My first FSJ pickup - questions

[1978J10REDWHITE]

Welcome to the club as a 1979 Wagoneer Jeep owner myself.

My baptism by Fire was about what you're doing.
1.Every single rubber hose the truck has, Everything new! Even the ones under the dash-Replace them all.
2.If your brake lines fittings & rubber parts look even a little bit questionable BJ's has the Corners hose pieces to the wheel cycles, the other hard longer ones on the frame, Get a couple boxes of "NiCopp" material, Its better rust resistant and easier to work with, and a quality bender & end fitting and have at it make your own pieces.
3. At the rigs "age" , I recommend all wheel cyl's NEW and master reservoir too.
BJ's has all the leaf spring Polyurethane bushings. just measure yours to verify sizes.
I'm doing a full shotgun leafs/bushing this weekend!
4. If radiator has crust in it, replace it, flushing helps yet never is really enough, Time on Alum and acidic antifreeze exposure for 45 years now don't skimp on this piece! I would replace it anyway..
5. There is a certain proper oil for your QT/TC, Can't recall so look or ask others what's best to use in the case.
6. Remove clean all battery cables connection. I went to 'battery calbes USA'. website and bought all items and created my own used heavier cable I used 2/0AWG.New end pieces, post boots, heat shrink everything! Add pigtails to the post side too..
7. I just did all 5 my U-joints (factor the Cardan u-joint) (PN 5-153X, Use only Spicer brand ) , again 45 year old rig, just do it. It's not that expensive. I Will do the F-axle knuckle u-joint likely next weekend. BTW, if/when you do that, remove the drive shaft side u-joint first step in the procedure..
Also PB-Blaster spray is very good to use to soak all bolt/nuts/mount points under the part you will work on. a day or so before you rip into things.
Enjoy the experience and stay dirty...

Once you do these essentials of these heavy beasts then you will have a good one enjoyable rig to reliably drive.

[Country Jeep]

Gas filler and vent tubes replaced
Cab floor pan sheet metal installed

Ready to replace the radiator next. I was intending to get the one off BJ’s Offroad, but saw a YTer who said their eBay radiator ended up working out just fine, with good welds and performance. If I can save some money and not take a major risk, I’d ideally like to do that. Can anyone here vouch for the eBay rads? Don’t want to go off just one person’s experience if I can help it.

[Country Jeep]

Have a new question: Are there any beds outside of Jeep J-series pickups that are either directly or indirectly (requiring some mods) compatible with my 79 J10? Mine is shot and needs to be replaced at some point. I found a 73 Dodge D100 with a bed similar in length to mine, but underneath it looks like it’s configured very differently

[Stuka]

No other bed will bolt on.

Jeep used three different beds from 74-87.
7ft thrift side (step side)
7ft town side (fleet side)
8ft town side (fleet side)

Nobody else made a 7ft bed, and really its a shame, because its such a better length than the 6-6.5ft beds offered by the big three.

The 8ft beds are of a similar length, but the wheel well placement can vary. You can make another trucks bed work with some custom mounts, but I cannot think of any other trucks that have a body style that would look good.

Your other option is a flat bed (assuming you cant find a jeep bed). Flat beds are a bit more universal. And a flatbed with wooden sides looks pretty good on a J-Truck.

There are also new bedsides and floors that are sold so you could rebuild your bed, if body work is your thing.

[tgreese]

JMO - the conventional bed we see on pickup trucks is way, way more useful than a flat bed. A flat bed truck has specific commercial uses that are not very good for day to day use, unlike a pickup.

If you want to make a truggie (combo truck-buggie) as an off-road toy, a flat bed is a good option.

I don't want to be too much of a buzz kill, but I will point out a few things that might be relevant.

First, Jeeps are not great for rust. Some manufacturers from this era are better than others, but Jeep was not great overall. If you find a rust-free J-truck, it's that much more valuable because the majority of its kin are rusting away. Bed sides are particularly bad in this respect.

I'd also point out there were way way fewer of these trucks built than comparable trucks from the major makers. Ford, for example, built (and still builds) something like a million light trucks annually. Jeep was in the tens of thousands, and who knows how many remain.

