Neglected 1988 Pioneer Longbed

[terrawombat]

A little backstory - my grandfather bought this truck brand new in 1988 and then bought a 1992 eliminator four years later (but sold it :fs1: ). It was then passed on to my Uncle who drove it from 1992-2000. Around 2001, I was fixing to get my license and really wanted this to be my truck, so we bought it from him and I cleaned it up and did my best to get it ready for the road. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong with engine and why it kept stalling when I gave it gas. My father was convinced it was a problem with the computer and me being a 4.0L noob had no choice but to believe him. Instead, my father and I purchased a 2001 GMC Sonoma for me to drive when I got my license. Somewhere around 2003, my Uncle took the MJ back from us and used it as a farm vehicle on his horse farm until about 2007 when he parked it in a field where it just died. Again, we took it back from him in 2007 when I was a lot more knowledgeable about cars (took a few tech courses and tinkered with my own vehicles). The truck had somehow melted the rotor in the distributor and I replaced it with a spare I had lying around and VROOOM...back in business. Here are some pictures of when I brought it home and got it running again:

 

 

 

 

The stalling problem turned out to be a bad EGR. I capped the lines going to it and all was well. Finally, I had an MJ of my own! Sort of....I was still in college and already had a car and could no way afford to insure this one too, so I wound up giving it to my parents for use on their 350 acre farm. They have a roadside produce stand and used the truck to haul sweet corn bags from the field back to the stand. It's been way overloaded plenty of times in it's life...I wish I had a picture for the 'Earning Your Keep' thread, but I do not...

 

So I get a call from my parents last week - The MJ was making all kinds of crazy noises and there was coolant leaking from the engine. Turns out the water pump went south and they want me to fix it. I agreed to and got it back to my shop, but what I didn't tell them is I think I'm going to officially take it back from them and get it road worthy and make it a weekend chore truck. Now that I have a job and a steady income, I can actually afford to insure this guy. I am a bit scared, though, as the drivers door leaks like crazy and the floor is CONSTANTLY wet. I'm in the process of pulling the seat and carpet, but I am very afraid of what I might find...

[Squeegy410]

i love it man. it looks the way a pick up should look :D and don't get sick if theres rust, as long as your not driving like fred flintstone your fine :yes:

[terrawombat]

I pulled it into my shop last night and started taking some of the interior apart to get to the floor pans. It took me a couple of hours to remove the bench seat due to some rounded nuts at the brackets :fs1:

 

 

 

 

The carpet is trashed. I don't think it's ever been fully dry in the last five years and it just continues to trek in mud. I ran out of time and couldn't get all of the interior trim pieces out to completely pull up the carpet, but I did take a quick peek under it on the drivers side. I even looked under the truck expecting to see a giant hole or a spot I could put my finger through the metal. Surprisingly, it seems fairly solid, but we'll see when I can get the carpet out. I can't get the drivers side kick panel off because of the nut behind the e-brake. The e-brake is frozen and will not move no matter what I do so looks like I have to solve that problem first.

 

Here's a quick shot of the exterior:

 

 

I think those five spokes are my favorite stock wheel on the MJ, but the tires on them are all dry rotted. In the essence of trying to save some money, I'm going to just swap them out with a set of stock steelies from a '01 XJ. I just found out that I OWE the government money this year rather than the other way around...need to pinch pennies here and there.

[terrawombat]

i love it man. it looks the way a pick up should look :D and don't get sick if theres rust, as long as your not driving like fred flintstone your fine :yes:

 

Thanks! My grandfather owned three MJs - an '86, this '88, and a '92. In my opinion, this '88 was the best looking one of the bunch, hands down. I've always like these Jeep five-spokes and the Pioneer trim package is just right for me. I prefer carpeted cars - not rubber mats or bare steel floors. I also like the painted fender flares and the yellow stripe down the sides (although I've only seen two other MJs with that stripe...wondering if it was a dealer option?).

[dasbulliwagen]

That stripe is for the 1988 olympic edition, it kinda fades from front to rear. The olympic badges are probably just gone from it.

[terrawombat]

That stripe is for the 1988 olympic edition, it kinda fades from front to rear. The olympic badges are probably just gone from it.

 

Cool! I had no idea that's what it was for. I don't ever remember there being any sort of emblem to distinguish that it was an Olympic Edition MJ and it really wouldn't surprise me if my Grandfather had it removed. Would it just have been the olympic rings on the fender under the 'Pioneer' symbol?

