Jeep CJ-7 full EV conversion

[Bebop]

I've had Warn locking hubs lock up when I left them locked for a year or so. Horrible noise then dead. That was YEARS ago, I was asking if there's any problem with leaving them locked - just as a first step in thinking about an AWD set up.

That is just poor maintenance. Hubs don't explode.

 

[4x4 EVC]

That is just poor maintenance. Hubs don't explode.

That's why I asked, given my age at the time, I'd have to agree, poor maintenance.

Thanks for replying.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

That's why I asked, given my age at the time, I'd have to agree, poor maintenance.

Thanks for replying.

Look up drive slugs. That would eliminate the hubs all together and give you a super strong setup for the front axle in an AWD conversion. I'd also look at RCV axles for the front axle in an AWD conversion to help eliminate axle joint binding

 

[blakes]

Or do what that other guy did and use a Toyota FJ80 landcruiser for your EV plans and ditch the old Jeep junk

 

[4x4 EVC]

Or do what that other guy did and use a Toyota FJ80 landcruiser for your EV plans and ditch the old Jeep junk

I like the 'old Jeep junk', it's my favorite junk around!

 

[TRINDU]

Look up drive slugs. That would eliminate the hubs all together and give you a super strong setup for the front axle in an AWD conversion. I'd also look at RCV axles for the front axle in an AWD conversion to help eliminate axle joint binding

I'm unaware of any drive flanges for the retarded 80s CJ 5 bolt hub.

For 50 fucking grand... some bolt on axle parts shouldn't be an issue.

 

[blakes]

I like the 'old Jeep junk', it's my favorite junk around!

Trivia question for ya:

What year did 'Jeep' produce the first 'true' 4x4 for sale to the US public? And when did Toyota?

True 4x4 meaning 100% traction to all 4 tires 100% of the time. Selectable of course.

The answer may surprise you

 

[4x4 EVC]

Trivia question for ya:

What year did 'Jeep' produce the first 'true' 4x4 for sale to the US public? And when did Toyota?

True 4x4 meaning 100% traction to all 4 tires 100% of the time. Selectable of course.

The answer may surprise you

Oh man, I'm not even going to cheat and look it up - my first Jeep was a 1969 CJ-5A I bought when I was 15 (45 years ago!). It had so many left over attachments and fittings from it's previous heritage in the Military. It had that killer storage box under the passengers seat (and that insane 10 gal. tank under the driver's seat!). Good times.

War ended late in '45, I don't know, how about 1950???

 

[blakes]

Oh man, I'm not even going to cheat and look it up - my first Jeep was a 1969 CJ-5A I bought when I was 15 (45 years ago!). It had so many left over attachments and fittings from it's previous heritage in the Military. It had that killer storage box under the passengers seat (and that insane 10 gal. tank under the driver's seat!). Good times.

War ended late in '45, I don't know, how about 1950???

Jeep 2003 with the Rubicon model. First one to have lockers front and rear. 100% 4x4. All 4 tires have power unless something breaks.

Toyota was 1991 with the landcruiser. Something like 9% of them had a knob on the dash that engaged the front and rear lockers. In addition they have a center diff lock that is engaged in when you shift the tcase to low, thus shifting out of AWD.

I had a 1996 lx450 that was triple locked. Some would argue the best 4x4 ever produced my man.

Know your products

 

[4x4 EVC]

Jeep 2003 with the Rubicon model. First one to have lockers front and rear. 100% 4x4. All 4 tires have power unless something breaks.

Toyota was 1991 with the landcruiser. Something like 9% of them had a knob on the dash that engaged the front and rear lockers. In addition they have a center diff lock that is engaged in when you shift the tcase to low, thus shifting out of AWD.

I had a 1996 lx450 that was triple locked. Some would argue the best 4x4 ever produced my man.

Know your products

What a great trick question!

I had the 1996 Land Cruiser and know that little knob well - in total, I had 6 Land Cruisers - Ex-wife and 5 sons managed to kill 5 of them, sold the 2011 earlier this year for more then I paid for it (used).

Truly amazing engineering and would completely agree - probably best 4x4 every made. BUT, for the average man, too expensive for drive in the woods. I know I couldn't afford too.

I used it primarily to haul the rugby team and a trailer with all the equipment. But, once my sons aged out, it felt strange being a youth coach when you don't have any of your own kids on the team. That and I was super tired of parents treating rugby as a baby sitting event for unruly boys.

The next two Jeeps that I'm converting are a 1994 YJ and either a 2003 or 2003 TJ, don't know yet if it's a Rubicon, that would be super cool if it is.

- Patrick

 

[blakes]

Lol

I currently have a lx470 with 363k miles. Runs up/down the mountain on a 7 mile steep dirt road then another 15 miles of mountain hwy every day.

hoping it reaches 400k without any major repairs. I think it will.

As a guy who lives 100% offgrid on solar and knows a thing or two about batteries and charging....I'd love to swap the lx470 to EV when it breaks. But as a broke ass, it probably won't ever happen

 

[4x4 EVC]

Lol

I currently have a lx470 with 363k miles. Runs up/down the mountain on a 7 mile steep dirt road then another 15 miles of mountain hwy every day.

hoping it reaches 400k without any major repairs. I think it will.

