ThatJeepGuy Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Finally sharing this one on this forum. So bear in mind this project is about 5 years old now - very slow progress But i would aspire to build this jeep into an Ultimate Adventure type of rig. DD reliable and absolutely capable for aggressive trails. This came to be because a close pair of friends who live out west (Wyoming) came across this truck for sale. Buddies gf having an obsession for these trucks had come across it for a pretty fair price as a crude roller and shortly afterwards found herself a complete and orginal truck instead. I cut a deal with her for this truck delivered while on one of the home visit trips for an even $1000. Interior is still very original and even has an AC setup under the dash - Hopefully i can utilize this! There was actually a "poor mans" gooseneck mount in the bed of the truck in the form of a nearly full 1/4" sheet of steel with the ball in the center bolted through. You can see the hole that was crudely cut to clear the nut The way this came to me was exactly how it was purchased from the PO - sitting on a less than ideal leaf spring setup and chevy half ton axles. This was intended to be someone's mud truck and a rather hillbilly attempt if you ask me. MY PLANS! LS drivetrain 1 ton ford axles Long arms and coil springs up front Not factory leaf spring setup rear Winch bumper and warn 8274 winch up front Rock sliders Some type of cage work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugboat95 Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Good looking truck. I love seeing these older vehicles regardless of manufacturer brought back to life1989 Eliminator4.0L 5 speed2wd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 totally worth a grand. possibly the best use of a grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchamakalit Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Patiently waiting for updates J trucks are the badasses of badassness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 So the drivetrain inspiration for this project came from my old DD 2000 silverado 2500. The drivetrain was around the 235k mile range and the truck istelf wasn't in terrible shape - common fender rust, windows were a little finicky, door panels fell off when shutting the doors. The final straw though was the tcase on the way home from work one night. While trying to get through an intersection the chain started to skip! Having dealt with this before on the jeep and not wanting to deal with rebuilding the chevy electric shift case - i knew my search for a donor truck was over! This 6.0L and 4L80E would live on! Stripped the drivetrain and engine, trans wiring harness from the donor and away the donor went! Next came a pair of LS swap motor mounts from The Flop Shop. While these were a little pricey i was happy to have them because at the initial removal of the donor LS these were in fact no longer available! While flipping through my usual pages one morning though i had noticed they were listed as available once again! Per my doubt i made a phone call to verify and they were in fact up for grabs - Yes Please Take My Money! Temporary install was straight forward bolt them up and drop em on the factory frame mounts! Next came a couple bends and my V1 crossmember was in place I picked up a manual shift 241c from a co-worker that is supposed to be in good working order and also a brand new factory trans mount. At the time that i built this crossmember i was still very green to bending tube and having played with a few other projects since then i'm not sure this crossmember will be a permanent thing. More thank likely going to remake/revamp what will be hopefully not only be a better crossmember but also a belly skid plate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 Its nice to catch this thread back up - I've finally worked through enough of my other projects and to-do's and also sold my winter DD so now not only do i have some more free space but also build $$! Setting my goals high and I'm shooting for making this truck drive out of the garage this year! So onto my direct plans Motor - A good friend of mine had decided to partout his 05 Denali. 6.0L motor just like whats setting in my jtruck now BUT this motor only has 160k miles and runs great compared to my 245k mile motor currently that hasn't moved in 4+ years. This and a few other engine bay parts only cost me $500 Trans - Well no immediate plans here, just retaining the 245k mile 4l80e, eventually prolly a rebuild but that'll come after this thing moves on its own Tcase - SYE and big chain upgrade to make it a "241CHD" Axles - I'm going with 5.13 gears and lockers front and rear. Front is getting an Eaton E-locker and the rear will get a Yukon Grizzly Locker. I've had the grizzly locker in a few different setups now and ive had nothing but good experience so I'm sticking with it. E-locker selectable front because lockouts are one thing but the option for open/locked diff is nice. Not huge on adding air components and lines to this rig other than an OBA for tire pressure so thats why an air locker loses its appeal for me. Changing the rear axle from the ford 10.5 to a factory disc brake 14B. Reasons why are because i want a bolt on pinion guard for the rear driveshaft and also I've got some prior experience with the 14B in my MJ project. Those are the immediate plans for now. I've committed the majority of the money i made off selling the winter DD to knocking out the big ticket items. I've also got a Dakota Digital Dash coming in that takes interfacing new gauges a breeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 Progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 Finally got this rear suspension figured out! The leaf setup haunted me for some time but after a couple new ideas were shared my way i had a direction that i really liked! 