Purchased 68' Custom 4-door Station Wagon 4WD

[Thomas]

Great vehicle, although 2 months after purchase Dauntless 350 took a dive. The motor was yanked and is presently attached to an engine stand after the rebuild. Here is the list of info I need from those that have gone down the upgrade road. The reason for these upgrades is that I want to tow a 3200lbs boat without wearing everything out. I live in the Sierra-Nevada's in California and would like to drive in the snow with minimal difficulty. Original thoughts were to scavenge drive train parts from wrecked Suburban 2500, but not sure what year or
if this is the correct path.


1. Upgrades to the Daunless 350 i.e., headers,ignition,fuel injection/carburation, any other mods.
2. Drive train mods:axles-original thoughts were dana 44-front, Dana 60 rear

transmission-presently turbo 350, upgrades?
transfer case-presently Dana 21, upgrades?
suspension-upgrades? lifts?

[porkchop]

Just a quick note to say hey welcome to the best place for FSJ info. I have a '67 and I just wanted to let you know that you have a TH400 tranny and a Dana 20 t-case.

I have done many things to mine so far (as you can tell by my sig). As far as mods it all depends on what and where you want to go with your ride. If it is only going to be used for towing and no real off roading then I would say just put in an AAL to stiffen the ride for better towing. The higher you get the worse it will handle when towing. I am sure someone else can explain this better then me because I can not type very well and will be here all night trying to do so.

Once again welcome and sorry I could not be more help.


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'67/'79 Wagoneer mix
"Old Timer"
Body of a 33 year old
Heart and legs of a 21 year old.
Spirit of a 1 year old.
360,TH400,QT,D44's F&R
SOA 32X11.50's

"I regret that I have but only one paycheck to give to my Jeep."

[Dean]

Thomas, The trailer dosen't sound too heavy, 10%=350lbs tongue weight. Yours is old enough the have reasonable axle ratios. you may want to consider a bigger buick engine (455 may be a bolt in, Guys?). I would put on a tranny cooler. And AAL or air shocks. Keep your axles and drive train unless you have problems. Dean.

------------------
'78 Wagoneer Limited
401/Q-trac W/low range
Stock for now.........
have '84 parts rig,
4" rancho lift, 3" body
lift, '78 j20 axles. Whoo
hoo, future 3/4 ton wagoneer.

[KENALL]

ARE U GUYS NUTS???

hes got a 68 wag with ALL drum brakes towing a 3200# trailer with an th400 in the sierra nevadas...can u say BRAKE FADE???

even without towing, the 11x2" drums hes got on the 68 r too small. couple that with a trailer and some downhill grades and u have a recipe for disaster...

Tom dont make the same mistake i have, by owning a early ALL drum FSJ and then adapting it to current safety standards when it is much ezr to buy a later wag, perfably a 74-79. like i shood have done...

properly updating the braking system will cost near the purchase price of the wag. oh u can do it with piece here and there, but u dont want to cut corners when towing in the hills with AT tranies.

if its a 68 its prolly has the 2piece 19spline d44 rear axle shafts, but hopefully he has the later 1 piece 30spline 44.

if ur worried about he smog nazis impeading on ur engine swapping fun if u buy a post 73 wag..i can help u get around that http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/wink.gif

now that that is out of the way tom, do bring ur wag to the winter fun fest at the fair grounds in GV in january. i always try to make it a FSJ winter fun fest http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/smile.gif

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Ken
1966 Super Wagoneer
'The Predecessor' http://home.earthlink.net/~kenns9/index.html

[This message has been edited by KENALL (edited September 25, 2000).]

[porkchop]

LOL Ken, you always make me laugh!

------------------
'67/'79 Wagoneer mix
"Old Timer"
Body of a 33 year old
Heart and legs of a 21 year old.
Spirit of a 1 year old.
360,TH400,QT,D44's F&R
SOA 32X11.50's

"I regret that I have but only one paycheck to give to my Jeep."

