1960 CJ5 Drivetrain options

I have a 1960 CJ5. I want to replace the original drivetrain with a little more power and a lot less noise. My current drivetrain is nickle and diming me to death. The clutch just went out and the engine loves leaving oil all over my garage. What are some of the best options on a limited budget?

 

Too many options to answer from what you've posted.

What do you want? Keep the axles or not? Axles? Transmission? Transfer case? Engine?

If you want to improve the condition of everything, your easiest option is to do a complete rebuild from the frame up. I'm not convinced that swapping the drivetrain will make the Jeep more reliable, unless you also go through the new components.

 

I want to replace the engine, transmittion, and transfer case. I would like to keep as much as the rest as possible.

 

My friend/mechanic is saying it's time to move on. He said it will cost too much to rebuild the old equipment. He has helped me a ton but an engine/transmittion/transfer case rebuild is too much to ask him and I think I would go to the poor house paying someone to do it.

 

Which engine do you have now?

 

F-head

 

Sorry F-head sounds like a bad name you would call someone.

 

Listen to your friend, go find something else that you can buy for a few grand that is reliable and running now, then
I would say the way to get the way to get the most $$$ back from what you have is to part the 60 out to people in need of parts to rebuild for their projects.

 

Your choice of Buick 225/231 OF/EF V6, or Chevy 4.3L V6. The Buick fits better but the Chevy is more plentiful and you should be able to find a cheap donor. Send the T-90 trans and D18 transfer case to Herm for a rebuild (these components are actually quite easy to rebuild, but you give me the impression that you don't want to do much of the work yourself). Buy an adapter to mate the V6 to the T-90.

There are some modern 4-cylinders that are also possible.

This topic has been covered extensively in older posts. Search with google - "site:earlycj5.com <your search terms>" The Novak site has extensive discussions of the swap and the candidate components. www.novak-adapt.com

If you're thinking you can pick the complete drivetrain out of a running vehicle, the only possibility while retaining your axles would be another Jeep up to 1971. Pickups make lousy donors because the gear is too wide, too long, and the offset is wrong. Other more modern donors have the drop on the wrong side, no offset, or other disqualifying problems.

 

Why can't a 1986 and earlier CJ 4 cylinder drivetrain not be used in the '60 CJ5 jeep? And is there any other stock 4x4 vehicle drivetrain that has the front drive shaft on the passenger side that may work on my CJ5.

 

Thank you for the help! I truly appreciate it.

 

It could be used! If you have fab skillls, time, and money, When you go to do a drive train swap it usually turns into the snowball effect. the best thing you can do is research from the mentioned sites and find out what would work best for you.

 

Toyota landcruisers used to be set up the same way as the earlier cj5's, with the all the four wheel drive components on the passenger side of the vehicle.

 

Won't work with your rear axle. Any 1972 or later CJ transfer case has a centered rear output. Likely could be done if you swap the axles though - the frame width is different, so you'll have to weld new perches on the rear axle. There may be other issues that I'm not aware of.

 

Agree completely with the above.

 

But they had inline 6 motors (too long) and long drivetrain (again too long for an early) and parts tend to be expensive. Not a bad idea in a longer wheel base.

 

That AMC 151 is a great engine. I had a 85 xj and put that little 4 banger through all kinds of heck. I had the thing submerged in mud over the dash twice in the 8 months I had it before some kid offered me a snowmobile for it. That 4 banger can take a ton of abuse. As far as carburetor they stopped the carburetor in 86. It takes a bit to get it dialed on but once you do you don't need to mess with it.

You have a better chance finding this motor mated to a manual in a 84-86 xj. People had a lot of options as far as engines in the cj during those years and it will make it a bit harder to find a good running 151.

Another good option is the 2.5 151 gm engine that is almost the same size. It makes like 30 or so less pounds of torque. I have had 3 of these once again its a great little engine. The TBI ones are a lot better then the carburated ones in reliability though. You can find these in 85/86 carbureted or 87 to 93 TBI in the s10's.
The aftermarket for the 2.5 GM is shrinking from what it was when Chevy still had the the s-10 badge. But you can easily find parts for this and many of the things on the later models bolt directly up (serpentine belt, exhaust, etc).

As far as fabrication and cost you can find a s-10 or xj with a manual. I would just buy the entire 2wd or 4wd truck for less then $500 as long as it ran good and moved. You will get the motor all the components, the hanging pedals, the better break booster/clutch/slave. You will want to use the engine the bell housing and the same flywheel.
You can use your t-14 and Dana 18 without issue. You will need a adapter though and you will need to redrill and balance the flywheel to accept a t-14 clutch. I think advanced makes a kit just to do this swap but check with them and others before you go running out. This will add a few inches to your drive train but not much. You will need to relocate your mounts anyway so you can mov the engine forward the few inches and possibly use your stock shafts.

I think you could do this for less then $1000 This is more about moving into fuel injection then anything.



For power you could use a 225 or a 231 oddfire v6 these make great torque that like being said before can cause the cascade effect. You can use these with a variety of manual transmissions. There is actually nothing wrong with the transmission you have now if you don't want to upgrade the axles. No matter the transmission you use you will need to use the dana 18 transfer case you have now.

This will require a bit more capitol and fab work so lets put the number around $1500. This does not include all the goodies such as the hanging pedals, clutch and such as with going out and getting the entire doner.



Another option is simply rebuilding what you currently have. Your talking about a oil leak and a clutch. What is that about $700 if someone else does it for you. Talk around and see what it would take to have someone freshen up the F head. Sure the flattie boys know a lot more you could do and who to have do it in your area to get some more power out of what you currently have.

I am not one for keeping it stock when upgrades are easily available(ie you can replace your breaks with current golf cart parts). But in this situation where you don't want to spend a bunch or do a ton of fab work simply fixing what you have seems like the best resort.

If you don't want to keep the current drive train, then yes change jeeps. Let someone loose out on all the mods they have done to the engine. They have taken out MOST of the guess work.

That being said if you do decide to buy someones rig where the drive train is not stock(and good luck finding a low cost stock jeep). Find out as much as you can about the drive train. Not finding about it leads you to running down numbers and spending a lot of time guessing and assuming. Numbers will only tell you so much they will not tell you about the internals of the engine and that is a great factor in tuning.

I have owned almost 200 vehicles so far and plan on owning more later on. Most of these were "Billy's going into the service and does not want to store his 64 Impala" I quickly became the "When you want to sell it call _ _ _ Guy".

What I have learned is that if you buy someones rig you also buy all the mods they have done to that rig. Finding out as much as you can about that rig from the previous owner will keep you from having headaches later on. A receipt book that shows what has been done over the years is like gold on a heavy modified rig. Buying a stock like rig will cost you more to modify it, if you find you want to later on. But, you will know what has been done to it and have a secure platform to work on instead of one resting on quicksand with sod on the outer edges.

 

Thank you for all the help. I think I'm going to rebuild my current engine and replace the clutch, transmission and transfercase.

 

Generally thats the cheapest option.