Buying a half restored CJ - help needed

Rob ( snipped-for-privacy@verizon.com) wrote on Tuesday 13 April 2004 08:17 pm:

Here's a worst case scenario - the threads are shot completely. At this point, you've got two possible fixes, both of which are cheap and easy to do.

First, you could re-tap the hole to the next size up, and put in some grade

5 or grade 8 bolts (don't use cheap-o bolts!). This requires a tap, a tap handle, some oil to lube the tap, and the new bolts. You may also want to re-drill the hole first to get rid of any rust, etc...

Second, you could clean out the threads completely and just run grade 8 bolts completely through to the underside of the jeep, where you put grade

8 washers, lockwashers, and nuts. It ain't movin'. If you get in a wreck so bad that the seat comes loose, you'll be happy that it flew out of the vehicle.

If the threads aren't so bad, you can buy a thread cleaning tool. It's not as sharp as a tap, but it'll remove the old gunk and rust from the threads. It'll allow to use the original bolts.

How old a Jeep are you looking at? Buying a half "restored" CJ might be more work and cost than you're hoping for in a daily-driver. If nothing else, you won't know what really got restored and what got spackled-over.

New paint and spray-on bedliner can cover a multitude of sins, especially in one that you already know has had some sheetmetal surgery. There might be a lot of aluminium tape under that bedliner. There might be a lot of baling wire and hose clamps lurking under the floor. Or not: I'm just saying. Crawl under the thing, look for rust. Poke at fresh undercoating with an awl. Try to rock the body off the frame. Look at the inner side of the rear frame rails back by the spring hangers for rot.

Finding the rear seat holes without scratching off all the bedliner might be a trick. If you are using a fixed rear bench you should be able to find the forward holes by crawling underneath and looking for captured nuts on the floor. Then use the seat as a template to find the rear holes. But if you are using the rear seat for anything other than groceries, you want the seat and belts very securely mounted. A seat that comes loose before the belt puts the passenger between a hammer and a knife edge, any system that allows you to be ejected is very probably going to kill someone -- unless it launches you through an open window in the Acme Fluffy Pillow Warehouse.

I really appreaciate each of your comments. Each very helpful. The Jepp is about 5 hours away and I really needed to get a better understanding of what issues might exist and especially to help me decide whether the trek was worth my time.

The owner sent a bunch of picures and it looks like his repairs and paint work is really good. He took some pictures of the underneath side - just from the front and back bumpers shooting along the underside - and don't show much of the frame. There does seem to be a pretty significant amount of rust on one pair of the leaf springs. and near the brackets. The other pair looks pretty good.

While there's a lot right about the Jepp for me ... I think my lack of experience and distance from the Jepp are going to cause me to pass on this one.

If ayone wants any details on a yellow '83 CJ-7 in Houston, TX, email me at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com and I'll pass on the owner's contact info. He's been very cooperative. I've taken enough of his time and the least I can do is let others who might be closer to Houston and are in the market, see if its a good deal for them or not. His asking price is roughly $5500.

Thanks again for your feedback,

Rob