Going Big on a Budget: A Patina-Clad CJ5 That Dominates on the Rubicon

Kellen Graves has built something special with his 1965 CJ5 - a Frankenstein creation that proves sometimes the best rigs are the ones that look like they’ve been through hell and back. This isn’t some garage queen that gets babied on weekend trail runs. This is a working machine that gets wheeled hard on the Rubicon and anywhere else Kellen can find good rock crawling.

The heart of this beast is a small block Chevy 350 paired with an SM465 4 speed transmission. That power flows through an NP231 doubler into a Dana 300 transfer case running 4:1 gears. When you’re crawling rocks, that kind of gear reduction means you can pick your way through technical sections with surgical precision. The drivetrain setup gives Kellen the ultra-low crawl ratio he needs to tackle anything the Rubicon throws at him.

What really sets this CJ apart is the axle setup. Kellen ditched the typical Dana 44 route and went straight to F350 1 ton axles. Up front, he’s running a passenger drop high-pinion Dana 60 that got retubed by a local shop. Out back, there’s a Sterling 10.5" rear with an Ox locker and 5.38 gears. Both axles are stuffed with chromoly shafts because Kellen learned the hard way that cheap internals don’t survive serious wheeling.

The suspension is where things get interesting. Kellen stretched the wheelbase to 113" and added 16" coilovers at all four corners. That setup gives him incredible articulation - he claims 50" of flex with a forklift, though he admits that’s not true RTI ramp numbers. The long wheelbase and coilover suspension mean this CJ can twist through terrain that would leave shorter rigs high and centered.

Those massive Pitbull 42s might look like overkill, but they’re perfectly suited to Kellen’s style of wheeling. He runs inner tubes and drops air pressure down to 2-3 psi for maximum traction. When you’re crawling technical rock sections, that kind of tire contact patch makes all the difference between making a line and taking body damage.

Recently, Kellen did a CJ8 Scrambler stretch that added 24" to the rear of the chassis. While it’s given him more storage space for gear like a refrigerator and slider setup, he’s still learning how the longer departure angle affects his line choices.

The rig isn’t without its quirks. Kellen’s Dana 300 has a habit of popping out of gear on steep downhill sections, even with upgraded springs and detents. It’s one of those issues that comes with running older transfer cases hard. He admits that if he were building again, he’d save up for an Atlas case instead of slowly upgrading the Dana 300 piece by piece.

The most impressive thing about this build is how Kellen has kept costs reasonable through smart trades and patient building. He traded construction work for the Dana 60 front axle, proving that sometimes bartering skills are more valuable than cash. His advice to other builders is spot-on - figure out your target tire size first, then build everything around that decision. Want to run 44s? You need 1 ton axles and all the supporting modifications. Planning to stick with 38s? You can get away with beefed-up 3/4 ton components and save thousands.

The CJ might look like a rust bucket with its mismatched paint and patina hood, but experienced wheelers know what they’re looking at. Kellen named it Dwight after the character from The Office - eccentric, knowledgeable, and capable of surprising people. That perfectly describes this build. It’s not winning any beauty contests, but it’ll outperform plenty of prettier rigs when the trail gets technical.