1981 Cj5 Project I Am Considering

A friend of mine's son-in-law owns a 4X4 shop that mostly builds high end rock crawlers and off road rigs, but also does repairs and upgrade work.

A customer of his brought in a 1981 CJ5 to have the axles rebuilt and upgraded. The work was done, and the owner either could not, or chose not to pay for the work. He just signed over the Jeep to him to settle what he owed the shop.

It is a 1981 CJ5 with the following upgrades..

It has a good running Chevy 350 mated to a GM SM465 and Dana 300 with twin stick shifter conversion.

Front D30 axle, rear is AMC 20, both axles completely rebuilt stem to stem, including brakes bearings, seals and gears. Rear was upgraded with Yukon axles and gear set to eliminate the weak point of the 20.

New drive shafts front and rear.

Body is straight and almost completely rust free. Needs a cover for the transmission tunnel, and a better paint job. The paint on it now is flat black rattle can paint.

I can buy this rig for the cost of the work done by the shop which is $4700.

I don't know a lot about this era of Jeep, nor what the typical values are, but with the above upgrades this seems like a very good price.

Appreciate opinions from those who know more about this.

 

If it checks the right boxes for you, it seems like a good buy to me. You couldn’t build it for that.

 

You are certainly correct about that. The $4700 is what the shop charged for the axle work, brake work, and drive shafts they installed.

I have not seen the Jeep yet, but my friend who described it has been a mechanic and body shop guy his whole life, and the shop owner told me about the work that was done to the Jeep, and both say the mechanical condition is good. I will drive down there once the weather clears up a little to take a look at it.

 

It would be in my shop, already! Run, don’t walk, to see it!

Jon B.

 

I haven't "ran" in twenty years, and haven't been in a hurry about anything for more than thirty years.

It rained like Noah's flood today. I live on top of a hill and still my front yard is like a swamp. I'll wait until it dries up a bit before I want to crawl around and under a Jeep in a gravel parking lot. I have known these guys for years and it isn't going anywhere until after I take a look at it.

One thing I found surprising is my buddy says this Jeep doesn't have a tailgate. I have seen a few earlier CJ5s without tailgates, but never saw one from the 80s. I assume this is a more rare configuration, but that is just a guess. I am just not that familiar with Jeeps this "new", most of mine have been flat fenders with me getting my first CJ5 two years ago.

 

Fiberglass tub?

Some yardbird removed the tailgate on my ‘72 and riveted/welded/bondo’ed in a fixed panel. I’ll cut it out and put in a proper frame and gate.

Jon B.

 

Is it home yet?

 

Right on…Sounds like the perfect platform for a 4-wheeling JEEP. If it’s solid, it obviously wouldn’t need much. Even a YJ spring swap is pretty easy on the late model CJ’s. I wonder if it’s got locking diffs? Pretty sure some of the late model CJ’s didn’t have tailgates.

 

My high-school rig was a ‘79 CJ5, but I had more important things distracting me so I don’t remember the tailgate.
I’m sure that bit of useless information will help with your decision,lol

 

The guy who rebuilt the axles did not mention lockers so I don't expect it has those, but he sent the build sheet and invoice to my buddy, who is not a Jeep guy, and I haven't seen that yet.

It is not a fiberglass tub, as my buddy noted some very minor rust in the driver floorboard. He and I both are experienced with with a MIG welder and sheet metal, so that doesn't concern me.

It is not supposed to be raining tomorrow, and if that holds true I am going to drive down to the shop, which is about 50 miles from me, and give it a good look over.

I will take a close look at the tub and see if the tailgate delete looks like Yardbird or Bubba did it. I have seen earlier AMC CJ5 Renegade Jeeps with no tailgate, I just don't know if they came that way as late as 81. I will also take a few pictures while there.

I try not to get over excited about things, so I won't gloss over defects, but if it is as good as it sounds it will find a new home in my barn or my friend's body shop depending on what work it needs first.

