Jeep CJ7 Rehab

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm not a fan of body lifts because they make the bumpers look funny, they tend to break body mounts, steering angles become an issue, and cooling issues tend to happen because the grill moves up too far to adequately seal the space. add to the issue that mundane things like the shifter need modification... and lifting is passe - we've learned that moving the CG up does bad, bad things - especially in short wheelbase vehicles.

[Russell]

If you are trying to clear larger tires, would a body lift not increase the CG less than a suspension lift? In general I think suspension lifts look better.

[SuperBuickGuy]

suspension lifts increase the spring rate, which makes the vehicle less tippy.

[STINEY]

Rockauto sent an email yesterday detailing Wholesale Closeout parts for the CJ7. Its cool that they do that, you list your vehicles and they notify you when stuff is being liquidated.

Lots of fan belts, etc....yawn....then I saw brake parts and kits. Cool! But not knowing what was in my rear axle for brakes I set out to learn.

Was ready for the worst. Usually an Ohio car that was this rusty takes lots of heat and large sledgehammers to get the drums loose, and even more violence to actually remove them completely.

But I started on the conservative side, verbally threatening the axle and showing it the Ox-Acetylene torch. Then I got out my large rubber mallet.

And to my continuing surprise, the drum came loose after a few whacks alternating side to side. Then it actually slid off the shoes using only my hands.

This is very unusual.

Behold the new brakes already there. Probably 23 years old, and you can still see the never-seize on the cable-rings and shoe posts. Amazing how this Jeep was in such bad shape and yet someone had just put new brakes on it. The front pads are like new as well, and the discs looked good. Probably new brakes all around from the look of the front pads/discs/calipers.

I should have suspected as much when the lines unthreaded fairly easy from the wheel cylinders.





These are the less desirable 10" brakes.....was hoping for the 11" version. But having all new hardware and new drums is a very nice and welcome surprise.

[Deaf Bob]

I added one ton springs off a crew cab 4X4 up front and a set from a "bread truck" out back on my 77 half ton..
Didn't raise it much if at all, but no more tire rub and it no longer darted on ruts on the highway..
So, Russel, lifting is not always bad.. It is the extreme lifts that are not thought out that are
Stiney is trying to figure much of this out before it gets bolted together..
You'll get there with "help" from Aaron..

[STINEY]

I just don't want to create too much of a automotive social faux-pas. In my eyes yellow Accell SS spark plug wires are still cool and acceptable.

[milner351]

stop it.
yellow build your own wires? ACK

[STINEY]

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[SuperBuickGuy]

You should probably spray some grease over those brakes to preserve them

[Russell]

suspension lifts increase the spring rate, which makes the vehicle less tippy.

I don't understand, is that a must or a generally? I don't see how increasing spring height increases sprung rate? Can you not have a tall soft spring?

[SuperBuickGuy]

springs set the vehicle height, shocks determine how the travel happens - to get a vehicle further off the ground, you must increase the spring rate. Say it takes 100# springs (that means, it takes 100# to compress the spring 1") to achieve ride height - if you want the vehicle to be further off the ground, you'd increase the spring rate to 150# . Real world example, my FJ40 - I was sent 300#/200# springs initially. That put my ride height at 30", I wanted 26" - to get there, I changed the springs to a 150# tender spring, and a 200# main spring.... now my ride height is where I want it.

To go back to what you asked - as a stiff spring takes more force to compress, it naturally resists the load force on cornering at a higher rate. We can talk about number of springs (leaf) or number of coils and progressive rates at a different time - but I'll stop there because that first concept is the bedrock of all else.

[STINEY]

Where does the time go?

Now that sandrail season is waning, back to the Jeep.

Took several parts to the blaster that were too large for my cabinet. 2 fenders, grill, hood, sway-bar, YJ windshield brace bars, fuel tank skid plate all came back clean for $78

Well, the hood came back looking much like it did when I dropped it off. Blast guy is very cautious, he was afraid getting the factory Renegade decal off would put too much heat in and warp it.

I hit it with the pressure washer at work and that took the decal off easy. Bad part is the hot-water part of the washer is wonky so the sticky residue is still in need of removal.

I detest removing sticky residue. What a hateful job. The darker green areas are the residue, and it covers 80% of the hood.



On a brighter note, the grill I picked up cleaned up very nice.



Wait a minute, whats that on the mounting bolt area?

Shoot. Well, it is an authentic oem Jeep CJ-7 part........there had to be rust somewhere.

[SuperBuickGuy]

they make a eraser that goes on your drill to remove that adhesive... works pretty slick, actually.

[STINEY]

Were you able to get that eraser to remove the residue/glue/stickum stuff?

I have one and try as I might, it only seemed to work on the decals themselves, while still leaving the gunk to deal with.

[SuperBuickGuy]

yes, but there is a huge gap in ones that work and ones that don't.... and it's been long enough that I don't remember which one actually worked. I know I bought a half dozen before I found one that worked...

One thing, is they do load up like grinding wheels with aluminum - so sometimes you have to hit them with some abrasive to get them to work right.