Build Thread: CJ-7 Therapy/01 TLC (pic heavy)

[HFDPNL]

I had an 85 Jeep CJ-7 for about 5 years. Wheeled it. Wrenched on it. Drove it around town when the weather cooperated. It wasn't practical at all for driving anywhere far as it wasn't freeway friendly and I had to trailer it anywhere to go wheel it. It had no A/C, so it was a shorts and t-shirt ride most of the time here in Houston.

I ended up selling it to free up some cash to buy a ring for a nice girl I met....

I had the opportunity to work on a 100 a couple years before I got rid of the CJ, and I was thinking about what great deal the used ones are, and how much more practical it would be than the CJ for driving around town and making my short commute to work. My other vehicle is a long-bed, crew cab diesel truck, which doesn't fit into parking lots in the city and I hated firing it up to only drive a few miles before shutting it down.

Fast forward about a year, another friend had bought a '00 and did a small build to it, and I was able to talk my wife into letting me find my own finally. I was fairly certain I wanted one without nav and between 100k-140k miles on the clock. Searched the inter webs for about 6 months with several bought out from underneath me, until I was about ready to be a little less picky. Finally, the perfect one came up in Chattanooga, TN and I was able to get a buddy's brother in law, who lived there, to go test drive it for me. Flew up to complete the purchase, and discovered the VSC and Trac lights were now on(they weren't at time of test drive and price negotiation). Negotiated a little more off the price(although I was able to do a zero point reset thanks to mud, once I got home) and made the trek back to H-town(and called my buddy and ordered parts on the drive home).

(La Quinta, Tuscaloosa, AL)


After fresh clay bar and wax job

Build may commence...

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

congrats and welcome

 

[HFDPNL]

I knew the shocks were toast, even had at least one worn out shock bushing, so I had my buddy who had now built two hundies order an OME medium kit(t-bars, 860 springs, and shocks), Total Chaos upper control arms, an ARB front bumper, Duiser URBs(for the front since I had a Slee rear planned), and Weathertech floor and trunk mats. I ordered a diff drop bracket from Slee on my own. I also acquired new spark plugs and all the fluids I needed to make sure everything was fresh and all gear lube would be changed to synthetic.
While I was waiting for things to arrive and time to make the trip to my buddy's shop, I had to do something about the factory radio with a cracked volume control and blown speakers. I had good experience with Infinity door speakers in my truck, so I ordered some for the cruiser and ordered a new sub to put into the factory enclosure(which had so-so results). The head unit I bought was a simple touchscreen DVD unit from JVC that did everything I needed for less than $400(I wasn't picky).
I also attempted to clean the permanent brake dust stains on the factory wheels. I used all kinds of tips and tricks, nothing worked.....until I scrubbed down past the "brake dust" that was actually the wheel primer.... I planned to have my wheels powder coated, plastic-dipped in the meantime, and that is how they sit today.

I also picked up some new tires. I'd been a BFG A/T guy for a long time, but a friend who has a Goodyear shop and deals in Toyo's talked me into the AT II Extremes in 295.75.16 for my truck. I liked them enough, that I decided on the same for the Cruiser.



Finally made it to the shop.


After:

 

[HFDPNL]

I drove it in above form for about a year. Some mild off road hunting trips and a little bit of exploring. I had 2 yellow top, deep cycle Optima batteries sitting on maintainers in the garage, so I ordered a Slee 2nd battery tray and made some custom copper terminals for the main battery. I didn't have a plan yet for a dedicated battery system for anything, so I just wired them in parallel.



Somewhere along the way I had the windows tinted with a bronze tint(I think it was Llumar). I also got sick of cleaning mud from under and behind the running boards, so I removed them. Got some Pfran interior LEDs and replaced most of the dash lights with LED from the thread here on MUD. The dash looks much better with the LED replacements. Also added HID bulbs to the factory headlights with excellent results.
I had the inevitable leaking the CV boot clamps, so I started collecting parts and planned another shop date to put them on and take care of some driveline maintenance. Parts I amassed included a Slee dual swing rear with jerry can carrier, Firestone airbags, Warn Zeon 10-S with remote solenoid kit and wireless remote, Rigid 30" combo bar, Amazon reverse cam, and Cobra 75 CB radio and K40 antenna. It took me until January of this year, before I made it to the shop. The CV boots were totally shredded when we put it on the lift, but they weren't clicking, except on full lock turns. I decided to have a third party shop that my buddy uses rebuild the CVs and repack the bearings while we had the knuckles off. We also sent the driveshafts to be rebalanced with new U-joints(although they couldn't source new front u-joints). I also decided to replace the lower ball joints while we waited and the truck was sitting on the lift...picked up a couple from auto zone.

