tail gate. Wound up not running rear seat but I could if I decided to.

Kind of hard to tell but the front of cell is angled to follow the back of the rear seat, not mandatory but allowed a little bigger tank vs a straight front.

Start looking at fuel pump options, hoses, fittings etc, so that that can already be figured out when you start building again.

Good luck and Merry Christmas

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There's probably not gonna be enough room in the back of a -5 for a seat and a fuel cell.
 
Well I figured if I don't run a back seat ill just dove tail it which is kind of what I was leaning towards just wanted some opinions. What would y'all do for a cell if I wasn't going to run a back seat?
 
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