1971 Jeep CJ5 Dauntless V6 Rust Free Sorted 4 Speed T18 Dana 44 Ready to Enjoy

Well sorted and tastefully upgraded 1971 Jeep CJ5. A well kept Jeep from one of the best years of the short-hood Jeeps (factory 30 spline Dana 44 rear axle, factory Super Dana 18 transfercase, and rear mounted fuel tank instead of a fuel tank under the driver seat). A detailed description of major components will follow this short narrative. Videos will follow below. This Jeep started life with Gold paint but was soon after drafted to drive in local US Marine parades. To fit this role, the original paint was covered with the green camo that it currently wears. This Jeep has been garage kept, and more importantly it has been kept dry. Finding a more solid Jeep would require buying a brand new 1971 CJ5! All maintenance and upgrades were made to improve the Jeep for resale and have less than 500 miles on them - this includes less than 500 miles on the tires/brakes and other wearables.
Engine: this Jeep sports the factory Buick 225cid V6 engine. The engine starts, runs, and drives without any odd noise/scent/vibration. A very smooth powerplant with more than enough power. This Jeep really rocks and rolls if you want it to. The factory carburetor with working manual choke is sitting on the factory manifold. The ignition system has been upgraded with a powerful GM HEI distributor, properly gapped plugs, and new 7mm plug wires. PCV system has been correctly plumbed so it does not dump oil fumes into the carburetor but instead under the carburetor. At cold start the engine produces over 50 psi oil pressure and at operating temperature it has over 30 psi. The engine does not leak onto the pavement. Cooling system uses the factory all metal radiator, a full fan shroud, metal blade cooling fan, and new waterpump with correct bypass. You can drive it in any temperature or idle it as long as you need without coming close to overheating/boiling over. The engine runs Rotella 15W-40 and Rotella engine coolant. The factory Motorola alternator has been replaced with a high quality single wire alternator and heavy gauge USA made copper wiring. Braided ground wires have been used to ground the alternator to the frame as well as the body to the frame - the starter is grounded to the battery for maximum starting juice. A new (made in Korea) fuel pump has been installed.
Transmission: the factory T14 3 speed transmission was replaced with a Ford T18 4 speed transmission. This swap saw the transmission rebuilt with name brand NOS bearings (no chinese bearings or seals) and USA synchros. A factory Buick bellhousing mates the engine to the transmission. A new LUK clutch, with Luk throwout bearing, and USA made Koyo pilot bearings was installed. Both front and rear bearings on the T18 are 1 side sealed - oil can get to the bearing from inside the transmission but the bearing is sealed on the outside so it cannot leak out.The factory extra-heavy flywheel was surfaced.The factory clutch arm pivot ball was replaced with an adjustable that has been adjusted to give clutch pedal feel perfection. The clutch pedal has smooth and linear engagement - a very comfortable clutch to drive without any "on-off switch" feel like some poorly planned swaps may have. All gasket surfaces received anaerobic sealer and are leak free. A custom dog house cover was fabricated and welded over the new transmission - the new custom welded cover can be removed to do work on the drivetrain just like the factory cover. No leaks under the transmission.
Transfer Case: the factory large bore Super Dana 18 transfercase came with a single shifter stick. The factory transmission and transfer case shared fluid - we have blocked any sharing of fluids - the transmission uses its own SAE 90 GL1 oil and the transfercase its own Rotella gear-oil. By sealing off the route of oil between the transmission and transfer case we have avoided either unit running high or low on fluid. During the T18 swap the Dana 18 was modified to use twin sticks. You can now shift the rear to 2WD low. Front axle engagement will be your other stick. The factory Dana 18 intermediate shaft and roller bearings were discarded and replaced with an Advanced Adapters intermediate shaft and bearing setup. This allows you to set preload on the transfer case like you could on an axle spindle. Installation of this intermediate shaft upgrade required machining on the intermediate gear. All bearings and seals used were NOS/USA or high end replacement. No indian or chinese bearings/seals were used. All gasket surfaces received anaerobicsealer and are leak free. Pinion outputs have double seals and are leak free. No leaks under the transfercase (rare!). The rear received an NOS parking brake backing plate and complete setup. A parking brake handle and cable are still required. The front output was upgraded to 1310 size in lieu of the factory mini universal joint. Both factory driveshafts were replaced with brand new Spicer heavy wall shafts with long slip splines. The rear driveshaft uses Spicer white seal fully sealed forged joints. The front shaft uses Spicer greaseable high strength joints.
