Transmission Crossmember Spacer

I am in the process of reassembling my '69. When I removed the crossmember during disassembly, there were two pieces of Oak wood mounted between the bottom of the frame and the Transmission Crossmember (they're cracked but I saved them for reference). I would like to replace them with something synthetic, but haven't seen anything available on the internet online catalogs. I am running the T98 with the F Head, and I could probably make some news ones out of Oak, but I'd prefer to have something that holds up under adverse conditions (these only lasted 40 years)R)

Does anyone know if these are commercially available in some sort of synthetic material? I did search of this site an didn't see any archaived threads pertaining to this issue.

Ranger

 

You sure they belong there?
Tell me the size, I've got some indestructable plastic (for lack of the correct word). I can cut a chunk of and mail it. I have a couple thicknesses. From 3/8" to 1".

 

Those shims should have been steel unless I am missing something.

 

I wonder why someone switched the steel to wood? I have heard of folks dropping the crossmember to reduce driveline angle on lifts, but the oak sounds like a quick fix. I have seen a few oddball homemade crossmember mounts using UHMW plastic. Can't say they did anything special.

 

I had a 1964 CJ5 with factory (I think) T-98 and it had wood spacers, and I believe they were oak. The floor was totally rotted out so I don't know the floor / transmission tunnel question. Don't know if the wood was somebodies after market addition??? But that's what it had.

 

I have a '66 cj5 with a v6, t86. It is stock as far as I can tell and it has wooden spacers also.

 

I have a '69 CJ5 that we just put the motor, trans, etc. and crossmember back in last week. Both sides have two ¼" thick steel shims between the frame and the crossmember for a total spacer thickness of ½" on each side. FYI it's got a 225 V6, T14 trans, and D18 transfer case. Perhaps they use multiple shims so they can be added or removed for different drivetrain combinations. I also have a parts jeep (same driveline) with the same shim setup (double checked it before reassembly).

 

Ihave a bunch of the metal ones off a 5 I could send you or just make them

 

I have a 70 with metal shims. My dad told me that when he bought it new, the front driveshaft was hitting the starter so he took it back and complained to the dealership. He said they put on a "factory shim kit" that consisted on 4 (two on each side) shims, 1/4" thick (just like others above) that dropped the crossmember and subsequently the driveshaft.

When I did the frame, I just cleaned them up and put them back on

 

Thanks for the responses. I believe that the Oak Spacers that fit between the top of the transmission crossmember and the bottom rail of the frame are probably original to the Jeep. It came equipped with a Koenig PTO Winch and a Ramsey dual output PTO (it was originally a US Forestry Service Jeep). I think that the reason they placed the spacers was to accommodate the PTO front output shaft for clearance of the bellhousing before it attached through the pillow block, but I could be wrong. I'll try and attach a few pics here to show you what the spacers look like. I tried to attach some a few days ago, but I kept getting the message that I wasn't allowed to use attachments. Perhaps that is due to the web site breakdown recently? It also appears that I need to reload my avatar.

If anyone has any ideas as to what I should use for spacers I'm willing to listen, otherwise I think I'll just make some new ones out of oak, the old ones lasted 40 years. The wood spacers are 3 7/8" L x 2 3/8" W x 1" T. Bob75CJ, if you think that the material you have might work, I'd appreiate it if you'd send it my way.

Ranger

 

I would be interested in some of the CJ5 shims for my 1978 CJ5 with a T-18. My trans was removed and the shims were not retained by the previous owner and I'm reinstalling a T18. Mark rip1166@sbcglobal.net

 

I don't remember if I gave those to someone here already . I'll check ,,,,,,,you can have them ,if I do .
or just make them

 

I used pipe end caps (4), drilled hole for bolt and used them as a spacer (1"). Got info from this forum.

 

Strange! I have a very late '66' (it's even titled as a '67' and it had steel spacers. I guess what ever was available?

John

 

Wonder if the PTO winch was a dealer installed item so some got the oak 1" spacer if equipped with PTO. Factory provided the 2 - 1/4" steel shims. Just guessing.

 

mine had the wood spacers as well.

I wonder if it was a "quick" fix done to the the early :v6: models ( mine was built in nov 1965) . both my parts '69 and '71 have steel spacers.

 

yep
t-98 forest service 63 with wood spacers.
mine are so hard and gunk covered that i thought they were metal at 1st