New Jeep Questions

After posting here a while back and going through a couple of Jeeps I have a pile of parts and only one complete jeep a 1966 CJ5 I love the thing but it has had some major hacks done to it........

The PO tried to attempt a spring over, he did manage to do a really nice welding job on the axles, but the steering is scary, the heated and bent the steering arm down a good 3 - 4 inches and bent the tie rods to match, like I said scary.

Needless to say I want to undo the mess, I am contemplating installing the widetrac axles from a 83 CJ I have, has anyone else done this? What kind of problems am I getting myself to?

Would it be easier to just undo the spring over and re weld the perches to the bottom of the axle tube, or would the switch to the slightly wider axles be worth the effort?

The jeep will probably get a few inches of spring lift and 32's nothing dramatic, and it wont be wheeled hard, mostly a street rig......

All opinions welcomed.

 

i dont know what to tell you,always been partial to the stock setup myself,my jeep will go anywhere i want to go,and some places i dont want to go some of the other members will chime in,by th way my stock steering scares me over 40mph

 

do the spring under. should you use the 83 rear, you will need to switch out the transfer case to a centered rear ouput (dana 20/300) instead of the stock offset (dana 18 ).

 

Not looking to swap transfer cases, I will keep the stock axles and just reverse the spring over, anyone have info or a link to how I should go about this, and some specs I should look at to get back to stock setup

 

The best answer is search here for more info.
You have some learn'n to do before you ready for this.
or you will not like the result's.

To start you off you have to make sure you have the right castor when done.
3 to 6 degrees.
Dont weld the new spring perchs on till you can measure the castor.
When it is all assembled. Sitting on the ground you can check castor.
Get a angle finder from hardware store looks like a wheel with a magnet on it, pretty cheep.
Take a piece of threaded rod and put it through the hole for the tie rod ends. Have it sticking up about 6 to 12 inchs. Bolt it on ther and put your angle finder on it.
This is with tire's mounted and normal wieght of rig.
Twist the axle till you get the right angle or castor.
Then tack weld the perchs, then take it all apart and weld them solid.

More to learn but this is the heart of it.