Early CJ5 dash pad

I have been thinking about finding one of those dash pads that goes on the windshield for my 70 model. I'm talking about the first small pad, not the big ones AMC adopted. I have a question though. Is there an extra hole on the driver's side for the wiper wires to go through on those pads? If not, how does that work? Anybody got pics? If I find an old one, can they be recovered or is the vinyl glued or formed to the foam inside?...assuming they are made of foam

 

AFAIK the wiper wires with the stitched pad go through a hole between the windshield frame and the top of the cowl. They do not enter the cabin at all.

I have not taken the stitched pad apart, but the vinyl is definitely glued to the pad. My guess is that the foam core is made, and the vinyl is stitched to make a cover that is glued on. The foam core is bonded to a piece of steel (the back of the pad), and the vinyl wraps around and is glued to the steel, out of sight.

The pad is held on by the windshield latches, and by little angle brackets with a screw that goes down into the windshield frame.

I presume you mean the big pad that was used with the '76-on windshield. I expect that pad will not fit the earlier windshield, so you can only use the '70-74ish stitched pad, or the molded pad that was used for '75s and maybe some '74s.

 

I have this pad on my '71 RII. Timgr is right on with his coverage of the attachment and composition.
IMO, this pad is absolutely worthless. It's decorative only. It does not offer any protection whatsoever. When you fold the windshield down, it becomes a protrusion that will snag on tree branches, etc. It also catches bugs, while flat-towing. Mine frequently loosens, and the little screws are tough to access. The little sheet metal screws that hold it on are not robust. I suppose it could be made to attach in a more secure way, but I don't see the point. Mine is sitting in the garage behind the air compressor.

 

They weren't very soft when they were new ... softer than the steel dash, but not squishy at all. I recall that you could push them in a little with your thumb if you pressed hard. I suppose that after 35-40 years of exposure to the pollutants and oxygen in the air they have hardened. All plastics seem to change given enough time. The molded pad in my CJ-6 feels like a rock - no obvious give.

 

Not OEM but it has cup holders and speaker ports. http://www.quadratec.com/products/22561_01.htm

 

It has been a while but the factory padded dash on a DJ5M that might be something to check out. IIRC it was universal (LHD or RHD). I think it may be too short for your application because those had the wiper motor on the inside.

 

I had mine recovered. Tim is correct about the construction. IIRC it was about $60 to have it done. The pads on a DJ look like crud, and would be shorter than an original.

BTW, they were able to match the original fabric very closely.

 

Tim, so the ones that got a dash pad had a different dash panel that didn't have the wiper wire hole? and yes I'm talking about the early early one 70-74

Anybody got an good pics....especially the recovered one? thanks.

I've seen that aftermarket one AE Miller makes. I just wonder how big it is though since I haven't seen one on a jeep

 

Here is the panel that mounts to the back of the pad:






Here's a couple of pad pictures:

 

This must be typical for the earlier dash where the wire comes out into the cabin.

Later models (starting when?) do not have the hole in the dash for the wires. Instead the wires go up through the top edge of the cowl and are not visible.

The orange Jeep pictured above does not have the exposed wires, and is a '71? Maybe a '71 Ren II?

 

Mine is wired through the cowl, but certainly could be a PO mod.

The Orange one is mnemonic's '71 Renegade I (one of the few oddities built Sept 1970). It does appear to have the wire grommet in the dash from this view:

 

My 71 RII has it coming out of a grommet on the dash and then going up under the dash pad. I added a 3 prong trailer connector to the wires a long time ago so that it was eash to take the wind shield off without having to disconnect the wires.

I recovered mine when I rebuilt mine, but kept everything original as much as possible. I reused the original hardware and foam.

 

Mmmm... reminds me, I still have my stock original one up in the rafters. Pulled it off due to the cage down bars being too close to the dash for fit without modifying the pad.

 

I've had several of the dash pads and none had a provision for the w/s wiper wiring. FWIW.

 

I have a few floating in garage Ill get picts in am

 

Hey Tim, this is the first time I've stumped you on something...lol

I thought the whole wire through the front of the dash was a little lazy engineering, but I'm trying to keep it stock. I guess someone at Jeep finally said..."hey this looks like cr**; why can't we just run the wires between the bottom of the windshield and top on the firewall...duh"

 

Well, 1970 was early for me. I didn't start driving much until 1971, and then I started driving to the Jeep dealer and hanging out around Jeeps and Jeep people. I also made some friends there, which was no small part of why I hung around so much. They indulged my interest, and I am grateful.

Yep. If the hole in the cowl is big enough, you don't pinch the wires. And the triple wire they used to connect the wipers is pretty stiff, and feeds down into the cowl ok.

I think they picked the easy targets for the Intermediate changes, and that must have been one of them. It seems like Kaiser didn't have much enthusiasm for making improvements by the time they sold to AMC.

 

Thought I had full ones ones I have are 1/2 pads

 

What's a 1/2 pad?

 

covers only drivers side
there out of postal jeeps