Build Thread 1980 CJ7 "Love ya Blue"

[74G8R2]

DAY ONE...towed her home with no issues. Tucked away in her new home. For now planning a frame off conversion. Lots of research and planning to do before I start but I have a good idea of what I want the outcome to be. "Love ya Blue" will give way to "Gig'em Aggies".

Have owned two FSJ Cherokees ('78 & '79) but never a CJ. Looking forward to "mining" all the great CJ info in the Forum.

 

[thiswontbetooexpensive]

:ww:from up the road a little bit. Looks like you have a great place to get some work done. Looking forward to more pictures!

 

[74G8R2]

OK, you guys have blown me away with the depth of knowledge, experience, and know-how in this forum. I've read so much, now I can't remember where I read it. Need to go back and take some notes. I've pretty much confirmed my 7 is completely stock, hasn't had any modifications, and looks better and better the more I poke around. All the original parts are there and in good shape, even still has the jack and wrench under the hood. I keep reading about oil leaks but I don't see them on mine. I remember having them on my FSJ but this one is dry underneath. You can see the PO kept it lubed by the grease slung above u-joints.

I've cleaned it up, even Armoralled the seats and tires. Want to drive it some before disassembly. When I bought it, it ran good but had to be push started. I've tested and removed the starter.. Had hoped to get it to a local rebuilder but having a little trouble finding one in the Spring area. Leaving today for family vacation on the Frio River out west of San Antonio. Taking my manuals with me hoping to have a good plan ready when i get back. Will post some more pictures when I get back.

Thanks to everyone for all the good info.

 

[Airstrike]

OK, you guys have blown me away with the depth of knowledge, experience, and know-how in this forum. I've read so much, now I can't remember where I read it. Need to go back and take some notes. I've pretty much confirmed my 7 is completely stock, hasn't had any modifications, and looks better and better the more I poke around. All the original parts are there and in good shape, even still has the jack and wrench under the hood. I keep reading about oil leaks but I don't see them on mine. I remember having them on my FSJ but this one is dry underneath. You can see the PO kept it lubed by the grease slung above u-joints.

I've cleaned it up, even Armoralled the seats and tires. Want to drive it some before disassembly. When I bought it, it ran good but had to be push started. I've tested and removed the starter.. Had hoped to get it to a local rebuilder but having a little trouble finding one in the Spring area. Leaving today for family vacation on the Frio River out west of San Antonio. Taking my manuals with me hoping to have a good plan ready when i get back. Will post some more pictures when I get back.

Thanks to everyone for all the good info.

When I first got here last year I actually printed out posts because there was so much to learn when I was working on mine! It is like having a 2nd father to lean on when you just can't find the answer

 

[Hedgehog]

I looked at your vehicle listing. I had a '80 jeep wih an SR4 transmission. The SR4 can easily be ranked as the worst transmission Jeep ever put on a vehicle. Many transmission places won't work on them at all. So, if your transmission is poping out of 2nd gear (or any gear for that matter) its not worth working on. I went through this way back in 1987. The transmission place worked and worked on it and left me with a transmission that was worse than it was before the attempt to fix it. With Novak adaptors I switched to a buick 231 V6 and a T-18 ford truck transmission.

 

[74G8R2]

After more reading, I've pretty much come to the same conclusion on the SR4, if in fact that's what it is. Haven't been very successful finding any code from underneath to confirm it. Any tips would be appreciated. Thinking more of just upgrading the tranny. All the other components seem to be keepers in my quest to keep it close to original. Thanks

 

[Hedgehog]

I'm fairly sure the SR4 was in the 4 and 6 cylinders for 1980. I had the Iron Duke 4 cylinder in mine. It really wasn't a bad engine, but this one was tired. The I-6 is a different story. They are keepers. Back in the day the suggested replacement transmissions didn't have that good a reputation either. Admittedly there wasn't an internet as we know it today so finding out information wasn't nearly as easy as it is today. Oh yeah, mine was the same blue you have on your jeep. Some would call it whimpy, but I actually liked the color very much. The PO was a vehicular cleanaholic, He waxed the paint until there was hardly any paint left on it at all. While still largely blue, in the right light you could see the primer under the finish paint. I liked it well enough to repaint with the same color. My need to travel with my first new born child made me sell that Jeep.

 

[97DieselVT]

I looked at your vehicle listing. I had a '80 jeep wih an SR4 transmission. The SR4 can easily be ranked as the worst transmission Jeep ever put on a vehicle. Many transmission places won't work on them at all. So, if your transmission is poping out of 2nd gear (or any gear for that matter) its not worth working on. I went through this way back in 1987. The transmission place worked and worked on it and left me with a transmission that was worse than it was before the attempt to fix it. With Novak adaptors I switched to a buick 231 V6 and a T-18 ford truck transmission.

T-18 is a good transmission with the crawl gear

 

[74G8R2]

Agree with comments on the 6-258. I'm very happy to have that engine along with the Dana 300 t-case. I've read the T-18 was also used in the Ford F150 during the same years so I may be able to find one that can be adapted. In the meantime, my SR4 is working and I don't think it was ever abused, so I'm going to get it overhauled and use for the rebuild. I can replace it later if I decide to.

I guess I do have one remaining question as to whether or not putting on bigger tires will be any harder on the tranny. Nothing radical, just for aesthetics, and not planning any major off-roading. Thoughts and/or experiences much appreciated.

