60 cj5 that's wants to come home with me

I know I shouldn’t be but I have my eye on a 60 CJ5. The 5 has had a total restore a few years back according to the pics that were inside the jeep, although it now show signs of minor body rust but otherwise looks good. The price has been lowered to $1750 (still to high for me). My question, outside the normal checks you should do when buying a jeep is there any particular item or characteristic trite that I should be concerned with for this year jeep? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Well for a 43 year old vehicle, you can expect a few things to not to be up to par.

If I were looking at it, and assuming it is in the northeast, I would primarily be concerned with rust. If the body is rusted out you will be in for some expense if you decide to replace or repair the tub. If it is rust free and drives and runs good and it has a clear title, I would suggest buying it.



Some of the quick things I check when buying a jeep are listed below. And I kind of do a mental budget of what I think it would cost me to repair the problem while looking at the jeep. While I don’t consider myself an expert, I do most of my own work, and can get pretty close to what it cost me to repair most major components of a jeep. As a ball park estimate, I will also share what I remember as paying for the parts to have something fixed, and this is with me doing the work. If you had to pay someone to do the repairs, you are going to have a much higher price.

Steering check for any slack in the steering wheel and any shimmy going down the road. tie rods and used steering box (150.00 )

Brakes. Will it stop? Complete rebuild of brake system ($250 -$300)

Transmission and transfer case. Rebuild $300.00

Front and rear axles. Check to be sure they work ok. Been lucky so far. Probably would allow about $200 each axle

Electrical system. Is it a generator or updated alternator? New one wire alternator, $ 60.00


Clutch will it slip in 3 rd gear if you accelerate. $120 for clutch

Have someone start it up & rev up the motor a bit. And watch the exhaust..

Blue smoke means it is burning oil. Would need some motor work ( probably new rings.) $400.00
White smoke, head gasket or a cracked block. Used motor $100.00 to $500.00
black smoke, carburetor is set too rich. 50.00 to rebuild carburetor

A couple of questions I would also ask include:
How long has it been for sale? Why is the owner selling it? How long has he had it?

This is just my process I use when buying a jeep. My cost factors may differ from some of the other guys. WIll be looking forward to seeing how they reply.

Good Luck on buying it.


Cliff

 

Cliff, I would like to thank you for your time an answering my thread it was both interesting and useful. As for the three questions you ask when buying a jeep I also work in those three questions myself.

Some of the particular item or characteristic trite of this year jeep I found in yesterdays thread by linckeil “Dual Reservoir Master Cylinder”. He implied that when 60 cj5 springs a leak in the brake system you have no stopping power other then the emergency brake. It appears that a dual reservoir master cylinder would remedy that situation.
Like you Cliff I would be interested in seeing others reply.

 

If the gear oil in the tranny and transfer case has water floating on top, check for rust on the gears if it's been sitting a while. I ended up replacing nearly all my gears in both due to rust pitting and worn bearing surfaces. I'd figger about $300 each if this is the case.

Electrical... if the wiring is hacked up or falling apart, a new harness is about $175~$300.

Everyone probably knows this one....Pay particular attention to areas of paint that are blistered up. If they repainted a few years ago, and there are blisters, that could be poor work coming back out. Check the inside/underside of any blister spots, and in very suspicious cases, a screwdriver might prove your point.