1971 CJ5 First Time Jeep Owner

They way that the frame was hacked at the steering box mount is, well, a hack job at best. But as Terry stated above, nothing that can't be fixed and overall it looks like it can be a real nice rig when everything is addressed that needs to be. If your plan is to tear it down to the frame at some point, I think that's where you need to start. Do your due diligence, you'll get a lot of info from this site and the members here.

 

Perhaps , But based on the picture above it's not a wide track axle which should mean that it still should be a 28" spring spacing...........Someone did convert to Spring Over and added brackets above the axle......It could very will be that the added brackets for whatever reason were just not placed in the correct position...................just need to crawl under it with a tape measure.

 

Below photos of the rear and front differentials. I believe the rear is an AMC 20 and there is an A circled to one side so I think 3.54 gears. I will measure to determine if wide or narrow track this weekend when I am back. The front appears to be a Dana 30 and i have not located the gear ratio on it yet.

 

You could be right and would know a lot better than me. The block number is shown below. I think I have been able to cross-reference this number to between 1967-1974 225 through according to the number shown.

 

What I am thinking after all the feedback and having some time to research is to pull the leaf springs and cut off all the mounts and buy a complete 4" lift kit with new springs, shocks, hangers and perches. I think with a standard 4" lift I can go back to the springs under the axles and still have room for the 35" tires. 4" lift and a 2" body lift with new bushings should be plenty. This way I can line everything back correctly and clean off all the extra shock mounts and clutter added over the years. Also, I plan to plasma cut some proper mounting brackets for the steering box and box in the channel frame while I have it taken down. I welcome feedback on this plan. the only thing I am still uncertain about is the kit to go with. I am thinking the axles are from a 1976 or later based on the numbers and I am thinking I need to go with this year model lift kit to make it fit the axles and offsets better. I assume the frames are roughly the same between 1971 and 1976. Also, there are no shackle hangers now on the springs. All of the photos I have seen show these drop hangers. This should also help with getting the frame clearance for the tires.

 

On the later Jeep cjs (76-83 cj5 76-86 cj7) the rear spring pads are approximately 36 inches apart regardless of weather the jeep is narrow or wide track. I think jeep discontinued the quadratrac before they went to the wide track axles - therefore I was thinking you have a narrow track model 20 from a quadratrac cj7 (therefore the offset differential). I was trying to point out that this axle may not work with the earlier narrow frame (without outboarding the rear springs). The earlier jeeps (up to 75) used springs that are 1.75 inches wide. The 76-86 used 2 inch wide front springs and 2.5 in the rear. The 87-95 yj used 2.5 front and rear. What lift kit you use would be based more on the year of your frame rather than the year of the axles - but many people change spring hangers and use springs from different vintages (spring lengths will also need to be considered). I love those boggers and the way your jeep sits right now - look forward to seeing it fixed to your liking.

 

YJ Spring Conversion: 1955-1975 CJ to YJ Spring Conversion

 

Mike is Correct the AMC 20 rear axle be it Narrow or Wide trac does have a 36" spread between the spring perches................The front axle be it Dana 27 or 30 is 28" between the perches.

The AMC rear axle narrow track distance between the wheel mount surface should be 50.5" ............for the wide trac 54.5"

Looks as though that wide 36" spring width of the AMC 20 did not match up with the original 28" width of the stock frame spring width????? But who knows...............just need to measure it.

 

Welcome, from Weatherford, TX! Well, as stated by many lot of work there!

I maybe, able to lessen some of your work. I have a 20 w/4:56 and solid axles. It needs to be rebuilt, but is set up for spring under. I also, have the springs that came off of a 76 or 77, though it was a 7 not a 5.

Good luck! Looking forward to progress pictures.

