Body help

Hello, I have recently bought a 1974 Jeep CJ5 and my body is completley trashed, and I was wondering what your guys opions were on different body types. Should I go and spend the money on a new steel body or would a fiberglass one work. And whatever body you do think is better, could you also tell me where i can find that body at. Also what makes the 1974 so hard to find aftermarket parts for, it seems all the parts go for 1976 and on, can these parts go on mine, or is that just a stupid question. Thanks for your time

mike

 

Go to 4wd.com, they have everything you need. They have an assortment of fiberglass and metal bodies. I went with the fiberglass due to it being cheaper. It's good quality though. You just have to ground everything to the frame and not to the body.

High5

 

Regarding your '74, you have one of the lovely and talented Intermediates. When AMC bought Jeep in 1970, the CJ-5 had been produced basically unchanged (except for the V6) since 1954. In 1972 AMC introduced an upgraded CJ which featured AMC engines and several critical improvements such as better steering and brakes. In 1976, a much more complete revision arrived, with many more upgraded systems, and the CJ-7 was introduced. This intermediate generation from 72-75 has some features and many parts that aren't shared with the Kaiser CJ-5s or the fully AMC'd CJs from '76 on.

More here http://www.earlycj5.com/tech/general/spottersGuide.shtml

Also, regarding bodies, used tubs are out there, and rusted tubs are fairly easy to repair because of the simple curves and large, flat panels. Replacement panels are available as well as complete bodies.

Welcome from Boston - where are you located?

 

Welcome from central Va

 

Yes I know that the bodies are out there but here in the Phoenix, AZ region jeeps are worth their weight in gold simply because they aren't rusted out, so a nice jeep is worth quite a bit and unfortunatley my budget or space doesnt allow me to buy another body. And thank you for the information about the intermediate jeeps, that makes a lot of sense and i do appreciate it.

 

If you are handy with a welder I would suggest repairing the current body. Otherwise go steel. I did fiberglass from 4WD Hardware and yes it is probably the best fiber tub on the market. However much prep work was required to make it fir correctly. Especially around the tranny hump and I had to fashion my own body mounts for the front 2 mounts. This was about 10 years ago so they may have improved I don't know. For me after it was all said and done it cost about the same as the steel body. I will NEVER do fiber again. I may buy a steel body but next time I am repairing the original. Good luck with whatever you decide. BTW I think repairing the original will be the cheapest route, but may take the most man hours.

 

Welcome from Colorado! The intemediates are a pain to find parts for. Don't ever let a niave parts guy tell you that pre 72 of post 76 part should fit. Chances are it won't. I ended up with a few useless parts that way. Most of the people here can tell you will work so ask them before you buy something questionable. Good luck! Oh, where are the pictures???

 

Ya i thought that too, and I am pretty handy with a welder. But i still dont know, and i can post pics but its just gonna be of the frame, cuz everything else i have taken off to be cleaned

 

Frames are good, some of us need frame pictures.

 

If you're handy with a welder then repairs should be a piece of cake. I did mine and before I started I had never touched a welder before. I replaced the whole rear deck plus fixed lots of holes. I have pics here if you want to see how bad the tub was to start: http://community.webshots.com/user/tigersharkmwjt

Thanks,

Jim

 

Alright I'll snap some pics today, because im working on it again. Also have any of you guys boxed in your frame, if so how do you do it. I saw it on a TV show once and now im thinking about doing it. Any help would be appreciated. thanks mike

 

Mmm, if you do a search of the forums you'll find plenty of discussions of frame reinforcement. There's a good article on the CJ-3B page that is a good start: http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Tech/Frame.html

Flexibility vs. strength is the tradeoff ... much of the flex comes from the frame. Change that and you need to compensate with softer springs. Add softer springs and you'll have more body roll. More body roll makes the Jeep less stable on the street... it's all a series of tradeoffs.

When I worked at the Jeep dealer, they built a brand-new stock appearing orange '72 Renegade so some magzine writers could run one of the Baja races. The main frame reinforcement was straps on the full top and bottom length of the frame rails - no boxing.

The most common place for these frames to crack (that is, 72-75 frames) is the top and bottom rails on the inside driver's side corner where the front crossmember attaches to the frame (next to the steering bracket).

hth!

 

That makes sense too, and I once saw a jeep crack the main frame on the passenger side right where the front box meets the regular frame. Is this common or did he just hit something really hard, because thats what i thought.

 

Tell me about it! 1974 is the hardest to find parts, even in 4wdrive hardware they go from 76 and up on most aftermarket parts.

 

Could be common - I don't know of a large enough sample to tell. It does make sense, because the cracks typically seem to happen where a rigid section (front crossmember) meets a more flexible section.

 

Yup I know that parts are hard to find, but it makes it more fun, and thanks for all the help, and what do you guys think about throwing in a 401 amc into this '74 is it worth it or not?

 

hello
just my two cents worth here.
i'm on the g503.com boards a lot
so am familiar with darryl bensinger out east
he has a web site that shows a picture
of a totally trashed out jeep
that had had a fiberglass body
w/the caption
'this is why we don't sell fiberglass bodies'!!!
in the MB and GPW world
it would be heresy to put on a fiberglass body
but i think they do look nice.
are they really all that flammable?
iowa