[Darrowcat]

Hi everyone first time on the forum and i have a slight problem, i have a 1959 willys cj5 and recently did a soa conversion, all went well but now im stuck with the steering and transfer case, i dont know where to start on the steering issue, do they make a drop bell crank? should the steering rods go above or below the leaf springs? and i know i have to drop the transfer case but how much? i used all the stock parts and fabricated the rest. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advanced!

[Tim Dolan]

I have no knowledge of such conversions so I hope another reader can assist.

Tim

[F Bill]

Probably your best bet is to visit the modification sections of the early CJ5 forums.....lots of folks have done that....a SOA conversion can be a scary animal if not done right.......there are drop arms for the Saginaw conversion....I would prefer a set of lift springs and minimal modifications myself, just on a safety basis. What size tires are you attempting to use?

As far as the transfer case issues go.....the reason for dropping is to keep the driveshaft angles down to where the Ujoints will be happy. What the maximum angle is will be something you will need to look up....and you may also need to rotate your axles with an angled shim to acheive the correct and matching angles at each end of the shafts. HOWEVER...rotating the front end will work against you, as the caster will be effected as well to the point where it will be way out of whack. Some have cut and rewelded axle tubes to keep the angles within reason but that is pretty tricky stuff..

[Tim Dolan]

F Bill, on 13 February 2012 - 08:56 AM, said:

Probably your best bet is to visit the modification sections of the early CJ5 forums.....lots of folks have done that....a SOA conversion can be a scary animal if not done right.......there are drop arms for the Saginaw conversion....I would prefer a set of lift springs and minimal modifications myself, just on a safety basis. What size tires are you attempting to use?

As far as the transfer case issues go.....the reason for dropping is to keep the driveshaft angles down to where the Ujoints will be happy. What the maximum angle is will be something you will need to look up....and you may also need to rotate your axles with an angled shim to acheive the correct and matching angles at each end of the shafts. HOWEVER...rotating the front end will work against you, as the caster will be effected as well to the point where it will be way out of whack. Some have cut and rewelded axle tubes to keep the angles within reason but that is pretty tricky stuff..

Thanks, Bill, for your input. That is an area I have never touched.

This post has been edited by Tim Dolan: 13 February 2012 - 10:33 AM

[Darrowcat]

Thanks guys the steering issue is still there, i think im just going to do lift springs and be safe.