Jason

 

Thanks for the info. I did measure and it is 50.5" between the wheel mounts surfaces. Framer Mike, Thanks for the insight. I researched what you posted and it does appear these axles are from a mid-70's QuadraTrac CJ-7. AMC 20 in the rear and Dana 30 up front. I think the plan will be to order a standard 4" lift kit to fit the 1971 frame and go back to springs under axle with new perches. To address the wider 36" spring centers on the rear, I am thinking about fabricating some plates with gussets to outboard the rear leaf springs to attain the 36" distance vs. the factory 28". The front should be same if the CJ-7 had 28" up front. I am going to re-install the Dana 18 transfer case tomorrow and see if the drive shafts will line up with the axles and check fit before taking anymore steps. With the SM420 4-speed and the Novak adapter I need to insure it all fits and the levers come through the floor correctly based on where the engine and trans are currently mounted. On a brighter note, I replaced the ignition cylinder since the Jeep did not come with keys. It went smoothly and the engine started and ran great. All lights, blinkers and other dash items functioned with no issues. It is the small things that make my day sometimes. Thanks again for all the input and advise. Greatly appreciated.

 

Hey folks! I had a pretty good couple of days working on the new project and figured I would share the progress. I took it down to the frame and found some good reasons to go this far with trying to make things right again. The first photo solves the mystery of the axle misalignment in the rear. When the prior owner swapped the axles to ones from a 1976 CJ7 Quadratrac they tried to relocate the spring attachment brackets and welded them way out of line. The next photo is their attempt to create a high steer drag link attachment I guess. The worst example of welding I've seen in a few days and trying to weld to cast iron on a critical steering component. Makes my heart skip a beat thinking about it. Oh well. I have the disassembly down to the frame and will spend the next few days checking alignment of spring hangers and getting it all back to stock dimensions.

 

No pics?

 

You were exactly right. I think it is fixed now. Thank you

 

Wow - Some scary stuff. I was not thinking originally about your Jeep being a 71. Is there any chance you could get back to the people who sold it to you and try to recover the original axles? The 71 rear would be highly desirable. I would think that the person who swapped the axles wanted the dana 30 front axle and swapped the rear model 20 in simply because it had a matching ratio.

 

Yes scary for sure. I am glad I am going through everything and replacing each thing I find. I did check with the prior owner and he says the original axles are long gone unfortunately. Luckily I have a CNC plasma table and a lot of metal fabrication equipment so I am confident I can make the rear axle work. One question, can someone tell me the center to center leaf spring dimensions on a 1976 CJ 7? From prior posts I believe these axles are from one of the quadra-trac models since both differentials are offset to the passenger side. One of the problems was the prior guy tried to make the Early CJ-5 spring hangers work on this AMC 20 and it is just too close on where the spring perches had to be. I plan on slightly out-boarding new spring hangers on the rear to have adequate clearance. I have drawn it in CAD and I think I can make it work by extending the width from 27-1/2" out to 31-1/2" center of perch to center of perch. Other suggestions are welcome. Thanks

 

I have some springs that came with my D30, I will get you the measurements in a bit. I have all four springs of the cj7, plus the d20 that isn't all cut up.

 

Welcome from Tennessee!

 

Well I have been busy the last few weeks on my 71 project. I disassembled it completely and have been straightening the frame, added rear outboards for the springs to better fit the 1979 CJ-7 Quadra-trac narrow track axles that were added by the prior owner. I had both axles completely redone. AMC 20 got chrome moly one-piece axles, new bearings & seals and 4.56 gears. The front Dana 30 got the same treatment with the addition of new ball joints, axle shafts, u-joints, rotors, calipers and 4.56 gears. I cleaned up the motor and figured out the block is the original 225 odd-fire and the heads and intake are from an 80's buick 231 based on the casting numbers. It runs great but I am planning to spend some time talking to rebuilding shops to see if this setup works with cooling passages and oil ports. I got a close color to the buick green on the motor and my next step will be to fit everything back together and finish grinding and welding and then take it back apart and have the frame powder coated. The SM420 4-speed and dana transfer case are being gone through at a local shop with the Novak rebuild kits. If anyone is in the North Texas area, Inland Truck Parts in Denton is an awesome, customer-driven business. They are knowledgeable about the jeep drive train and turned around my axles in less than a week. I highly recommend them.