1985 J10 build with my son

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Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

So my father in law had this J10 that he got about 6yrs ago. I don't know the story of why it was completely spray painted olive (including trim and seals :-? ), my guess is it was a deer lease truck. We live in Texas. It may have actually helped to preserve the body since it is in really good shape. It has the 360 v8 with auto trans. He used it for a few years just beating around not as daily driver. At some point he couldn't get it to start anymore and he just left it parked in woods by his camp for 3-4yrs. He also left the passenger side window down. Anyway we tried to buy it from him a few yrs ago and he had other plans for it so we gave up. Well a few months ago we were visiting and he pulled the title out and signed it and said "I want this to be my grandsons first vehicle"....so we got it for free. Now, I am not a mechanic but I have some skills. I am a control systems guy so I can troubleshoot things if I know what to look for. We are going to do most of this ourselves.

What we have done so far:

replace starter relay and starter
replace ignition control module
replace distributor, plugs, plug wires
replace ignition coil and a few electrical wires
new thermostat
new fuel pump and sending unit
replace fuel lines and filler and vent hose
repair crack in gas tank
fresh oil and filter
new air intake and filter

After a month, we got it started and i must've got lucky on the timing because it runs pretty good. Has 125000 miles. Transmission shifts good, brakes work. A lot of things are functional so we are doing good. Now we have moved on to replacing floor pans. Then i want to get it painted. I am starting to have a lot of things rattling in my head of what i need to do and what i need to buy. One of the things i was going to do was strip the paint and do what body work i thought i could handle then let a pro finish the paint. I think now that it would be a bad idea to strip paint now but maybe not paint it for 3 or 4 months. So I am going to just strip where i want to do repair work and then prime over it so at least the metal is staying preserved under paint. I am sure i will have many questions and would welcome any good direction someone may have. This is my first post and i will try to post some pics with it. I had some trouble with pics attachment and don't know if it worked but here we go.
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tedlovesjeeps71
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Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 4:39 pm

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

Welcome, cool project, and good luck!

Fwiw, I use Tapatalk for the site as it makes posting pics much easier.

Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

Try this again with tapatalk

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Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

Arrrgg! I will get it eventually
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Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

Thank you Tedlovesjeeps71...I loaded tapatalk on my phone and fumbled my way through it and got pics to load it looks like. Dang rookie!!

twisted frame
Posts: 637
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:41 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by twisted frame »

Looks good! Great to see another one come out of hibernation. And hey, you've got a tailgate! Bonus. They're not easy to find.
73 J4000. 360, MC 2100, T18A, D20, stock closed knuckle Dana 44 front, 60-2 rear. Warn Lock-O-Matics, Warn/Belleview electric winch, true duals with glasspacks, old-school front diff skid plate, used 265 Toyos on 16" AR wheels.

Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

twisted frame wrote:Looks good! Great to see another one come out of hibernation. And hey, you've got a tailgate! Bonus. They're not easy to find.
Yea i think the tailgate will be fine. I begun stripping the paint today and removing trim. Maybe floorpans next weekend.. so much to do. My wife is beginning to hate this jeep and my son has had enough

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Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

Update on the J10
We have done so many things since my last post but here are some latest pics since it came back from paint and body
It is dark sapphire pearl paint
Once we got it inspected and registered, insured, first day my son takes it to school , the water pump shaft snapped and oh boy does that cause a lot of damage in a hurry. Water pump, belts, fan, fan clutch, radiator....all destroyed. Not bad for a first impression at school and a good memory i would say. Anyway it is going to be a work in progress for a while until all issues are discovered. Notice the tailgate is solid now. Body man said he couldnt repair original stamp and it would pop out again if something hit tailgate so we decided to just go solid...i like it.ImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

Update on the J10
We have done so many things since my last post but here are some latest pics since it came back from paint and body
It is dark sapphire pearl paint
Once we got it inspected and registered, insured, first day my son takes it to school , the water pump shaft snapped and oh boy does that cause a lot of damage in a hurry. Water pump, belts, fan, fan clutch, radiator....all destroyed. Not bad for a first impression at school and a good memory i would say. Anyway it is going to be a work in progress for a while until all issues are discovered. Notice the tailgate is solid now. Body man said he couldnt repair original stamp and it would pop out again if something hit tailgate so we decided to just go solid...i like it.ImageImageImageImageImageImage

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twisted frame
Posts: 637
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:41 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by twisted frame »

The tailgate looks slick like that...seems like a good solution. I really like the dash treatment where you kept the brown dash pad and painted the steel areas dark blue. (maybe it's black?)
73 J4000. 360, MC 2100, T18A, D20, stock closed knuckle Dana 44 front, 60-2 rear. Warn Lock-O-Matics, Warn/Belleview electric winch, true duals with glasspacks, old-school front diff skid plate, used 265 Toyos on 16" AR wheels.

Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

I had leftover body paint. It is actually dark sapphire pearl. And yes it came out great. Love the contrast between the dark sapphire and the tan interior. Then the door panels from bjs offroad really cleaned it all up. Thank you

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jpswapmohn
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Location: CO

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by jpswapmohn »

First time seeing this post. Great looking truck, you did great by it!

Curious about the bed rails that were on it. Never seen those before. Did you keep them? They would look great on that truck if the chrome survived.
One day I will wake up and realize that my jeep is complete...one day, I just know it.
88Wag, LT1/4L60E/NP242, J20 axles, etc. http://imgbox.com/g/rNuIasKYrS
95YJ, STaK, D44's, SOA, ARB's, Bilstein 5150s, 35" KM2's
50 CJ3A
77 J-10 (sold)

Topic author
JDooney76
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:49 am

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by JDooney76 »

I do still have the bed rails. They are painted olive and i am not sure about putting them back on the truck. My plan is to wait until bedliner sprayed in then try to get them back to chrome and possibly install.

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offthebeatenpath
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 6:19 am
Location: Bozeman, Montana

Re: 1985 J10 build with my son

Post by offthebeatenpath »

Looks damn sharp!
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