Rookie's 67 Cj5 (re)build - Here We Go....again

Adventures in Jeep land. I've been dialing in things over the past month, and we've been having a blast driving it around town. My big push to get it done was a city-organized Jeep gathering on the town square. Mine was the second oldest, with a nicely restored '72 CJ5 coming in third. I did a blitz to get it running, and I figured it only needed to make it 1 mile up, and I could tow it back if needed. It did better than expected, although it had a significant exhaust leak at the manifold. I fixed that with new gaskets, and she's purring like a....small block carbureted chevy.


As you can see, the kids were thrilled with getting ducks. That's a new thing for us. If you notice, my son brought his Dewalt powered Jeep with us. It just barely fit on the tailgate, but it made the local newspaper. He got more ducks than me....

Today I got around to installing the e-brake, some new rubber firewall gaskets for the brake and clutch, and dialing in the timing a little better. There is no timing tab on the engine since the short water pump wouldn't fit with it, so I'm timing it by ear (I know....not the best idea). It was pinging under load, so I retarded the timing just a bit and it is running much better. I'm running a Ford Taurus fan, and I added a temp switch which kicks on at around 230. That always makes me nervous, so I also installed a dash switch to kick the fan on if needed.

I bagged everything nicely when I packed it up, but apparently I didn't bag the u-joints for the front driveshaft. I've located all four, but I can't track down the nuts, so I'll make a trip to Rural King and get some and get that installed. I did install new u-joints this time around. Hopefully I'll get it bolted up soon, but I'm not too worried about needing it anytime soon.



As mentioned earlier, I wanted a stereo. I had no idea how cheap stereos are today, so I picked up a tiny head unit at Walmart and it does all I need. I hid it in the glove box to keep the look of the factory dash, and bought a small speaker cabinet at AutoZone with two cheap 5.5" 3 way speakers in it, and put it behind the back seat. It is muffled a bit, but I have two pioneer speakers to mount on the base of the roll bar coming. That'll let my daughter sing "Let it Go" at the top of her lungs (although she's already doing that with the current setup.)




I opted for bigger gauges this time, and went chrome instead of black to accent the chrome speedometer and grab bar. I'm digging them. I installed the old cigarette lighter that was on the jeep when I got it (that doesn't seem to work with modern usb adapters) so I put a "Fire Missiles" lighter in it's place.

This morning I drove it to my Thursday 5:30am running group and had to take pictures in the fog when I got home...





My 6 years old son has already claimed it as his inheritance. I'm just glad he's been a part of the process.

Oh...and how in the h*ll do you install those dang rivets for the hood welting? I can't figure out how to spread them apart!

 

Lil dude and I took our first out-of-town drive this evening to Cave City, KY for the Cars and Coffee Jeep Invasion. We took the backroads, of course. Most of the Jeeps were newer models and heavily modified, but there were a few classic CJ5’s and CJ7’s. But my favorite part was seeing the 1968 Commando and the 1948 Jeepster. I’ve never seen either one outside of pics online, so that was pretty cool. The Commando won first place in the classic division. I had to pose for a pic with them.

 

Ugh. I was noticing pools of gear oil under it, rather than the usual drops, so I bit the bullet and pulled everything last night. I was pretty diligent when I sealed it up, but clearly I missed a few things. However, I think I have it figured out.

1. leaking between the Novak adapter plate and T90 (significant). Planned remedy: rtv on the surface of the adapter and unplugging the seep hole so any oil that gets past the sealed bearing can find its way back into the transmission. Also putting set screws in the three holes that held the nose cone on.

2. leaking from the transmission shift rail. I forgot I popped a cap out when I was planning to install a backup switch, and I never replaced it. That was a pretty significant leak.

3. leaking from the speedometer cable. Going to check for a clogged breather and try to seal up the threads and put in an o-ring. And…not overfill the t case.

4. pulled the overdrive to check it and all looks good. Going to put a new paper gasket on.

I used “The Right Stuff” to originally seal all the other stuff, and it appears to be holding. No leaks from the pan or the parking brake, so that’s a plus.



I had hoped to drive it to Bowling Green next weekend for the Holly Jeep 4x4 event, but now it all depends on how quickly the parts arrive.