If you want to restore the truck you have, you might look for a replacement bed. They are not plentiful, because the beds rust away before the rest of the truck typically. The Jeep beds are unusual, in that Jeep Corp. took their Wagoneer platform and molded it into a pickup truck. Seems likely the Wagoneer came first, and the J-truck came after. The bed is made to line up with the comparatively narrow Wagoneer cab, and the rear axle is widened to provide four feet between the wheel wells. This fits standard 4x8 sheet goods. The J-trucks need those rear flares, to provide their rear track width, not for big tires. I'd guess the front was widened to match the rear and not look goofy.

So the bed is pretty darn specific to the J-trucks. If you look for a replacement bed, you might find the truck that goes along with it is in better shape than the truck you have. That's the way it goes - usually it pays to start with the best vehicle you can find.

There's no shame in parting out a rusty vehicle. Let it provide parts so that better examples can live on. If you are attached to the truck you have, I'd suggest you start at car-part.com and look for a replacement bed. Or try the Jeep junkyards sometimes described here. Or try the WTB ads here or at ifsja.org. It would help to add your general location to your posts. As a caution, I expect there are at least half-a-dozen owners looking for a replacement bed, for every decent bed that's available.

[Country Jeep]

I’m located in southern Alabama. Truck isn’t being restored, just fixed up for hunting use. Being realistic with finances, so what works and what I can afford is my goal - resale value is not a factor, I just like the truck.

Was talking about maybe going with a flatbed with one of my shop guys that I trust. Junked flatbeds are readily available here where interstates connect, so that’s one option we’re considering. Still open to getting a donor bed though, won’t jump on anything probably til tax season.

As I understand, the bed is shot beyond reasonable repair, but does anyone have the link to the bedsides and floors that are available? I’ll check the links suggested above later as well. Thanks for the input thus far all

[Stuka]

Need sides and floors:
https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Bed-Floor-Se ... p_188.html
https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Jeep-J-truck ... p_198.html

[tgreese]

Suggest you post pictures of your bed. Alabama is not rust country... maybe the truck came from the northeast or midwest?

Suggest you can repair it if 1) you are willing to accept a not-perfect outcome (ie obvious patches), and 2) you can cut and weld new metal where the current holes are. Given your described use, I'd think some obvious patches would be fine.

Especially for the floor, the patch panels are quite expensive considering how much shipping could be. You may not find a Jeep bed, but many truck beds could donate the floor material and ribs and such. Do you have a tailgate? Tailgates are scarce and worth repairing on their own.

[Country Jeep]

Need sides and floors:
https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Bed-Floor-Se ... p_188.html
https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Jeep-J-truck ... p_198.html

Much appreciated, thanks!

Suggest you post pictures of your bed. Alabama is not rust country... maybe the truck came from the northeast or midwest?

Suggest you can repair it if 1) you are willing to accept a not-perfect outcome (ie obvious patches), and 2) you can cut and weld new metal where the current holes are. Given your described use, I'd think some obvious patches would be fine.

Especially for the floor, the patch panels are quite expensive considering how much shipping could be. You may not find a Jeep bed, but many truck beds could donate the floor material and ribs and such. Do you have a tailgate? Tailgates are scarce and worth repairing on their own.

I do have the tailgate, and surprisingly it isn’t remotely as compromised as the rest of the bed. Obvious patches would be fine as far as I’m concerned. Here’s a link to the original photos I took: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kc8bdnttlgbj ... 3P69a?dl=0

[tgreese]

That bed looks great to me.

Is there something that I'm missing? The hat channels are rusted, but those can be replaced as I advised in an earlier post in this thread. If you show the worst of the bed rust, I wonder what you think a rusty bed looks like.

[Country Jeep]

That bed looks great to me.

Is there something that I'm missing? The hat channels are rusted, but those can be replaced as I advised in an earlier post in this thread. If you show the worst of the bed rust, I wonder what you think a rusty bed looks like.

Down here in the Deep South™ we think anything with rust perforations is bad :p The final assessment though is from my shop guy, who wasn’t attempting to sell me on anything for it, just stated as such. I’ll take some more (and better) photos when I next get a chance, and I’ll also take a video doing a full sweep so everyone can have a good handle of what’s going on, where the worst of it all is, etc and pitch any final feedback. If the bed can be salvaged, then I’ll look into going that route

[tgreese]

Ya know, I suspect your guy just does not want to work on it. Likely does not want to offend a good customer by saying no.

Unless you've hidden something, that's insignificant rust. If I were looking for a replacement bed, I would be thrilled to find one in such good condition. Look on the Raybuck site - they sell those rusted-out channels for all years of Fords and Chevrolets. They used to sell a universal hat channel, but I can't find it now.

