Looking For Your Opinion.

Looks like I'm going to be rebuilding a 55 CJ5 for a guy starting next month here in NC. It will be a weekend toy and his daughter may drive it to school. Sounds like no off roading. He is thinking 2" lift on 31" tires and it still has the 4 cylinder engine. I will have to check the gear ratio. Here are my questions.

1. The Ross steering do I tighten everything up and run it? My CJ has the Saginaw power steering conversation but with the V6. I'm not sure the steering shaft will clear the 4 cylinder and what pump brackets will need to be made.

2. 9" brakes do I rebuild everything or convert to disc/disc, disc/drum or try to find 11" backing plates and go drum/drum? My CJ has 11" drums and it stops great. However it seems like the 11" backing plates are hard to come by.

3. I will be converting it to a manual duel resivior master cylinder.

4. He does want to install a roll bar. Not necessarily a cage just a bar. Does anyone still make them or have a used one for sale?

Thanks in advance for the info.

 

In my opinion, if it were my jeep, and one of my kids were going to drive it?

Toss the Ross Steering, and convert it to Saginaw
Go 11" Drums all the way around, or Disc/11" Drum

I bought my Roll Bar from Rock Hard 4x4 and am quite happy with the quality.

 

I wouldn’t let my child drive this jeep in modern conditions.

I’m not sure I would drive it without disk brakes at a minimum in todays traffic.

having gotten hit head on, with my son in my jeep, I would never even let him drive mine around with power brakes and steering. It’s just not a chance I am willing to take with all the insanity out there.

 

Personally I wouldn’t let my kid drive a Jeep with 9” brakes. At least put 11” drums on the front. And I think power steering is a good idea as well.

 

All solid advice. My first thought was copy my CJ because I'm happy with it. Power steering and 11" drums all the way around. It seems like the 11" backing plates are hard to come up with. Also mounting a power steering pump on the 4 cylinder as far as brackets and a power loss. I forgot to say the original parking brake is gone. Only the drum is there.

This is definitely going to be a project.

 

Far as I'm concerned, even manual saginaw steering is a considerable upgrade over the Ross setup.

 

The Suzuki/geo disks would probably be the least expensive to swap in. On my ‘69, the stock 10” in the rear are plenty good and a nice balance for the non power front disks. You will want to go to a tandem master also for safety. If the daughter is on the diminutive side, non power brakes may be a challenge. I would be less concerned with a manual Saginaw box, I would think that would be fine. Shoulder belts would be a good thing, you’d have an anchor point with the roll bar. As much as I dislike the look in an early 5, high back seats would also add some safety. Is the environment more urban or rural. I’d probably let a newish driver tool around in an old Jeep in a rural setting, not so much in a busy urban one.
Good luck.
Tim

 

Very true. His set up is a complete mess. I was looking at the conversion from Advanced Adapters and it says not for the 4 cylinder. I'm not sure if that is because of the brackets or clearance issues. I need to look into it deeper.

 

Thanks. I don't want to waste time, money or build a questionable Jeep.

 

I have wonderful memories of 2006-2012. Driving the jeep as it was designed in high-school and college (because it's what I had).

The 9" brakes suck.

I absolutely love the large piston k10 calipers with organic pads. It's going to be hard to have a lighter pedal without swinging pedals. electric calipers are what I would do for the rear, way better for ease of use but not the same as holding the old T handle on a hill.

Ross steering is ok if it is not worn out. Once it gets worn out it's not really worth keeping due to the way they wear and the number of direction changes in the linkages. Manual saginaw should be fine but like 11" brakes the manual boxes are almost as much as a power box with pump.

Roll bar is good, mine is from a later cj5.

Other safety issues:

Heim joints with for the clutch linkage

Electric wipers

Knuckle studs

 

Well, a ‘55 will have 5.38 gears that should pull 31” tires OK. Definitely upgrade the brakes to at least 10” drums and a dual master.
Ross steering is OK if everything is in good condition. Converting to Saginaw and power on an F-134 gets pretty far into project-creep for something like the intended use.
A simple roll bar gives a mount for a 3-point shoulder harness, both items that should be installed. A good used bar shouldn’t bee too hard to find. New bars are still made.
Its pretty hilly/mountains in your area, so F-134 power will be marginal for on-road use. Decent brakes and steering should make the Jeep acceptable for occasional use by a teenager. I wouldn’t change too much else because it gets too far from the simple vehicle it is. Otherwise, have your friend look for a more modern Jeep.
-Donny

 

Step #1
Having experienced total brake failure a couple times in my life, I'll never have a single master cylinder equipped vehicle again.

 

I agree with Donny's Idea's here. A front Disc brake changeover & a Dual MC is an absolute must . For the intended on the road use ......Ditch the 31" Tire plan. Your likely gonna need new wheels for the clearances, So a good M&S radial to match would be safer handling for a Young lady. Roll bar with harness is a must .
.......Then , after you see how it goes with the above, you can assess the steering & suspension upgrades ; IE : , the PS & PB question will be much easier to answer for Ya'all.

 

I think there are better and safer vehicle choices for a youngster to drive back and forth to school with.
Driving old iron requires a lot of attention to the road and other drivers.
If you're just building the Jeep for the Dad, that's fine.

 

I have a manual saginaw steering box with F-134 and no clearance problems, lots more room than a v-6....I would not elevate it with springs and tires, they just get too unstable......and I also would not let a teenager drive it, get something newer

 

x2

 

You know, I get that none of us consider an early CJ as a suitable vehicle for a first time/young driver in modern traffic conditions, but the OP isn't putting this Jeep together for himself.

It's a paid job, that he has no control over what the Customer may or may not decide to do with it, once it's done. It seems kind of silly to keep piping in telling the OP that.

Sure, the OP can/could/should pass that along the warning to the Customer, but ultimately, it's not his call.

 

And how many of us drove CJs as teenagers?