 

This evening I tinkered a bit. Went through my supplies and found a new pto cover gasket and realized the problem with my old one. The ring is narrower than the overdrive (wider than the pto hole) so it was not getting a good seal. I trimmed down the new one to fit on the overdrive and coated both sides with aviation gasket seal. I also installed the set screws with red thread locker in the original bearing retainer holes on the front of the T90. The oil galley return hole is also because of my sealed bearing, and I already had plugged the hole in the shaft that supplied oil to the input bearing. I’ll coat the gasket with aviation sealant and bolt it back up.

As I was looking through my gaskets, I found the shift rail plug I had taken out. I added a quick coat of The Right Stuff and tapped it back into place. While I had it out, I coated the countershaft on the T90 with the Right Stuff.

This leaves the speedometer housing. I’ll find a o-ring that fits and use it once I get everything bolted back up. I cleaned and checked the breather and all is working as it should.

I also ordered the parts from Brennan’s Garage for the Geo Tracker disc brake conversion. I picked up all the parts today from the FLAPS. Going to order a 2psi residual valve for the brakes. I might even get that done this weekend.

 

My least favorite part….ugh. Had to do a dance and a song to get things up and around the muffler. Got everything sealed up and hopefully I can stab it and bolt it up tomorrow. That gives me Friday to get the rest put back together. No tracking on the caliper mounts so disc brakes may not happen this weekend.

 

The "trick" is to use two long bolts with the heads cut off and slot the cut end for a big screwdriver. Use the bolts as alignment guides at the bellhousing with the crossmember under the tail to slide it all home.
Then once it is in the index bore two snug bolts can hold it in place while you install the remaining fasteners.

 

Well dang. I got it all back together yesterday and fired it up and backed it out of the garage. I had swapped out the throw out bearing for a newer one I had laying around. As soon as I started it, the bearing started screaming. Needless to say, out came the transmission again. And in the process, my cheap Harbor Freight transmission jack has given up the ghost. This should make things interesting.

I’m clearly not going to get to drive it to the Holley Jeep 4x4 Experience this afternoon in Bowling Green.

Some friends and I are planning a few days this fall on some mild sections of the Kentucky Adventure Tour (KAT). It’s a 1000 mile tour of Eastern Ky backroads consisting of gravel, dirt, and pavement. One section starts 100 miles from here.
I added some things to make the CJ5 a bit more trail worthy…

 

Did you remove your side mount spare tire bracket or just put the spare on the rear for this trip?

 

I'm a bit concerned about the stick-out of the hitch. C-channel really doesn't have much torsional strength. If that is rectangle tube it should be fine but a c-channel with that amount of weight will likely shake and bounce a lot.

 

I took it off for the time being. When I mounted it, I put a thin layer of toolbox drawer liner between it and the paint to protect it.

That’s a good point. Measured the bumper and it is 5/16” C -channel and weighs a ton. It came on the jeep when I bought it. I removed the original ball mount that was welded on.



The hitch mount carrier was designed for a front bumper mount, so I had to cut it down to keep it from sticking out as far.

Thanks for the insight!

 

Progress. A good friend came over tonight and helped me get the transmission back in with the good throwout bearing. Fired it up and everything sounds nice. I definitely can recognize the sound of a bad throw out bearing after this experience. Now I just have to bolt down the tunnel cover again and then…. I can start the disc brake swap! Brennan’s mounts came in today, so hopefully I’ll have disc brakes in the next few weeks.

 

Evening update…
Spent some time on the brakes tonight. I removed the front drum brakes and installed Brennan’s mounts. Then I mocked up the rotors and calipers. They all fit great after I drilled the hole of the rotors to fit on the shoulders of the studs. I picked up some longer grade 8 bolts for the knuckles just to check and see if I needed them. The store had 1” and 1.5”, and the originals were 1”. The 1.5” are far too long. Feeling from the back, I think the 1” bite deep enough to not be an issue. As much as I would like to do studs on the knuckles, I don’t think I need to be doing that kind of fabrication without a drill press.

I’m going to need new studs in the hubs and will go a bit longer so those lug nuts have plenty to bite on. I left the transmission tunnel cover off for now so I have access to the master cylinder. I’ve got a busy next few evenings so I may not get to it until next week. Got a residual valve for the front and will need to check the master cylinder and see if it has one for drums that I need to remove.

