Jeep CJ-7 - Introduction
I used to own a 1999 Jeep TJ Sport. It was nice
and I really liked it. Unfortunately, I was forced to choose between
my kids and my gear when traveling. And forget hauling or towing
anything. So I sold her and bought a 2001 Dodge
Ram 1500 4x4. I love having a truck, but I am beating the heck out it
on the trails when I go fishing and hunting. Then it dawned on me,
why not have both. A truck for towing, hauling, light off-road use
and family trips and a Jeep for my more hard core excursions.
Problem: new Jeeps are $20,000 and my budget can't afford another
payment. Solution: Buy a used Jeep or better yet restore a
junk one to like new condition. Now all I needed was a beater Jeep to restore.
I started by searching on the Internet. I
considered combing the junk yards, but thought I might be able to score
a fairly complete rig from some poor guy that just had a baby or some
guy who's wife told him the 12th beater in the yard was one too
many. I posted on several Jeep and off-road forums looking for a
CJ-7 or a substantial part of one.
After a few weeks of searching, I found a 1984 CJ-7 with
a 150ci four banger, T-4 manual transmission, Dana 300 transfer case,
Dana 30 front axle and a AMC 20 rear axle, both wide track. If you
don't know what all that means you can go here.
It didn't come with a top or doors,
but was drivable. The body has some rust and the frame is in good shape. I got it off a guy with a pregnant wife that wanted
him to clean out the yard. Babies are great for the used Jeep
market.
Anyway, I paid $1800. Not to bad for a running, late
model CJ-7. I expect some of the parts I don't want (engine,
transmission, maybe axles, etc.) will fetch a few bucks to offset the
purchase price. I suppose I could have waited and found a better
deal, but I didn't want to wait forever to save a few hundred bucks on a
project that could ultimately cost me upwards of $15000.