The Chevy V8 with the truck 4 speed, and Dana 300 transfer case are what interest me most about this, that sounds like a desirable combination for a trail rig.

The AMC 20 rear axle doesn't really lite my fire, but with the Yukon axle and gear upgrades it is a lot better than stock.

 

I own a heavily modified '79 CJ5.

Now I think the AMC era of CJ's were the best and I own Willys as well.

@Oldpappy you will definitely enjoy the power steering, most likely the power disc brakes, alternator, maybe tilt column, etc.

Mine is a 304/T18/D20. Yours will have more power with similar gearing. Great for crawling.
The AMC 20 has a big ring & pinion set but like @dnb5853 mentioned, they had tapered axles in stock form. The PO of my rig converted to full floating rear axles. Something to consider.

Good luck and good hunting.

 

As I said in my first post the AMC 20 has been upgraded with Yukon axles and gears which eliminates the weak point of the stock 20 axles.

Looking through the build sheet I was sent, which is several pages long, both axles were completely rebuilt using Yukon ring and pinion sets (3.54 ratio), and Yukon one piece axle conversion on the rear. New drive shafts were also built with new yokes and balanced. Lot of other upgrades/repairs were done as well, including new brakes. He says it is ready to roll.

I am heading down there to put eyes on in now.

 

Looks like a weenar.

 

I just got back from looking it over.

As I was told the body is straight, and fairly solid with just a little rust in the driver side floor pan. It has been painted, all over including the dash and dash pad, with some sort of thick flat black paint seemingly applied with a rough textured roller. The black paint is flaking off in places showing the dark metallic green underneath. Worst paint job I have seen in a long time.

On the plus side, the Chevy 350 installation looks real good, the engine is clean, it fires right up and runs good. It has an Edelbrock performance intake, air cleaner, and valve covers with a clean looking Holley 4Bl. It does have power steering. Fairly nice black steel spoked wheels, big tires with about half the tread left.

It does have a lot of desirable features, and I am sure it is worth more than what I can get it for, but it sure isn't pretty. Haven't made up my mind whether I want to fool with it.

 

A couple things to ponder on the AMC Corporate 20 rear axle. Larger ring and pinion than Dana 44. Also uses a collapsible spacer instead of solid shims to set pinion bearing preload. The housing tubes are thinner and prone to bending if used hard off road, and has smaller axle bearings than a Dana 44. We used to straighten or re-tube 20 housings with thick wall DOM on a regular basis until it got cost prohibitive. By that time most people figured it out and instead of spending a ton building a 20 they just built a Dana 44. May not be an issue if just used as a street driver.
This doesn’t apply in this case but the CJ 20 does not have tapered axles like an early CJ or Flatfender have. It has stepped axles with self cutting splines into the hub and a very small Woodruff key.

 

Had this been my Jeep I would not have spent the money upgrading that AMC 20, I would have opted for a Dana 44 instead, but it is what it is.

I talked with my buddy about it a little while ago, and I decided to pass on this one, and let him take it on. He just wants to make it a little less ugly and fix a few minor issues to get it ready to use and see if he can flip it for a little profit. I think it would be a fun Jeep to drive and suitable as is for some mild trail use, but I felt it would take more than I want to put into it to get it where I would want it to be. I already have more projects than I have time for anyway.

 

Sorry it didn’t work out for you. I forgot to mention I’ve seen quite a few late CJ’s with and without tailgates that were very much factory. I seem to recall a discussion here years ago about this, possibly could be ordered either way? I don’t remember for sure. Maybe someone with more knowledge on these details on the late models would know for sure.

 

I forgot to mention that as well. My '79 does not have a tailgate.

 

The tailgate delete panel does looks factory, so I am pretty sure it came that way.

If I didn't already have a good CJ5 with two other Jeep projects going I would have pulled the trigger on this one, but I want to put my time toward getting my "MB Clone" project going again.