Some bad news…somehow the mount that holds the ebrake in the casting broke. Probably when my harbor freight transmission jack gave up the ghost and dropped quickly to the ground. Ugh. I may look at converting it to a rear ebrake system.
Onward and upward…

 

Knuckle studs are iffy on a drill press even with the piloted tool due to the high rpm.

It's one of those things you understand afterwards but there is not a way to do it with a hand drill.

If you have access to a good ol' boy machine shop they can do the facing on a vertical mill. It's just an odd size spot face. Turning the bolt heads is definitely doable on a drill with a hand file but if you are at a machine shop chuck up some nuts and turn some bolts.

 

Still working towards a weekend on the KAT (Kentucky Adventure Tour). Hopefully the second weekend in Nov. We’ll be the odd bunch out there with a CJ5 and a Rivian.

Brakes are installed and man those disc brakes make a difference. Really glad I did that upgrade. I also made a center console and mounted it.



Perfect fit.
Also got my heater mounted and wired. Now I just need to plumb it.


Friday I’m headed to see a friend that is willing to help me dial in my carb. He’s an old gearhead and I’ve got a rich mixture. That’s not stopping me from crusing town. I picked up the kids from school today with the top off. They loved that!

 

Last night I plumbed the heater and burped the system. Installed a new switch from Summit that came with a dash plate and am pleased with how it looks. After that I connected the defrost vent. When I did it the first time I used a dryer vent to fit over the stock oval vent connector. This time I used regular heater duct and adapted it to a larger size by the connector. It looks much better.


I’d really like to plumb a line to the drivers side, but that can wait.

Everything seems to be running smoothly, but I did locate a vacuum leak between the adapter plate and the spread bore intake manifold. I put new gaskets on and I think that took care of it.

 

Funny, I'm in the process of building one very similar to yours as well, looks good.

 

Finishing up things this week before next weekend’s adventure on the KAT. Last week I had a major oil leak and it was dripping from the bottom of the bellhousing. After closer inspection I found out it was the oil gauge sender at the back of the engine. Fixed and now I get the standard few drops when I park.​

I’m installing a rollover valve vent on my rear mounted tank, and replacing the fuel sender unit as well. The new one tested good so it’ll be nice to know how much gas I have. I ran out 2 blocks from home the other night and my wife had to bring the gas can…
Tonight I removed the back seat for my overlanding gear and installed the snaps for my super top on the tailgate.

This weekend:
Fuel sender
Rollover valve vent
Skid plate install
Check fluids

We’ll be camping near an old coal mine in the Daniel Boone National Forest. It’s 115 miles from here. My friends have a wager:
1. I break down on the way there (towed home)
2. I break down off-roading (towed home)
3. I break down on the way home (towed home)
4 I break down but fix it to limp home
5. I make it the whole way
6. My friend’s Rivian breaks something expensive

I’m hoping for #5.

 

#5 for the win! The Jeep performed fantastically, although I’m going to buy a set of earplugs the next time I drive it that far. Either the overdrive or intermediate shaft screams between 55-60mph. The shaft and bearings are brand new so I’m wondering about the overdrive.

We covered nearly 400 miles this weekend, which is the longest trip I’ve made in it….ever. No leaks. Plenty of squeaks. But it got me there and home. My fuel sender is sticking on the side of the tank, so going to have to work on that. But I was shocked to find out I’m getting around 15mpg on the highway. I’ll take it running a carbureted V8.










I also created a video of our trip:

 

Great trip, I enjoyed watching your video! I'm also interested in how your friend likes the Rivian (or maybe more like once it stops being "new") as my wife is interested in the R1S, and we keep our vehicles for a long time.

 

Thanks! I had a little too much fun putting it together.
In regards to the Rivian - this was the launch edition and he’s had it over a year and has really enjoyed it. Charging infrastructure is improving every day. We took a 36 hour roadtrip to north of Green Bay and back to KY back in May and it did great, but non-Tesla superchargers were lacking so we spent a lot of time in Walmart parking lots charging and dealing with broken chargers (Milwaukee, Chicago Ridge Mall). He’s had no issues otherwise.
My brother-in-law just got and R1S and seems pretty pleased as well.