Front Range 4x4 Upcoming Trail Runs - Add a New Trail Run

Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Early CJ5s in Colo

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Member
    #1546
    Last Online
    1 Day Ago
    Location
    Bozeman, MT
    Age
    45
    4x4
    1970CJ5 1958WillysWagon
    Posts
    3,694
    User Name
    FINOCJ
    Real Name
    James Orofino
    Thanks Given
    1,272
    Thanked 1,588 Times in 965 Posts

    Default Early CJ5s in Colo



    Got a group of early cj5s that went wheeling near Leadville for the week...unfortunately as many of you saw, I broke my driver side steering knuckle bolts that hold the spindle and wheel hub on on the first day, and wasn't able to get a permanent repair done, so I ended up being the trip jester, errr planner, guide, photographer, spotter, winch line puller etc....Our trail list included:
    Birdseye Gulch and Mosquito Pass
    Tincup Pass
    Webster and Red Cone (and a few tagged on Radical Hill as well)
    Iron Chest Mine
    Holy Cross

    The full collection of photos I took is here:
    https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...JhSzJBZW51TTZB

    But here is a selection of favorites:

    A couple of Julius (Renegade II) beautiful jeep on Birdseye Gulch - the nice paint and color makes this jeep photogenic, and he got it all the way through Iron Chest without a scratch except an almost imperceptible tiny scuff on the bottom of the front bumper.



    atop Tincup pass:


    Dave atop webster Pass (I like the one with Dave, but if your a jeep purist I did the one without as well!)



    Tim taking the optional, non-cj line at the RC gatekeeper:


    Michael and Andrew topping out on Red Cone...they DROVE this jeep all the way from North Carolina, wheeled in the San Juan, then Moab and finally back to Leadville!
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  2. The Following 4 Members Say Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    Bob (August 8th, 2021),Java (August 10th, 2021),open_circuit (August 8th, 2021),Tom (August 8th, 2021)

  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Member
    #1546
    Last Online
    1 Day Ago
    Location
    Bozeman, MT
    Age
    45
    4x4
    1970CJ5 1958WillysWagon
    Posts
    3,694
    User Name
    FINOCJ
    Real Name
    James Orofino
    Thanks Given
    1,272
    Thanked 1,588 Times in 965 Posts

    Default Re: Early CJ5s in Colo




    A couple of Rich M on Red Cone - FFs are always photogenic! Rich taking the narrow cj line at the RC gatekeeper.





    Some of the group on RC:


    Iron Chest with Bostonbob and Tim P:


    Dave finishing up with the Rock Garden on Iron Chest:


    The only pics of Holy Cross I have are of Tim's rear differential that he punched a hole into at the gatekeeper when he didn't make it up, and slid back down into a rock:


    We had a rough go of it on HC....in addition to Tim's repair, not a single jeep made it up the gate keeper, although no-one else that came by made it up either including some nice rigs....Maybe a slightly longer wheelbase with dual lockers would have been fine, but it was a bit slick with a light drizzle. Then everyone made up the second obstacle with some work except one....and Dave's beautiful green CJ now has a some front passenger fender damage as well. It was starting to rain pretty good, and with the time spent repairing a the diff cover, and also the general 'slowness' with a couple other groups also having some issues, we turned around at French Creek. The scariest part was coming down the gatekeeper - SKETCHY with everyone basically sliding sideways as much as forward. I watched a JK on 37s get as close to rolling as I think is possible, and then watched our own Michael do almost the the same thing. Dave almost ran me over at the bottom where I was spotting as I didn't know his plan was basically as soon as it was lined up and he didn't want to touch the brakes and slide, so he just let it fly!
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  4. The Following 2 Members Say Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    open_circuit (August 8th, 2021),Tom (August 8th, 2021)

  5. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Member
    #1546
    Last Online
    1 Day Ago
    Location
    Bozeman, MT
    Age
    45
    4x4
    1970CJ5 1958WillysWagon
    Posts
    3,694
    User Name
    FINOCJ
    Real Name
    James Orofino
    Thanks Given
    1,272
    Thanked 1,588 Times in 965 Posts

    Default Re: Early CJ5s in Colo



    A few pics are rolling in from some of the others: Here is Julius running iron chest in one of the sweetest restored cj5s I've seen...and he was the only one running 31s (rest of us are on 32 or 33s) and he only has a powr-loc limited slip in the rear and open in the front. With a bit of spotting, he made it through without a strap or winch and one tiny scuff about 1/2" long on the underside corner of the bumper from this rock:


