I am here in Idaho so there are a few salvage yards that I know of that have some old Jeep Pickups in them. I just happened to be a in a high-volume salvage yard when I found these. It was a '66 with a 327 in it. I wish I had the money and place to put more parts since it had some goodies on it. It had a 327 in it and while I was looking at the motor I saw that it had been rebuilt at some point. It had all the rebuilt specs neatly stamped into the front of the block. It also had a long bed wrap around bumper. The bed was probably better than most I had seen, but still had the typical rust where the floor meets the sidewall.tgreese wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:34 am Seems a shame to destroy a good truck bed for repairs on another vehicle. Typically the beds are the part that most often is hammered from use. You could imagine some cases where the rest of the truck is not worth saving but the flares are ok. Kinda think this would be a rare occurrence today.
I would point out - AMC upgraded these bed in 1973 from single wall to double wall. The back end of J-trucks changed too, going to the narrow rectangular tail lights and wider tailgate with a center latch instead of chains. These trucks were never big sellers, and I'm sure Kaiser sold even fewer of them annually than AMC.
Seems to me you are more likely to find a junked bed from these later trucks, since AMC grew Jeep Corp a lot, and the addition of the inner wall made them rust out faster than the earlier examples. I recall they added drain holes, and the inner wall was simply added to the inside of the bed, without changing the existing structure of the fender. The additional layer of steel does not seem like much of an obstacle to a sawzall, though you'd need to drill out another row of spot welds, or just cut between the inner and outer wall.
Like the WT Cherokee, the back end of the fender seems to rot faster than the front. I'd wonder if you could find enough properly-folded steel to rebuild your existing flares from one or more rusty J-trucks. Use the fronts of the rights for the backs of the lefts, and vice-versa.
True that!tgreese wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 3:02 pm Cool - In your place, I'd cut the J-truck bed for replacement flares.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=flare+vs+flair
I used to visit Orange County and I-10 Corridor yards a lot when my parents were still with us. Lots of pick-and-pulls on the I-10, with a surprising variety of cars. Once a car went into a pick-and-pull, it only came out as parts or scrap. May as well take what you find.
I did not mark the fenders when I removed them. I really didn't even think about it then.threepiece wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 11:52 pm I hope you marked the flairs right and left sides. They are different and won’t fit properly if they are switched. Also when fitting the flair pay little attention to the spot weld locations that are in the truck flairs. The shape of the Cherokee and truck bed bodyside panels are different, especially near the bottom. I believe the bottom of the Cherokee body curves inward near the bottom more than the J truck. The spot welds on the flair should be showing in this area when the flair is fitted properly.
Good info! Thanks!tgreese wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 10:15 am The rear fender for a Townside was available as a repair part, according to the '74-80 parts book. They are the same, left and right, PN 957183, two required. Group 31.040-1. This is a '60s era part number.
Also listed in the '62-73 book with the same part number; a line each for right and left, with the same part number for both.
Well this is curious. When I did this same flair swap I recall having trouble fitting the flairs at first. It was then that I switched sides and was able to get a proper fit. I also recall looking for the difference and discovered a very slight change in the shape between the front and rear portions of the flair that accounted for the misfit condition.tgreese wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 10:15 am The rear fender for a Townside was available as a repair part, according to the '74-80 parts book. They are the same, left and right, PN 957183, two required. Group 31.040-1. This is a '60s era part number.
Also listed in the '62-73 book with the same part number; a line each for right and left, with the same part number for both.
I did notice that the spot weld pattern is a bit different on the forward and rearward sides of the flare. Maybe the spot welds created a difference in how the flares fitted up to the sheet metal and worked better one way over the other?threepiece wrote: ↑Mon Dec 25, 2023 1:20 am Well this is curious. When I did this same flair swap I recall having trouble fitting the flairs at first. It was then that I switched sides and was able to get a proper fit. I also recall looking for the difference and discovered a very slight change in the shape between the front and rear portions of the flair that accounted for the misfit condition.