Project "Mud Bandit"

New project vehicle
Dana 44 front from 79 bronco
9" rear from same 79 bronco
1979 CJ7 with fiberglass tub, new frame, pristine. just waiting to be thrashed.

Awesome!
Can't wait to see what you do with that thing of beauty!

I'll likely swap out the 9" and D44 for a pair of D60's.

Great find another money pit

I like it. This should be very interesting.


Hey whats the gearing in the Axles? We need to talk.

here is the listing details.


[color=red]FIRST THE REASON: UNFORTUNATELY I HURT MY BACK AND AM LOSING MY JOB.....TOYS MUST GO.

YOU ARE LOOKING AT A 1979 JEEP CJ7.

FEATURES:

• 454 V8 CHEVY BIG BLOCK, CLEAN BEAUTIFUL ENGINE
  
• NEW CARBURETOR
  
• EDELBROCK INTAKE MANIFOLD
  
• POWDER COATED HEADER HUGGERS
  
• NEW GASKETS
  
• NEW RADIATOR
  
• NEW HOSES
  
• NEW DISTRIBUTOR
  
• NEW WIRES
  
• NEW ELECTRIC COOLING FAN (THERMOSTAT NEEDS INSTALLED…HARD WIRED)
  
• NEW DUAL THRUSH GLASSPACK MUFFLERS AND EXHAUST SOUNDS AWESOME
  
• NEW BELTS
  
• AUTOMATIC
  
• FORD 9” REAR AXLE AND DANA 44 FRONT AXLE *KNOWN TO BE INDISTRUCTABLE* AXLES 78 FULL SIZE BRONCO
  
• WARN LOCKOUT HUBS
  
• NEW REINFORCED C CHANNEL FRAME IS AWESOME…. NO RUST
  
• HI AND LO RANGE; 2 & 4X4 (NICE AND TIGHT SHIFTING)
  
• OEM WHEELS AND TIRES LIKE NEW
  
• FIBERGLASS TUB AND SOLID METAL HOOD; GREAT SHAPE
  
• NEW SUMMIT LEATHER RACING SEATS
  
• CAMLOCK SIMPSON FIVE POINT RACING HARNESSES
  
• BESTOP BIKINI TOP (NIB) NOT INSTALLED
  
• POWER STEERING
  
• 4 INCH PRECISION LIFT KIT
  
• LAY DOWN WINDSHIELD
  
• OEM JEEP ROLL BAR
  
• NEW RANCHO SHOCKS
  
• NEW SPRINGS
  
• NEW GAS TANK AND SENDING UNIT
  
• NEW PULL SWITCHES FOR DASH
  
• NEW BRAKES (FRONT WERE CHANGED TO DISK)
  
• NEW BRAKE LINES
  
• NEW FUEL LINE
  
• NEW FUEL FILTER
  
• NEW CARPET FOR BODY (NEEDS TO CUT AND INSTALLED)
  
• NEW STAINLESS STEEL HOOD VENT (NOT INSTALLED)
  
• NEW STAINLESS STEEL HOOD LATCHES AND HINGES
  
• NEW WINDSHIELD WEATHER STRIP GASKET NEEDS INSTALLED
  
• ALL FLUID CHANGED
  
• A SET OF FOUR "BUSHWHACKER” 6” FENDER FLARES ($650)
  

THE JEEP IS MY BABY AND IT RUNS GREAT AND STARTS EVERY TIME. IT HAS NEVER SEEN DIRT OR THE RAIN! LIKE WITH EVERYTHING THERE ARE SOME FLAWS:

• THE SPEEDOMETER CABLE IS NOT HOOKED UP
  
• NO PARKING BRAKE
  
• NO RADIO
  
• GLOVE BOX COVER NOT MOUNTED / ALSO NO INSERT
  
• BODY IS IN BLACK PRIMER
  
• TURN SIGNAL IN STEERING COLUMN NEEDS REPLACED
  
• STEER COLUMN LINKAGE NEEDS ADJUSTED (DOES NOT SHOW R WHEN IN REVERSE AND SO ON.
  
• FRONT DRIVE SHAFT NEEDS TO BE INSTALLED
  
• WIPER LINKAGE NEEDS HOOKED UP ALSO NEEDS WIPERS
  
• HUB LOCKERS NEED ADJUSTED OR REBUILT
  
• WINDSHIELD HAS TWO SMALL BB HOLES
  
• OVER $8000.00 INVESTED
  

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I don't know what gears came in the 70 bronco but the axles are stock full width axles. It will be interesting to see what the vehicle is like in person. If it is as clean as it looks then I may keep it as a street rod and leave the axles alone. if not then it will be a mud bogger which means the early 90's blazer tranny and tcase will have to go in place of a turbo 400 and NP 205 and the axles will go in favor of a pair of D60's. hmmm nitros?

oh yeah I see some fireball orange paint coming.

nice.

