Anyone ever ridden in a Willys CJ2A...

[Big Hank]

Or anything close to a 1948 willys cj2a. I am trying to figure out just how streetable they are for driving around town, and cruising the country side. What type of speed are they capable of holding on the road without destroying the thing.

Thanks for the help

Gene MJ

 

[OT]

It's much like rollerblading down a gravel road......
Extremely short wheelbase vehicles are a mess as DDs.
I suppose a stock CJ2A could maintain around 45 to 50?
I would get it, but only to tear down and link up.

 

[DrMoab]

It's much like rollerblading down a gravel road......
Extremely short wheelbase vehicles are a mess as DDs.
I suppose a stock CJ2A could maintain around 45 to 50?
I would get it, but only to tear down and link up.

X2. I actually owned one....for a day It was a misriable drive. lucky to get 40 MPH, Horrible brakes, Horrible steering, horrible suspension. Pretty much a horrible vehicle.

 

[GSequoia]

X2. I actually owned one....for a day It was a misriable drive. lucky to get 40 MPH, Horrible brakes, Horrible steering, horrible suspension. Pretty much a horrible vehicle.

Lemme guess...

You still loved every minutes of it?

 

[5150xj]

Or anything close to a 1948 willys cj2a. I am trying to figure out just how streetable they are for driving around town, and cruising the country side. What type of speed are they capable of holding on the road without destroying the thing.

Thanks for the help

Gene MJ

I hope to some day. I have a '46 CJ-2A sitting under a tarp in my back yard waiting for me.

Tim D.

 

[Fergie]

How about a 54 3B?

For a DD, its a nogo for anything over a few miles. I used mine for weekend trips around town, and that was about it, unless you put money in to it to make it very streetable.

Fergie

 

[woody]

I owned two, a 46 and a 48. They suck on the road. Come to think of it, they suck off road too, compared to an XJ or MJ.

 

[DrMoab]

Lemme guess...

You still loved every minutes of it?

No. Here is the story. Driving through Montana (when I lived there) Saw it in a field with a for sale sign in it. Gave the guy a hundred bucks and told him I would be back the next day to get it. Drove it around town a bit and left.

Came back the next day and when I pulled in the driveway I see him running out the back door. Oh and the jeep wasn't in the driveway. His 8 year old girl come to the door and handed me my hundred bucks back. Said someone came a long and offered him more money.

His truck and boat were parked up the hill facing his house. If his kids wouldn't have been in the house I would have kicked the truck out of gear and let it do what it would have.

 

[scorpio_vette]

those old cj's aren't that bad. if it had bad brakes, bad steering and bad everthing else, then it probably just needed to be fixed/adjusted.

basically, if you're not spoiled by soft comfy rides and can take a little stiff bouncy ride, then they are fun as hell.

or you could rebuild them with YJ leaf springs and better shocks and seriously improve the ride quality. remember...............back then they were more of a work/transportation vehicle and build very simple.

i have a 71CJ5, and that thing almost snapped my bones driving it home, but i love old crap like that. but i decided to take it apart and upgrade it to better suspension, steering, drivetrain. all i really wanted was the old cj look.

 

[XJ88User]

My friend has one, it was in bad shap when he got it, no brakes, bad water pump, engine ran like a mess, maybe got to 40 MPH.
A lot of work later it runs fine, doesn't over heat, has a new wiring harness, brakes work, gets to maybe 53 MPH, still rides like a rock, but it fun around town and on nice days.
They came from a different era, there not an XJ so if your used to only modern day jeeps you may not like the CJ's.
Me, if his wife let him sell it I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but thats just me.

 

[Matthew Currie]

When I was a kid we had a 58 CJ5 (pretty much like a 2a except with a heater suitable for defrosting a 6 inch patch of windshield, and by 1958 they had managed to drag the engine technology up to the late 30's or so), which I drove occasionally when I got my license, and even owned for a short while after my dad died. It was a marvelous country vehicle for the occasional trip to town, plowing snow, yanking other cars out of ditches, etc. , and with the right chain it could pull a rock out of a hole half the size of the vehicle, but as a daily driver it got old very fast. At one point when I was about 17, and commuting daily to college, my 59 Peugeot blew its rear axle, and I had to take the Jeep for a few weeks during frost heave season. It was like being in a cartoon, or perhaps a Keystone Kops episode. This is the only vehicle where I have literally been thrown out of the seat and hit the roof on bumps. Unlike most vehicles I've owned it was beltless, but if I'd had belts it would probably have cut me in half. By the end of the 15 mile commute, I was blue with cold, my hands were numb from the shock of holding the steering wheel, and I had a headache from the engine noise and the roof hits.

Yeah. I confess. I loved every minute, but I was 17.

If I had a shot at a CJ2a I'd grab it, but I would not expect it to be practical for anything but local jaunts and parades. As for speed, the question is not so much how fast you can go without destroying it as how fast without destroying yourself.

 

[spaulman]

They are fine for driving around town. Max speed is about 45. I worry more about other drivers than I do the CJ.

 

[STEELFISH]

I just traded my 83 waggy for this '79 CJ-5, I like it real well as a daily, I mean I need a kidney belt but hey its worth it. Mine has a 4.0L HO out of an XJ in it with the stock T150 3spd, and a Dana 20 Case, I get around 14-16 MPG around town and commuting.

It already has a shackle reversal, and I am getting ready to upgrade to YJ springs all the way around, It should ride well after that.
J

OH and I run in the fast lane whenever I want, I would say on this one I have had it up around 70 or so, I know the speedo is off but I also know what traffic normally runs in the fast lane.

 

[87manche]

Or anything close to a 1948 willys cj2a. I am trying to figure out just how streetable they are for driving around town, and cruising the country side. What type of speed are they capable of holding on the road without destroying the thing.

Thanks for the help

Gene MJ

You don't need another project, finish the MJ!
Or sell Brian those dry rotting tires

 

[BRIANHO13]

Or sell Brian those dry rotting tires

X100

 

[Slip Kid]

There's a 42 MB hiding in my driveway, seen here surrounded by Cherokees. under there is an original frame, split windshield, but it has a later M38 body. it's a franken-jeep as most of them are

I've had it almost to 50 once, downhill with a tailwind. it could maybe have done it if I was behind a semi. but with it's less-than-Porschelike handleing your fighting to keep it on the road at 40. Streetability? 3 sp, 4.88 gears with 30's, a mind-blowing 60 horsepower, manual steering, manual brakes, manual wipers, no top, rigged seatbelts, 6-volt system, no heat, tubed tires, a tiny gastank, and a suspension guarenteed to make you have to piss every 5 miles. fun to drive around town, yes, but not somthing you want to drive to work in. not a highway vehicle in the least, if you drive damn fast (40) for a long time (2 miles) it starts to overheat. 6-volt system is less than reliable.

the looks you get are worth it.

we think the original L-head motor (or most of it) was swapped with one from a '45, due to serial number (note it says "Jeep" on the head)

check out the massive voltage regulator, nifty replaceable-element oil filter, coolness of the flat head, and the air filter that functions like a bong.

 

[Lawn Cher']

Or anything close to a 1948 willys cj2a. I am trying to figure out just how streetable they are for driving around town, and cruising the country side. What type of speed are they capable of holding on the road without destroying the thing.

Thanks for the help

Gene MJ

You need to focus on finishing your MJ first.

 

[Pat]

You need to focus on finishing your MJ first.

too late!