anyone done this mix and match before?

hey all, ive got a pretty good shape '67 jeepster that im collecting parts for. it runs and drives, needs rust work, but thats a given. im looking to build up a resto wheeler. so far ive picked up another 67 for parts and completed the half done engine swap (another dauntless) in mine that the prior owner did. heres the next step....

i picked up a 72 commando. its rough but has a bunch of things that i want to put on my 67. first the axles. one piece d44 rear and an open knuckle front (dont know if its a 30, or maybe a dana 27?). those are going into the 67 to rid it of the closed knuckle front and 2 piece d30 in the rear.

the springs on the 72 have me interested. the rears are a multileaf packs, where as the 67's have the monoleaf. my knowledge on the c-104s is sketchy, did they finally do away with the monoleaf? the fronts seem to be better than my 67's to. i was wondering if since the 72 had a v8 if they would offer some lift on my 67.

and lastly the 72 has power steering. ill have to figure out some plumbing for it and rig up a pump. but at least i have all the other components. ill probably have to shorten the steering shaft somewhere because of the 72's longer wheelbase. the other info on the board about getting rid of the ross is helpful.

ohh and the 72's hard top is in pretty good shape, but thats a no brainer.

anyone ever do and of these swaps or know of any useful tips.

thanks

frosty

 

Good upgrade with the axles. The front axle is a D30. Best part is down the road if you want to upgrade to disc, very easy swap. And a good time to get rid of the Ross steering too.
I think 70 was the last year year for the mono. I've got a 71 that has mono but I don't think they're original. I could probably check my parts manual and find out for sure but I'm kind of lazy. They were never used on 72/73. You might get some lift with the 72 fronts if they fit. Check your spring width first.
A PS pump and bracket from any 70's GM with a Buick 231 will fit the 225. I believe you'll also need the waterpump, WP pulley and the crank pulley from the 231. A PS pump off a 350 Buick would work too.
The steering intermediate shaft *should* collapse enough to be able to use it. You will also need a column from a Jeepster with Saginaw steering and a rear dump manifold when you change out the Ross steering. You can use early 231 manifolds. Any luck if you find a 231 for the the PS pump you can get the manifolds also. The manifolds have to come from an early 231. Later engines used larger exhaust ports. I think they changed in the late 70's/early 80's.

 

I just finished this swap on my 67. You will need the spring plates from the 72 if you decide not to use the springs but I used the springs like you said the multi leaf springs give you more lift and reduce the draging tail look of the single leaf and it rides so much better too.

The shock mounts will have to be moved on the 72 axles though since the shocks mount behind the axles on the 72 and in front of the axles on the 67. Just switch the left one to the right and right one to the left on both the front and rear axles. You may need to redrill the holes on the front to get it to work. Also you will need to use a come along to pull the springs back out and bolt them back up since the multi links have so much more pressure than the single leaf. Remove the front drive shaft from the 67 along with the weak carrier bearing and use the 72 Commando straight drive shaft. You will probably need to shorten it about 3 inches or at least I was going to but I ended up using a spare rear drive shaft from my 67 on the front giving it a bit more stength. You will also have to change the front brake hoses to a male and female hose instead of two female hoses like the 67 has now and they will require an adaptor to screw into the line on the body since the line on the 72's are larger. If you use the old lines from the 72 all you need are the adaptors but if you buy new hoses the only way I could get the old hoses loose from the wheel cylinder was to remove the wheel cylinder to get enough room for a wrench. I ended up repalcing all of the hoses, wheel cylinders and brake shoes as a safety precaution. Advance auto had the adaptors, brake shoes and wheel cylinders in stock though they did have to order the front and rear hoses though.

You also will no longer need the panard bar on the front axle since the D30 is so much stronger and does not have a bracket on it to bolt it to. The 11 inch brakes really helped the stopping power on my rig along with my new 7 " dual diaphram booster and Corvette master cylinder. It took 1 week on constant work to swap the axles but it is well worth the effort.

Good luck on the swap.

 

Watch the front springs. I believe the 72 are wider thatn the 67. I could be wrong, but I pretty sure that is the case. All the rest should be pretty straight forward.

 

The front springs worked fine on my 67 but I had to use the 67 shackes since the bracket was indeed too narrow for the 72 spring shackle. If you can weld you can cut the old bracket off and reweld the 72 bracket on but I decided to leave mine.

-MM

 

cutting and welding are no problem. just trying to make sure i get everything from the 72 that i need before i send it to the scrap pile.

thanks for all the info.

frosty