Looking for CJ maestro

britome

Member
I really don’t want to research what Jeep forum to join. Would love to find what I need here.

I sold a 78 cj7 I had in college decades ago. I couldn’t afford the gas. Now I can. I am looking for an identical vehicle to restore as my next project. Questions...

1) where can I look other than Facebook marketplace?

2) what are the pros and cons of the manual 3speed vs 4speed? I had a 304 with automatic but would like a standard this time around.

3) is there a standard forum or community i should join?


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shays4me

Willing Wanderer
In a 78 CJ7 you'll have a dana 20 transfer case with either standard shift transmission. The dana 20 has a rather tall low range of 2:1 so the immediate advantage of the four speed offered (T18) is that it has a 4:1 first gear versus the three speeds (T150) first gear ratio of 3.15:1. The four speed transmission is also considerably stronger, as versions of it can be found in trucks in the 1 1/2 ton category. 4:1 vs 3.15:1 may not seem like much of a difference but when you calculate your low gear crawl ratio, it's 28.32:1 for the four speed and 22.3 for the three speed. Crawl ratio is turns of the engine to turns of the wheel in low gear. This can be calculated by multiplying the transmission first gear by the transfer case low gear and the ring and pinion ratio. Factory ratio for most Jeep CJ's in 1978 was 3.54. Generally speaking the mid 30's is a good all around ratio for forest service roads and woods exploring IMO, but rock crawlers prefer much lower. The transmission is the best place to start for a lower ratio, because everything is multiplied from there. You will find four speed CJ's generally sell at a premium compared to three speeds. In 1980 Jeep switched to the Dana 300 transfer case which was stronger and had a lower low range ratio of 2.64:1. It's the best gear drive transfer case offered in a Jeep. The transmission options from 1980-86 however, were not as strong. I could go on and on and on, but I won't. There's a lot of info on the Novak adapter web page as well as the jeeptech pages if you want to compare the nuts and bolts of each year and model.
 

Heading Out

Adventurer
+1 on the Jeep forum, great site, Lots of very knowledgeable people willing to share info and ideas.

Stay away from 80's CJs with the Peugeot 5sp trans. they will break.

Look for the Jeep,

For sale section of this and Jeep forum ( I found my 93 YJ here)
Craigslist
Classic Auto Trader

Try to find one from the sun belt, paint may be cooked but less rust to repair.
 
Last edited:

Bobzdar

Observer
You can find them on craigslist as well. I'd look for the '82 up cj7's due to the wide track axles. I had a 360 powered '83 cj7 and it was a ton of fun, but the transmission was the weak point as I had the sr-4/t4 and broke reverse in 2 or 3 of them trying to rock it back and forth when getting stuck. The earlier 3 speeds are bullet proof and higher end 4 speeds and 5 speeds that came behind the 4.2 (the t4/sr-4 was behind 4 cylinders) are also strong enough for a 304; but my ideal cj7 would actually be a YJ with a CJ front clip as they made a lot of improvements with the YJ, but it was still leaf sprung and used the same tub.

I'd look for a '95 with the 4.0 and 5 speed as '95's got the port injected straight 6 that the TJ's got but minimal other electronics (it was obd 1 so just warning lights and no port). They are completely bullet proof, I had 250k on my YJ and the motor still ran perfectly and used no oil and would start with the first turn of the key while it rode immeasurably better than the cj-7. You can swap the dash if you want the earlier style as well, but you still get the nicer fold and tumble rear seat and more comfortable YJ buckets.

I'm looking for a nice '95 YJ Sahara to do that with as it was, imo, the most well outfitted leaf sprung Jeep made, and by swapping the hood and grill it's virtually indistinguishable from a CJ-7 looks wise. If you want it to look identical to a CJ, you have to swap the fenders and rear flares as well, but even without doing that it's hard to tell the difference unless you're looking for it.
 

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