My beloved CJ has been rear-ended. Got knocked up pretty good. Rear Axle is loose on the rear-left. Tub is crushed there too. Doors don’t close well, so no telling what happened to the frame. sigh
What’s worse is that it got hit because the drivetrain locked up and it couldn’t be move off the road. So no telling what the hell that was all about. I just hope the engine didn’t get damaged.
I loved that Jeep. Even though the tub was half rusted out and it was making scary noises. I still loved it. I know I should probably just junk the thing and buy a new one. But I loved that one.
Does it sound like there may be hope that the Beast will ride again? If I tear it down, can the frame be beaten back into shape? Rebuild what ever was wrong with the drivetrain? I could try to get a MIG wielder and wield some patch plates on the tub. But that tub was shot to begin with. It was weak before it got hit. No telling how warped it is now.
A friend is selling a YJ that has a blown motor for $1800. I’m half tempted to buy it and use it for parts (tub, tires, seats, maybe the frame if it fits). Then sell the rest for parts/title. Would that sound like a decent idea? Or is there a better way to go about it.
As soon as I get it out of impound, I’ll take a closer look at the damage, maybe post some pics. Any advice would be appreciated. I would love to be able to go for lazy summer rides again in it.
A CJ can never be in bad shape. Dent and dings are well deserved battle scars for those babies. Hell a CJ that hasn’t been rolled at least once hasn’t lived the life it was born for. The drivetrain thing is a little more worrysome and kind of vague. There are a lot of pieces in the drivetrain, and have various costs involved in fixing them. It depends on exactly what happened where.
Yes, the drivetrain thing scares me. The problem is, I wasn’t there when it happened. My GF said that it just “locked up” and “wouldn’t start or turn over or anything”. She also said that no lights or indicators would work after that. She said that the whole front end kind of shuddered and then it quit. It also couldn’t be pushed (she’s a strong gal, so it must be so).
From her description, I figured that something probably happened to the drivetrain (possibly the front axle). But who really knows. I won’t know more until I get it back and crawl under it, try to push it, or try to start it.
The more I think about it, the more I think I’m going to go for a complete tear down and rebuild. I think I would learn a lot from it. It’s not like I would be screwing up a working vehicle. Any sane person would probably sell it for parts at this point anyway.
Did you know that a camo paint job can hide some amazingly large rust holes? If it gets rebuilt, I might paint it white with black cow spots. I think I have some bull horns somewhere to put on the front. I love getting laughed at riding down the highway.
Interesting. The lights should work off of the battery, and have nothing to do with the drivetrain. Did it lock up while driving down the street, or was it just parked and refused to start one day? When the key was turned did anything happen at all?
Yes, the thing with the lights is confusing me too. I usually get these odd reports from her about the CJ. Things that just don’t make sense.
She was driving it, probably at about 40mph when it shuddered and died. After it died, it had no lights, wouldn’t turn over and couldn’t be budged.
She had been driving it in 4wd (in the snow) and she swears that she took it out when she hit the pavement (she said the 4wd light went out). The hubs were still locked, but that normally isn’t a problem. I wonder if it popped back into 4wd while she was driving. She’s not very experienced with engaging or disengaging the 4wd.
Does it sound like it can be salvaged? Even if I have to rebuild/replace the axle or T-case.
It’s because the CJ loves you Theios. No one else.
A CJ can almost always be repaired. They’re tough bastards.
It should be possible to cannibalize the other vehicle. But make sure you don’t need to replace the drivetrain first. And make damn sure that rear axle isn’t a huge fix.
Well, I got it towed to the house today. The rear axle tube looks bent and it’s oozing fluid. So that’s going to need to be replaced. I should be able to find one of those in a junkyard. Not sure about the rest of the drivetrain yet. I was too tired from working all night and didn’t feel like fooling with it this morning.
I have decided that I’m going to rebuild it. I probably won’t get the other vehicle. Other than the tub, most parts aren’t that expensive and can be found in a junkyard.
My insurance agent called me today while I was alseep. They want to look at it. Not really sure why, since I only had liability insurance on the thing. They said something about uninsured motorist insurance or something. I’m really clueless about this insurance stuff. I don’t have any hopes of them paying for it. The Beast wasn’t pretty before, I can’t see how they’d see it as anything but totalled now. shug
Dent and dings are well deserved battle scars for those babies. Hell a CJ that hasn’t been rolled at least once hasn’t lived the life it was born for. The drivetrain thing is a little more worrysome and kind of vague. There are a lot of pieces in the drivetrain, and have various costs involved in fixing them. It depends on exactly what happened where.