Started My ECJ5 Build

The axles I picked up for a couple of reasons, the all round disc brakes, and both as floaters. That will make towing behind the MH real easy. I probably would not have put a locker in the front axle if i was building the axles, but these I got a deal on from a friend.

Yep, I was thinking the same thing regarding a tire carrier / bumper, maybe adding a jambo rack to it also.

Posi, one other quick unrelated question, how is Squaw Valley in the summer time?

 

Here's is what I did, it works OK but would rather have the gas can flat. But I got the swing out tail gate.

 

In the Summer you can horseback ride or take the tram to the top of the mountain. Lot of hiking opportunities there too. Although there are endless places for hiking here. A HOT day here in the Summer is in the upper 80's. I think they have mountain biking at Squaw. You load your bike on a chairlift and ride downhill back to the bottom. Great for lazy bikers like me! And, if you have money to burn, you can shop till you drop there too.

 

Order lots of parts today, lots of the little things and some of the basics. Got the rear axle in place. Need to grind off the previous SOA spring perches. Need to order a Toyota LC starter.

 

Here is how I did my swing out spare tire carrier. I decided to keep the original style drawbar. I kind of like the looks of it. This drawbar though is off of a CJ2. I had to cut the braces on it and weld on some extensions. The extensions are not installed in these pictures.

 

Nice!

 

awsome, good work

 

dvw86,

That is nice work, and I think I'm gonna copy/mimick/steal that kind of an idea. You improved the strength of the cross member, got a tire carrier out of it, and retained the stock look to the draw bar. Cudos.

 

Well got the D44's under the Jeep, it's now a roller. Gotta swap the the hi-steer arms and knuckles off and look for a set of D44 knuckles.

 

Did you order that tire carrier recently? I've got the same one. 4wd.com told me they only had a couple left in stock. I think they only problem with that carrier is they may have the tire mounted too low. I've got 31's and went with a bolt on receiver with a pintle/ball combo and I think it will be too low. Will a hitch ball mounted on that triangle plate clear the bottom of your tire? I may have to go back to that. What are your thoughts?

 

I got it "fairly" recently. I'm running stock tires so it doesn't look like there will a clearance issue. If I remember correctly they are only rated for 31" tires any ways.

 

Got the engine mounted, and front outbaording done. Gotta put the T90 back together and mount that and the Dana 20 in place. I have a few old drivesahfts laying around that I'llget cut down to fit. My plans are to 1) replace the hi steer knuckls with a set of non hi-steer, as mine had the stock tie rod mounts cut off. Then mount the brakes, mount the master cylinder, and do the brake lines. Get the tub mounted, which includes cleaning the underneath up quite a bit more. My 06/30 deadline is looming. Looks like I'll need to utilize some vacation days to stay on track.

All in all with the D44 and 30" or 31" tires I shoudl be pretty bullet proof, combined with the F-head output. Anybody got any thoughts on gearing? My alxes are geared at 4.56, and I figured i shoudl be pretty well set up for highway duty, and adequate to off road. I'd really like some opinions on that.

 

Well spent a couple of hours assembling the T90, pretty basic stuff, no issues. Got about 75% complete. I'll finish that up tomorrow and then work on mating that to the engine and then the D20 goes in place.

 

My 2 cents on the gearing..... With a D20 your transfer case will be pretty quiet on road, but off road it depends on what your going to use the jeep for. I have a T90 with a D18 and 5:38's and it would be nice to be a little lower in crawl. With the T90, D20 and 4.56's your jeep will be geared too high in crawl for the rubicon in my opinion. Why not put in a NP435 right now and that will solve all those problems. Check out novak for more info. Your not going with a resoration, so I would do it right the 1st time. I am enoying your build and the pics.

 

I would have to second that. I am running a T15, dana 20 and 4.56's and she is way too high geared still to crawl worth a darn. I just picked up a np435 and bronco t/c to swap in. Looks great thus far!

 

I'll third that. Nothing made a bigger difference in the jeeps ability than swapping in a T-18. I was running a T-15, Dana 20 and 3.73's. Not much difference between 3.73 and 4.56 in low range, something like 22:1 vs 27:1 with a 3 speed @ 3:1 1st gear. Now I am running about 47:1 in low range and still wish it could crawl slower.

 

According to Novaks calculator my crawl ratio is, like you said, 27:1. Adding the np435 with the bronco dana 20 will put me around 74 or 75. Which will be nice. What are you planning to tackle once your jeep is all finished? Also, what did those axles come out of? Im looking to swap my axles out of my '72 for something a bit wider to minimize the pucker factor.

 

I appreciate the comments, and I've thought about the low gearing issue. My two thougths were for either a tranny swap, and the Dodge NP435 is the best candidate. But I'm also liking the idea of the Tera Lo Gears for the D20. I do have a Dana 18 that I can swap the gears from that into the D20, but going from 2.0 to 2.4 isn't much of an increase, but at least the cost would be low. Another option is to pull the 5.38 gears out of my old axle and find another set, and swap them into my newer axles.

I was mainly concerned about how this will pull on the road, with the axle gearing with the 4.56, and I half expected that to be pretty decent. I figured I could address crawl ratios down the road.

Thanks all, it's appreciated.

 

Well the 4:56's arnt too bad if you dont mind cruising. Im pulling 2500 rpms at 55 which is about all I want to push her while driving for awhile. They pull really good with those gears but you hit 3rd quick(er). I like em myself becasue nobody really uses a Cj5 for comfort or long distance drivers.

 

Well, the plan with this one is to make it a good dinghy to flat two behind the motorhome, something all four of us can fit in, (we're all vertically challenged, my wife and I are both right aroudn 5'3"), and the kids are young. So I want this as a sight seeing vehile while RV'ing. Plus I want to be able to do some mild to medium off roading. Nothing extreme, a good simple trail vehicle, small tired, but with good parts. The D44's I got already had the Warn full floating kit with lockouts making flat towing a breeze. Plus they'll be fairly heavy duty for 30"-32" tires being pushed by a 75hp F head. Their extra width will lend ti self to stability improvement especially with the metal hard top adding to a higher body roll characteristics over a soft top. Both axles are locked. The disc brakes will make for reliable stopping, over the original 10" drums. This is my pocketknife / multi tool vehicle.

I imagine getting the Tera Lo gears down the road. The axles are cut down to FSJ width, the front is a cut down 3/4 ton Dodge D44 (thicker tubes).

I am not, and and for my own benefit, I'll repeat this is not gonna be something that I redo every year with the latest and greatest stuff. I did that with my CJ/YJ, and it emerged into a vehicle that trail riding became boring, too overbuilt for most of the trails around here. It was stretched to a 103" wheelbase, had a 175 to 1 crawl ratio, 4.0 ltr HO, NP435, NP203/D300 combo, D44 and Ford 9". I ended up parting it out, and I'm starting over and keeping to the KISS principle.