As a guy who lives 100% offgrid on solar and knows a thing or two about batteries and charging....I'd love to swap the lx470 to EV when it breaks. But as a broke ass, it probably won't ever happen

Kinda' on topic: My Series 200 (2011 Land Cruiser) needed to get the timing belt changed, you know that there maintenance schedule is more like a religion then the way American auto uses them as a suggestion. Anyway, Toyota is also big about doing major scheduled repairs such that you fix or replace the 3 or 4 things that are either right next to the thing you're replacing or somehow connected to it.

So, the timing belt: I found a password protected manual key for my year, printed out all the pages, bought all the parts and the expendable parts like a special glycerin lubrication (the pink stuff) tube, etc., got it all, blocked out some time from work and spend 5 amazing days going through the entire process, step by step. If I remember right, the timing belt repair includes the water pump and a couple other things.

It was a blast and taught me so much about that way of engineering - like you have to go step by step to RE-assemble everything NOT just reverse the way you took it out. I think it made me a better Jeep mechanic, for sure.

YOU GOTTA STOP beating me up about the $50k TOP-O-THE-LINE Jeep EV Conversion - that's not what I said. I was replying to a direct question about pricing and I listed that as the 'Drop it off ICE, pick it up EV', everything in. Of course there's a market for that and it AIN'T you.

That's why I said I would also have builders sets of parts so anybody could assemble and build one at home without having to start from scratch.

NO, I don't have pricing for all the induvial parts and battery boxes. Not yet, we could talk about it if you like....

I'll bet, by the time your LX hits 400k, I'll be more then ready.

Batteries are the issue - I have no control over that. Pray for the EV market to do gang busters BECAUSE, that means, eventually, more wrecked EVs and that means more used battery modules that will flood the market and drive down prices!

Tesla Battery Packs are already down by more then half from when the after market of used Packs first started, about 4 or 5 years ago.

- Patrick

(in case there's any confusion, all that all-caps is just for effect, no attitude whatsoever)

 

[blakes]

Ok so you aren't impressing me cause you seem to HAVE to refer to a manual for a repair.

Recent example regarding timing belts. 2000 taco 3.4 timing belt. I got the truck a few years ago with unknown maintenance. Ran it for a couple of years and decided to do the timing belt. Watched all the vids on YT. Read tons of threads on forums.

Ended up doing something nobody online (that I saw) did: sat the new belt out in direct sun for a couple of hours and slipped it on with the upper idler bearing AT THE SAME TIME. Went on like butter. Pulled the tensioner clip and have put a couple thousand miles on it since.

My point is that other people will engineer other solutions than what you are thinking.

Regarding batteries: as a broke ass offgrid running my entire cabin on 200ah of LFP at 48v (3.6kW of panels) I'm very much looking forward to batteries dropping price and upgrading my system.


I would seriously like to explore potentially swapping one my rigs to EV and then charging it offgrid.

I only go down to town once a week or so and have plenty of time to charge a 4x4 EV in-between trips....


But the fact is that it's out of my budget and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[4x4 EVC]

Ok so you aren't impressing me cause you seem to HAVE to refer to a manual for a repair.

Recent example regarding timing belts. 2000 taco 3.4 timing belt. I got the truck a few years ago with unknown maintenance. Ran it for a couple of years and decided to do the timing belt. Watched all the vids on YT. Read tons of threads on forums.

Ended up doing something nobody online (that I saw) did: sat the new belt out in direct sun for a couple of hours and slipped it on with the upper idler bearing AT THE SAME TIME. Went on like butter. Pulled the tensioner clip and have put a couple thousand miles on it since.

My point is that other people will engineer other solutions than what you are thinking.

Regarding batteries: as a broke ass offgrid running my entire cabin on 200ah of LFP at 48v (3.6kW of panels) I'm very much looking forward to batteries dropping price and upgrading my system.


I would seriously like to explore potentially swapping one my rigs to EV and then charging it offgrid.

I only go down to town once a week or so and have plenty of time to charge a 4x4 EV in-between trips....


But the fact is that it's out of my budget and will be for the foreseeable future.

Point taken and laughing at the same time - that was clever, I would still have to replace the three other things but I get your point.

The price of batteries is dropping all the time AND once solid state (finally) hits the market, that'll drive down ALL previous battery packs.

As far as doing a rig yourself, it's freakishly hard unless you take it step by step and not look at the whole elephant at once. How many miles were you thinking for that round trip to town and back - because that will be your first thing to consider when starting - how far does it need to travel, what's it's minimum range.

 

[4x4 EVC]

Once you know the range you need to go, that will tell you your necessary pack requirements.

Then, a motor to match, if on a budget and the donner rig isn't super heavy, you'll have a couple choices. I went with the NetGain Hyper9HV, it runs about $6k new. BUT there's several other ways to go that are half as expensive and if you stick with a DC motor, you can use forklift motors also.

First thing, figure out what kind of range you need to get and tell us what the donner rig will be.

 

[dnsfailure]

I'm going to read through all this slowly, I've got a 32 Ford pickup that my GF wants to convert to electric, I think it would be cool, and I have plenty of other gas/diesel vehicles.

I'm thinking 150 miles range would be sufficient for us so that most of the time we could charge at home and befine. Wouldln't need a whole lot of power, don't plan on doing burnouts or drag races, haha! Just normal street driving and cruising with the occasional 300-600 mile road trip.

For those longer road trips, If you wanted to charge it at a charger on the road, what do you have to do to make it work? simple as having the right connecter to plug into? or is there more to it?

 

[4x4 EVC]

Weight after the conversion?

Before I converted it, it weighed 3100lbs.

After, it weighs 3080lbs.

I'm pretty happy about the difference, and a bit surprised. I was sure it would be about ~200lbs or so heavier.

Nope, I lost weight.

7 Tesla Model S battery modules at 58lbs each, 4 aluminum boxes (battery and Tech Box) about 20lbs each.

20' of 2/0 awg cable - ~28lbs.

Motor is 120 lbs. MCA (Motor Cradle Assembly) and Adapter and Torque Adapter Cover - ~30 lbs..

Maybe another 50 lbs of wires, connectors, Inverters, BMS, other stuff.

Pretty happy about it.

 

[4x4 EVC]

I'm going to read through all this slowly, I've got a 32 Ford pickup that my GF wants to convert to electric, I think it would be cool, and I have plenty of other gas/diesel vehicles.

I'm thinking 150 miles range would be sufficient for us so that most of the time we could charge at home and befine. Wouldln't need a whole lot of power, don't plan on doing burnouts or drag races, haha! Just normal street driving and cruising with the occasional 300-600 mile road trip.

For those longer road trips, If you wanted to charge it at a charger on the road, what do you have to do to make it work? simple as having the right connecter to plug into? or is there more to it?

Apologies for the delay - stuck moving and finding new shop space to expand into - I'll try to check more frequently.

Okay, as a suggestion, start a new thread so it's easier for others to follow along.

Let's start with what you provided - 150 range - that's GREAT and very reasonable for a DIY EV. Not a race car - VERY good and much cheaper. J1772 connector is the port for being able to plug in at home and everywhere there's power (including from any friends 120v AC plug outlet).

Can you give me the following info

• Picture of the truck
• Guess at the weight of it as is
• Tire size
• Transmission
• TC?, 4-wheel drive?
• General location - so I can recommend where you can buy batteries - cheaper if you can pick them up vs shipping them.

Post that, and I'll make a couple starting recommendations.

 

[NorCalJalopy]

Before I converted it, it weighed 3100lbs.

After, it weighs 3080lbs.

I'm pretty happy about the difference, and a bit surprised. I was sure it would be about ~200lbs or so heavier.

Nope, I lost weight.

7 Tesla Model S battery modules at 58lbs each, 4 aluminum boxes (battery and Tech Box) about 20lbs each.

20' of 2/0 awg cable - ~28lbs.

Motor is 120 lbs. MCA (Motor Cradle Assembly) and Adapter and Torque Adapter Cover - ~30 lbs..

Maybe another 50 lbs of wires, connectors, Inverters, BMS, other stuff.

Pretty happy about it.

Thats awesome. You can place the weight anywhere you want it too.

 

[4x4 EVC]

Thats awesome. You can place the weight anywhere you want it too.

Thanks Man!

I don't think so - at least for me, I wanted to try to maintain the same weight ratio front to back. I started with the Back Battery Box because it was so limited in space and shape. 18 gal tank, with weight of fuel and tank, I think I was a full 40 lbs over stock so I made a mental equivalent of having a full time young adult 'passenger' in the back with full tank of gas.

Once I figured that out, I ended up with a 20 lbs Back Battery Box and 3 modules at 58lbs each - so, ~194 lbs.

And that put all the rest of the weight in the engine bay - about the same ratio.

My goal: Repower the Jeep, not re-engineer it.

- Patrick

 

[dnsfailure]

Apologies for the delay - stuck moving and finding new shop space to expand into - I'll try to check more frequently.

Okay, as a suggestion, start a new thread so it's easier for others to follow along.

Let's start with what you provided - 150 range - that's GREAT and very reasonable for a DIY EV. Not a race car - VERY good and much cheaper. J1772 connector is the port for being able to plug in at home and everywhere there's power (including from any friends 120v AC plug outlet).

Can you give me the following info

• Picture of the truck
• Guess at the weight of it as is
• Tire size
• Transmission
• TC?, 4-wheel drive?
• General location - so I can recommend where you can buy batteries - cheaper if you can pick them up vs shipping them.

Post that, and I'll make a couple starting recommendations.

I'll make a thread and post some photos and info. although honestly it's a project I probably won't be starting for a few years, just starting to look around to gain some knowledge of EVs and EV conversions.

 

[4x4 EVC]

I'll make a thread and post some photos and info. although honestly it's a project I probably won't be starting for a few years, just starting to look around to gain some knowledge of EVs and EV conversions.

That sounds about right, let me know when the thread is up.