 

[HFDPNL]

Got everything wrapped up(except the light bar) and went out for a test run down about 18 miles of bad oil field road to our duck hunting place.

Still a bit stiff, but the OMEs soaked up the big holes nicely....somewhere along the way, I lost a c-clip and the driver's side CV back out a bit, and I didn't notice until I got home,...which likely cause a tear in the newly rebuilt axles

Ordered new CVs, but replaced the c-clip and ran the existing ones until I had time to change them. The torn one started clicking after a few months and few thousand miles.
Mounted my light bar using Rigid's tube mounts from the upper bar on the ARB to save my tabs for anything else I might want to mount. Also replaced my winch hook with a ProLink.

Developed a nice squeak in the rear, which I traced back to disintegrating p-brake hardware floating around inside the rear drum.

One of the bells was frozen, so I took the opportunity to rebuild the whole assembly with new parts.....and also replace 2 wheel studs and lug nuts when they seized and I sheared the studs.


While I was putting things back together, the Fedex man arrived with an important package. Luckily I flagged him down and he backed onto the driveway to drop off my White Knuckle Sliders.

I also got some wheel spacers from Slee, mostly in case I wanted to run chains on my upcoming ski trip to CO.

Although I like the jerry can holder on the Slee rear, I really think I'll get more use as a cooler rack. Got the idea from an 80 on Facebook.

Went ahead and changed my heater Ts

I spend a lot of time in West Tx with poor cell reception, and my friends from Midland always had cell amplifiers, so I installed a Wilson 4g wireless cell booster in addition to my Cobra 75.



I also hardwired my Escort radar detector and integrated the silence button into one of the dash panel blanks on the left knee bolster. I have had a Valentine 1 in my truck for some years, so Escort is for a little variety. I have a group of friends who swear by them.

When I returned from CO, I noticed that I was getting a lot of engine drag and whine whenever my A/C compressor kicked on. I went ahead and had my mechanic replace it as it was over my head.

Finally replaced those CVs with brand new ones after returning from CO. I also replaced one of the new lower ball joints (warrantied) because it had a tiny hole and would eventually fail due to water intrusion. I wanted to get it out of the way while I had the knuckles off.


All done for now....

 

[El Cid]

do you mind having the dark color in the heat? or are you able to keep it covered through the summer ?

 

[SmoothLC]

Looking good!

 

[HFDPNL]

Decided I'd put the most recent updates in a new post.

I was getting quite tired of the ride in my Cruiser being worse than the ride in my 3/4 ton, air-bagged, 10k+ lb diesel truck....so I started looking into possible solutions. Although, it went against what I thought to be possible, I decided that it wasn't the spring rate of the t-bars or 860s, since they had plenty of extra weight on them and shocks could improve the ride. The OME shocks needed to go, as people have been complaining for a while about the ride of the newer OME shocks being worse than the old ones.

Some reviews of the Fox units said that although they were compliant, they were too spongy to the point that they were dangerous on the highway. I looked briefly at the King reservoir shocks. I think Spresso review them as being very stiff, which was not what I wanted. I didn't want my cruiser riding like a sports car. I finally settled on the Icons. A buddy ran them both in his F350 and his Ecoboost F150 and I always felt that they rode well. The biggest trouble was deciding which set to get. Icon is proud of their products, to say the least...

I originally thought I would try the Stage 1 kit, but I hadn't found anyone who had any reviews of them, whereas there have been a number of people very happy with the Stage 2 kit. Since I was already spending a good chunk of change, I figured I might as well spend a little more to make sure I didn't regret it.


Before I put the shocks on, I discovered stuck rear caliper sliders had caused my inner brake pads to wear down to nothing, so I replaced the guide pins as well as the pads while I had the wheels off for the rear shock install.



I also was able to source an Infinity key directly from them as an R&D tester, after my replacement key case cracked in less than a year of gentle use.

 

[HFDPNL]

do you mind having the dark color in the heat? or are you able to keep it covered through the summer ?

Although it is darker than my white truck, I don't really consider it that dark. My biggest complaint is the angle of the windshield seems to lend itself to more sunlight coming through.

 

[HFDPNL]

Dog post inspired by @Layonnn

 

[HFDPNL]

replaced/Repacked front wheel bearings and front rotors.
Lengthened rear diff breather and adjusted rear brake brackets for increased axle droop after Icon shock install.
Replaced rear sway bar links with MAF 80 series extended links.....now I just need to order up some new OEM fronts to fab up some extended links for the front.

 

[RS6tofj80]

Hey Man - I've got a shop doing 5 sets of extended fronts if you want a set - waiting to finalize pricing but it'll be under 75 a set.

 

[TXLX100]

Nice build / repair thread. Truck is looking really nice

 

[HFDPNL]

Hey Man - I've got a shop doing 5 sets of extended fronts if you want a set - waiting to finalize pricing but it'll be under 75 a set.

PM sent

 

[r2m]

Nice build! Soooo, did you someone die or did you win the lottery?
I have to congratulate you on your build. It appears to have come along very quickly, I wish mine was coming along as fast.
I've been stuck running with lift, tires, lockers, compressor and dual batteries for about 2 years now. I'm waiting for the clams to get my armor (front and rear bumpers, sliders and undercarriage), top rack, lights, new head unit (stereo), HAM unit, antennas and probably a few other things I can't think of right now.

Anyways, I can at least drool...

 

[HFDPNL]

Nice build! Soooo, did you someone die or did you win the lottery?
I have to congratulate you, your build. It appears to have come along very quickly, I wish mine was coming along as fast.
I've been stuck running with lift, tires, lockers, compressor and dual batteries for about 2 years now. I'm waiting for the clams to get my armor (front and rear bumpers, sliders and undercarriage), top rack, lights, new head unit (stereo), HAM unit, antennas and probably a few other things I can't think of right now.

Anyways, I can at least drool...

Haha, no. Kind of a combination of a number of things.....also, although the thread went together quickly, this has all been over the course of 2 years. To start with, I had been pining for a 100 for a while before I sold my CJ-7. Sold the CJ in Nov '12 and then started looking/saving. Then, when I found one in early '14, it wasn't enough to get all the way there, it was a good start(lift, tires, front bumper). Then nothing else big until early 2015 when I traded a 30' gooseneck(that I used to haul crawlers on) to a friend who paid me in parts.

I wouldn't say that my wife is particularly happy with the money I spend on the Cruiser, but she understands it is an obsession. I'm afraid to add up all the little expenses that I don't think about....I usually figure anything around $50 is less than a tank of fuel. I also didn't get crazy on things like the CB , head unit, or replacement speakers and the batteries were in my garage(they had been in my truck, but I replaced them because I thought they were dead, turned out to be a parasitic drain).

I still wouldn't mind a few things like: lockers, HAM, roof rack....maybe some drawers and a fridge.....although, nothing in the near future, except a new fairlead and compressor that I just picked up from a friend yesterday.

 

[r2m]

Nice thing about my wife is that we both like wheeling so as long as I don't go overboard, she's okay with me tricking out my rig. Problem is, she also has the same year LC that I have and wants me to do a very mild build on hers also !

 

[HFDPNL]

A couple updates:
Killed yet another lower ball joint,...well, tore the boot, so it would likely not be long for this life....on the bright side, I'm getting fast and I found a press kit that works well.



I knew I wanted a compressor for airing up tires, but I was not sure if I wanted to hard wire a nice one or just pick up a cheap portable one......ended up with the former.....peer pressure's a MFer......also got some Staun auto deflators and set them to 20 psi.


I need to fab up a bracket for it, but for the time being it sits nicely on the K&N shield....until I return to a factory air box. Speaking of,...at some point I split my intake tube between the air box and throttle body. New tube from Toyota - $300 before shipping. K&N FIPK on Amazon - $300 w/ 2 day shipping. I'm less than thrilled with the added throttle noise at kick down, and although I have no plans for a snorkel, I hope to find a used intake tube and return to factory setup before too long.
No pics, but I replaced the rotors with slotted cryo units from Stoptech and took the opportunity to finally adjust my parking brake so that it works.
I also got a set of Marathon cordura seat covers for the front seats to try out and a console cover from SOR. I didn't like the pics of the SOR covers and the way they cover the whole seat with a cutout for the seat controls instead of tucking under the trim. I'm disappointed with the fit of the console cover, less so with the seat covers. They're quite comfortable, especially in the summer heat, but they don't fit as nicely as the last few sets of Wet Okoles I've had. (pics to come)

 

[duggy]

Good option on the twin ARB. I've gotta figure out a better solution for my fittings. The ARB can handle the heat but the push to fit fittings I used right on the manifold burn the plastic and it blows off. I think I'll have to conjure up a way to adapt some copper tubing to let it cool before it runs to my tank.