GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

The day after Christmas, I found myself a nice J Truck. It was too good to pass up so I brought it home. After some thought, I decided to put the Wagoneer project on hold and start in on the truck. It should be a quicker project to get going so it makes sense as the lease on my wife's car is up in April and we'll need another vehicle. She will be able to drive our LJ and I will (hopefully) be able to drive the Gladiator. So I tucked the Wagoneer into the house garage today and prepped the barn for Project Gladiator!

Right now, the Gladiator is at a friend's house while I got space ready here at home. From my initial investigations, it's a 1970 J4800 camper special with a Dauntless V8. It was originally purchased in Colorado (there's a dealer sticker one the rear), and made it's way to New Mexico (I found an old NM registration slip). The guy I bought it from took possession of it when the previous owner paid him to restore it for him. Eventually, the owner decided not to finish the project, so he gave it to the restorer in exchange for money due. The restorer had no desire to finish the project, so it just sat. He finally decided to get rid of it. My gain.

The Buick V8 has already been fully rebuilt with many new parts. The frame was sandblasted and painter with POR-15. The underside of the bed has also been repainted and the floorboards of the cab were replaced. The seller said it was a running truck when it came in with everything on it. My inventory so far looks like I have pretty much everything except for the bumpers, front fender and door trims, the top windshield trim, and one mirror. The seller is looking for those pieces. I will hound him like crazy. It even has the stock radio!

Here it is the day we pulled it out of the weeds.
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The plan is to bring it home tomorrow and begin.
Last edited by glake on Tue Dec 29, 2015 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

I brought the truck home yesterday. Here's a shot of the Dauntless. I'm not partial to the color so I will be repainting it.
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I have two transmissions that will be combined to make one. The one on the left is a 400 from a Wagoneer, the one on the right is an empty BOP case. The BOP case will be rebuilt using new parts and parts from the other case.
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I spent this morning sorting through boxes of parts, getting it somewhat organized and taking stock of what's there and what's missing. It's a challenge when someone else did the dismantling. The J4000 emblem on the left is broken between the 4 and 0. Anyone know a good trick to fix?
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I have a few parts I'm not sure what they are for so if anyone knows, I'd like to know.


This afternoon I got on removing the bed. I got the tailgate removed. Had to drill out the bolt head to do it. The chains do not appear to be original. I need to see what they should look like.
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The original under bed fuel tank was loose in the bed. It's been repaired using fiberglass. Guess I'll ditch it and get a new poly tank.
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The truck has the auxiliary fuel tank in the bed. Removing it was a bit of a challenge. It was surrounded by what appeared to be sawdust. It filled about 1/2 of a 5 gallon trash can. I don't like the way they cut in the fill hole. It was elongated I suspect to make it easier to install or remove. I'm not sure if I will keep it, but it would be nice to have. If I do, I'm going to make the hole look nicer and probably fill in the stock location.
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So now the bed is off and tomorrow I start on the cab.
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Side note - Holy spring pack Batman! They weren't messing around when they built this thing!
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The front sway bar is awesome as well. I need to pick another one of these and put on the Wagoneer.
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Last edited by glake on Thu Dec 31, 2015 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings

twisted frame
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by twisted frame »

Exceptional shot of that front sway bar. That's nothing like my 73. Great to see that from your truck, thanks. I wish I could ID those other parts for you but I have a feeling they are Kaiser-era-specific, which I have no direct experience with.
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.

Herk
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by Herk »

The correct color for the Buick 350 is red, to include the front cover, thermostat housing, etc... It appears yours is either a later engine or has had a later 4 Bbl intake added (a worthwhile mod).
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Earlier in the week I removed the t-case from the tranny and got it ready for the rebuild. Both cases are going to the shop this week to create one BOP case from the two I'm dropping off. The t-case was a mess. Not only on the outside, but the gear oil had turned to a mud-like glop. I've had Dana 20's in the past, but this is the first that I've seen with this type of sensor on it. Anyone have any information on this set-up?
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Yesterday was a busy one. The day started with a bit of a trek about an hour and a half north of me to pick up an 8 lug GM 10-bolt front end to replace the closed knuckle in the front. Left at about 6 am and made it back home with the axle by 9:00.
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After I got home I was able to remove all the front sheet metal.
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Here's another shot of that awesome sway bar. Now I know where Currie stole the idea for theirs.
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Today started with clearing out the dash and doing some axle work. Found some interesting items along the way. Apparently, things are prone to rolling into the defrost vents; pens, paperclips, bullets. It was also equipped with a hydraulic trailer brake controller.
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About mid-day, I had a visitor fly in the garage. He hung out pretty much all afternoon, flying from one perch to the next, watching me work. I never knew birds were gear-heads too.
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I got the 10-bolt front axle pretty much all torn down and will pick up new rotors, calipers, bearings, etc. this week. I'm also trying to decide whether I should put in a Detroit Truetrac, or splurge for a e-locker. I pulled one of the axles on the Dana 60 (full floaters sure are nice!) and counted the splines to verify that it was indeed a 30 spline. I also opened the dif cover to find that it was even worse than the t-case. It was literally the consistency of tar! I even had to get out the torch to heat it up to get it to flow. Guess I'll be stripping it and thoroughly cleaning it.
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Last edited by glake on Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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HeavyMetalThunder_81
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by HeavyMetalThunder_81 »