Axles/Brakes: the 1971 CJ5 V6 uses a relatively rare rear axle. This Jeep still sports this factory axle. Unlike older CJ5 models, the 1971 model (and some late 1970 model Jeeps) used a one piece 30 spline shaft. This is the same size shaft that you would find on a late model Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The rear axle has the factory Jeep drum brakes that have been completely replaced and adjusted. Drums were painted and everything under the drum properly lubricated. The front axle is the factory Dana 27 model. At the pinion we used a custom forged 1310 yoke that is created specifically to upgrade the Dana 27 to 1310 size driveshaft yokes. A new pinion seal was installed and the pinion correctly torqued and a torque-o-meter used to ensure there is correct pinion bearing pre-load. Both inner axle seals were replaced (at the differential). All king pin bearings were replaced with high quality non-chinese Koyo bearings and again bearing pre-load checked. Each knuckle was packed with the proper volume of corn-head grease. Both hubs were properly setup and greased. The front axle uses Warn Premium hubs. Both axles use Dana Spicer 3.73:1 gears. This gearing coupled with the T18 gives the ultimate in on-road driving feel as well as a slow and stable off-road crawl ratio.Along with the full replacement of the rear brakes, the front axle was upgraded to disc brakes. Suzuki Tracker remanufactured calipers and premium pads/rotors were used. Chevrolet S10 soft line mates the factory hard line to the Suzuki calipers. The factory brake master cylinder was replaced with a new master cylinder. Because of the disc conversion the factory proportioning built into the master cylinder was removed - instead a disc front/drum rear proportioning valve was installed after the master cylinder. The brakes are firm and strong but the pedal cluster should be taken apart and rebuilt with new bushings - there is some slop in the brake pedal that will be removed with the pedal cluster rebuild. Most lines that required modification were replaced with CuPro.
Body: the body is the most solid short-hood we have seen. No rubber undercoating or bedliner to hide rust. The body is so solid it still sports the factory floor drains. A hat-channel under the passenger floor had rusted and was replaced. This replacement does not use the factory wood that would hold moistureand rot. The toolbox is solid and usable but did get wet at one point and has a rusty section. The only other rust we can note is above the windshield on the inside. For some time this Jeep had a hardtop with a bad top seal. Some moisture wrapped around and under that tap to slightly rust above the windshield rust. These areas have been like this for a number of years and do not require attention but important we still note them - please see pictures. The Jeep is 48 years old and this is what we have found - if there is any more we haven't found it and it would have to be minor - again not something that would require attention. A really really solid Jeep that likely has less corrosion that most of these Jeeps would have had just a few years after being sold new! A passenger side rear marker light is missing. The speedometer was replaced and the original is included. The original was removed because the needle broke. Looking at the condition of the chassis and particularly the factory Jeep gas pedal makes it clearer and clearer that this Jeep is likely showing original mileage at under 40,000. The original speedometer is included with this sale. The new speedometer does not have a working temp or gas gauge. The Jeep came with this speedometer and we have not attempted to diagnose the temp or fuel gauge - speedometer works but does not indicate accurately. Wipers work and have been replaced with factory stainless steel blade holders. Headlights have been wired with relays (no factory wires cut in the harness). We have retained the factory sealed beams and replaced them with brighter units - the headlights on this Jeep will rival a new vehicles halogen light output.
Wheels/Tires: the wheels are new reproductionpolished mag slots. Tires are narrow and tall 33x10.5x15 Maxxis Razr tires. Very quiet on the road and extremely good traction off the road.
This Jeep is ready to cruise the boulevard and then go into 4-Lo and 1st Gear for off-road fun. With 33" tires and 3:73 gears you can drive confidentently on the road and 57:1 crawl ratio makes most off-road obstacles simple. Both front seats have lap belts with a retractable outside band. The glove box uses a reproduction plastic insert that replaces the factory cardboard insert. The seats bottoms are torn but it needs them redone in factory vinyl instead of a bestop or similar chinese replacement.
For 48 years old you won't find a nicer example. Its not perfect but we wouldn't take it any further - this Jeep is cool as can be and shows an honest life. Its ready to enjoy now and you don't need a welder to own this one!

1971 CJ5 Walk Around

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