American Jeepster Club
Most Common Technical Questions



Developed and maintained by Mike Childs -jeepsterman@off-road.com


I've been running the AJC (American Jeepster Club) website for more than 10 years now and get hundreds of emails, at least 3 a day. I finally got smart and thought I would list the top questions I get in email, and post the answers I usually give. These questions comprise the bulk of the email to me from the AJC web site pages.


Q: Variations of: "I am interested in purchasing a Jeepster, Do you know of any for sale?" or "I want to sell/buy my/a Jeepster, what is a good price?" or "I am looking for this part, where can I find one? "

A: The first thing I always say to people is to check the club's classified section on our website or go to www.ebay.com. The club's Classified section has been very successful. I've had people travel thousands of miles, Washington to Texas, to buy a Jeepster... I don't know the going price of your Jeepster!!!!! Your local market determines the market price, factoring in supply, demand, condition of the vehicle and so forth. I have no way of telling if a price is a good one in your area. The hardest way is to constantly open your local paper and see for what price people are willing to sell them, if you can find one.

Q: Variations of: "I was interested in purchasing a Jeepster. How does the Jeepster compare to CJs, Broncos, Cherokees....? Which car is safer? Which comes with better features? Which one will be the best investment?"

A: You will really need to do your own research. I don't really know all that much about the others. I'm an owner of a '69 Jeepster, but there are a lot of other good SUV's out there, and some of them are better for some purposes than the Jeepster. For example, if you want to frequently tow a 5000lb boat hundreds of miles into the mountains, you're way better off getting a Jeep Grand Wagoner or Cherokee with a V8. The Jeepster's main strengths, in my opinion, are its looks, uniqueness, general toughness and reliability. The weaknesses of the Jeepster is it's uniqueness, lack of NOS parts and after-market parts, any parts, but this has gotten much better in recent years as our club members have started to get parts made and they resell them to the public.

Q: Variations of: "I have just bought a Jeepster!!! What the heck do or where the hell do I start now?"

A:
Make it SAFE first!!! Your rig is 35 years old and most likely in dire straights!
Use the club's BBS (Bulletin Board Service). Search by Keyword before asking a question that has been answered 50 times already.
Use the club's Classifieds Section for finding used and new parts for your junker.
Use the club's Part Resouces Page of the AJC web site for suppliers of new parts for your junker.
Make Friends in the club by finding people in your area. They can save your life one day.
Go to AJC National and local Chapter club events to meet people and see other Jeepsters.
You're floor boards are most likely worse than they look, so lift up the rubber mats.
Stock brakes are crap and will probably need complete rebuild at worst, but upgrade to 11" drums or disc.
Steering needs to be gone through with a fine tooth comb. Replace with Saginaw if possible.
If you want to go anywhere/everywhere off-road, add a rear locker of some type.
If you off-road, get a 4-point roll bar at least.
Learn to troubleshoot and repair electrical wiring. Get a test light
Get a Jeepster Commando manual. A CD-ROM version is posted in the club's Classifieds section.
Don't ask for "Jeepster" or "Commando" parts unless you have a real good, "old school" parts man.
Buy a partster.
Get to know Mark Vilbert, Jeepster Jim Serr, Don Fletcher, and Toad for "generic" stuff
Use safety glasses, wear pants and shoes.
Get a couple of fire extinguishers.
Use jack stands.
225's run rough to most people. They are honey to the ears of the loyalists.
Headers are a waste of time.
Yor heater will suck. Read about the heater upgrade in Mike Childs' Project page.
Your windshield wipers are just for show.
Put decals over the rust on your tailgate, but you can buy a new one from Mark Vilbert.
When electric stuff don't work replace the grounds.
Read RRich's "hard clutch cure", or put in a hydralic master/slave such as Mike Childs' Project Jeepster.
Buy the right part the first time, otherwise you'll be replacing it again when you want to upgrade.
Learn how to do bodywork and paint. Bodyshops won't touch Rusters.
Learn how to weld. You'll be doing plenty of it.
Don't weld naked!

Q: "How do I lift my Jeepster?" or "Who makes a lift kit for a Jeepster?"

A: HA, HA, that's funny, who makes a lift kit, stop, you're cracking me up! If you own a Jeepster, you better get used to it now. Everything that you will be doing is always custom work. NObody makes a 'store bought' lift kit. I don't know why, but it stinks.

Fortunately, you have three options to lift it: Body lift, Spring-over or Custom springs. Each one of these has its pros and cons and depending on what you want to spend and how much lift, you'll select a different lift than someone else.

A body lift is easy and cheap. You can buy one CJ 3" kit and cut the bushings in half, because you need 13 bushings, and then buy new bolts. I don't recommend more than 2 inches of body lift. Some people even taper the lift by doing 1/2 inches in the front and 1-1/2 inches in the rear. Depending the height, you may have to adjust the steering linkage, brake line, speedo cable and gas tank filler tube. The disadvantage to this lift is that it does nothing for your transfer case clearance.