 

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot. Can't believe I never noticed this.

 

[terrawombat]

The drivers door hinge pulled away slightly and the drivers door striker broke so there was a good 1/8" to 1/4" gap at the top where it was supposed to seal against the weather striping. I don't think the floor of this truck has been dry since the late 90's. As I pulled the carpet up, I was expecting the worst, but what I actually found...I am really quite pleased. Impressed might be a better word. I guess the guys in the paint booth on the Jeep assembly line were feeling good the day they sprayed mine as they must have used a liberal amount of paint to keep the metal in good condition. Or maybe it's that special Olympic edition paint :rotf:

 

 

 

 

 

Going to hit it with a wire wheel, probably CNC some sheet metal to give the floor some extra thickness, tack those in, seam seal it, and paint it. Also need to repair the drivers rear seat stud.

[Squeegy410]

i also love the five spokes :yes: i run them too. The story behind mine is the p.o. hated the stock mj wheels (as do i) and stole the five spokes off his daughters xj before he sold it :brows: works great for me in the end haha.

[Drahcir495]

I guess the guys in the paint booth on the Jeep assembly line were feeling good the day they sprayed mine as they must have used a liberal amount of paint to keep the metal in good condition. Or maybe it's that special Olympic edition paint :rotf:

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, the floor looks to be in great shape. Good for you - mine wasn't that nice. Good luck with your build :thumbsup:

[terrawombat]

Yeah, the floor looks to be in great shape. Good for you - mine wasn't that nice. Good luck with your build :thumbsup:

 

Yes, I am quite pleased with the condition of the floor. A lot better than my other '88 MJ project I have going on simultaneously.

 

[Drahcir495]

Yes, I am quite pleased with the condition of the floor. A lot better than my other '88 MJ project I have going on simultaneously.

I had to look for the second build :brows: . The other one is coming along nicely. :cheers:

[terrawombat]

Yes, I am quite pleased with the condition of the floor. A lot better than my other '88 MJ project I have going on simultaneously.

I had to look for the second build :brows: . The other one is coming along nicely. :cheers:

 

Thanks. The other build is going well in the sense that I've finally found the right donor for it and now it's just a matter of swapping the parts over! Unfortunately, the build in this thread will slow down the build of the other and vice versa!

[dancome433]

nice start, your grandpa still have that 92 eliminator? that would be a nice truck to have also

[terrawombat]

nice start, your grandpa still have that 92 eliminator? that would be a nice truck to have also

 

I wish. He sold it to my cousin when he went to college in Colorado. My cousin had it for quite a while out there, but always complained of little things that kept going wrong with it. He eventually traded it in for an '06 Grand Cherokee before he drove back home to NJ.

 

Also, I still wish we had the '86 MJ. That was in my possession for a few years, but it just sat in the front of my shop because the turdy 2.8L lost oil pressure and threw just about every bearing in the engine. We eventually just gave it away to my Dad's friend and I have no idea what he's done with it. The body on that thing was pristine - it was professionally repainted sometime in the mid 90's and there wasn't a spec of rust on it anywhere.

[terrawombat]

I had a couple hours to work on the truck tonight so I decided to tackle the floorpan rust/rot so I can get the interior back together. The drivers side seems to be in pretty decent shape with the exception of a few pinholes, which I'm still not quite sure how I want to patch. They don't necessarily need a whole new patch panel welded in, but I don't know how well something like JB Weld would hold up. The passenger side was a little easier since there was a significant amount of rot, so I just cut out two sections and was able to get one section welded in with a new patch plate. I used some leftover 14 gauge sheet metal I had lying around from another job. It's definitely overkill and wasn't very fun to "mold" into place, but my BFH helped me out some. I'll be doing the other patch panel sometime next week and then I will seam seal it and paint it with Valspar Tractor & Implement paint for rust protection. On the underside of the truck, I may do a quick shot of a rubberized undercoating to match what is already under there.

 

Rotted panels cut out:

 

New steel patch panel welded in place:

[mrsinister]

much better, i used pop rivets and silicone to seal in my last manche' so ghetto but it worked for at least a year till i sold it.

[terrawombat]

I found some more time tonight to work on the truck. I measured the space for the other replacement patch panel and cut it out and welded it in place. There is at least one other area on the passenger side that I'm going to chop out and weld in some good steel and then I should be able to seam seal it and paint it.

