Starting from the begining

Bought a 1968 cj5 with a snow plow.

It has a fair sized hole in the driver side front fendor and interior of the passanger one. Tailgate is bad off as well. Rest seems to have hope for repair. Starts find runs rough till warmed up then runs great. I purchased this for a few reasons:

1) back up vehicle if needed till main vehicles get fixed

2) I plow snow as a hobby for a few places around me.

3) Hope to use it as my sons first vehicle (hes 7 so I get plenty of time before thats a issue)

So what im wondering is where to start. The shocks and springs are in poor shape was considering using a 2.5" lift as a easy way to fix them in one package tho I dont really care if it gets lifted or not I truely dont intend on using it to go mudding or rock climbing and such.

Should I just plan on starting from bottom to top? Replace the shocks gas, brake lines, brakes, wiring harness.

What would you suggest in the end I do want it to be basically new. I dont care for more power or lift so much as reliable and efficent (ie mpg) .. oh and of course safe as my son will be using it eventually. If possible I would like to fix it as I use it and not cause more work for myself.

For the body would you use metal or fiberglass? My thought is fiber eventually and make do with a cheap fix on what I have now till then. I live in michigan so salt is a killer on bodies.

It has a max speed of about 60 or so im guessing. I dont know for sure havent had it out in the open road yet (its winter and it has no top yet ). It has the dauntless v6 and from what i gather is all orginal. Is there a cheap easy way to regear it so it can get to the 70 mph range?

Anyhow thanks in advance for any help you can give or links to others that have done restoring of a similar make/ year .

 

The first place I would start is making sure the brakes are up to snuff, then the electrical stuff like signals, brake lights, etc. From there you can go any direction.

And welcome from St. Louis!

Jim

 

Lets see safety.tinker.fun but your never done But welcome from Maine

 

Welcome - this is a familiar story to me. I bought a '69 about six months ago to drive on weekends to the range and fishin' hole. It needed a brake job and no one would take it on. So sez I, this ain't so hard, I'll do it myself.

Put the CJ in my wife's bay in the garage and started to work. As I struggled with the lines and master cyl. I decide it would be easier to do the work with the tub off.

That was six months and a complete brake system, new springs,a new floor pan, a new paint job and lots of seals and gaskets ago. May get her runnin' again in about two weeks (wife really want to get her vehicle back in the garage - it's been a long silent winterR) ).

Point is - you can start anywhere, but it will always lead you somewhere else. Where ever you go, this forum will be a great help.

Welcome again.

 

Nice writeup BrianH. Welcome from Buckeye country.

Sounds like a nice Jeep you have there. Pictures would help immensly.

Unfortunately it sounds like your goals are diametrically opposed. Can't easily have the Jeep available as a backup vehicle if the body's off w/ no wiring/brakes, etc. , which eliminates your #1 primary reason. But if you want it to be basically new & be around when son turns 16 (reason #3), you might have to strip it down to the frame, blast it, POR-15 it to prevent further rust, as plowing (reason #2) will eat it otherwise if it hasn't already.
So...which'll it be?

 

Hello Brian - welcome from Boston!

A few comments and opinuions if I may -

Seems that you want to drive the Jeep while you fix it up. It will take a little thought and planning to divide your repairs into small enough chunks so that the Jeep is driveable more often than not. It'll be awfully hard to acheive that like-new state without a frame-up restoration. Unless you do everything at once, you'll be constantly retreating and advancing, hopefully more advancing, partly becasue it's an old car and partly because it's a Jeep.

Regarding plowing, IMO a CJ is too light and flexible for much plowing. Plow jeeps often end up swayback from the stress of the plow, plus they use a lot of salt on the roads around here, which has an obvious effect. Plowing could affect the retreat/advance balance a lot, and not for the better.

You can buy replacement springs with no lift or 1" lift. Most of these Jeeps that have not been owned by a dedicated owner need new knuckle seals, kingpin bearings, rebuilt bellcrank and steering box, new spring eye bushings, and other stuff that I can't think of at the moment. Get the factory manual, http://www.thejeep.net/catalog/prod...78&PHPSESSID=b7a707526d62cde4d37e4121126b8501 and take a look at the steering and front axle.

I don't like the 'glass bodies, so I'm biased. There's plenty of discussion of this topic in the archives if you search. Replacement steel panels are easy to obtain, and the Jeep body is comparatively easy to repair with sheet steel becasue of the flat surfaces and simple curves. Most jeep bodies from the snowy regions need floors and hat channels (the reinforcements under the floors). Steel bodies in what you would think is terrible condition can be restored pretty easily in your garage using a few basic tools. You can easily do body work with a 110V MIG welder and get very good results.

V6 CJs can be driven at highway speeds with either the 3.73 or 4.88 axle ratio if the systems are in good condition. No problem with engine speed or straight-ahead stability. Evasive maneuvers are another case, and affected by the width of the tires, amount of lift, presence/absence of a hard top, and driver skill. You probably don't want to try a quick lane change at 75 mph under most conditions.

Again, check the archives - lots of info and discussion there. hth!

 

Well a few things I have 2 regular use vehicles so if need be I could tear this down and leave it undrivable for a while with out to much issue (tho again it is intended to be used for some plowing in winter so would need to do things before snow hits next year).

If I can safely run it at 70 im happy (heck even 65 id be able to cope).

I'm not apposed to steel I just want something that will last and not need redoing before to long from salt.

I have one doctors office I plow out in the winter its not huge but I get about 2 grand a year from it and its fun. Its not usually a big deal few inches tops at a time. Dont salt anything but drive on the roads to there of course. How bad is a plow on a jeep and is there a way to protect against it (like heavier duty springs or such).

Oh im going to post pictures but should i post them here or somewhere else? Thanks a ton for the warm welcome guys will be hovering here for a while im sure.