My old reliable '84
CJ-7 has undergone many upgrades since I purchased it back in 1991 from
friend Jeff Vanderwall. The Jeep was pretty rough and ugly so my wife
Tracy named it HEEPEE because she thought it was a heap of junk.
When I got it home I cleaned it up, installed a 2.5 inch Rancho lift kit
and changed the 235’s to 31x12.50x15 inch Cepek tires. Man I thought
that was the trick set up, boy how things change.
In 1997 I made a major
change in the axle and tire department. At that time most people were
running Dana 44 and Ford 9” axles. My 9” axles were getting tired so
Mike Cox, friend and mechanic and I thought Dana 60’s and 39” Boggers
would be cool. Needless to say they worked out great.
In 1999 Mike and I
entered HEEPEE in a couple rock crawling competitions and tough-truck
events around the country. The first year was pretty rough but we made
adjustments and modifications and things were starting to work together.
In 2000 one of the events we were involved with was Fourwheelers Top
Truck Challenge. I have to give Mike credit on this one, I never thought
we had a chance on going let alone winning! I would have to say that
this event was the highlight of my career. The competition took a lot of
strategy and even some luck; we were very fortunate to take top honors
in Best Engineered and First Place for the event.
In 2005 I was involved
with Petersons Ultimate Adventure and I really had a good time. When I
go 4wheeling out of town or state I always trailer my Jeep. But when
you’re invited to go on the Petersen’s Ultimate Adventure you have to
drive your rig. No Trailer Queens Allowed! I had never drove the Jeep
for a long period of time on the road and didn’t know how it would hold
up. But after 850 miles of on the road driving it held up pretty well.
The only problem was plugging a hole in my tire.
In 2007 my staff and I
will be competing in the National Off-Road Shop Team Challenge. This
event will be held at the Rockport Offroad Park in Hannibal MO. I’m
excited about this event because its a lot like Fourwheelers Top Truck
Challenge. Also I can’t for get our annual Sams Offroad Memorial Day Run
in Hot Springs Arkansas held at the Superlift ORV Park.
If you’re interested
in coming to our run check out our web site, www.samsoffroad.com and
click on “Events”. We will have plenty of trail riding for Stock or
Modified vehicles. We will also have a huge raffle and vendors like
Rancho Suspension & Ramsey Winch will be on hand to show you their new
products.
Well, that’s pretty
much the story of Heepee for now. I know that the Jeep doesn’t have all
the up to date trick technology, but it still works very well and is
affordable for most people to do. Some of the things I did on Heepee you
might want to do on your rig so check out the parts list below. Thank
you for your interest and I’ hope to see ya on the trail real soon!
Sam Patton
Chevy 350 TPI with Edelbrock Aluminum Heads-GM 700-R4 tranny with
lockup torque converter- Derale remote tranny cooler- Turbo Action
Cheetah shifter modified to fit a 700R. - Atlas 4.3 transfer case.
Custom driveshafts with 1410 U-joints- Sam's Offroad 5-lug front and
rear high-pinion Dana 60s with 35-spline axles narrowed to 63
inches, Detroit Lockers and 5.13:1 gears. AGR Power Steering Assist,
Sams Offroad replacement steering box bracket. Sams Offroad HD
Pitman Arm.
Tire clearance for 39 Inch tires. With big tires I tried to keep the
center-of-gravity as close to the ground as possible to minimize a
rollover. First I cut out a lot of sheet metal out of the tub and
fenders. Then raised the floor pan up so that my transmission and
T/C was not rubbing the floorboards. I then did a spring over using
a Rancho rear CJ-7, 2.5 inch lift spring and Rancho RS9000 shocks.
That gave me roughly 6 inches of lift to clear the tires. When you
do a spring over you must use a traction bar for the rear axle to
prevent axle rap. If you don’t, driveshafts and T/C outputs will not
hold up.
Ramsey Patriot 9500 Winch - Hansen front bumper - Custom roll-cage
mounted to frame - Super Seats mounted to cage - Interior body tub
Rhino Lined – Autometer gauges – Optima Battery - Dana 60's
front and back - Precision 5.13 gears - Detroit Lockers -
Custom stainless steel 25 gallon fuel cell with in tank fuel pump -
Tuffy lock box behind seats – Currie rear bumper & rockers.
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