1 pair of frenched mounts from RuffstuffSpecialties tacked up front Dumped the 3/4 ton chevy springs in favor of these 1/2 ton dodge springs, they are a little shorter but also softer which i like to start out as a base. Here i'm lining up for shackle bushing placement into the frame. Right at that 45* angle. Conveniently my ideal location was VERY close to a factory hole in the frame, this made for easy alignment from both sides, just cut some inner plates for the frame and then a couple 2" holes. Drilled some 1/4" plates for shackles and then installed bushings then set on its own weight It was such a nice da that i couldn't resist but to push the truck out and catch some sun for a few hours while i did some deep cleaning on this side of the garage. Tcase SYE and HD chain setup is getting finished up, also have the lower mileage motor sitting on the stand. Gonna shoot for pulling this old motor out and re-mating the trans then re-installing soon. I can then re-attach the built tcase and start re-making the x-member. I have the 5.13 gears and rear locker in hand so while i wait for the front locker to show up (3-months wait*) i can get this rear axle setup and under the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 Drivetrain out! This was a pleasant surprise Not enthused about finding a used trans and turning this in as a core for a rebuild isn't in the budget at the moment. Ideally i had planned to wait till after this truck was running and driving before i started to save funds for the rebuild so i'm only slightly torn on what to do at the moment. This is a driveable trans that held up well in my prior truck so i have that going for me - I also got a little TIG experience under my belt so i'm going to attempt to repair it and run with it for the time being. Waiting for a bare block from a buddy of mine and then its time to embrace the beginner welding photo shoot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camjeep3 Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Ouch... That repair will be... Fun. Clean is your friend. Groove the metal out clean around the weld. Throw some heat on it and hope for the best. I'm betting there will be lots of trash that wants to come out when you puddle on it. Weld grind weld grind repeat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 2, 2022 Author Share Posted December 2, 2022 i really need to keep up on this... So i managed to get this bellhousing "repaired". For your viewing pleasure i bring to you my very green attempt. Went through 2 cans of brake clean wire wheeling the heck out of it. Then went back over my work with a stainless steel brush. Repeated the process again after opening up some of the area with a deburring bit. Will it hold up? No idea - i guess we'll see The truck has basically sat the majority of this summer otherwise. Sure i got the rear axle cleaned up, shaved, re-geared and locked up. I also got the 241C HD built and mated to the trans as well. Only recently have i finally gotten my sights back into getting somewhere with this project. Gutted the garage in preparation for winter and slung the Truggy into the other corner of the garage for a change. Instead of pulling the Jtruck in through the single stall door like i have in years passed, this time around i decided to park it perpendicular to the doors and retain straight through access to my tool box and bench. Also gives me space to tinker with other things if i need to. Started out by cleaning out the interior of all the accumulated parts and etc. Quickly followed up by emptying out the bed. All that remains are the goodies i soo eagerly want to make use of finally! Gonna start back into this with the interior of the cab. Clean up the floors and prep them for some raptor liner. Also make my way into the dashboard to remove the steering column, cluster and airbox. Then i can get a gist of the wiring and also better access to get that raptor liner up into the firewall as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted December 2, 2022 Share Posted December 2, 2022 Should clean it up a bit with some of that there jbweld for aluminum...just for good measure 🤔 Truck is solid run it. I'm so jealous 😫 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 2, 2022 Author Share Posted December 2, 2022 7 hours ago, MiNi Beast said: Should clean it up a bit with some of that there jbweld for aluminum...just for good measure 🤔 Truck is solid run it. I'm so jealous 😫 Very happy with its overall condition, besides a boat/trailer combo hitting the front driver fender and apparently a tree or something denting the brow over the windshield its a very straight solid truck. Rear bed seams are the worst part of this whole truck but for the price and relative condition for its age. I got a very good deal to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 4, 2022 Author Share Posted December 4, 2022 Back into the dash we go! This wasn't nearly as complicated as i had anticipated. What you see on the floor there is the entire wire harness from under the dash. interesting side note - I didn't realize the 2 knobs on either side of the steering column and lowest part of the dashboard are for side vent doors. This makes sense as being part of the hvac system but had never considered separate knobs to control either drive/passenger side. Creative word play and painters tape clears up some of the confusion of what is supposed to go where. Also closer pic of the side vent and cable to adjust blend door. Finally gutted! Gave it a quick wash with some purple power with an exception to the surface rust on the floors, this cab looks excellent! And so i started sanding out the passenger floor. Started course with 80grit and finished it off with 320grit. Gave it a wipe down to end my evening in the garage. Going to hit the finer spaces with a wire brush and then hand sand those out by hand the next time i get out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 Midway floor progress interruption! Got to thinking about what else i can do on the days I'm not in the garage, like when I'm stuck at work... That glove box tray has been calling me! It says "Hey I'm just a cardboard type material and i will