That looks a lot like the AMC 20 I recently picked up. It smelled so bad when I opened it, it smelled up our entire house...and I was in the garage with the door to the house closed! I'll be splurging for an E-locker myself.
Good looking build.
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b-crow
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by b-crow »

Great build. I'm looking forward to following.
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Renodemona
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by Renodemona »

Nice tear down! Bummer that the Tcase and Axle were worse than expected on the inside though.
"Wait, what's on fire!?" KJ7TCT
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1976 Cherokee w/t 'Susan' 401/TH400/QT(PT)
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glake
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

HeavyMetalThunder_81 wrote:That looks a lot like the AMC 20 I recently picked up. It smelled so bad when I opened it, it smelled up our entire house...and I was in the garage with the door to the house closed! I'll be splurging for an E-locker myself.
Good looking build.
Haven't been able to finish yet. I've got parts, including the locker on order. It's still oozing black goop. I need to hit it with the degreaser this weekend.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Just got some time to put up my picts from last weekend. The weekend started with a trip to the DMV. I took off from work on Friday to do visit the wonderful DMV to take care of the missing title. It took two trips and some re-assembly... it's a long story, but in the end, I was able to get it.
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The rest of the weekend was spent stripping everything else.
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I also got the new front axle placed. The 10-bolt was the correct width, but the spring perches didn't line-up so I could't even us the pad on the side of the pumpkin. I was able to get 2" perches from Summit and the fit was fine.
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I pulled the springs to give them a cleaning. The bushings seem to be in good shape. It's good that they were, because they are somewhat of an odd size.
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I pulled out the rear axle. It's still a dripping mess. Picked up some kerosene today to give it a cleaning this weekend.
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I gave 4 Wheel Parts a call to find out the latest status of my e-locker. It was apparently shipped from the east coast, made it as far as Texas and got stuck in the nasty weather. Living in So. Cal. we sometimes forget that winter can be nasty. It's been in the 70's this week.
Last edited by glake on Thu Jan 21, 2016 6:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Stuka
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by Stuka »

Yeah, post mount FSJ's use an unusual bushing in back. Add to that there is more than one post size used, and some used rubber, and some older ones used bronze bushings.

That is some of the most nasty fluid I have ever seen.

The front axle is a bolt in to 74+ J-Trucks. But the older most mount models have the outboard springs. Some people convert over to the later under frame spring mounts to let them use common 2.5" wide springs, and to decrease the chance of tire rub.
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Been down with the creepy crud, so I lost some time on the truck. I did manage to get my tires mounted last Saturday before I was bed-ridden for 3 days. I went with American Racing AR23 16x8 wheels and 285/75-16 Goodyear Duratracs.
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Earlier in the week, my HEI distributor showed up from Warr Performance. That perked me up a bit.
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Also picked up my BOP transmission and got to feeling better by the end of the week and was able to put down a little Buick (or close to it) red. The transfer case is still in the rebuild process, so once I finish it up I'll add another coat or two.
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This weekend is all about axles. I got started rebuilding both the front GM 10 bolt and and the Dana 60 rear a of couple weeks ago, but had some delays rounding up some bearings and seals for the 60. I finished up the front yesterday and set it in place. I ended up putting in a Detroit Trueurac up front with the 4.11 gears all around.
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I got the rear finished up today and will put it in place tomorrow. I'll post the pictures tomorrow - pizza's here and I'm hungry.
Last edited by glake on Sun Feb 14, 2016 6:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Here's the pictures of the disk brakes on the rear D60. The bolt-on bracket would not work on the outer face, so I had to change it to attach from behind by cutting out a portion. It now bolts with 3 instead of 4 bolts. It also needed a spacer and a bit of grinding to fit.
Had I gone with a floating disk, rather than press on, it may have worked fine the other way. The first issue I found was that I put the mounting bolts through the other way as I had seen in some other pictures, but the hub hit on the nuts, so I turned them around. I still wasn't happy with the clearance so that led me to press the disk on the back of the hub, like it is in the front. I also used front lug nut bolts for longer length.
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I have to admit that I made an error. When I first mounted the bracket, I had the caliper towards the rear. When I set the springs down on the axle, I couldn't get the top caliper bolt in! So I had to pull it back out and slide the bracket down one hole. The caliper now sits on the bottom.
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The next big task will be figuring out the parking brakes on the caddy calipers.

