1964 Cj5. It Comes Back Around.

A vid the PO took a few weeks ago.

 

I took my wife for an early morning trail ride yesterday. I’m not sure what the elevation change is but it goes from the bottom to an upper portion of the mountains that separates the coast of Orange County to desert side of Riverside County.

There are some deep rutted parts from all the rain this year.

About half way up we come across a group of younger guys. One is in a new Jeep hybrid and the other is in a Kia station wagon of some flavor.

The dude in the Kia was asking if I thought they could make it down. The gps told them to take this trail and they had tried to turn around but couldn’t. The smartass in me said he has gravity on his side so he should get down. His friends were laughing, he was not.

Ended up spotting for him on the worse section and went on our way. I am sure they made it down and in the end they will have had one hell of an adventure.

 

On my old CJ5 I mounted up a junkyard York compressor for airing up tires. It worked great but was a huge heavy lump. This time around I am going to try the co2 route. I put together this 5lb diy setup. The military tires I am running are small and only take 25psi should a fill so it should last a decent number of trips.


I also cut down and mounted up a tow bar. My buddy carries one also. It is really just so we can tow each other if needed.

 

Tell us more about the DIY CO2. Maybe start a new topic for that. I'll bet lots of folks are interested. I am for sure.

 

Being a former dive shop owner, I have been been carrying re-purposed scuba tanks/regulators for decades. Even an 18 cu/ft pony bottle at 3000 psi has a dozen or more tire fills, only with air. The interstage pressure of typical scuba regulators is around 125 psi, so near perfect with an air chuck on the end of a short hose.
-Donny

 

Went to pick up an SM420 this morning. When I got there the guy said he had two and I could have the second one for free. Both seem to shift and turn fine.

 

As mentioned above, if you have access to scuba that is a solid way to go. With the popularity of paintball, ai soft and pcp pellet guns there are now 4,500 psi cable compressors for as low as $200. The air is NOT breathable and puts a fair amount of nasty oil and water in the mix without adequate filters.

I had a co2 tank. The 150 psi regulator and hose are just Amazon . Any welding supply place can fill the tank.

There is a dizzying number of videos on YouTube about the co2 setup.

 

Nothing new really with the CJ. Waiting on my adapter from Novak so I can swap in the sm420.

We had a bad fire a few years ago here in the Santa Ana mountains that close a local trail. Sad one crazy person was able to cause so much destruction. The forestry department just recently reopened it so I braved the 100 plus temperature Saturday to go and check that the gate was actually open.





This morning a few of us went early to run the trail from Lake Elsinore up along the spine separating the Inland Empire from Orange County and back down into Corona.

Looking towards Lake Elsinore.


The other direction looking towards the Pacific Ocean. The water is there somewhere under the clouds.



It was strange seeing all the large pine trees totally burned but shrubs on the ground has come back and there are small pine saplings everywhere. Looks completely different than it did before the fire.

Jeep ran great but that t14 gearing is awful.

 

My neighbor posted up a video of last weekends ride. Mostly him and his son.



I got a shipping confirmation from Novak. My SM420/Dana20 adapter is on the way.

 

Last Sunday I went and put gas in the Jeep and last minute decided to drive up to Big Bear which is about 80 miles from me.

At the base before heading up I topped off with gas. Getting back on the fwy it died. Fuel filter empty. Temp outside was high 90’s so I figured it was vapor locked.


Let things cool down and it fired right up.

Drove all the way up and into Big Bear. And then it died. Same deal. But this time with an audience of tourist. Lots of thumbs up and offers of water.


After letting it cool down it fired right up. I figured I would cut it short and head home. Made it to Snow Valley and then…


Same thing but this time she never fired back up and no gas was coming back into the filter. To make things worse I had no cell. Lucky after about a half hour of trying to get one of the new fancy African Safari ready Jeeps with roof top tents and brand new sand boards to stop a random tow truck went by. Just got lucky.

So the day ended here in my driveway.


Day was actually a lot of fun. Tow truck driver was a character and full of stories.

Turns out fuel pump was sick, then dying and finally dead. Just got done replacing it and the Jeep fired right up.

 

The dying fuel pump on my '69 had similar symptoms before completely giving up the ghost. In my case, I taped a piece of hose to the gas filler with some duct tape and blew in it to pressurize the tank. Made it up over a mountain pass that way but was a little blue in the face by the top. Coasted down the back side to where we were staying. A tow truck ride would have been a lot more pleasant.

 

Fireball, I was actually glad to ride in the truck. I told the driver how at least now I had ac. On the base floor I think it was 105!

we got to the bottom and he turned on the ac. It was pushing less than my fuel pump.

The air was cold just no flow. I asked if he had ever changed the cabin filter. There was a big panel the said “Cabin Filter”. He just looked at me blank and said no, I didn’t know it had one. Hahaha

 

The CJ is currently in pieces. T14 has been pulled out and the SM420 is in with the Novak adapter and D20.


Hoping to get clutch hydraulics swapped in today. Redo part of the exhaust that was trying to share space with the d20 after adding the adapter. Need to massage shift levers and measure for driveshafts.

Probably a good thing I pulled the T14. It was shifting smooth with no issues but when I pulled it there was a good amount of shiny bits in the oil.

Here is a vid from a few weeks ago. It is mostly my neighbors MB but the CJ pops in a few times. It is painful to see how fast the jeep is with the t14.

 

I will add more pictures once I get it back home. The guy doing the videos above has massaged the crossmember, got the exhaust back together and fabricated a new floor. Towing it back home tomorrow to finish some stuff off and get driveshafts made.

part way through.


Basically done. Needs clean up, new bed liner, twin sticks bent and some boots.

 

I realize that your all done, but you would be happier with about 2x-3x the clearance around the transmission. Between engine torque and frame flex you will have contact related vibrations and noise.
Don’t get me wrong, you work looks great!
You might consider lowering the transmission crossmember a 1/4” or so.
BTDT

 

^^^ When I was under it yesterday I was thinking the same thing.

 

Yeah, been there, done that too.

 

A bit more work done and a slight rant.

I dropped the cross member a little over 1/4. Bent up the tcase shifters and redid the bedliner.

The levers before were right into the passenger seat.




Fresh Herculiner rolled on.



Now for the rant. I used Herculiner on my previous CJ probably 25 years ago and loved the product.

The paint cans they use now are absolute trash. The lid was so thin that try to pop it open just tore the lip. After getting enough bent and tore up I tried pulling with some pliers. This tore more metal off the lid and when it did come it PULLED the inside of the can up. I think a coke can is thicker gauge. So now the can is open and no way the lid is ever going back in. The kit was $102. I would have gladly paid for a better can.





Monday I drop the Jeep off to have driveshafts made. Can not wait to drive it.

 

Neighbor posted up part one of the swap. Jeep is at the driveshaft shop waiting on some yokes.

 

Part 2.