A spring over lift, as done on my project, is more work and some more money, but you get 5 inches of lift right away. I do NOT recommend this method if you are planning on keeping the stock worn-out springs. You will have tons of axle wrap and sway on the road. Then you say, if you get new springs, then why bother doing a spring over? Because you get 5 inches of lift with stock height springs. Which means you get more articulation up and down with the springs. If you have custom springs made for 5 inches of lift, the articulation will not be as good because of the severe arch of the springs. You will need to drop or lengthen your brake lines, a dropped pitman arm and maybe new drivelines. The disadvantage of this lift is the height. It may be too high for some people. I would not run with a hard top on a spring-over lifted Jeepster. It is too top heavy.

Custom springs can be special ordered from several companies, one being Bettes Springs in San Leandro, CA. Lifts up to 4 inches are practical with sprung-under lifts. I usually suggest this method of lift since it is the easiest to do, once you find the spring manufacturer. Your rig most likely needs new springs now anyway, so why not. Remember, its been nearly 30 years since those springs were first installed.

Q: "My Jeepster looks like it is 'dragging its butt.' Why is this? How do i fix it?"

A: Well, there's a couple of reasons: On Jeepsters, the front fender well is cut higher than the rear fender well, so even if the Jeep is perfectly level, the rear end appears a little low. Some Jeepster models used a "Mono" leaf spring, yes, a single leaf. Great soft ride but short lift compared to other spring packs. When carrying a load or towing, old springs will sag also.

Fortunately, there's a variety of ways to fix it: The first way doesn't cost much: Purchase a set of Rancho Add-a-Leaf springs which will lift the rear almost 2-inches and make the ride a lot stiffer also. Another inexpensive way to fix this is to add body lift blocks between the frame mounts and the body in the rear. You will need to make your own set. Yet another way to cure this problem is to use Con-Ferr extended rear spring shackles, but you don't want to get a pair that is too long. You can also replace the rear springs altogether for a stock pair from Leon Rosser or a custom pair from Bettes Spring with more height. Hi-pressure gas shocks will also raise the rear a bit.

Q: "What are the biggest tires I can put on without an expensive suspension lift?"

A: It depends on why you want taller tires. If you want to look cool, slap on a set of 30x10.50's and have fun. If you want better off-highway ability, read on. I suggest you not go much more past your stock tire size unless you want to spend a lot of money to do the job correctly. Let me explain:

Ask yourself: "Why do I want bigger tires?" Taller tires buy you some additional clearance. On a Jeepster, clearance isn't usually the weak link in off-highway ability, unless you spend a lot of time in deep mud, deeply rutted roads, or deep snow. Even if you do spend a lot of time in "deep doodoo" the money is arguably better spent elsewhere. Here's several reasons:

* You'll lose low-end torque, because you'll effectively change the gear ratio. Each rev of the engine will turn the wheel the same number of degrees as before, but since the radius is greater, you'll turn more circumference. To circumvent this problem, you gotta change your axle gears. If you've got the Jeepser Dana 44 rear option, you probably have the 3.73 gears, which is O.K. for up to 31" inch tires, but you will need 4.27+ gears for 33" inch tires or greater.. Unfortunately, the carrier used in for that gearset is at the max, so you'll need a whole new carrier (two of em, remember), plus new gears.

* For the reason above (unless you put on the new axle gears), your speedometer will read low.

* Bigger tires are heavier, and the weight is all unsprung, so it will beat your suspension harder, and make for a rougher ride. This can be mitigated by going with lighter aluminum wheels, but that's expensive. It is also rougher on the brakes. Your 10-inch brakes should be upgraded to 11-inch or to disc brakes depending on the size of tire.

* Wider tires cause a little wandering on the pavement and increase your rolling resistance and wind resistance. You'll pay for this at the gas pump.

* Your wife, girlfriend, whatever, will complain that its harder to get into the truck. Do not under-estimate the grief this could cause you.

* Your center of gravity will be higher, making you less stable in turns, unless you get tires that are somewhat wider, in which case you'll need fender flares to keep you legal and from looking really silly, especially in the rain. They aren't real cheap.

* You won't usually get any extra traction, except in situations where you'd otherwise be high-centered. The open differentials on Jeepsters is the largest impediment to traction, not the clearance.

Most people want the taller tires because they think they'll get more off-highway traction. The truth is, if traction is your goal, get a traction diff for the rear (posi or locker) and keep the stock tires. Or, if you prefer, get a winch. In fact, a lot of people recommend getting a winch first, because a locker tends to only get you further into the muck where you get REALLY stuck and then really wish you had that winch...

Visit the Tire / Lift Tech page for more information about tire sizes, lifts and gearing.

Email Mike Childs at: JEEPSTERMAN@OFF-ROAD.COM for further information.
Go to the "Fix it Tip" Page
Back to the Jeepster Home Page