CJ-5 Project Old School

Body paint color, just for fun.

  • Mojito Green, JL color

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Chestnut Brown Metallic, Classic 70's

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Medium Blue Metallic, Late 70's early 80's

    Votes: 1 50.0%

  • Leave it alone, keep the Patina!

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • Total voters
    2
  • Poll closed .
wjtstudios said:
How’s the ride?


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WJCO said:
Looks good. How does it ride?
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Won't know for awhile. No shocks or pitman arm. No rear driveshaft on yet so it doesn't move under it's own power. (Tried locking the hubs in 4wd hoping it would go in front wheel drive, but that was a no go). Still no brake lights. Once I get it drivable-ish , I may have my wife follow me for a couple of miles to give it a quick test. I did see lots of good reviews for this suspension, so I am hopeful. For now, I just wanted to get a few pics up to give a quick progress update.
With Christmas and looking at houses to buy, the build is coming to a slow crawl. In fact, my steering column won't even be here until sometime in January
 
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AZ Explorer said:
Won't know for awhile. No shocks, pitman arm, or rear driveshaft on yet. Still no brake lights. Once I get it drivable-ish , I may have my wife follow me for a couple of miles to give it a quick test. I did see lots of good reviews for this suspension, so I am hopeful. For now, I just wanted to get a few pics up to give a quick progress update.
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Sorry, I got excited with the pictures and didn’t read the post! It looks great! I’ve heard good things about their springs too. I have the pro comp crap 2.5” on mine right now and I can’t wait to get rid of it. I’ve also heard good things about Alcan springs, but they are pricy.


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JKbrick said:
I wonder why if you locked the hubs and put it in 4 high it wouldn’t move?


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Wondered that myself... not totally sure how this transfer case is set up inside so maybe it doesn't lock up. I know in my old Chevy Blazer when I broke a rear u-joint, it wouldn't go anywhere in hi or low. It would go once I put it in hi lock or low lock. In just regular hi and low it allows slip like a differential for turning so the front and rear axles can rotate at different speeds. My Jeep pattern is 4H -2H -N - 4L but no independent lock option. I've had several older Jeeps before but never had the need to limp home on one driveshaft. A sticker I found with the pattern has a warning not to use 4wd on dry pavement, so I thought it should work. May try it again tomorrow.
 
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TOPLESS said:
Looking good! I love the old school look of the wheels!
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Thanks! I really wanted 15x10 vector wheels but they haven't been made for a very long time. Couldn't find any used. Some close in design, but not exact style I wanted and even those were really expensive. Like, stupid expensive. They made them for the F-150 and Bronco but that is my bolt pattern as well. Would have been sweet but the ones I got are brand new and they still have the classic look I wanted. Also why I did white letters out. That was very in style when the Jeep was new.

In other news I figured out the transfer case issue. The boot was so tight that it wouldn't fully engage 4wd on either end. Figured out a good solution without cutting a fabbing anything. I just moved the access panel back but still (very slightly) overlaps and to the drivers side just slightly and drilled new screw holes. Then I turned the boot upside down. Works great for the transfer case and looks pretty good actually but will need a new trim ring (bent and cruddy looking). Worked for the transmission too but doesn't look as good. Going to get a boot from something else in a similar size. They have something in stock at the So-Cal speed shop down the road for street rods that might work. I am also looking at a boot and ring from a 71 Barracuda that's about the right size. We'll see.

Got the shocks on and the pitman arm done. Had very bad luck with the rear brake lines. The drivers side wouldn't come off without stripping the hex. Had the same problem on the top where the soft line meet the hard line. So I had to take off both. As long as I'm replacing the two, I'll do the short passenger line as well. Front hard lines broke loose but I haven't changed them yet.

These are the wheels that I could not find...
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More goodies this week. Got a Jeep logo horn button for my Grant wheel. Obviously the pic is from an ad, but that is what it looks like on a wheel almost just like mine. It's out in the garage on the other side of the complex so it was too much of a pain to take my own pics of it. (Edit: Just previewed this and wow is the wheel pic freaking big! Sorry bout' that.)

The rear license plate "bracket" is actually from a TJ as some of you may have noticed. A more modern upgrade but will fit like a glove and look really good. Hated the original one.

