Help me with suggestions... Mild lightly lifted Jeepster Build

[dieslcruisrhead]

Hi all,

I'm learning about Dana parts etc now that I've had this Jeepster for 3 years. I love it. I've mostly been a Toyota guy. I had a poor idea and nearly sold it a month ago (you might have seen it on KSL) and luckily the sale didn't go through as I'm ecstatic to keep this Jeepster and build it up, and ideally keep it for ever with luck. I've basically been looking for something 60's / 70s mid wheelbase for some time. I wanted a rare FJ43 land cruiser the but prices are insane. And overall I'm ecstatic with this little badboy.

I can weld and have done engine swaps etc. I'm interested in fairly easy stuff for now then as I have more time I'll do other things later. So I'd like to get a road map (looking for suggestions) and then incrementally make these changes. These are pretty light especially with the top off. So it doesn't need to be too beefy at all...

It will only be lightly wheeled / used for dirt roads but I might take it Moab once or twice, including driving it there and back. Mostly just a fun long term weekend and fun truck etc.. It's had some work done to it in the past and was a daily driver from a woman in AZ for 30-something years. Someone also swapped the front grill to a CJ5 front grill. It's super clean / has no rust other than very mild. It belonged to my neighbor before and looks identical to how it has since 2010 when I first saw it...



Basically, I'm thinking (and looking for suggestions on):

- Mild 2.5" lift, possibly using Old Man Emu springs up front.
- Thinking about a Spring Over in the rear? It's totally flat in the rear so I think that would work well.

[ Supposedly Toyota truck springs work great up front and lift about 2-2.5" or so. Supposedly Durango springs are perfect in the rear, same thing, about 2-2.5" or so ]

- Will likely trim up the rear fenders similar to this awesome video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTc70-1cYQk

- roll bar also similar to video above minus the cross trussing (so family can fit in the back and move back and forth)

- 5 speed manual trans at some point. Not sure which one to use.

- Probably a Dana 300 at some point, or similar.

- 31 or 32" tires

- Dana 30 up front, beefed up. Supposedly '77 to early 80s from a CJ are perfect and bolt in? Then I'd beef up the Dana 30 with some HD parts, at some point.

- I think it might already have a Dana 44 swapped in the rear. I'll snap a pic and send, so you can help me identify it? If it has the stock axle then it will get a Dana 44 for the rear.

- I like the dauntless V6 in it. I put pertronix and a good coil and plus wires in it and is pretty peppy and runs really well. Looking for a beefy alternator for it and I'd like to put an electric fan in, as the only issue. It runs warm when crawling. Fine when on the road.

- Power steering at some point. Sagnaw supposedly?

- Some basic things like sound proofing and some decent AT tires.

- Maybe the Cummins 2.8L repower 4 cyl that they will be selling soon. It will be some time before I can afford on of these but I'd like to plan on it some for time. In the meantime I'll keep the dauntless (possibly forever as I like it)

- Already has some good aftermarket seats from a CJ5.


All ears on your recommendations!!

 

[Hickey]

I believe it should already have a Dana 44 rear. What year is it? I really love those old V6's.

 

[dieslcruisrhead]

Thanks -- It's a '67 Kaiser.

Here's a pic of the rear end. I don't mind the drums right now mostly because they work OK....

EDIT ok I just google image search and it looks like its a 44 in the rear. Cool....

Supposedly it came originally with the Dana 30 in the rear, so someone must have swapped this out at some point from a later Jeepster?

Quote from a FAQ site: "1967-1969 had tapered 30 rear axles, Dana 44 tapered axles showed up in late 69, I've seen a few 1970 with a tapered 44 but most have flanged Dana 44 starting in 1970"

View attachment DSC00581.jpg

 

[Hickey]

That D44 may have come from a CJ as well. It almost looks like the spring perches have been moved outward from the more narrow CJ width. Good axle.

I used to be a fan of spring-over lifts, but the axle wrap was always a problem. You can count on at least 5" of lift from a spring-over.

 

[Bart]

Wow, that looks like a clean one. I'd drop a Vortec 4.3 just for the TBI. I've always wanted to get a clean body like that and drop it on an LJ or JK frame.

