Looks like you have a spring-over lift on that CJ. I have a spring-over lift on the front of my CJ and the sway bar is very important for a quality ride on the street. It gets disconnected when I wheel but street driving, I always connect it. I live in the mountains so the roads are winding and curved like a bacteria germ and I need it on to stay in my own lane.
Your transmission should be the Borg-Warner T-5 5 speed if it's original. It will have a 4.03:1 first gear in it and O.D. 5th gear. Not the strongest made but adequate if you're easy on it. Engine is the venerable 258 I6 known in the Wrangler as a 4.2L displacement 6. A junkyard TBI fuel injection upgrade can be the best thing you can do to that powerplant reliability wise. Transfer case is the Dana 300 and has the ability to be twin-stick converted. It may well be the best factory TC ever put in a Jeep. The axles will both be wide-track AMC 20 in the rear and a Dana 30 low pinion up front. Look for the letter stamped on the rear housing where the passenger tube goes into it. The stamp is on the flat spot next to the round hole cast in the housing opposite where the diff cover mounts. This will determine your gear ratio if nobody has messed with them yet. Yours is a factory 6 cyl 5 speed so most likely has 2.73-3.55 gears in it. There are tons of upgrades for those axles if you're going to wheel it in the rocks. Over all, the frame isn't as beefy as the YJ Wrangler frame but it's full box welded.
Use these letters to figure your gear ratio: D=2.73, B=3.32, A=3.54, H=3.73, C=4.10 gearing. If it's double stamped like AA, HH or CC, then you have the optional Trac-Lock limited slip carrier if it's still all factory original.
Best of luck and congrats on the Jeep purchase.....
Rick
), Harddoors, 2 sets of softdoors, my sway bar in the back seat so the drive home was interesting, and other stuff. I want to start with the powertrain and get it as best as I can. So any ideas on where to start, other that putting the swaybar on?