 

[Hedgehog]

I'm tellin' yah, if your SR-4 is working correctly, DON'T crack the case for any reason. Clean it, change the oil and stop there. It's not so much abuse that gives the SR-4 a problem. They are very light duty transmissions just looking for an excuse to fail. They don't fail horribly, they just start poping out of gear, usually when the power is off. You would think that would be an easy fix, NOT. It is fairly common knowledge that even the most expert rebuild might last for years or more likely, a day or two. As I wrote before, mine was worse after the work than before it was worked on.

There are MANY years of Ford truck T-18's that work great in a Jeep. They got the T-18 right the first time and basically left it alone, at least in the Ford application. You will not break a T-18 in a Jeep. Now it can't be said that all Jeep T-18's are the same. Some use 1st as a compound or granny gear, others use 1st as 1st. The location of reverse varies as well.

Tires - I purchased my '80 CJ with 31x10.5x15 tires (my '75 now has the same tire on it) on it. They are a little larger than stock tires and they were to much for the SR-4.

 

[74G8R2]

Ok, sound advice - runs just fine, last a long time, leave it alone, don't mess with it. In the the mean time sounds like I'm in the market for a T18. Plenty of salvage yards here in the Houston area. Shouldn't be an issue finding one, might even get lucky and find a CJ.

 

[Hedgehog]

Make sure to hit the Novak site. Lots of information, not just adaptors.

 

[Petescj]

Your actually better off with a Ford T-18 in the long run. Check out Novaks site like Hedgehog said. Plenty of good info there. If you end up wanting something that you can just bolt in you can look for a T-176. Pretty decent trans but youll have to grab the bellhousing and driveshafts as well.

Ok, sound advice - runs just fine, last a long time, leave it alone, don't mess with it. In the the mean time sounds like I'm in the market for a T18. Plenty of salvage yards here in the Houston area. Shouldn't be an issue finding one, might even get lucky and find a CJ.

 

[Hedgehog]

Don't get me wrong, if your transmission is running well don't just change it. But, if it starts to go bad it is smart to look at other options. Jeep had some rather unreliable transmissions around 1980. Actually that could be said for quite a bit of Jeep CJ life. Why Ford and Chevrolet could make transmissions that would work hard for hundreds of thousands of miles and Jeep didn't is a mystery to me. I love my Jeeps, but in the transmission area they could have been better. The Jeep T-18 is the one exception, even then many folks like the Ford T-18 better for the great low first gearing.

 

[truk820]

I'm working on an '81 w an Iron Duke/SR4 combo so this thread is music to my ears. The guy I bought it from had the SR4 rebuilt a few years ago (and zero miles put on it...never finished, hence me getting it).

I drove it around the block and noticed the shifter doesn't need to be pushed down to shift to reverse, in fact I feel like all it wants to do is go into R.

Now that the tub is off I'm debating:

1. Swapping in the T-176 but I'm a complete newbie at this and don't know how technically challenging it would be.

2. Having a shop look at the trans and see what it would cost to fix the problem

I'll be watching to see what you do!

 

[Hedgehog]

Your experiencing one of the issues with this transmission, I am sorry but it is a waste of money to do further work on any SR-4. Back in the late '80s many major transmission companies would not work on an SR-4 and that alone is significant. It is common for a shop to believe they have fixed the problem just to have it pop right back up in just a short time. My first fix lasted less than 2 weeks and it got worse from there.

 

[74G8R2]

OK, took some time off last week and spent some of it starting my tear down. Pulled the seats, covered the electrical and gave it a good power washing inside and out. Was able to remove front tow bar assembly, spare tire rack, mirrors, hood, and everything attached to the windshield. Waiting to drop dash before I finish windshield removal. Also discovered some bolts/nuts on the rear of the tub are near impossible to get to with the gas tank in the way.

Got hung up on removing Torxhead bolts that secure the seat belts and roll bar. Got my shipment from Eastwood today so I'll be hitting them with Aerokroil pretty soon.

I've identified my engine shop, paint shop, and upholstery shop. Also discovered a 4WD store only 15 minutes away - that could be dangerous. Am developing what I think will be a pretty good plan and can't wait to dig deeper.

Would never have made it this far without all the great threads and links.

 

[74G8R2]

Forgot to mention that I finally figured out that I have the T176 so one less thing to worry about.

 

[Petescj]

Forgot to mention that I finally figured out that I have the T176 so one less thing to worry about.

Well your definately in better shape having the T-176 than any of the other transmissions from the 80s. The 258 / T 176 / dana 300 is a good combo off road and on.

 

[74G8R2]

Well I've made a lot of progress on the teardown. I'm down to the rolling chassis stage. Finally got all my pictures together in one place on a new computer and want to bring everyone up to date on this project including more pictures. This is the first installment on the update. Last July I bought the jeep through another forum member and it was fortunately only about 60 miles away. Took a road trip with the wife, checked it out, agreed on price and towed it home.

Found out from the previous owner that it was painted in a dealer option Houston Oiler "Luv Ya Blue!" theme. Couldn't find a single picture on the inter web but did find images of the Oiler logos. Since I wanted to capture the history of the CJ, I printed them out and taped them in place. The size wasn't exactly right but they at least give you the right idea of what it probably looked like. Hope you enjoy the pictures. More to come.