Since this had the Camper Special package, the rear leaf pack is huge, so I decided to remove the two large leaf springs. I don't plan on carrying a camper, so this should soften the ride a bit. I could probably loose a few more, but this is a start.
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I moved back up front and hooked up the sway bar, mounted the calipers and shock, and put the tires on.
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I couldn't install the rear shocks as the mounting point on the frame was a bit too long. It looks like the Camper Special may have used a longer shock and moved the mounting bolt higher on the frame. I'll have to move the bolt down lower.
Last edited by glake on Mon Feb 15, 2016 6:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings

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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by Cheap Hobby »

You are not going to be able to bleed the rear with the bleeder on the bottom. It is below the brake line and the air will be at the top of the caliper. Your calipers will be in line to contact any thing thrown to the side from the tires and the eBay brake cable will be exposed aswell.
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glake
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Cheap Hobby wrote:You are not going to be able to bleed the rear with the bleeder on the bottom. It is below the brake line and the air will be at the top of the caliper. Your calipers will be in line to contact any thing thrown to the side from the tires and the eBay brake cable will be exposed aswell.
Yeah. I've already moved them back up for that reason.


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1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Test fit.
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Last edited by glake on Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Last weekend was the Big 3 Swap Meet here in the San Diego area. I searched for the accessory brackets that I needed for my Buick 350, but not a single Buick item was to be found! I did, however, pick up a nice new 3 piece bench-type seat. They are brand new seats that were removed from vehicles being converted for handicap access vehicles. After striking out on the brackets at the swap meet, I headed over to the pick and pull yard. I posted it on my bracket question thread, but thought I'd put it here as well to keep my build thread complete.

I found a 1984 Buick Regal 3.8 V6 with A/C. All of the brackets bolted right up to my 1970 Buick 350. The Regal had the addition of an air pump/smog pump that I did not need mounted above the power steering pump, so I cut that bracket off. The only issue was that the bracket bolt spread for the alternator was a bit too wide. The 140 amp alternator I bought was listed for an 84 Regal, but it looks like the adjustable mounting wing on the alternators have been shortened since 84. I corrected this by using part of the air pump bracket. Both the stock belts for the ps pump and the a/c compressor fit perfectly. The belt for the alternator needed to be a few inches longer.

A note for anyone that may ever do this; be sure to get all of the pulleys, including the ones on the water pump and balancer. Also, check the ones on the alternator, compressor and ps pump. The one that came on my alternator was a different V width so I had to change it. The remanufactured AC compressor's pulley I bought from O'Reilly's was correct, and I took the ps pump from the Regal, but am going to replace it since I found that it leaks. A reman pump was not that much more than buying the kit to rebuild it.

The belts I used were:
Alternator = 3/8” x 48-3/4” OC or 10mm x 1238mm OC
Compressor = 3/8”x52-1/8” OC or 10mm x 1323mm OC
PS Pump = 3/8” x 38-1/8” OC or 10mm x 967mm OC

With the elimination of the air pump I have an additional ring on the water pump pulley. I'm going to explore the possibility of adding a York compressor converted to an air compressor.
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The short adjustable bracket is from the air pump mount.
Last edited by glake on Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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glake
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GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

Been doing a lot of odds and ends work, it all finally came together this weekend to make it look like something. The motor, trans and t-case went in.
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I set the bed in place. I could have easily went taller on the tires. I may take some more leaves out of the pack. It's a bit stink bug - no camper weight on it - or maybe I should pick up an old cabover camper.
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The jack underneath is holding the gas tank up so I could check clearances. I plan to change it from mounting to the underside of the bed to having a cradle in the frame.
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I dropped the cab on and set my new seats in. It's going to need a bit of fab work for the seats.
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Got the cab and bed on the trailer so I can take it down this week to be blasted.
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Last edited by glake on Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings

rocklaurence
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by rocklaurence »

So, the Caddy calipers are wide enough for the 8 Lug rotors-Kool. Can you share the model and year /mounting kit information?
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glake
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Re: GL's 1970 J4800 Gladiator

Post by glake »

rocklaurence wrote:So, the Caddy calipers are wide enough for the 8 Lug rotors-Kool. Can you share the model and year /mounting kit information?
I bought the kit from Lugnut 4x4
1970 Jeep Gladiator: Daily Driver!
1963 Jeep Wagoneer: In progess
1972 Jeep Wagoneer: waiting in the wings
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