 

[dieslcruisrhead]

I'll take better pics of the perches to if they were moved out. Appear stock to me. I did some reading and here some points from Pirate. Just starting to learn all about this...

Looks like some of the V6 models (like this one) were updated to D44 rears for towing etc. Looks like a 3.73 to me which is suprising because the first gear is sooo fast... I figured it was 3.31 or something. I'll find out much more once I pull the axle ID.

From Pirate:

IIRC For 1968 it should be a Dana 30 rear the axle shafts will be 27 spline, not a Dana 44. 44's in jeepsters didn't come around until 69'ish. First 44s were splined axle on the outer end and 19 spline on the inside then they went with 30 spline and flanged late 1970 and early 1971 (i cant remember exactly on the spline count in the tapered axle 44's, i believe there was some change over ie: some cross over on spline counts between 19 and 30).

should be 50.5 or 51" on the WMS to WMS dana 27 for the front end

Beware...the 1967-68 c101 (jeepster) 44 rears came with 1-1/4"-27 spline axles instead of the 1-5/16-30 spline like the 69 and later.

No not all 44's are created equal, especially as the evolve through the past half century. Early 44's like the ones used in the 60's and early 70's (like the Jeepster) had 19 spline axles which are weaker than the more modern 44's that are 30 spline. I have a Jeepster and I'm ditching the old 44 for a Isuzu Rodeo 44. It's the right WMS-WMS, 30 spline and already disk brake.

and here are two histories of them. Cotridicting info on if they offered a D44 in 1967 but looks like they did...

http://www.fourwheeler.com/project-vehicles/154-9811-cool-jeepster-buildups/
http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/129-1304-1967-jeepster-commando-roadster/

This pic shows the rear trimmed out. I'd leave and inch of the fender so it cosmetically better looking than this and will match the front. Most people say they look better and more matched, rather than super low rider in the rear..

It's a good question on how to build them in increments.

I'm thinking small lift, 2.5", trim that rear (not sure if its sacrelidge to cut a clean body, but it does look better.

Axles likely with 4.10 gears (so maybe that means Toyota but I'd prefer to stay "jeep"

then figure out some sort of engine / trans combo at some point in a couple year.

Only issue that sort of blows is it has a slow drain on the battery. It doesn't have a fuse box either amazingly, it has fusable links I'm pretty sure. So I can't track down the slow drain. So I'll have to rewire the whole thing, which I think I'm going to do regardless.....

thanks!
a

 

[Herzog]

Nice Jeepster Andre! Looking forward to following this build

 

[Hickey]

I wouldn't hesitate to cut it as you've described.

 

[dieslcruisrhead]

Nice Jeepster Andre! Looking forward to following this build

thx man!

Any chance I can boogie over and use your bender one night? Do that super simple cage as outlined earlier? Just the bends and I can weld em up etc all at my place so it shouldn't take too long, I think

 

[Herzog]

thx man!

Any chance I can boogie over and use your bender one night? Do that super simple cage as outlined earlier? Just the bends and I can weld em up etc all at my place so it shouldn't take too long, I think

Absolutely, when I get it back from my friends buggy build. He's got it down in Price for a bit.
I will let you know when I get it back at my shop

 

[bryson]

I'd LOVE to find me a clean Jeepster or CJ, and yours looks like a very nice one!

Looks like an aftermarket fuel tank to me...? What's the fuel capacity?

If someone did swap in a D44 rear, do you know if it is the flanged style shafts, or tapered shafts? The tapered shafts work fine if the nut is torqued properly, but they can be finicky.

On the suspension, my opinion would be to modify perches and hangers to run the wider (2.5"?) springs like the newer CJs and the YJs. You'll get a much nicer ride, and more spring options. Like the Hickey said, I'd avoid the spring over unless you're looking for mucho lift and the need to build a traction bar.

Very cool project.

 

[dieslcruisrhead]

I'd LOVE to find me a clean Jeepster or CJ, and yours looks like a very nice one!

Looks like an aftermarket fuel tank to me...? What's the fuel capacity?

If someone did swap in a D44 rear, do you know if it is the flanged style shafts, or tapered shafts? The tapered shafts work fine if the nut is torqued properly, but they can be finicky.

