Just purchased a 1985 GW, had a few questions

[letank]

yes but what im saying is the dash color is from older models, the seats carpet door panels are from newer models. Its the wierded interior ive seen if thats factory lol

Very good points about the seats and interior, I missed the details, the door panels do not have the pull, so 86 or newer, as for the seats I cannot tell as my 85 came with lowbacks from a 78, I put better seats afterwards, and installed a final edition grille as it was getting annoying to repeatedly fix the pignose grille !

[Srdayflyer]

wood grain siding, back in the day when you special ordered from the factory thru the dealer they could ala carte options dealers mostly ordered them fully optioned to increase their profit margin, not to say the waggys and cherokees had all that many options , i looked at a cherokee a few years ago govt truck had heater delete option, the options were off their fleet order options list like flooring delete, vinyl floor, front only carpet, early models you could et panel side rear winddow delete,rear doors, no tail gate. you could order diesel option, right hand drive, so any thing is possible when looking at rigs, there is a guy in ohio who as a factory one off club cab, long before the big 3 even thought of club/crew cab concept, the engineers just couldnt get top brass to buy off on the idea, amc had a lot of innovations that were deemed too out there , but are main stream today , think amc eagle the 1st suv before the craze took hold, thats the facts that i know,

[Drewsk]

Given that seems to be pieced together from a few different years (not that is a deal breaker or bugs me at all, part of what I like about these) it wouldn’t surprise me if the vinyl was either originally all adhesive or not there at all. It’s been sitting without it for a while based on the current paint condition. Thanks everyone for all your input and info so far, it’s a huge help.

Here’s another question: I haven’t crawled fully underneath to ID the transfer case yet. However, it does have locking front hubs. My understanding is that these had a vacuum operated on the fly system originally, is that correct?

[Drewsk]

And as a follow up is that skid plate bad enough to be in need of immediate replacement?

[letank]

And as a follow up is that skid plate bad enough to be in need of immediate replacement?

Keep an eye... it is holding the gas tank. I have a lot worse and still road worthy.

Next on your list is ammeter bypass!

[Drewsk]

What is the benefit of the ammeter bypass/how does it work and what does it impact? That’s a new one to me

[SJTD]

Some folks don't like the full charge current running through the dash. Apparently fires have occurred.

Requires minor rewiring under the hood and/or the dash and swapping a voltage gauge in if you want it. Some guys just connect the two old wires together on the plus side of the new volt meter but then you still have all the current going through the dash, just not through the gauge itself.

To me, if you're going to bypass the gauge you should do it right and bypass all that extra wire running to and from where the gauge was.

[letank]

What is the benefit of the ammeter bypass/how does it work and what does it impact? That’s a new one to me

viewtopic.php?p=220015

The ammeter gets old, connections are getting a bit oxidized, then ammeter will fail and no power as the current flow to the ammeter before going to the general supply. The OE ammeter is a 60amp rated device, if you have AC your alternator ouput 75 to 85 amp depending on which alternator you have. The OE alternator on the 74 was a 37 amp alternator!

[devildog80]

Lots of write ups on this and other Jeep forums regarding the replacement of Ammeter with V gauge. Google search and you will find lots of references.