Hello from North Augusta, SC

[AmyB]

Hi, I just bought a 1965 CJ-5 just a few days ago. It's in pretty good shape, though it does need work, mostly small things. I guess the first thing that needs to be addressed is the brakes, it was a little scary driving it the other day. Then we will see what comes next, I'm just excited to have my first Jeep!!!

[dave351cid]

hi Amy
thats a pretty tidy looking jeep. but the steering wheel and peddles are on the wrong side.

[AmyB]

Yesterday I was pulling the jeep into the driveway and broke the rear wheel cylinder, almost crashing into my 3000gt, I'm sure the insurance company would have loved that. So I just ordered a new one with some gaskets and oil seals for my leaky engine.

[OBeer-WAN-Kenobi]

Nice looking jeep Amy!
I'd dig in and check all those wheel cylinders. You'll have to bleed anyway and they're pretty cheap so if there is any question it's worth replacing them. You'll probably at least need some new bleeders. I don't think I've ever messed with a jeep that DIDN'T need new bleeders.

[AmyB]

That's what we will probably do, I really want to get this thing driveable soon it's killing me. Then I can work on changing things back to original.

[AmyB]

Just put on the new wheel cylinder, bled the brakes, and adjusted them last night. It went from having about 20% brakes to 60% which is a lot better, but now I have to decide whether to put a dual master cylinder on or spend the extra money and get a disc conversion.

[OBeer-WAN-Kenobi]

Hahahaha...decisions decisions! I have a hard time with that too, especially when all I want to do is get it on the road and drive it. Since I pulled it out of the barn my brakes have been bled twice and then had new pads put on. Then we completely flushed the system with a vacuum doohicky to get rid of all the old fluid and bled them again. Now they are as good as they are going to get. With a strong foot you can lock 'em up pretty easily.

On my Willys pickup I converted it over to the larger 11" wagoneer brakes but I still have the single reservoir master cylinder. I'd upgrade to the dual reservoir if mine needed rebuilding though. That's all I need since I only drive it a long distance a couple times a week. By long I mean 40 miles round trip on back roads. Otherwise it makes trips to the dump and will plow snow or do other various chores around the property. Anything that's going to get any amount of driving time at all makes the bigger brakes worth it IMHO. If I were just to use it on my property and never on the road I might stick with the originals but manual adjustment sucks!

Now, If I was making a daily driver, like I hope to be with my wagon, I'm going to go discs for sure. Also if I was going to be in the mud a lot I'd do the same. Drum brakes just hold in all the crud and wear your pads and drums out prematurely if you don't remove them and clean them every time you get out of the mud pit. Oh, and if you plan on going with oversize tires, bigger and/or disc brakes start to become a necessity IMHO.

[AmyB]

Yeah, I'm kind of leaning towards the disc brakes. In addition to the Jeep we have 3 cars, 2 trucks, a motorcycle, and a boat, so something has to go. Running out of room!!!