Wanted: Canadian CJ-7 Soft Top and Doors

[Robin Craig]

Where did it come from and where did you find it advertised?

[maple_leaf_eh]

Hit up the R de Hull old boys for their pictures, circa 1992. I transferred to them around that time, but was trying to become a civilian too. The job I had was more demanding of my time, so I left the reserves.

A few stories come to mind, and excuse me if you've heard them already.

The steering linkages were more fragile than expected. On one road move across the biggest bridge in Quebec City, something broke and a "CJ", as I recall they were nicknamed, veered to the side and aimed itself at the guardrail. It smacked hard but didn't go over the edge. That would have been a serious incident, "Jeep with three Reservists falls 200' into St Lawrence River". I wasn't in the R de Hull at the time, but the story was fresh gossip.

Secondly, I remember they weren't much use as recce vehicles the way the troops were used to the M38A1 and even the M151A2. The roof and doors were much less field-friendly.

To power the RT524, there was an inverter under the back seat or across one side in the rear. It hummed, had bright lights and got warm. The radio didn't work without it on. The starts and stops routines were more complicated.

I do remember they were pretty sprightly off a starting start. A good driver could chirp the tires in all forward gears. Those weren't mud NDCC tires, and the vehicles didn't do as well off road. (Which might explain the steering linkage breaking.)

The front seats were comfortable but not nearly as practical as the M38A1. I sort of remember they were taller and had space underneath to more easily lose things.

[rob love]

The power converter was under the drivers seat. The switch to control it was on a plate that covered over the radio opening on the dash. The converter supplied 10 amps continuous and 15 amp surge to a bendix connector mounted on the same bracket under the seat.

The civilian CJ7 of that era was a little gutless, however since the military CJ7 came with no power steering or power brakes, and had fairly small tires, they had pretty good power.

There were 3 purchases in total. The first two had low back seats and a crappy T-5 5 speed transmission. The third purchase had the high back seats and a decent T176 transmission.

Terry's story about weak tie rods were likely the result of severe off roading and operators who did not knopw enough to recognize the damage that had occurred. The tie rods were the same size as the earlier M38 Jeep. I have never seen general failures of these that could not be predicted with proper inspections.

While they were much more comfortable and far warmer that the military models, they did lack any form of a MG mount. In those days the Jeeps served as an inexpensive trainer for the light recce militia units to practice the drills without the expense of operating armour.

[Craig S.]

spinnerhawken -
I can provide some pics of one of mine I recently purchased if you would like more inspiration. It was pretty original and remained in as released condition. CFR#85-76586. Also have one for sale should your wife care to have her own. No green tops left though.

[spinnerhawken]

Hey Craig,

I told my wife about your offer... I won't tell you exactly what she said, other than to say, I'm not sure she is there... just yet!

I would love any pics you have. I will PM you.

SH