Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone have an older CJ-5?

Hi Pete,

We hunted out of them as a kid and really like the vehicles.

I am trying to find one with the old half cab so I can a have a little room for stuff (deer) in the back.

Best,

I'll have to figure out how to do that too Pete. I'm not that computer savvy, so will have to study on it. Thanks for the offer, BTW.

You need a CJ-8 Scrambler. It came from the factory with a setup like that.

I've had two different '62 Willy's -- I believe those were called CJ 3s then, But it wasn't stamped on the body like the AMC Jeeps had later. I got the first one when I was eight years old. I drove it around the ranch when I was a kid. I think I had been driving it three or four years before I found out that my Dad had hack sawed off the High/low range shifter below the floor. That throttle on the dash sure comes in handy when you can't reach the peddles, and in low range, shoving it in is as good as brakes. I always used to wonder why my Dad could get 45 mph out of it, (bottle jack handle stuck though the boot when I wasn't looking), when even if I stood on it in 3rd, I couldn't get above about 15 mph.

Later when I was a teen, I bought a '77 CJ 7 with a 304. Being a teen and all, I put a big Holly on it, a cam, headers and I can't remember what all else, but It was pretty handy in the quarter mile at the local kid drag strip just out of town on a secondary road. I had it running so good that it didn't do well in snow or mud -- you couldn't give it just a touch of gas without starting everything spinning and digging in deeper.

That ol' hurricane 4 in the Willy's on the other hand, in low/low and a little dash throttle would crawl though anything, or up anything to the point where any steeper would roll you over backwards -- I got a lot of rides home, or walked, to go get one of my old Willy's to pull out my hot rod Jeep when I got it stuck often.

I remember going to a lake one time with a Willy's to pull some friends out who had a high rise F250 buried up to the doors in whatever you are supposed to call that black smelly mud now. They laughed when I pulled in in the little Jeep and wanted to know why I didn't bring The AMC with the V8. I told them that if I would of, then I would be stuck right in front of them, but this one would get them out. I had to chain off to trees a few times and use the winch, but I pulled them out slowly and surely. Crawling is your friend.

I would like to have another Willy's but would also have a car trailer to take it on long trips with.

I never liked the scrambler too much, it seemd like it got away from being a jeep and turned into a truck.

Just want to find one with a Half cab so I'll have a little room.

Jeeps......really good for getting you into places that when yah look back, yah prolly shouldnt have gotten into

have used my father in laws CJ7 to go some places where i had to get out, shake my head and say "Prolly shouldnt have done that......"

Yeah the CJ3 was better, shorter wheel base, for getting over peeks, like where a loader pile can be found in the middle of a trail, than a longer CJ7 was.

I'm pretty sure that a Scrambler was built on what also is known as a CJ9 if you want to order a full top for one. So it was quite a bit longer even than the CJ7.

have a CJ8 in the back of the shop here im trying to buy from my partner......longer than the CJ7's my wife likes but most of my hunting isnt done where i need something with that short of a wheel base.....bigger bed would be handy for hauling elk or several deer out aswell.....really do appreciate the shorter Jeeps but i want that 8 in a bad way.....

Mine came with a 151 CID GM 4 cylinder. It was a good little engine but when it finally died I put a 283 Chevy in it. With late 80's heads and intake and a 400 CFM Carter AFB its not too powerful. Just enough to get out of its own way. The best part about the engine is that I only paid $20 for the carburetor. When I got it home and looked it up it turned out to be an aftermarket carb. intended to go on a late 80s Chevy 305. All I had to do was tinker with the jets and metering rods and it runs fine.

A friend gave me a metal hard top off of a 58 and it went on without too many alterations. The windshield frame changed enough that I had to put a couple of strips on it to fill in gaps on either side of the windshield frame. Other than that it was a drop on fit. Roll up glass windows and everything.

I still need to paint it but it does pretty much go any place.

Tell me about it. Some of those trails we did in Kali were downright scary. One was called "Deucy", and had a steep uphill on a granite face. It wasn't bad going up, but coming down...I sucked up a few seat cushions, I can tell you.

Here is a pick of a CJ5 with a Meyer's 1/2 Cab on it.

I like the 258 six, as it's a strong motor with alot of torque, but I would like to drop a Cummins 4BT in there if the 258 ever quits. The only problem is a core for the 4BT. The motors as a drop in are about $5K, but you need a core, or it's an extra $2K. Of course, that's a big wish, and I'll probably settle for another gas six like the 258 or even a Ford 300.

Trust me you can get a full elk in the back of a CJ3 Willy's with one of those half cabs like a pickup too. It's full, but it will fit with the legs pointing straight up and tied against the back of the cab -- You can even get a few more on the hood, been there done that too. But a little room is never a bad thing either.

Correction -- that CJ8 is like a Scambler too. I think they may have made an 8 and a 9 but I'm not sure.

I have to say I've always liked the Toyota version of the Jeep, but apart from the Yuppy versions, we don't see many LandCruisers here in the UK..

dont think there was a CJ9, atleast not marketed in the US anyway.....CJ8=Scrambler.....

That's what my dad has--that jeep hasn't seen a paved road in almost 20 years..........

Thought I had a pic of it somewhere.......



Casey

BTW, Rattler, I just thought of a time when my Dad dropped a huge bull moose in what he must of thought was a medow, but turned out to be a frozen swamp. Frozen enough to walk on eight or ten steps before your leg went through to three feet of muck and water anyway. Not thick enough to drive on at all.

We ended up making a bridge Well, something sort of between a bridge and a tracked vehicle, as we pulled poles from the behid the vehicle and put them in front as we went foreword) out of down timber half way to the moose, then with the winch cable, chains, tow straps, and even a few lariats, we managed to reach him. We would pull and spool in the cable as our bridge came apart, then let the winch go slack and back out of there as far as our ropes let us. It took a while, but we eventually pulled him out to solid ground and with a few cuts, got that whole moose in and on the little Willy's.

never doubted it was possible.....just figure since the CJ8 is sitting there im gonna try and get it, hasnt moved in 9 years but its been housed in the shop.....the wife would prefer her dads CJ7......i asked for it for Christmas but he laughed at me so im trying to get the CJ8 from our partner in the papers.....its shorter than my pickup, more solid 4WD system and i can work on the SOB myself...

Oh I didn't think you doubted it, just wanted to tell the story -- I wouldn't hesitate on a good deal on a CJ8 either, or a Willy's.