Hi, I hope that I am posting this on the right forum. My buddy bought a 47 willys that has a 327 chev and a 400T with 5.38 diff gears. He does not know whether the axles, drive shafts, or suspension are Jeep. The original owner says that the diffs are 5.38s. He has 32" tires and says he can barely go 45 on the road. He would like to drive it on the road but does not know where to start as far as re-gearing it or changing axles out with ones with lower ratios. Where do we start? Thanks for your patience considering the mess of info I gave you. It is clear that he bought the thing from a serious wheeler cause it seems to be locked up in the back at least and maybe the front(power steering but hard to steer). Thanks, Ryan

47 willy's came with a 4 banger and a manual trans and manual steering. It is all a swap in. First he needs to ID the axles, then he needs to regear them to 3.73's.
I bet it is one heck of a crawler!!

Are you attempting to say he is running too many revs? Has he got a tach? I would think a higher geared tranny might be where to go first. There might be a highergeared transfer case that would work also.
Has the rig been lifted and had larger tires onit at one time?
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Sunder isn't that about what gears came in them things?
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Do you mean the 3.73s Sunder recommended?

A '47 could either have 5.38s or 4.88s out of the factory.

No I meant the 5:38's. I was think'n it prolly has stock axels. With some larger tires and an overdrive tranny it should be Ok to hiway.
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the reply. How do we ID the axels? And if they are stock in a willys, what would you all recommend next. He does not want to put bigger tires on it. I think he wants wider axels if possible so I was advising him to find a chevy set of axels and go from there. I thought 3.73s would do the trick. Ryan

If you are lucky they might have an ID tag, if not you get a bunch of pictures of different axle housings (try starting in the FAQ) and see if you can match one up.

As for gearing, I think thatÆs about stock. My dad has a mid to late 40 WillyÆs with the stock running gear. I don't think the thing will hold a solid 55, and getting there is a chore. Now the jeep has a V-8 and a 1:1 tranny and T-case, it will be turning the same revs the stock little 4 cyl. was. The 32's arenÆt large enough to need that much gear reduction. In order to get it to a comfortable RPM to drive on the highway, it's going to need big 40+" tires or higher gears. You could spend close to a thousand bucks on an over drive unit and 500 for the adapter if they sell it, but I don't think they would for that type of stuff. If you gear it to about 3.73's it will still have decent low end power and not be running too many RPM's on the highway.

Blue whatever it is you deceide on doing it ain't gonna be cheap! You are about to spend thousands of $$$$ to get it in hiway shape. Installing wider heavy duty axels will cost a bunch of money. So will bigger tires and an overdrive tranny.. I've never looked into one but maybe someone has gears for your transfer case that would overdrive the present axels. For sure that would be the cheapest way to go if possible.
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

You are going to have bigger issues if they haven't been addressed yet, brakes and steering. 5.38s are stock for the 2As but some switch over to D44s from a 3B or early CJ5. Most recommend buying the Warn Overdrive for your current set up and keeping the stock axles. I'm assuming you are using the Spicer 18 t-case.

This is a site were guys have made these type changes http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/index.php? and this site is for 2A people but more resto http://66.70.101.194/forums/default.asp

There is somebody on The CJ2A Page with a Chevy 327 (piginajeep) but not sure what he has for axles. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />