[bchinn74CJ]

Hello all! A little history of me; I'm a 30 year old firefighter/EMT from Charleston, SC. My last Jeep was a 97' TJ that I didn't realize how much I liked until after I sold it. Soo... After a few years of being jeepless I decided to purchase another one and could use some of yalls experience/knowlwdge with him.
My new baby is a 74' CJ5 with the 258 I6, 4 speed. For the most part its solid but there is some rust in floor pans and the front drivers side fender. Frame looks good (for being 40+) and motor seems to be good. It did have a fouled #5 plug that the previous owner told me about that was black and dry when I removed it. (I just picked up a whole set for it to replace the rest). My main thing I guess I wanna do first, and I guess my first question, is the brakes. It has the drums all the way around and I'd like to switch to disc in the front. So first question, cheap easy way to do that? I found conversion kits and thought about finding an old axle that has discs and just swapping them. 2nd thing would probably be power steering. Didn't some CJ's come with power steering? 3rd is dash. Most of the gauges work its just crummy looking. I guess I'll start with these and see what kind of input I get then go from there. Thanks in advanced! So glad to finally be back in a jeep!
P.S. I'll take pictures as soon as phone charges!

 

[deanp]

Well, if I was closer I'd help a brother out (medically retired after 25yrs on the job) Just finished our 74. There's a lot of info on the web about swapping the front drums for disc. Something that I am looking into now. The Jeep CJ forum has a lot of info on the older Jeeps as well as this forum. Sounds like you can get a newer Jeep axle and take from the stub axle out to do the conversion. Ours had power steering already so I'm not sure exactly which models to look for a pump and steering box for ya. I wanted to do something different for the dash so we built a custom dash from a piece of aluminum and added custom gauges. Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your new project. I am by no means an expert on CJ's but would be happy to discuss what we went through building ours.

Be safe out there,
Dean

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Thanks dean! I'm thinking of doing the same with my dash. I talked with my buddy last night and think (for now) I'm just going to rebuild the drums brake system just to make it safe on the road and save money. I'll switch to disc later on and hopefully be able to "stumble" across an axle. As far as power steri g goes, I'd like to switch it over but its not something that has yo be done. Think I'll keep my eyes open in junk yards for parts like that. I also have to rebuilt the windshield wiper system from scratch so hopefully I can find that stuff locally at junk yards also. Does anyone know if any of those parts are universal with other Jeeps? (Newers Cj's, YJ's, JKU's).

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Hers my "starting" pictures. Its pretty solid for a 74'. Few bumbs and bruises but nothing major.

 

[deanp]

Looks like a nice ride! Will be watching as it progresses. If you run into problems with some parts, check the Omix/Ada website, Maintenance and Restoration Parts for your Jeep from Omix-ADA. . I ordered some replacement parts through northridge just giving them the omix part numbers.

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Well good news! Finally got the time to start working on the jeep and luckily I think I'll be good with the brakes I have. Everything looked good, just tightened and bled them. Got the front done tonight, rear will prob be Thursday. Then I guess I'll find out! Haha. Also starting on some body work/paint. Pics to come Thursday.

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Lil progress today. Front brake job complete. On to the rear and body work. Testing tailgate to see if I like the color. Think it'll look good red w/black interior and trim.

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Don't know why it didn't attach these

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Paint most of the way done. Now to put it back together!

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Making progress

 

[bchinn74CJ]

Now to re due the seats so I can use the storage again.

 

[bchinn74CJ]

OK got her back on the road finally! Pics will come once all the rain here stops. Which brings me to my next question... Windshield wipers. It has nothing at all. No motor, wires, nothing. I've tried to research and look up parts online and can find different parts but is there anywhere you can buy the whole kit and kaboodale?

 

[bchinn74CJ]

On the road. Now just to finish some odds and ends.