Old cars are hard to own if you don't do your own work. I would do this myself. As body work goes, this is about the easiest job you can imagine. Pull the bed off, cut off the rusted channels, weld on new channels, paint. Most of the paint will be hidden and need not even match. You could even bolt-on a replacement channel, if the welding is an issue. As I mentioned, Raybuck may sell a channel you can use, or have them bent up at your local HVAC shop, or use rectangular tubing from your local steel supply that's close to the original dimension. Not difficult.

<edit> Looking back at your posts, I bought an eBay all-aluminum radiator for my J20 and it did not fit. Had to send it back at significant additional expense. They took it back, though I had to pay the return shipping.

To replace it I bought a plastic and aluminum replacement from RockAuto. It fits perfectly and keeps the engine cool. The alternative is to find an old-time radiator shop near you that can recore the original radiator. These shops are few and far between, since most "radiator shops" today don't work on radiators - they just replace them with the commodity radiators.

[Country Jeep]

Time to look into the bed. I’ve taken a video of the underside of the whole Jeep, including the bed, and also some photos of the bed with the rubber mat moved out of the way. It seems someone put some steel into the bed already. If it still seems that it may be salvageable, I will take it up to my old neighbor growing up to help - presently my best point of contact outside of the guy who finished welding the patches to the cab.

New photos and video can be found at same Dropbox link as before:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kc8bdnttlgbj ... 3P69a?dl=0

YouTube link to video since Dropbox compresses video more harshly on mobile than YouTube

https://youtu.be/HjFPUuHvmAA

[Hobart]

I just noticed this thread, here's one thing I can contribute: I have the below listed radiator in my '79 Wagoneer and it works great and fit fine. Had it in 95-degree temps in Chicago with no issues (stock 360cid, 2bbl). I have an electric fan in place of the mechanical fan. I actually plan to do a write up on my install one of these days. Good luck with your project! https://www.ebay.com/itm/323833031743

[Country Jeep]

I just noticed this thread, here's one thing I can contribute: I have the below listed radiator in my '79 Wagoneer and it works great and fit fine. Had it in 95-degree temps in Chicago with no issues (stock 360cid, 2bbl). I have an electric fan in place of the mechanical fan. I actually plan to do a write up on my install one of these days. Good luck with your project! https://www.ebay.com/itm/323833031743

Thank you! Went with an eBay radiator in the end too, and had zero issues installing it. Still, after a full cooling system flush prior to install for about 30 mins until the water coming out was clean, upon install and fill it quickly turned all rust brown again after running for just a minute. No coolant is showing up in the oil, so I’m hesitant to think it’s a head gasket failure. But it’s strange (to me) how even after a full flush that it would go straight brown with particulate so quick again.

[devildog80]

Might need multiple flow points to stick the garden hose in or connect to, so direction of flush happens from more than just one direction?

Just a thought

[Country Jeep]

Might need multiple flow points to stick the garden hose in or connect to, so direction of flush happens from more than just one direction?

Just a thought

Worth a shot for sure. I have a water pump I still need to install, so when I go to do that, I'll give it another flush from more than just the top end.

[devildog80]

Maybe a hose connector on your heater core hoses too, and give it a good shot back through the intake.

[Country Jeep]

Bed removed! Video of underside and of exposed truck frame uploaded to Dropbox link. Welding work will begin this month.

The area where the exhaust was rubbing against the gas tank is now clear. There’s still a fair bit of clearance between the driver and passenger-side exhaust pipes that the one that was rubbing can be shifted further away without too much torsion by simply adjusting the mounting brackets. The only notable change I can see would be where that tailpipe exits out back.

My question is, should I keep the stock tank or switch to a fuel cell? I would like to retain mechanical gas pump and not switch to anything electric if possible, and I’ve never used a fuel cell before, so I don’t know if having one mounted in the bed vs under will somehow affect how the gas is fed in such a way as to necessitate an electric pump. There’s no real advantage for me to having a fuel cell either way, but if it would have some real advantage that I’m overlooking, now is the time to figure it out.

[Country Jeep]

Bed repaired and reinstalled. All was working well for a few days, but then the engine got starved of fuel (using the original tank, but put a new sending unit on it before reinstalling). Doesn’t seem like there’s any fuel getting from the tank to the block. Ran air through the line while disconnected and didn’t find any blockages, and replaced the mechanical pump, but still doesn’t seem to be getting any fuel. What might be causing this?