 

Fitting the replacement panel:

 

 

Replacement panel tack welded in:

 

[terrawombat]

I cracked open the can of seam sealer this morning just to get an idea of what I was working with. Oh man...that stuff is potent. Before I do anything with that stuff, I need to get a respirator. Ordered one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004Z4EB/ref=oss_product

 

I'll be away for the next few days so hopefully it'll be here when I get back!

[-600JeepMJ]

:cheers: looks like you are have a lot of fun cutting and pasting.

[terrawombat]

:cheers: looks like you are have a lot of fun cutting and pasting.

 

Fun is a relative term. I find this kind of work relaxing and it seems to relieve my day-to-day stress, but I also just want it to be done! I'm getting anxious and want to put this thing to some good use...still so much left to do, though. Patience...

[terrawombat]

Between my '91 YJ and my new Pup, I haven't had too much time to mess with this truck. Last weekend, I decided that I was sick of looking at the 1 acre of brush in my backyard and I wanted to get rid of it. Borrowed my parents brush hog and went to town. End result - there is a TON of cleanup to do and I don't have a working pickup to haul all of the stuff out of there. This motivated me to get back to the '88 Pioneer and get the floors done. After a solid few hours of work, I got the rest of the patch panels welded in, seam sealed, and painted the entire floor with Valspar Tractor & Implement paint (on sale at Tractor Supply right now!). I brushed it all on and it levels pretty smooth. Best part about this stuff is that it also comes in a spray can so I can do touch up work if I need to. Going to pick up some bucket seats out of an XJ right now and if the paint is dry I should hopefully have them in tonight (fingers crossed).

 

 

 

 

 

[terrawombat]

Yikes - been a while since I updated, so here it goes. Picked up some 2-door buckets from a guy in South NJ. He also had two MJs - an '86 and a '92. I think he was doing a V8 conversion on the '86 and I forget what he had in mind for the '92, but it looked beat and had a ton of rust. I installed the buckets I got off of him and I really wasn't too impressed. The foam had lost its comfort and was sagging pretty bad. I thought the covers would clean up pretty nice, but they didn't. I also happened to have a set of 2-door buckets with the rocketship style rockers, but there were a lot of things wrong with them internally (cable on the flip-forward lever was busted and one of the bolster supports had snapped). With the help from these forums, I found out that internally, the two sets of seats were identical so between the two sets, I made one, good set. I also removed the covers and put them in the washing machine and WOW...night and day. I only have before and after's of the passenger side, but I'll get some more soon.

 

 

 

In the second pic, you can see the other crummy 2-door seats I bought, which I used the 'guts' for repairing the good, rocketship style seats. The rocketship seats sits a couples inches higher, which took a little bit to get used to, but it's growing on me. I'm 6'-0" and my head is still a few inches from the ceiling. This style seat probably would not be functional if I didn't have a tilt steering column.

[terrawombat]

For the past couple months I've been driving this truck with 'Farm Use' plates on the back and under my father's insurance policy. Can usually get away with doing whatever you want, but technically you're only supposed to be on farm business when you're out on the road. Local cops aren't too familiar with Farm Use plates, which don't require an inspection sticker (farmers do self-inspections), so I've been pulled over once or twice for it. Wanted to be a bit more legal about it and expand my driving radius so I had my Dad sign the title over to me and got regular plates for it yesterday. Need to switch it from his insurance policy to mine and it'll soon be a backup daily driver.

 

To-do list is as follows:

Bypass rear brake proportioning valve until I can find a suitable alternative

Upper and lower balljoints both sides

New draglink and pitman arm tie rod end

Weatherstripping on both doors

Find and repair water leak on drivers side

Rear main seal and oil pan gaskets

Valve cover gasket

Oil filter adapter o-rings

 

I also want to get the original rims back on this truck so I'll be on the hunt for those. If anyone sees the stock Jeep 5-spoke aluminum rims with good tires, let me know!

 

[freakjeep93]

whats wrong with the old 5 spokes? it had them when you got it?

[terrawombat]

whats wrong with the old 5 spokes? it had them when you got it?

 

They're in pretty rough shape if I remember correctly. I'll have to dig them out of my parent's garage, but I'm pretty sure they had a lot of oxidation and they all need new tires. You can usually find someone on Craigslist selling an entire set of rim with decent/good tires for less than the price of two brand new tires :D