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Cherokee Chief

CJ7Pilot

CJ7Pilot

18436572
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Marysville
State
CA
Seven years ago, I parked in front of a nice looking Cherokee Chief, and took a couple of photos with my then (and still, to a point) ratty Scrambler. I posted these photos here, on a thread that doesn't exist anymore:

Cherokee - 1.jpeg

Cherokee - 2.jpeg

At the time, @gazzo (a member we haven't heard from in a while) said that I should talk to the owner, and try to get him to sell it to me someday.

Well, I did just that... and he laughed, and laughed! :LOL: Apparently he had a drawer full of phone numbers of people who wanted to buy this Jeep.

Fast forward seven years, now I live just around the block from him, and we've gotten to know each other a little bit. The other day, he flagged me down as I was coming home from work, and said, "I think we're ready to sell the Jeep."

So... now I've got my first FSJ to play around with, and it will make a nice stable-mate to my Scrambler.

It's a 1978 Cherokee Chief, 360 v8 w/Howell tbi, T400, Quadra-Trac with low range, newly upholstered leather seats, and cold factory air conditioning. :D

After sitting outside all this time, the paint isn't as shiny as it once was, especially on the hood and roof, but I don't think it will need a re-paint. Mechanically, it's not perfect either, but it's not bad. All the glitches are well within my skill set to repair.

This weekend, I'll take some current photos, and get a few more with both Jeeps together as well.

So irresponsible....

Cheers! :cheers:
 
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I love these types of stories! Two door FS Cherokee's are sweet.
 
Very cool. I had a ‘78 Chief. I bought it new and had it until about 1995. It was great, swapped out the 360 for a 401.
 
That is awesome. My 85 waggy was one of my most favorite Jeeps - Michigan winters (rust) finally won out.
 

Anyone remember this song? My college dorm mate had a chief and this tape was always in it.
 
SPECTACULAR!!!

I love my 77 Cherokee S every bit as much as the Postal and it only got better when I did the FAST TBI EFI and then swapped the cammed 401 :smokin: You're going to LOVE it.
 
Picture day!

My toy box:
FSJ Chief - 1.jpeg
My Scrambler needs a bath! As you can see, the hood and roof of the Cherokee Chief are pretty sun faded. If you look closely, you can see the silhouette of my black Scrambler project tucked behind the right wing of my Champ.

Side pics of the Cherokee Chief:
FSJ Chief - 2.jpeg

FSJ Chief - 3.jpeg
The side paint is still pretty shiny. I need to see what I can do to shine up the hood and roof.

Interior:
FSJ Chief - 4.jpeg
FSJ Chief - 6.jpeg

FSJ Chief - 5.jpeg
The seats are freshly re-upholstered with new leather. The front seats are out of a mid-60s Lincoln. Unfortunately, they are just bolted in, and none of the controls work... fortunately, they were bolted in by a tall guy, so I fit in there pretty well. The seat backs do tilt forward, but since the seats don't move, there's really no access to the rear seat. I'm hoping I can make these seats functional again. If not, I'll be hunting for factory seats.

Cargo area:
FSJ Chief - 7.jpeg
Before taking this photo, I discovered that the electric rear window needs a little help to go all the way down. It also needs a little help going back up. This, and the front seats, will be my first priorities. You can see a couple of seat cushions to help out shorter-legged drivers in the non-adjustable driver seat. The amp and woofer are nice, but I'll likely remove them to make room for a puppy.

The puppy:
puppy - 1.jpeg
I'll be picking her up in about 3 weeks... I'm so excited! This will be my duck hunting buddy for the next decade, or so. :D

Back to the Jeep... I've already fixed one of the glitches. It shifted really hard, and clunked when shifting to drive or reverse. I'm not too familiar with automatics, but a quick internet search showed that a Turbo-400 uses a vacuum actuator to determine when to shift. When there's no vacuum to the actuator, the transmission clunks and shifts hard. I found the vacuum line, which was connected to a small manifold, and one of the manifold ports was open. There weren't any hoses laying around there, so I think a plug probably fell off. Anyhow, I plugged the port, and now it shifts silky smooth! Also (surprise-surprise), the engine idles better.

