How rare is a full floating rear axle 3/4 J truck

[1cdccop]

Are the 8 lug Camper Specials? hard to find. I would like a J truck but want a heavy sprung 3/4 ton. Most of the J series pickups I've looked at have heavy duty springs but light duty axles. I know Jeep made them but dont know the designation, like an F250 or C20. I've seen J2000s and J4000s with 5 and 6 lug axles. Am I missing something? These trucks must be scarce because even here out west they're like finding Waldo.

[TPICherokee]

Any J20, 1974 and on up will have a full floating Dana 60 with 8-lug axles.

[1cdccop]

Any J20, 1974 and on up will have a full floating Dana 60 with 8-lug axles.
Did they make any back in the Gladiator days? A 74 or 75 would be nice but I cant find one anywhere. Tons of 1/2 ton options but I would like to find one of the big trucks. Jeep must not have sold many of these or the owners that had them drove them until they fell apart.

[Bill Moore]

Did they make any back in the Gladiator days? A 74 or 75 would be nice but I cant find one anywhere. Tons of 1/2 ton options but I would like to find one of the big trucks. Jeep must not have sold many of these or the owners that had them drove them until they fell apart.69 was the first year, the model number was J3800, the next year they went to the J4800 until 74 when Jeep went to the J20. These are all 8 lug axle trucks

[1cdccop]

Thanks for the info. I've never seen a 3800 or 4800, only 2000s and 4000s. The J20s are probabley what I was thinking of but still, scarce. I've yet to see one for sale around here, and I'm in Cali:eek: I'm sure the pre J20s are a comodity. I'd love to find one.

[1cdccop]

Thanks for the info. I've never seen a 3800 or 4800, only 2000s and 4000s. The J20s are probabley what I was thinking of but still, scarce. I've yet to see one for sale around here, and I'm in Cali:eek: I'm sure the pre J20s are a comodity. I'd love to find one.
My bad. I do believe I saw a Kaiser era 8 lug in a pick a part, in Victorville some years ago.

[joe]

Thanks for the info. I've never seen a 3800 or 4800, only 2000s and 4000s. .
The camper truck was just one model Lotsa 3/4 ton trucks built in the 200/300/2000/3000/4000/ series but you can't tell by the badges on the fenders all could be ordeded as 1/2/heavy 1/2 or 3/4 you'll need to see the VIN to know if it was sold as a 2800/3800/4800 etc.

[AMC-J/20]

Everybody i have talked to who have owned a 3/4ton and a handful of 1ton Jeep truck's all say they loved them and owned many of them . . .

A few said tho they only owned one they drove till they where shot, 1 guy said he wore out 3 body's. . .He said the 3rd body was very rotten by the time the engine gave out.

He claim to of had just over 380K miles on a 401 4bbl, he was from Canada says they rot fast there he's by the water so it got a salt bath from the top as well as the bottom.

My uncle had a J/20 360 2bbl 4spd he also said claims to of put over 300K miles on his with very little trouble never ws left strained always got home.

I guess these truck's can withstand the test of time & mileage.

Can these truck's really be push into the low to high 300K-MI range ?

Mike

[HOOT]

My Dad put 240,000 on the original 360 in his Honcho. Only issue with it was breaking rocker arms occasionally and eventually needed a valve job. He replaced it with a used 401 because he got a great deal on it and was a fresh rebuild. Totalled the truck 5,000 miles later. If not for the wreck he would of drove it up till his death I'm sure. He was devastated that there was no new Jeep trucks being made and next to none to be found when he wrecked it. No one around would try to put it back together because of no parts available and the cost. He loved that truck and it held up quite well for an unforgiving owner. An oil change to him was when the gauge would hardly read anything, in goes 3 quarts good for another 5,000. It was his daily driver work truck.
I've seen him pull out of the lumber yard loaded with sand till the springs broke. I've seen him hook up to concrete trucks and drag them back up to the road. I've seen the truck 3 ft. off the ground and flying quite gracefully.

Yea I'd say Jeeps are actually a great hard working truck. Sure they had their problems. Talk to anyone who owned it since it was new and you'll find a great following/love affair with it. Talk to someone who bought a well beat used hard and put up wet Jeep and you'll find the haters. Sitting time on these or any vehicle is hard on it.

[Bill Moore]

The camper truck was just one model Lotsa 3/4 ton trucks built in the 200/300/2000/3000/4000/ series but you can't tell by the badges on the fenders all could be ordeded as 1/2/heavy 1/2 or 3/4 you'll need to see the VIN to know if it was sold as a 2800/3800/4800 etc.

Joe, werent all those the old large 6 lug pattern (pre 69) and flat beds? or cab only trucks, wreckers etc? Ive yet to see one with a regular bed, Maybe someone has seen one.

[Elliott]

The 8 lug D60 and D44 could be ordered all the way back to at least '67. Check out the RedMistress (Townside bed) which was a custom order for a fire department with 8 lug axles. But if you think finding a '74 J20 will be hard, try and find another D60-2 with eight lugs.;)

[KaiserMan]

Be careful when looking at J20's. They could be had in three different GVW's over the years. The lightest (early 6000lbs, later years 6800lbs) are pretty lightly sprung. More like HD 1/2 tons with full floating rears. Besides the springs, everything else is the same so you could just swap those out. The 7000/7600 and 8000/8400lb trucks are pretty HD.