absolutely deteriorate over time! Take advantage of your empty dash and make me a steel twin!' I could not resist! I carefully dissected the the tray and removed the staples which kept this things form. Laid it out flat and while i wanted to duplicate this as one piece like it comes originally however the cardboard material I'm taking advantage of at work arent in big enough for a single piece version. As it is making all these bends in one sheet of metal is not what i intended anyways. I don't have the tools or skills to make that happen! Soo instead i traced the various corners and fold points and transferred them over in just 5 pieces. With the help of some masking tape this version fit remarkably well. Like a Glove! Absolutely well enough to give me the confidence in making a couple changes and then transferring them to steel soon! Fwiw I'm aware BJs offroad makes a plastic variant of this (Unsurprisingly can't speak of this side project and not be reminded of them) and its not terribly priced. However i have more time and materials than extra $ at the moment. Taking a break on the funds through the holiday - this gives me something to play with in the mean time... Along with prepping the floors as well off course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 I think that the center glove box in these trucks was absolutely genius. It's easy for the driver and passenger to access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 Glove box rebuild progress again! My template's transferred to metal and then hit them with the plasma gun. Guide piece and drag so cuts not perfect but functional. Small cutouts for hinge(s) and latch by free hand. This 1st assembled cutout fits really well (especially as one piece ) but could be tighter. As is right now the overall opening is just a little oversized. If I were to tighten the fasteners down it would have to favor top or bottom. Some trimming will fix that! Material is 13g sheet metal - absolutely could be done with thinner material but i state again - utilizing leftover materials so it is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 More glovebox work. Thinking about the amount of work ahead of me on the 1st metal version of the glove box tray had me thinking of a simpler solution to keep on this metal version. Fortunately i found a bigger sheet of the same cardboard material i made the 1st template out of, this made for a duplicate single piece glove box tray. Bends and dry fitment of this version was excellent and soo the easier way i could duplicate exactly that was to go with thinner sheet metal. This led me to the parts pile out back and an old XJ hood - perfect use of a rust hood! Traced out and cut out, then duplicated the bend lines. I then grabbed a chisel and rubber mallet and went over all my bend lines. 2 passes, 1 light and 1 hard and this version of the tray got pretty simple to form and manipulate and before i knew it the tray was basically in final shape! its a beautiful thing! I marked up the mounting holes and after i source a few sheet metal retaining clips and hardware i'll drill the holes and mount it up officially. For the over lapped section(s) my thoughts for now is to use a couple rivets to secure is final form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveevryjp1998 Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 13 minutes ago, ThatJeepGuy said: More glovebox work. Thinking about the amount of work ahead of me on the 1st metal version of the glove box tray had me thinking of a simpler solution to keep on this metal version. Fortunately i found a bigger sheet of the same cardboard material i made the 1st template out of, this made for a duplicate single piece glove box tray. Bends and dry fitment of this version was excellent and soo the easier way i could duplicate exactly that was to go with thinner sheet metal. This led me to the parts pile out back and an old XJ hood - perfect use of a rust hood! Traced out and cut out, then duplicated the bend lines. I then grabbed a chisel and rubber mallet and went over all my bend lines. 2 passes, 1 light and 1 hard and this version of the tray got pretty simple to form and manipulate and before i knew it the tray was basically in final shape! its a beautiful thing! I marked up the mounting holes and after i source a few sheet metal retaining clips and hardware i'll drill the holes and mount it up officially. For the over lapped section(s) my thoughts for now is to use a couple rivets to secure is final form. Nice work! That completely reminds me of a freshman high school drafting class. We had to draw a continuous folding shapes connected to one another, each inside the other, with a single tab that could only be taped once from the outside. It was for an egg drop. It also was from a single sheet of paper the size of our drafting table. So the single tab was to constantly unfold/refold checking the egg to drop at the next level. I can tell your egg would have been one of the highest drops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 40 minutes ago, saveevryjp1998 said: Nice work! That completely reminds me of a freshman high school drafting class. We had to draw a continuous folding shapes connected to one another, each inside the other, with a single tab that could only be taped once from the outside. It was for an egg drop. It also was from a single sheet of paper the size of our drafting table. So the single tab was to constantly unfold/refold checking the egg to drop at the next level. I can tell your egg would have been one of the highest drops Thank you. I drafted in high school as well. I'm familiar with that egg drop assignment too though we had to construct a carrier device out of toothpicks. The egg drop was kinda a mess but my drafting was on point! ;) I absolutely enjoy doodling and drafting my ideas before hand so this process was no different. Duplicating the template and then exploring my materials and abilities (Keeping it cheap!) to make this steel version has been a pleasure. Definitely feeling like i