    This was a trail I wasn't familiar with...we went up the east side of Tincup, then over and down the west side to the lake - which I do know and is all quite easy - but then on the return we came up the new to me Old Tincup Route which was definitely more challenging:











    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  6. The Following 3 Members Say Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    open_circuit (August 8th, 2021),Tom (August 8th, 2021),TyTheJeepGuy (August 9th, 2021)

  7. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Member
    #1546
    Last Online
    1 Day Ago
    Location
    Bozeman, MT
    Age
    45
    4x4
    1970CJ5 1958WillysWagon
    Posts
    3,694
    User Name
    FINOCJ
    Real Name
    James Orofino
    Thanks Given
    1,272
    Thanked 1,588 Times in 965 Posts

    Default Re: Early CJ5s in Colo



    This is probably the most 'authentic' or almost completely original cj5 in the group...its pretty much a time capsule from the late 1960's. I saw this jeep posted for sale on CL a few years ago and it was located in Dove Creek, CO. I shared the posting with some ecj5 members and one, Michael, a Notre Dame undergrad at the time (who also owns a 1967 cj5a tux park with 4cyl), wanted a 6 cyl for taking road trips. He came out, bought it, and towed it home in a long weekend. Then that summer, drove it out here and to moab with friend for a 2-3 week road trip. I had a beer and pizza with him and buddy as they passed through denver, and helped with some high elevation jets for the carb and off they went. This time he and a different buddy drove out from North Carolina where they are grad students at UNC. It runs the same v6 that I have (actually, all the jeeps except one in the pics run an odd-fire v6), and the same OEM T14 3speed with D18 transfer case that I have. But he kept the original D18 gearing (I upgraded to tera low gears) and with 4.88 axle gears, only has about a 37 crawl ratio. He runs a mostly period correct 235/85/R16 pizza cutter tire on 16" steel rims, through the floor pedals, manual steering etc. The rear springs may very well be original, but I know he replaced the front springs a couple years ago due to fatique and maybe some cracking. Here is a 50+ year old cj running iron chest in stock form:


    Of course, after a week of wheeling these things, a few of us have some repair work to do. Obviously I have a knuckle to repair, and Scott still has his engine running on 5 cylinders (which actually made it through the entire trip without a hiccup), and Michael may have a motor mount to replace, and looks to be cracking the rear spring hanger at the frame. But after an oil change in my garage and picking up an extra D18 for parts, they headed east for 3 day drive back to NC. A couple years ago in moab, he ripped the other side spring hanger off and took a chunk of the frame with it. So, yes, these old jeeps are capable, but after all these years, they are not the most durable, and probably never were all that durable to begin with. Original military jeeps were considered disposable items in WWII. Anyway, build it, wheel it, break it and repeat...its fun!
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  8. The Following Member Says Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    Tom (August 8th, 2021)

  9. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Member
    #1546
    Last Online
    1 Day Ago
    Location
    Bozeman, MT
    Age
    45
    4x4
    1970CJ5 1958WillysWagon
    Posts
    3,694
    User Name
    FINOCJ
    Real Name
    James Orofino
    Thanks Given
    1,272
    Thanked 1,588 Times in 965 Posts

    Default Re: Early CJ5s in Colo



    Here is Scott with 5/6 cylinders trying the HC gatekeeer - this is pretty much what happened to me last year and to all the other jeeps and random rigs we saw try it.
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  10. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Member
    #853
    Last Online
    December 23rd, 2023
    Location
    Highlands
    4x4
    2006 Jeep LJ
    Posts
    7,483
    User Name
    Java
    Real Name
    Paul
    Thanks Given
    2,070
    Thanked 1,788 Times in 1,261 Posts

    Default Re: Early CJ5s in Colo



    That Renegade II!!

Similar Threads

  1. Day 1 SW Colo renport
    By Tom in forum 3) Trail Run Reports
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: August 28th, 2017, 06:38 PM
  2. Day 2 SW Colo report
    By Tom in forum 3) Trail Run Reports
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: August 16th, 2015, 07:54 PM
  3. Day 3 SW Colo
    By Tom in forum 3) Trail Run Reports
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: August 8th, 2015, 12:12 AM
  4. Ronin K9 from Colo. Springs
    By Ronin K9 in forum Introductions
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: July 22nd, 2014, 02:48 PM
  5. 2 XJs on Colo-Auto-Sales.com
    By Java in forum Cool Finds
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: July 14th, 2014, 07:02 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BACK TO TOP