[Bill Moore]

Be careful when looking at J20's. They could be had in three different GVW's over the years. The lightest (early 6000lbs, later years 6800lbs) are pretty lightly sprung. More like HD 1/2 tons with full floating rears. Besides the springs, everything else is the same so you could just swap those out. The 7000/7600 and 8000/8400lb trucks are pretty HD.

Ive heard people talk about the lighter J20s, but I have only seen the 8000 lb version? have you seen others?

[1cdccop]

A '74 or '75 J20 would be a nice find I guess. If I keep searching the rural backyards out here in Northern NV or NE California, I'm sure one will turn up.:fsj:

[mrtazwrench]

Ive heard people talk about the lighter J20s, but I have only seen the 8000 lb version? have you seen others?

My 82 plow truck is a light J20, I know the origional owner and I think he special ordered it as it had buckets and 4spd also, only light one I've seen that I can remember.

[jaber]

When I read the title, I thought, all 3 of mine are FF.?.?.?:D

[Earl&Mary]

The camper trucks will have a Z in the vin. The older ones will have J3000 on the fender. The previous owners of our truck abused it heavily and told us how much they loved the truck and hated to see it go. We now have plenty of work to do to get it back on the road again.

[1cdccop]

:worthless: The camper trucks will have a Z in the vin. The older ones will have J3000 on the fender. The previous owners of our truck abused it heavily and told us how much they loved the truck and hated to see it go. We now have plenty of work to do to get it back on the road again.
I would love to see it. What year is it?

[Bill Moore]

The camper trucks will have a Z in the vin. The older ones will have J3000 on the fender. The previous owners of our truck abused it heavily and told us how much they loved the truck and hated to see it go. We now have plenty of work to do to get it back on the road again.

j3800, rare truck, Id like to see a photo as well

[Earl&Mary]

In our signature click on "Jeep pictures and advertising" then "1970 J3800". It is a Photobucket album taken after we got a digital camera. We have more pictures from when it was running but I can't find them. There is also some advertising from 1969 and 1970. It ran when we bought it and we had a little fun with it too but it caught fire under the dash and ruined the cluster and cracked the windshield. We haven't had time or money since to do anything with it.

[Eric Flewelling]

Do you have full sized versions of the advertisements? Or are those already full size?

[1cdccop]

Looks like you have some work to do. I would love to find one of these babys. Some day.

[jeephabit3]

Here is a link to a nice older article about the 78 J-20's. I bought mine recently and I think it's the 7600 GVWR. I am thinking I can just goto the local spring shop and have them add the leaves required based on the original spec to get up to the 8400 GVWR. I want to put a camper in the bed and still tow about 7k lbs.

http://home.off-road.com/~ozifsja/tech/reviews/j-20.htm

The following section of the article mentions the different GVWR's available.

"Standard Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) for the J-20 is 6800 pounds. Heavy-duty options include GVWRs of 7600 and 8400 pounds. Both front and rear springs consist of two tapered leafs per corner on the standard version. The test J-20 carried the maximum G~ of 8400 pounds and was fitted with three tapered leaf springs at the rear. That 8400-pound rating explains the somewhat buckboardish riding quality of the J-20 at slow speeds. The lighter-duty 6800rated version would no doubt deliver a much more acceptable ride for city commuters and off-roaders who don't have the need for a vehicle capable of toting around 3700 pounds of payload. The base J-20 is capable of transporting more than a ton of cargo, an amount which more than meets the needs of. most off-road enthusiasts and those city dwellers who require four-wheel drive capability to survive adverse weather conditions,

The 8400 GVW J-20 is rated by the factory as capable of accepting an 11 foot cabover camper or towing a trailer of up to 10,000 pounds if its tongue weight does not exceed 1200 pounds. The tongue load limit for a bed mounted fifth-wheel trailer is 2850 pounds."

[AMCTXS]

Here's mine: 74 J20 401 Q-trac "Camper Special"

[Bill Moore]

In our signature click on "Jeep pictures and advertising" then "1970 J3800". It is a Photobucket album taken after we got a digital camera. We have more pictures from when it was running but I can't find them. There is also some advertising from 1969 and 1970. It ran when we bought it and we had a little fun with it too but it caught fire under the dash and ruined the cluster and cracked the windshield. We haven't had time or money since to do anything with it.

thanks for pointing us to those pics, its interesting to see the running lights on yours are for the 71 model. Must of been some cross over. My j3800 has the earlier reflectors

[1cdccop]

Here's mine: 74 J20 401 Q-trac "Camper Special"
cant enlarge phtos. Looks like a nice truck though.

[Jim Blair]

Actually, back then it would've been a D53 I thought?

[Earl&Mary]

Do you have full sized versions of the advertisements? Or are those already full size?

I have the original ads and brochures. The scans are bigger and clear enough to read. I don't know why the Photobucket pictures are not clear enough to read.