Finally, the gauge cluster finally came in today. Packaged really good and looks really well made. So sweet! Will be some time before I get to it. The major reason work is being put off is my wife and I put an offer on a house and it was accepted. We are in the middle of that whole process which puts working on the Jeep on the back burner. Also, still waiting on the steering column and need that to move forward once I get moved anyhow. As I said before, I'm in no hurry.

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wjtstudios said:
Congrats on the house!! That is awesome. Unfortunately they tend to deplete the jeep fund.


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JKbrick said:
Congrats on your new house! Happy moving [emoji604][emoji598][emoji597]


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Thanks guys! Not deplete the fund, but certainly curtail it some.
The good thing is the Jeep is paid for and so are the parts as they come in. The only thing that went on a credit card was the tires and wheels. No intention of selling or stopping the build.
In fact, the new house has a tandem 3 car garage, so the Jeep has it's own little living space in the back corner. It was a big selling point for me.
 
Reading this makes me miss my CJ so much. It’s sitting at my grandparents in California until I leave Alaska. I have the same Mickey Thompson’s in 33”. I thought about going 35” but thought the narrow wheel well in the rear would make them look funky but seeing yours definitely changes that’s mindset! Looks amazing man! Keep up the good work.


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I didn't want to say anything until everything was settled. But now that it has I can give a quick customer service review on the Speedhut Gauge. (This is not a product review since it isn't installed.)

I checked online about a week and a half ago to see what it said under my account as to status. It had been "in production" for some time. I will add, I was informed the production time was not fast due to the nature of being custom built and tested. To my surprise though, the part was now on sale for almost $100.00 less than I had paid. I was quite irritated by this but decided to write a quick e-mail to the customer service dept. The following is the exchange between them and me.

ME Dec. 7th:
Hello,
I placed an order for a GCJ5.5-JEEP-SPEEDO-01 on 11-09-17
Order number is 106401
The price was $495.00. That part is still in production unshipped and now that same part is on sale for $396.00. This is nearly a $100.00 difference in price.
I believe it appropriate to be refunded the difference as I feel I shouldn't be punished for giving you my business a few weeks too early. Especially as I haven't received the part and it is in production during your sale.
I hope you can appreciate the frustration this type of situation causes and will do the right thing in taking care of a new customer.

Happy holidays

SPEEDHUT Dec. 7th:
Thank you for contacting Speedhut. One of our Support Agents will be in touch within the next business day to follow up on your request. If you’d like to email an update, please reply to this email or call us at 801-221-1460 (Monday through Friday, 9-5 MT).

Talk soon,
Speedhut Customer Support

SPEEDHUT Dec. 8th:
Okay! I got that noted for your order! Thank you for asking. We will get that done as soon as we can.

A few days later my part was updated to Quality Testing and the price had been changed to the sale price.
This week I got a notice from Paypal that return funds would be deposited to my account. The next day they were.
As you can see, there was no question as to the refund and I can say that in my estimation, Speedhut really stepped up and made me feel both listened to and taken care of. This is on top of sending me what appears to be a high quality American made part. (I will obviously update when I get that far). Kudos to these guys for an outstanding job on both the initial product and my interaction with them.
 
RageKage said:
Reading this makes me miss my CJ so much. It’s sitting at my grandparents in California until I leave Alaska. I have the same Mickey Thompson’s in 33”. I thought about going 35” but thought the narrow wheel well in the rear would make them look funky but seeing yours definitely changes that’s mindset! Looks amazing man! Keep up the good work.


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Keep in mind that I am running 1.5 inch spacers to get that look. I will be changing to widetrack axles one day.

wjtstudios said:
My wife wishes we had a three car garage. Instead the jeeps are in the garage and her car is outside.


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My wife said she gets a spot in the garage or I lose my spot in the bed. I still have the other two parking spaces so I can't complain. She may have been kidding, but I'm not going to chance it.
 
AZ Explorer said:
Keep in mind that I am running 1.5 inch spacers to get that look. I will be changing to widetrack axles one day.



My wife said she gets a spot in the garage or I lose my spot in the bed. I still have the other two parking spaces so I can't complain. She may have been kidding, but I'm not going to chance it.
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No. Not worth the chance


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