Ok, my buddy has an 80 CJ7 he's had for several years. It was 351 modified (i have no idea what modified means, but ford folks throw the term around and that's what he says it is), T176, Dana 300, AMC 20/30 (Front/Rear), body was crap, frame was crap, 35" BFG MT's on solid deep dish rims. He took it to the local racing shop (very expensive, but do very good work) and spent $6500 getting the engine completely gone through rebuilt, high perf intake, headers, carb etc etc. Guy also redid the brakes, rebuilt the front axle, and put new exhaust on it. Total time, about 9 months in the shop. Then he goes out showing it off and wrecks it, so he takes it to another local shop, tells the guy how long the first guy had it, and wants to know what a new tub and Dana 44's will run him, so this guy says, new used tub, Dana 44's from a scout (rebuilt), new "heavy duty" transmission and tcase (rebuilt), new used frame, roll cage and dual Rancho 5000's on all 4 corners, and revolver shackles on the front and back. Won't take very long. $7K. This guy keeps the jeep for over a year, does nothing to it until Tim gets a lawyer involved (Tim foolishly gave the guy 5K up front to pay for the tub, frame, axles, etc) then he throws it together and it is a complete dog. He replaced Tim's T176 with a T4 (real heavy duty huh) and puts his old Dana 300 back in, the axles were supposed to be rebuilt and they weren't (neither were the Transmission and tcase). Brakes don't work, steering is horrible, exhaust was held up by a bungee cord, generic dual shocks that were installed on little pieces of sheet metal welded to the alxe tubes. Worst of all, he sold Tim's wheels and tried to tell him they agreed on a swap; Tim's wheels for some Outlaw alum wheels. Tim didn't remember any such swap. It's just plain crap. Tim gets the lawyer involved again and the shop owner declares chapter 7. He's still working out of his shop but Tim's not getting a dime out of him, and Tim's jeep is completely undrivable. He took it to one more shop in a nearby town and the said $5-6K just to make it safe to drive. Tim said he thinks he's going to part it out. I've tried to talk him into doing a lot of the work himself but he said he doesn't want to do that. Guess he learned a lesson; check out a shop before you get them to do major work. I had taken my jeep to thid guy and had some minor stuff done and he did ok, but apparently anything major he completely screws people on (from other folks who had major drivetrain swaps done by him). Just sucks for Tim. I hate to see him part out his jeep but he's gonna have $20K in a jeep and it still won't be just like he wants it.
Death of a CJ7
- Thread starter wm69
- Start date
88Wrangles
New member
that really sucks!! I don't see why, or even how, people can do that kind of stuff to others. Hopefully that guy will go out of bussiness
currupt4130
VT Hokie
thats sad to hear, some people are just a holes
White said:
From what I've heard around town, take a number. Tim's roomate is a little off in the head, hope he doens't do something crazy. First thing the guy said to my wife when he met her was "did you know it only takes 17 pounds of pressure to tear off an ear" or something like that. I'd buy the thing from Tim, get a factory service manual, and try and fix it myself just for the experience but my wife would divorce me. The shop is rented and the guy doesn't have anything they can take (thus filing bankruptcy, he didn't have anything to lose) so Tim's just bending over and taking it along with his lesson.
White said:
I'm from East Arkansas over about an hour SW of Memphis TN, but that's in the Delta (read very poor and no jobs available unless you farm) so now I'm in Fayetteville AR (NW corner of the state) where I came to school and ended up staying after I finished. Tim is from Illinois and moved down here a couple years ago also in search of better jobs. NW Arkansas is booming with WalMart's home office here along with Tyson and JB Hunt having their home offices here. I feel responsible for sending Tim to this guy. He sold me some used springs (mine were bent) for my jeep and installed them and did a good job(yeah I know that's no biggie). Also installed a clutch for me and did the work very cheap. I bought one of my jeeps from him and i have gotten no surprises from it. Tim goes down there and just gets bent over. Seems the guy is getting worse and worse and really messes with people who want major work done (drivetrain swaps etc). The shop in Rogers (we did check around on Bohannans 4x4 in Rogers and they have a very good rep among the local wheelers) said they have had quite a few thrown together rigs come in to be redone after the guy in Fayetteville half-ass did them. I don't know what his problem is. I used to take my jeep there and even though he's never screwed me in any way, he screwed my buddy and that's enough for me to never go there again.
