New Project

After building two offroad jeeps i'm about done with. I am wanting to build something that I can drive to and from work and be very reliable. I trying to come up with some ideas and hoping you guys can help come up with some. The jeep will see hardly any offroad mainly mud roads and some easy trails when i go camping/fishing. I have a 71 Cj5 with the body not in the greatest shape. The plan is.

Get A fiberglass tub. Anyone have any suggestions?

New Front Clip probably glass.

Use some cherokee axles I have laying around Dana 44 front and rear.

Use the Chevy 4.3 TBI engine I have.

Sm420/Dana 18 combo out of my 68.

Find a overdrive.

How does this set up sound to you guys. What would be the best for fuel ecomny gear ratio wise. I was thinking 3.50 to 3.73s. Any other ideas to make the jeep more driveable and have the best fuel ecomony. I am planning on running YJ springs and around 30 to 31 inch tires. Any comments on the ideas or any advice.

 

Yea i'm not quite set on the OD yet. I have couple of Dana 20s laying around i was thinking about using because they wear less and i think i have a centered rear axle somewhere I could use or find a Ford 9" that would work for cheap. You still working on your degree at Kstate? I'm almost done with my masters here at Pitt State. Going to join the workforce in June hopeing to move to Topeka since we got a nice new shop at home to work on the Jeeps.

 

I'd recommend 4wd hardware for the body/fenders/hood. Mine's 14 years old and doing fine.

 

i think 3.73 is alittle under geared for 31". i have that setup on my '68 and i think its alittle too much. might go to like 3.90 or so gear ratio or change to 33" and 4.27 gears (4.88 with OD which will keep it about the same).
there are charts all over the web on tire to gear ratios. pick your tire and gears at 65 mph and itll give ya rpm. so you can set your gears to match power band, either economy, daily driving, or power (low, med, high rpm). check em out and that might give you alittle more to go on besides what every one else is doing.
www.oly4x4.com/gearratios.htm is one i go to when i wanna experiment. one reason i think its over geared is its in the economy range on that chart and you are pushing a brick. if you had more power at your disposal, you would use less of the engines go pedal to push it. i have to really get mine going to reach the power band with these gears and tires.
just my opinion.

 

see, 2k is alittle low in my opinion (i live in the mountains) and going up and down the road at 65 is rough with all that wind drag. if it had alittle more gear, then it would be alittle easier on the engine.
i have a dodge p/u with the 318. i had 33" on the back and switched back to stock tires. i was getting REALLY crappy mileage with the 33" on the back until i started turning the OD off. mileage went up by atleast 2 mpg. then i switched to normal tires and drove with the OD. it was about the same. after that, i turned the od off again and it went even better. i went from 13 or so to 17-18 from gaining gears (effective gear ratio) by only switching tires. about 2400 is a great cruising rpm range for descent power and mileage according to that web site, and from my experience in juggling tires, the closer i get to that rpm, the better my power and mileage.
i guess to each his own..?
atleast you have a wider range of options now..=)

 

I finally got moved to Lincoln Nebraska so I can start working on this project again. I have changed my mind over the last couple of months. The current build up is

Isuzu Diesel(out of a pup I bought)
T18a
Dana 20/Dana 18
Dana 44s out of a cherokee.
overdrive
yj springs
Pwr steering and steering column out of a XJ
I have everything on the list so far. I started pulling the diesel engine last night. Going to rebuild it. The only real question I got now is what Tcase/overdrive to use. I got a good warn overdrive but it is for a 10 spline unit the t18 has 6 splines so is there an easy way to convert it over? Either that or I am going to sell it to find one that will work or find a rancho one that bolts on the output of the dana 20. Does anyone know how these work? How much driveshaft length they take away? I'm not even sure it will be feasible with the t18s added length to the driveline. Any comments or ideas greatly appriecated.

 

It's the cam button.