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69 CJ-5 Wildland Fire Truck Build

CraftsmanCole

CraftsmanCole

New Member


I bought this CJ about 8 years ago, got it running, threw on a lift and 33s and drove it until I joined the military. After moving back home and getting a job that involves performing prescribed burns, I job the idea of building a type 6 or 7 fire truck out of it.


The jeep sat for about 5 years untouched and in that time the trans and tcase were completely locked up. With all the extra weight I decided that it makes a great excuse for a 5.3 swap mated to a SM465 and a Dana 300 I already have.



I picked up a later CJ-5 grille to move the radiator forward to make as much room as possible. For axles I got a Wagoneer D44 front from a buddy and will be narrowing a 9 inch I own. For suspension I have some YJ lift springs. I have already finished boxing the frame and mounted the front bumper.






Still figuring out how far I want to set the front axle forward, whether or not I want to go with a shackle reversal in the front, and rear axle placement. From my measurements, the stock Dauntless to D18 was about 49.5" from fan to yoke and the 5.3/SM465/D300 will be around 59"-60". With moving the radiator with the later grille, I measured that I get an additional 5 inches of clearance and the 9 inch ujoint to centerline of the housing was an inch shorter than the stock D44 rear. So if I move the rear axle back around 3.5" I should maintain around a stock shaft length.
 
timsresort said:
Does your 5.3 have the truck accessories? And if it does, do you want to keep the mechanical fan? It is possible in a short nose jeep, and I recommend it, depending on planned use of course.
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It does have all the truck accessories, I'm planning on swapping to a Corvette balancer and camaro water pump to shave a couple extra inches off now that I saw BadGoat's CJ
 
compostwerks said:
Very nice boxing of the frame. I presume that you plan to have some heavy equipment mounted on this jeep?? Pete
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To qualify as the lowest level (type 7) it has to have a minimum of a 50 gal water tank, 10 gal/min pump, and 200 ft of 1" hose. I'm going to try to build it as a type 6, which is a minimum of a 150 gal tank, 50 gal/min pump, 300 ft of 1 1/2" hose, and 300 ft of 1" hose. Both also need hand tools, fire extinguishers, chain saws, etc. so I'm definitely going to need either helper bags or springs for the rear for a 150 gallon tank

Also haven't been able to make any progress this week do to work. I'll be hopping back into it the following weekend to flip the frame to get better welds on the bottom and mount the front axle along with the engine and trans.
 
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Add 20" to the frame and body for a CJ6?
That'll give a substantial amount of extra space.
 
CraftsmanCole said:
I'm going to try to build it as a type 6, which is a minimum of a 150 gal tank, 50 gal/min pump, 300 ft of 1 1/2" hose, and 300 ft of 1" hose.
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Anything close to that spec has an absolute minimum of 1,635 lbs. (laden), and that's with modern equipment, with a tiny 12.5 GPM pump and 300' of 1/2" hose; https://compostwerks.com/equipments.../95-150-gallon-compost-tea-sprayer#dimensions

Quality hose reels of the size you mention weigh a lot and are really big. I have no first hand knowledge of fire equipment, but I've been operating engine driven water pumps for 40+ years and playing with jeeps for longer. Not trying to dissuade you, just interested on how this will work from real estate perspective. Sounds like you have the weight issue on the run. I'll be watching [popcorn] and encouraging at the same time.....Pete
 
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When I stretched my frame 25.5 inches, it was a pretty easy process, as I stretched the frame between the front/rear spring hangers. Cut the frame with a sawzall, cut the frame splice pieces exactly the same for both sides to keep the wheels tracking straight, clamped the splice pieces in place to keep the frame straight and started welding. By cutting the frame between the front/rear leaf spring hangers, it was just some metal work and a new rear driveline.

For the body work, I don’t think it would be much work to move the rear section of the body backwards with a cut in front of the fenders to preserve the wheel openings.
 
cj2atruck said:
When I stretched my frame 25.5 inches, it was a pretty easy process, as I stretched the frame between the front/rear spring hangers. Cut the frame with a sawzall, cut the frame splice pieces exactly the same for both sides to keep the wheels tracking straight, clamped the splice pieces in place to keep the frame straight and started welding. By cutting the frame between the front/rear leaf spring hangers, it was just some metal work and a new rear driveline.

For the body work, I don’t think it would be much work to move the rear section of the body backwards with a cut in front of the fenders to preserve the wheel openings.
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I did think about extending the frame but ultimately decided against it since I'm trying to get it ready by November. Worst case I'm going to go down to a slightly overbuilt type 7 since my company doesn't do much federal contracts anyways
 
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