I too just bought a 73 CJ5 recently and while saftey is my concern as well (I have two small girls and a nervous Nellie wife) I have another problem that maybe some of you 73 jeepers can help with. Mine ran great for the first month but after I discovered a leaky fuel sending unit gasket I decided to park it, fix the seal and pull the entire interior (including the dash) out and repaint everything. I methodically taped and labeled every wire to every switch, light, guage, starter etc in the process. It has been "rigged" by the previous owner with a push button starter (as opposed to the traditional key crank) and once everything was in place heres what happened.....

I initiatiated the start button and the starter just ran and ran till I had to unhook the battery. Engine never trurned over. The starter and solenoid are brand new, so is the battery. A local shade tree mechanic said it had to do with needing a momentatry switch or that the starter was hung on the fly wheel. Not much of a mechanic myself so I dunno..... I've have the original dash and was told I would be better off going with a painless harness and just start over. The wiring behind the dash is so rigged it looks like Ray Charles himself did it. Ran before, so it has to be something simple. Missed the entire spring here down south and just ready to roll again. Any thoughts?

 

Mine are all a bit older than 73 (although my 3a has axles and various parts from a rot box 73 I parted out) I would never put a baby in an early jeep, but maybe when my little one is 8-10 years old or so, I am planning on swapping out my passenger race style seat for a child size version, and doing some light (read: mostly 2wd) wheeling with him. I have a cage with door bars, 5 points, boxed frame, and rocker guards that are 3/16 and tied to both the cage and the frame (cage is tied to frame)

I won't take any of my early cj's on the highway, regardless of safety equipment or who is riding in them though. An 80 inch wheelbase is just to short (and narrow) for those kind of speeds.

I do fondly remember bouncing around the field with my dad in my 47 2A as a kid (always in low range with a seat belt on)

 

JEEPHAMMER- I am at work right now and the pictures are all on my home computer, so here is a link to the Craigslist listing (price is negotiable, guys). I hope that is ok. I will get the photobucket link up as soon as I get home in the morning. Thanks for all your help.

Also I apologize for referring to my CJ as an"Early CJ5" I realize a lot of folks take that seriously and I hope I didn't offend anyone.

Thanks for everyone's input and ideas on this subject.

 

Keep it, the kids will love it and you do not NEED to howl down the highway like a banshee.

Will he not have more memories like this as he grows older?

 

Forgot to post the link.
http://chattanooga.craigslist.org/cto/2939114448.html

 

Here's the Ebay listing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd...sid=p3984.m1555.l2649&item=170818122161&sspagename=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_643wt_1167

 

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