What going guys..well iam happy to tell you all that i got one of my close friends to buy a jeep!!!! After going on several wheeling trips on my YJ he could no longer take it and decided to buy a jeep of his own, he bought a 85 CJ7. He has been contaminated with the jeep bug and now wants to lift and do all sorts of things. With the help of jeepz.com i have learned alot about my YJ and have done alot to my jeep. But as i was inspecting his jeep i saw alot of differences, like the rear axle and some other stuff. His jeep came with a winch, 36 inch tires and a weird looking body lift. I have read about body lifts being bad and think that he will get a full suspension lift, does his CJ7 have the dreaded carter with all the same problems that my 89 YJ brought? Is his rear end as weak as the D35? What parts are known to fail on this jeep or are just good to change. Allright guys, once again thanks for the help.
Jeep bug!
- Thread starter nica89yj
- Start date
tardis454
New member
nica89yj said:
His CJ has the same carb your YJ has. AMC/Jeep used the same carburetor from 1982-1990' on Jeep Cherokee/Wagoneer(fullsize), CJ's, YJ's, AMC Eagles, Concords, etc.
The rear end is an AMC Model 20 with 2 piece axles. The 2-piece axleshaft/hub design is the weak point. 1-piece axle kits are available for the model 20 axle, but are expensive. I haven't seen many model 20 axles break unless your beating the sh!t out of them.
As far as part failure goes I know from expirience that pick-up coils in 258 distributors go bad frequently. I replaced the pick-up coil twice on my old AMC Eagle. I'd upgrade the ignition with a Chevy HEI conversion distributor. Otherwise it's just a Jeep like all other Jeeps. You fix them when they're about to break, or are already broken.
Last edited:
jay79cj7
New member
If he has 36" tires on a 20 year old Jeep, he may not have stock axles. Heck, on a 20 year old Jeep, who knows what would be stock! The AMC 20 rear end has a big, perfectly round differential cover. If it has that, then its a 20. The front would be Dana 30 stock, but find a picture and compare. This would be essential for him to figure out for when it comes time to do the brakes and other things.
