Early CJ's in Australia

[AussieCJ7]

Ok you history buffs

Been hearing abit about from what I can work out is a produced in Australia versions of a CJ 5 that had a falcon engine and from what I hear Borg Warner diff's

Does anyone have a good link to the exact history on these ??

[dxj]

Hi Aussie CJ7,

Jeep made lots of variants in Qld from the 1950s to 1970s CJs before AMC took over Kaiser Jeep.

My brother & I had a 1969 CJ6 assembled by Shute Upton Eng. of Evans Rd Salisbury North. fitted with factory falcon 188 Cu in eng. ( 3.0L stock motor on XT Falcon ). It was ex Aus RAAF so was fitted with D44 taper & Key rear axle with 5.38 ratios.
Called a "Combat 6" by Willys Aus.

We currently have a 1959 CJ5 with willys F head 4. Seems to have had a "Jeep-a-trench" fitted at some stage. and has massive Borg Warner 5.38 diffs front and rear. Look like copies of D44 to me but have absolutely huge R & P.

I think Wooders has one like that too.

Check out this site for details of Aus assembled CJ3b, CJ5 and CJ6 plus FC170 etc

Aussie Assembled Jeeps story (http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/World/Australia.html)

In general lots of info on the CJ3B site:-

CJ3B site (http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/)

I saw a very rare long wheelbase CJ3BL at the Jambo, an FC170 fire engine all refurbished goes on display with the NSW fire brigade occasionally. There is a combat 6 fire truck at a museum I think at Blackall ( or was it Barcaldine ) in Western QLD.

[ 20 November 2002, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: dxj ]

[Wooders]

I'm still trying (not real hard though graemlins/sleep.gif ) to determine exactly what diffs & donk my CJ5 has....
I know the ratio is 4.27....

[paz]

i might be able to shed a little light for you,,as far as i know the body's and chasis were built in the states,,along with the gearboxes and transfers (spicer)..the diffs were made in wagga by borg warner and then the vehicles were assembled here in aus(melbourne)...
the rear diffs to look at are an exact copy of the dana 44,,but they have one piece axles and the crown wheel and pinion are not interchangable from the spicer to the borg warner,,the borg warner has a lot thicker crown wheel compared to the spicer,,i have been told u can machine a plate up(spacer) and use the spicer crown wheel in the borg warner...
the front diff to look at also looks like a d44 pumpkin,,but the axle tubes step down to the same size as a dana 27 tube and also has the same ball type knuckle as the d27...
if you cant tell from the outside weather they are borg warner or spicer you can take the hat off and on the crown wheel you will find "B/W" etched into the crown wheel if it is a borg warner,,spicer has their's stamped into it...
how do i know all this useless info you ask,,,i actually have a rear "borg warner 44",,and from what i have been told it is just as strong if not better than a stock dana 44,,they also have a fairly good spline count on the shafts,,cant remember exactly the number but...i went to all sorts of trouble to find info on the net a while ago but couldnt find much,,ended up ringing a few old jeep guru's and got the low down..
paz
p.s,,,,the jeep i have been working on for my mate is a '59 cj-5,,and came with the borg warner diffs as well as the ford 6 cylinder and t-90 and dana 18 transfer....
btw,,,,wooders,,,yours are a dana 44 rear and a dana 30 front ;)

[Wooders]

Thanks Paz....It was only after you commented on a prior BW thread that your raised other questions in my mind....anyways I'm hoping to have those diffs pull down soon so then I'll have more understanding...

[dxj]

Hi Paz,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like we have identical axles to your '59. We also have the T90 and T18.

I especially like the ground down webbing on the B-W copy of front D44 to fit around the front spring. We also have the tapered tube to usual front knuckles. Our has the original F head motor. Runs okay too.

Still hoping to save on frame works by finding a replacement frame for ours.

Didn't know they were made in Melb, by 1969 they were definately assembled in Brisbane.

BTW I would be surprised if the '59 was a factory ford engine. Ford were not assembling Falcons here until 1960 with the XK model. Until 1962, XL model, they only had 144 cu in ( 2.4L ?) 4 main bearing crank engines!
In the 1970s it was very common to fit falcon sixes to CJs so maybe your '59 is one that has been changed.