nailed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 So ealier this week Soo lately there hasn't been much going on, just poking around here and there. Pulled the airbox and blower motor assy off the firewall and dissected the heater core to find a leaky unit. Cleaned them up and tested both blower motors (factory and the one on the A/C unit) and all is well surprisingly. With the cooler temps it hasn't been ideal to raptor line the floors soo holding off on them for now, Instead i put my attention towards this wiring ordeal I'm up against. Below is a trimmed down wire harness from my donor truck. Only the essentials. After plugging in every connector for the engine and laying out the donor wire I actually got motivated to tackle some of the factory harness. Engine bay harness was up and the old wire loom had to go! Also wanted to clean up the wires and inspect them for cracks or damage. Dirty stuff! no more old wire looms and clean clean clean wires! Pinned out the firewall connector and labeled Everything! Snuck the Dakota digital cluster into place (loose fit) for a moment. I'm digging it for sure! Pulled the under dash harness onto the table and was going to start working through inspecting all the wires and i hit a little wall on decision. To keep this factory fuse block or ditch it in favor of a universal unit that doesn't use the tube style fuses. Lastly for the night I started reading through the setup manuals and noticed the dakota digital cluster requires the use of their supplied sensors for coolant and oil pressure. Now this is my only gripe - with the design of their hex body and 11/16 wrench in required - also an adapter as well BUT at the back of the block it turns out there is ZERO room for a combo wrench and because of the sensor plug is bigger than the hex itself it means a socket isn't going to cut it either! So i re-installed the factory sensor for now and I'm planning on buying another oil cooler bypass that is tapped for for a fitting/sensor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 So there's a number of pictures for this one Taking a little break on the wire harness while i do a bit more research into adapting the donor trucks harness for the LS swap. This also got me thinking about the fuel system and its components and what that should be looking like. Now to start i was ditching the original gas tank right out the gate, it was a side saddle tank and i absolutely planned to setup a tank where a factory spare tire would be no matter what. While an S10 tank is fairly common for FSJ tank swaps in this swap i wanted something different. I got this steel ford bronco tank from my coworker for free and while its got a 20g capacity, its lacking in a catch tray in the tank. Now i know that could be changed but its had me re-considering tank options. I also happen to have a couple of these 96 and older XJ steel gas tanks which arent the 20 gallons that ford bronco tank was BUT they do have a catch tray to help keep that fuel pump fed. I also happen to know a person or two running this setup with some mods to accommodate the LS engines fuel needs. With some test fitting i was liking the fitment, the tank is butted right up to the bottom of the truck bed. My plan is to fab up a gas tank cradle that mounts to the frame - this will also incorporate a gas tank skid. Now the bottom of this bed could use some trimming. I could gain some ground clearance for the tank if i just cut out some of this bed crossmember and then cap off the remainder. After mulling this over with some buddies of mine i got the confidence to go ahead and cut this up! And its gone! Took out 1.5" of material With some 2x4's in place to represent the space i have to work with under this bed i got a start on positioning the gas tank and also ideas on how i'm going to mount the tank in place. Now for the goodies! This pump adapts to the jeeps sending unit with ease Add to that some steel braided fuel lines and an assortment of AN fittings. Also pictured is the common Corvette fuel filter/regulator that basically completes the system, Now i just have to get busy with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acfortier Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 I think I have a NIB Universal Wiring Kit from BJs if it's of any use to you: https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Wiring-Kit-Universal-21-Circuit_p_484.html Bought it when I was going to re-wire my J10, but decided to just re-use the stock one. Dakota Digital gauges are nice! Put one in my J10 when I had it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 9 hours ago, acfortier said: I think I have a NIB Universal Wiring Kit from BJs if it's of any use to you: https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Wiring-Kit-Universal-21-Circuit_p_484.html Bought it when I was going to re-wire my J10, but decided to just re-use the stock one. Dakota Digital gauges are nice! Put one in my J10 when I had it. You'll be seeing a pm from me shortly, updating to a blade fuse box that actually looks like it belongs there is very appealing. I would rather solder the old plugs onto a new wire harness than trying to adapt some amazon special fuse blocks between the firewall and under dash harness. Onto a little progress today! I got a little time in the garage today and made fairly quick work of capping this bed crossmember. Even flap disc'd the weld smooth for a very clean finished look. This has gotten me thinking about potentially wire wheeling the underside of this bed clean and then coating it with some POR15 or bedliner. We'll see how ambitious i get this next week/weekend. just a little angle shot to show tank ground clearance which I'm really happy with. Still considering mounting setup and i've got a few ideas now after tinkering with some scraps. I'll dive into that a little more once i've gotten something mocked up as its a little hard to explain without some materials on hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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