On the suspension, my opinion would be to modify perches and hangers to run the wider (2.5"?) springs like the newer CJs and the YJs. You'll get a much nicer ride, and more spring options. Like the Hickey said, I'd avoid the spring over unless you're looking for mucho lift and the need to build a traction bar.

Very cool project.

Thanks Marc,

Correct, aftermarket tank. My guess is about 12-15 gallons? It's plastic but has been in there for some time. Probably 90s or 2000s with the conversion. Here's a pic of it from the other night. Slightly ghetto, but that's OK...
https://andreshoumatoff.smugmug.com/Cars/67-Jeepster-Commando/i-xMn9Vnw Fuel gauge that does not work. I have a bunch of spare gauges from an older project so I'll probably use those.

The slow drain is fairly recent. The PO replaced the starter and alternator at the same time and the slow drain started. It might also be a jerry-rigged reverse light that he hooked up too. Boy it would be cool to get rid of that.

Right now I have a slow weep under the water pump so I'll pull that and redo it then it's back on the road for the summer.

It actually runs and drives awesome and goes a solid 65mph or faster no problem, amazingly. This is one more reason I thought it had 3.31s in it instead of 3.73s.

I'm thinking now of just getting it dialed, some small headliner repairs, trim out that rear. Maybe a spring refresh and stockish springs and just enjoying... I did find a cheapish late 70's disc narrow track Dana 30 though that should bolt right in up front. Not that there are any issues with the drums. But I think that's exciting. I'll probably clean it up and totally refresh it and beef it up while I have it out. So start there!

Looks like it is that original 19 spline Dana 44 in the rear. I'll confirm as soon as I can. If I leave it stockish it might not matter...

 

[bryson]

Thanks Marc,

Correct, aftermarket tank. My guess is about 12-15 gallons? It's plastic but has been in there for some time. Probably 90s or 2000s with the conversion. Here's a pic of it from the other night. Slightly ghetto, but that's OK...
https://andreshoumatoff.smugmug.com/Cars/67-Jeepster-Commando/i-xMn9Vnw Fuel gauge that does not work. I have a bunch of spare gauges from an older project so I'll probably use those.

The slow drain is fairly recent. The PO replaced the starter and alternator at the same time and the slow drain started. It might also be a jerry-rigged reverse light that he hooked up too. Boy it would be cool to get rid of that.

Right now I have a slow weep under the water pump so I'll pull that and redo it then it's back on the road for the summer.

It actually runs and drives awesome and goes a solid 65mph or faster no problem, amazingly. This is one more reason I thought it had 3.31s in it instead of 3.73s.

I'm thinking now of just getting it dialed, some small headliner repairs, trim out that rear. Maybe a spring refresh and stockish springs and just enjoying... I did find a cheapish late 70's disc narrow track Dana 30 though that should bolt right in up front. Not that there are any issues with the drums. But I think that's exciting. I'll probably clean it up and totally refresh it and beef it up while I have it out. So start there!

Looks like it is that original 19 spline Dana 44 in the rear. I'll confirm as soon as I can. If I leave it stockish it might not matter...

At least I got mistaken for someone I'm not ashamed to be mistaken for! This one's just Bryson - Marc is mbryson. He had the name first, so technically the confusion is my fault.

I like the plans. Any reason you're not going for the 81-86 wide-track CJ axles? That extra 3" in width shouldn't be a bad thing - still easily covered by factory sheetmetal. The front axle should still be a bolt in (assuming the 76-80 narrow track one is...) and the rear is as simple as welding on new perches.

 

[dieslcruisrhead]

Bryson!! Sorry man, I knew that just trying to keep it all straight from all these years. Hope you and Tenille and the fam are doing well!

Awesome overall. This prompted me to look... Check this out! Hopefull I can scoop these up sometime in the near future...

https://www.ksl.com/classifieds/listing/44236470

At least I got mistaken for someone I'm not ashamed to be mistaken for! This one's just Bryson - Marc is mbryson. He had the name first, so technically the confusion is my fault.

I like the plans. Any reason you're not going for the 81-86 wide-track CJ axles? That extra 3" in width shouldn't be a bad thing - still easily covered by factory sheetmetal. The front axle should still be a bolt in (assuming the 76-80 narrow track one is...) and the rear is as simple as welding on new perches.