Skippy's shop of hillbilly engineering

So, I sold the TJ. I know, I know.... Why would I sell the TJ after ALL that work? Well, when you see what I brought home, you’ll understand. While yes, the TJ was nice and fun to wheel but my CJ has always been staring at me like my dog that wants to go for a walk. Please dad! Build me! Build me! I’ve been waiting long enough, haven’t I? Even though this isn’t MY CJ, it is the way I want MY CJ to be eventually and, now that I have the new CJ I can take my time building ...my old CJ. This new CJ is pretty famous locally in the wheeling community. It’s a.... 1977 CJ7, 5 litre Ford motor, C4 trans, Dana 300 twin stick transfer case, Dana 44 front axle, 12 bolt rear axle both 4.88 gears, Detroit lockers and the rear has chromoly axle shafts, disk brakes all around, fibreglass tub, steel front clip, rubicon express leaf spring specially ordered for this application. It also has 35’s and bead locks. Not only will this new CJ be a riot to drive but it’s also surprising me as I’m starting to dig into repairs. A list of that coming soon but needless to say. It hasn’t been very well maintained the last number of years. Just taking the wheels off and there’s 2 different size wheel nuts. The breakage in the pics was my own damn fault.

So, this happened.... Finally....

Another long day in the shop today. Finally got the rear track bar to line up with the bracket. Had to cut the bracket, smash it with a BFG to bend it in the right place then, weld it back together and brace it with 3/16 plate to make it strong. Got one of the brake lines replaced, rear driveshaft measured, cut and tacked in place. Then called it a night. Anna even brought me breakfast, at lunch and kept me company for the afternoon, lending a hand where I needed her to. What a good wife.

Made some decent progress in the shop today. Could have made more, faster progress but, this transfer case has never been apart so of course, rust.... Then I snapped my snap ring pliers and had to go get another set where, at Canadian tire, I had to teach the tool guy what a snap ring and snap ring pliers were. Then to get home, get the SYE mostly installed only to have to pull it back apart, because the oil pump came apart. Long story short, I rebuilt the transfer case with the SYE, shocks are in. All I need to do now is fuel return line, a couple brake lines, make a rear drive shaft, re-install the gas tank. That’s all I can think of.