New Ohio Guy with Transfer Question

Picked up my "new" '72 CJ5 a few days ago and absolutely love it. Bought it on eBay out of state so, I really didn't have too much of an opportunity to inspect it too closely. I noticed today that the shifter on the transfer (DANA 20) is REALLY loose today. Lots of play between shifts. New to Jeeps. What should I be looking at/for.

 

check for loose or worn linkage first. when I got my 75 one of the linkage pins was replaced with a bolt that was smaller than the pin. This allowed the bolt to work part way out (didn't even have a nut on the end of the bolt).

 

Originally these levers were not loose or rattley, but I expect that they would wear over the years. I'd suggest you take the floor panel off and look at it, then it should be obvious where the looseness comes from. The '77 manual has a pretty good picture - I'll see if I can post it. There's a '72 manual online at www.c104.net but it has no picture.




You can see that there are lots of parts. The bushings probably wear out, and would have been a service part. Don't know if they are available now. I think the "shift lever to shifting lever rod" is a likely source of wear, and IIRC it's available. If that's the problem, rather thna buying a replacement (Omix-Ada?) rod, I'd make a replacement from Heim joints, since those ball-studs weren't very good quality to begin with.

hth

 

I have the same issues with my 72. I am looking at replacing the rod with the ball joints first I see that as the biggest cause for the slop. I did some reseacrh with 4WD Hardware and they gave me some suggestions. I am lookin at some heim joints and threaded rod to replace the worn rod.

 

Great stuff. I appreciate the diagram. I purchased a Chilton's but it hasn't arrived yet. I do appreciate the feedback on some common areas to look.