1955 Cj5 Moneypit Build

Tracked down some original seats; these are currently at the upholstery shop getting re-built. Also dry fit the steering; obviously cuts will need to be made. Still haven't done this. One of the next few items on my list.

 

Put disc brakes in up front; rears will be upgraded to 11"; still in a box from Herm. Should be going in soon enough.

 

After dry fitting everything, I finally got the engine ready to fit for mounting brackets.

 

With mounting bracket placement done, time to weld those and the front bumper.

 

While welding in the bumper and brackets, I took the time to figure out my grill situation. If anyone has advice on what I should do , I'd be glad to hear suggestions. I decided to buy a 1970's grill because the radiator shroud provided me with enough clearance with the V8. The parking light holes were different so I cut the old ones out and welded in new metal. I'm planning on cutting out new holes for the original parking lights after I clean up my welds and flatten some waves out.

 

Time to prime and paint the frame. I took everything off, sanded and primed with 2k epoxy primer then sprayed upol raptor bed liner.

 

Once cured; I threw the axles back on and pushed it into the garage. From there, I worked on getting the transmission and engine back in for the "final" time. I created a thread about my rear drive shaft not lining up, with a roughly 1" differenve between transfer case and rear axle. You all calmed my nerves as this is apparently normal.

 

*** HOW THE JEEP SITS TODAY!!***

All previous posts were leading up to this and going forward will be new progress. I'm sure I'll have tons of questions so thank you in advance for all of the help!

This Saturday I got the engine in. It is offset 1" to the driver's side as of right now but it may be moved depending on the clearance of my steering. It's a bit crooked too... Kind of looks like it's cockeyed passanger side to driver's side if you're looking at the front. Is this due to the transmission crossmember needing to be adjusted?

 

Not sure on the engine, the crookedness (just made that word up) is hard to tell from the pics. I did notice a pretty extreme angle on your drag link tho, anything you can do to flatten that out?

 

Draglink is just sitting there now not really connected to anything.

I straightened the engine out completely and offset it 1.25" to the drivers side. That messed with my transmission crossmember now... pics to come in a second

 

Notice picture #4... The crossmember mounting holes under the body mount.

 

You have my vote for the most luxurious garage. I thought it was your living room at first.

 

Another problem I ran into tonight... Rear shocks went in great. Front shocks are another story... The u-bolt hangar has two posts I can connect the shocks to but no matter where I put the shock, I either cannot turn the wheels or it hits the actual axle. Any help would be much appreciated!!

Back mounting point hitting axle:

Front mounting point hitting knuckle:

 

I just dealt with the shock problem the other day. I don't think my solution was the correct way to do it but I'm in the middle of making recessed u-bolt plates which will have the shock mount built into them. Figured this temporary fix would do until I'm finished with the plates.

I made these plates for the upper mount which offsets the shock mounting to clear the drag link.



They attached like so, hoping I can grind the welds out and remove easily later on.






Probably not the solution you want to use but it did work fairly well. I think most people just cut the entire shock mount off the frame and weld it back on where it needs to go. That's probably the correct way to do it.

 

I'll be relocating my shocks to the back side of my axle when I get to my steering conversion.

 

I could do that as well since the Dana 30 has the mounts on the back. But seems like you would need some taller mounts in the fender wells to get the needed travel?

 

If I went with the back shock mounts on my u-bolt hanger, I'd have to move the frame shock mounts back towards the rear about 6 inches. The front seems to be where these shocks are supposed to go but still no joy. Here's a few pictures of where I'm at now...

Top knuckle bolt hitting the shock:

Shock bolt that came with the frame. Thinking maybe making a different bolt that has a smaller spacer nut? This one is integrated into the bolt:

Top view of maximum wheel turn:

Rocky Road Outfitters U-Bolt hangers. They're marked FD for front driver and FP for Front Passanger. The anchors pointing outwards are supposed to be towards the front of the jeep apparently but there's more clearance if I reverse them, the only problem is that the "FP" has wider bolt holes for the wider U-bolt on the Dana 25/27.

 

What are these going to look like? Also your shocks seem to have way more room between the knuckles than mine.

 

Your U-bolt hangers are different than mine, I see your dilemma.

The recessed hangers look like this at the moment.







Still need holes for the u-bolts drilled, shock mounts added and the notched area for the pumpkin on the passenger side. If it's not obvious the spring sits down inside the channel and the U-bolt nuts will be tucked up under the overhang with the reinforcements.

 

Oh, did I forget to mention that's a wide track Dana 30? That's where the extra room comes from.