1965 Cj5 Tuxedo Park

So nice!
How did it feel hoping in just after finishing!?
Huge smiles for sure!

 

My wife and little kiddos went to bed last night so I went out and finished it. I couldn’t sleep thinking about those brand new u-bolts just waiting for me! It felt real good, very happy with the look! I still have a big smile on my face

 

I bet!

 

Me too....wtf?

 

So I got the Jeep aligned Thursday and it drives way better than it ever did before! Only issue is I have this nasty sound (like metal rattling) while coasting, NOT under load. No problem, I think it is just the exhaust contacting the brake bellcrank setup or it could be u-joints since I lifted the Jeep. Both easy fixes....so I thought. I go to pull the rear shaft and everything comes free but ONE nut on the e-brake drum where the companion flange and driveshaft hook up. It kept spinning the bolt with it and I could not get to the other side, no matter how hard I tried. Nothing I did; hanging on the driveshaft to put pressure against the bolt head, prying with a pry bar the get pressure, nothing worked! So, that one got cut off with the die grinder. Finally the driveshaft was out! I took it with me to work because I was actually working in a heavy equipment truck shop for a customer running some circuits and conduit (my day job) and asked the guys if they could press in my new u-joints and tack weld the bolts the the drum. Absolutely! Everything is now all bolted back in and ready to go. I let the tcase and tranny drain overnight so I’ll fill them up this morning and take her for a spin!

I wish I had gotten pics of the old u-joints. There were needles missing, rust and pitting on all the surfaces (inside the bearings) and marks and indents showing lack of lubrication or dirt sometime in its life. I’m glad they are replaced, they were in bad shape.

 

Just got back from taking it for a test run all bolted back together with new u-joints and fresh oil in the transmission and tcase. No noises and drives great! Now to give it a wash!

 

Mounted up my seat brackets, took some finesse but they are in! Took a tip from Johns1967CJ5’s thread and fabbed up a plate to bolt the passenger seat onto the frame. The driver side bolted right up.

 

I’ll post some vids tomorrow from the obstacle course, good and fun day! Hot though.

 

Oh Ya! Awesome

 

Not very wild wheeling but was definitely a lot of fun the last two days. I had a blast! A lot to see and do, it was just SUPER hot! Got 2nd place in my class which I did not expect. There were supposedly 600+ Jeeps pre-registered with even more registering at the gates! Met a lot of awesome people and gained a lot of great contacts.

 

Good show, glad you paid special attention to the vintage iron. 2nd place!
Did you receive anything besides a trophy?

Cool video but was hoping to hear some engine and drivetrain noise,
not a selection of music.

 

Nope, just a plaque. I’ll take it! I wanted to put some sound in there but it was my first time with the GoPro. The audio wasn’t very good, didn’t pick too much up.

 

That was great to watch, thanks for sharing with us!

 

Not trying to jinx myself but the Jeep is running fantastic lately! I still need to find TDC so I can actually set time correctly (my crank pulleys don’t seem to have a mark ANYWHERE, I’ve looked about 10 times now!) I am just enjoying the heck out of driving it. Ordered some 4 degree caster shims to get my alignment even closer to perfect (is that even possible?) Thought I’d share some pics of feeding some of the cattle this morning. The Jeep sure comes in handy going from farm to farm and makes doing “chores” fun

 

Such a great looking Tux! Man I wish we could going cruising together! I am all by myself on the south end of the island over here. All the vintage jeeps I see are military.