'78 J10 Ambitions

[78jrust]

My wife and I relocated back to my hometown in Florida two years ago and spent the next two years being envious of our neighbor's 1978 J10 long wheelbase long bed truck.

At the beginning of the month, we bumped into our neighbor who mentioned his friend had an early 80s CJ for sale and asked if we were interested. "Never hurts to take a look" we replied. One thing lead to another and our neighbor opted to purchase the CJ and we opted for his J10.

And so the journey begins...

First order of business, rust prevention. The J10 was first restored well over 12 years ago in TN, we are unsure how long it has been in Florida, but she's unraveling fast due to being beachside.

We look forward to becoming a part of the forum as my wife and I embark on this restore.

[thej10guy]

Welcome to the club! Sounds like the beginning to a fun story. Just curious, do you have any plans/ideas as to what you’re going to do to the truck?


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[78jrust]

Hopeful to get her back to as close to what she was from the factory as we can. Trying not to go down the resto/mod path unless we can not find original parts. Ultimate goal is to keep her on the road for another 44 years.

Already having to make consolations; well perhaps short term consolations. The best example is the bed. The sides are ok, the flares can be salvaged but the floor of the bed is gone. So until we can find a long bed in better condition, we’ll replace the floor of the bed with pressure treated 2*4 or 2*6 as if it were a trailer.

We might patch the tailgate corners or buy a reproduction tailgate and cut the center raised Jeep panel out of the original and tie that into the reproduction gate.

It is getting hard to find original parts that can still be refurbished; so we’ll have to find workarounds as close to original as we can.

Also doesn’t help that every part starts at $30, no matter the size, shape or condition. Don’t get me started on the $1600-$1800 for a refurbished gauge cluster some people are asking.

We might try to find another J10 rolling chassis with decent bones to purchase and combine the best parts of the two vs buying individual pieces at marked up rates.

She runs but the rust is devouring her fast. Looks can be deceiving. Behind that bumper is completely separated chrome and behind that the body has rusted away 2-3 inches up.

[thej10guy]

Yeah rust is a killer. I live in Wisconsin so salt is an issue up here to, but it’s only in the winter instead of all year round. I have a 79 j10 lwb that has awful rust issues, the floor is completely gone, cab and bed, and the bedsides and lower doors are also gone. I’m using it as a parts truck because the chrome was in really nice condition. I know what you mean when you’re saying everything is really expensive. Budget is a killer. It would be so nice if our budgets for these trucks were just endless and you didn’t have to worry about it


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