But wait, why would you swap out the 9" and 44, they're "known to be indestructable" muahahahah

I also really enjoy the "it has never seen dirt or the rain" OUCH

those seat belts look scary. love the rest of it.

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/pts/456762576.html

Bill here is a link to some D60's pretty cheap (4.10 gears)

in person the whole vehicle is kinda scary. He did drive it which I wouldn't do in it's current state. JUst a quick look around and the tranny mount is too low putting a bad angle on the drive train, the rear pinion is too high, lots of loose bolts, steering column loose, battery tray loose suspension hardware loose etc. its like he stopped in the middle of the build. makes sense since he said he had back surgery but I wouldn t' drive it. to control rear axle wrap he has a bar mounted from the frame directly to the axle with no means for increasing or decreasing length as the suspension travels. it would smoke the 35" tires though. saw a plug wire reversed, fuel tank "T" connector with one of the ends not capped and the distributor was loose. (probably having a hard time getting it to stop backfiring by adjusting the timing with the plug wires reversed). Overall I am pleased with the purchase as I have an excellent base vehicle for this build. the frame is refurb and reinforced throughout, body is fiberglass and motor is what I wanted. the tranny and transfer case have 29k miles on them whatever they are from the early 90's blazer. I'm looking forward to dropping a pair of 60's under it and building a new suspension for it. the axles don't look like 78/79 bronco axles, they look like early bronco axles. I dont' know for sure but will investigate that further and figure the gear ratio as well. I'm dying to tear into this so I can go out and smoke the tires down the street. wife says "NO WORKING ON THE NEW JEEP UNTIL MY BATHROOM IS DONE!" I did take her parking spot in the garage for now. more to come later for this mud bogger project.

Hey let me know when you finish the bathroom. Ryan and me want to see this thing.

looks like the 9" rear from the 78/79 bronco is full width, 31 spline. ratio could be 3.00, 3.50 or 4.11. I will check today.

Hey Bill I don't think that those axles are great for hardcore rock crawling but I'm starting to think that they should be fine for mud. Not sure what the rest of the mudd boggers are running but I keep hearing that you need strength for rocks and water proofing for mud.

I would definitely save a lot of weight running these instead of D60's. I was under the jeep today and checking the gear ratio. I could grab the belly pan and move the jeep with very little effort. By the way it has 3.50 ish gear ratio. Really depends on the tire size I decide to run.

He has a good point because true mud doesn't have anything hard to grab unlike the rocks. On my old cj with a fiberglass body, I ran 38's on a welded 30 with high hp and had no probs going though the mud pits. Trust me the fiber glass body makes a world of difference. I found being light weight I paddeled across the top of alot of the mud.

Bathroom is done for now. I recovered my garage this past weekend and ready to start working on the jeeps. For this Saturday I'll be trying to get the CJ started. probably have to check the mechanical timing, check plug wires for correct firing order, check for fuel delivery etc. I did pick up a timing light. Nester, let me know what time you want to come up. any time works for me. if you bring the van you can take the wood and spare tire home with you if you want. Anyone who wants to come up to help just let me know.

Rockn93YJ wrote:

I'll likely swap out the 9" and D44 for a pair of D60's.

if ya go that route, i might be interested in those "old" axles

Ok I found out some more things on the CJ7.
1. The lift is a spring over conversion with superlift 3.5-4" springs.
I wonder what size tires that will allow me to run?
2. The tranny is a 700R4
3. the transfer case is a NP 231C

If that was true I would say that you should have plenty of room to run 37's or better but from the looks of the pictures I would say 35's but we can do some measuring on saturday.

I think definitely 35's but 37's might require some fender trimming. I have one of each now so I can always throw one on there to find out. I cant test articulation yet because of it not running and not enough height in the garage. It scraped on its way into the garage with just 225/75/15 tires on it. I also found it has a hillbilly crossmember mount to the frame that needs to be replaced. There is a ton of room above the tranny and tcase so It can be tucked up there quite a bit in the process. I think he tilted it down because it was a street machine and he wanted to reduce the rear driveshaft angle. there's a lot of work to do to this to get it ready. I was doing a lot of reading last night and the tranny is supposed to have a cable I think called a TV cable that has to be connected to the throttle. the web said it must be hooked up properly or I could burn up the tranny rather quickly. I didn't look for it yet but will this weekend.

New avenger 770 off road carburator and accel distributer and she is running sweet! threw a 36" swamper on there to see what it would look like.

That looks good.