Sorry for the long post. Have a great weekend! :cheers:
 
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CJ7Pilot said:
Picture day!

My toy box:
View attachment 109258
My Scrambler needs a bath! As you can see, the hood and roof of the Cherokee Chief are pretty sun faded. If you look closely, you can see the silhouette of my black Scrambler project tucked behind the right wing of my Champ.

Side pics of the Cherokee Chief:
View attachment 109259

View attachment 109260
The side paint is still pretty shiny. I need to see what I can do to shine up the hood and roof.

Interior:
View attachment 109261
View attachment 109262

View attachment 109263
The seats are freshly re-upholstered with new leather. The front seats are out of a mid-60s Lincoln. Unfortunately, they are just bolted in, and none of the controls work... fortunately, they were bolted in by a tall guy, so I fit in there pretty well. The seat backs do tilt forward, but since the seats don't move, there's really no access to the rear seat. I'm hoping I can make these seats functional again. If not, I'll be hunting for factory seats.

Cargo area:
View attachment 109264
Before taking this photo, I discovered that the electric rear window needs a little help to go all the way down. It also needs a little help going back up. This, and the front seats, will be my first priorities. You can see a couple of seat cushions to help out shorter-legged drivers in the non-adjustable driver seat. The amp and woofer are nice, but I'll likely remove them to make room for a puppy.

The puppy:
View attachment 109265
I'll be picking her up in about 3 weeks... I'm so excited! This will be my duck hunting buddy for the next decade, or so. :D

Back to the Jeep... I've already fixed one of the glitches. It shifted really hard, and clunked when shifting to drive or reverse. I'm not too familiar with automatics, but a quick internet search showed that a Turbo-400 uses a vacuum actuator to determine when to shift. When there's no vacuum to the actuator, the transmission clunks and shifts hard. I found the vacuum line, which was connected to a small manifold, and one of the manifold ports was open. There weren't any hoses laying around there, so I think a plug probably fell off. Anyhow, I plugged the port, and now it shifts silky smooth! Also (surprise-surprise), the engine idles better.

Sorry for the long post. Have a great weekend! :cheers:
Click to expand...
Very nice toys.
I vote for the four legged "woofer" too. :thumbsup:
 
X2 on the pup. As Bogey said it will be the start of a beautiful friendship. The fleet is awesome!
 
Wow! That is a fantastic score. Love it! Love the puppy too!
 
Well I'm so glad that my suggestion worked for you even if it took a while. Nice of you to remember me, too!

Yes I've been absent from this group, AWOL you might say. It's been a pretty hectic world for me over the last few years.

The puppy is gorgeous, just as gorgeous as the Chief. I missed out on one at an online auction a few weeks ago. Never gunna win when you're bidding against a machine.
 
I bet that hood and roof will shine up nicely with some work. and the burnt area on the cowl just adds to the cool factor. awesome story!
 
Well, it's been a long time with no updates to this thread, but the Cherokee is evolving!

The paint wasn't original, and the quality was mediocre, at best. I went ahead and had it re-painted, added white to the roof, and added a white stripe to the side. I haven't applied the passenger side stripe yet, no no photos of that side. ;)

I wanted it to be a little taller, so I added a 4" Skyjacker lift, and 33" tires. It's just what I was hoping for!

Mechanically, I rebuilt the Quadratrac transfer case, replaced the steering box, and added 1-ton steering (mostly to switch to more commonly available tie-rod ends).

There are still plenty of odds and ends to tidy up, but at least now I can drive it again. 78Chief - 1.jpeg78Chief - 2.jpeg78Chief - 4.jpeg78Chief - 3.jpeg78Chief - 5.jpeg

Take it easy! :cheers:
 
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