[scotty]

i agree with kenall.his axles are no way adequate for safely and reliably towing. the rear is prolly the 19 spline shaft.what axle is in the front?a dana 30?ANYTHING smaller than a 44 is too small for a FSJ.even if it were allready a 44,they didnt get 30 spline axleshafts until 72 or 73,and 4 wheel drum brakes are definately no good.

how is the frame? a body swap onto a newer frame could kill a couple of birds with one stone. otherwise,you may consider adaptig the later drivetrain to your rig,its prolly worth the time/money to build the vehicle you want and have it perform the tasks that you need it too,if youre really attached to your 68 body.

to make for the best options for towing,IMO,id say locate a 73 to 79 j20 with a t18 4speed and dana 20.the t18 is super strong,and has a "granny" low gear of about 6.3 to 1. even with a big cooler,an auto tranny will wear out much quicker.depending on the frequency you tow,and the weight,you may go thru a tranny once a year,or it may just knock a few thousand miles off of the overall life,but it will be quicker.pulling creates alot of heat in the tranny,and an auto just wont hold up to constant heavy towing. go ahead and swap in the 360 as well,its a good motor that you can hop up if you need to. the rest will be a full floating dana 60(which should be hard to break) and a 3/4 ton dana 44 with disc brakes.

hope this helps.im sure ken and PC will help you wit the new to old axle swap if you do choose that route.



------------------
scott
85 grand wagoneer
258 with motorcraft 2bbl/904/twin stick dana 300/dana 44/welded amc 20
38x15.5 gumbo mudders
snorkel/dual batteries/onboard air/"custom" convertable
3 inch body lift/mostly stock suspension/"modified" fender openings
custom front/rear bumpers and brushgaurd

possible small block chevy "test" swap in near future

[Dean]

Ok, I missed the brakes issue http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/frown.gif. But I think an auto is fine for towing. Not all of us are into bigger is better (hiding my J20 axles behind my back). Our stength lies in giving different views on a subject. Then the person has a range of advice from simple/low cost to monster truck/get a loan. I am at the cheaper DIY end.
Group hug, upgrade your brakes. Dean

------------------
'78 Wagoneer Limited
401/Q-trac W/low range
Stock for now.........
have '84 parts rig,
4" rancho lift, 3" body
lift, '78 j20 axles. Whoo
hoo, future 3/4 ton wagoneer.

[scotty]

yeah an auto is ok for towing,it just depends on how you use it.i just got thru putting a 727 into my j20,which i plan to use to tow my grand wag to the woods,which are anywhere from 25 to 75(maybe further now that i can pull it)miles away.hopefully the auto will hold up for me.my truck came with a t18a,and i wish like heck i couldve kept it,but the only way i could come up with enough $$$ for the truck was to let a friend go in halves with me-he got to keep the t18. http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/frown.gif oh well.

i was at someones sight that had put a t18a/208 and the 3/4 ton 44 and dana 60 from a j20 into a later grand wag.the guy did it because he frequently towed loads in excess of 15,000 lbs, and he said that hed been thru something like 3 727s,and broken the spider gears in his amc 20 twice.

i also am at the low cost,DIY end of the scale,but i like overkill. i like to make it stronger than i think it needs to be the first time. this lesson i learned the hard way with my amc eagle. i wheeled it for about a year and a half,and i completely rebuilt the ifs once,replaced tierods,ball joints,and parts of it here and there,broke 4 cv joints,3 front driveshafts,spun4 rear hubs,had 3 or 4 bad front wheel bearings,and several bad rear wheel bearings. the 258/904/219 held up fine,'cept for the time i sunk it in a 5 foot deep creek and water killed the tranny.it only had 31 inch tires. anyway,it took me waaaay to long to figure out that IFS and dana 35s with 2 piece axles just dont hold up to rigorous off road abuse.

the moral of the story is dont keep fixing it if it keeps breaking-think about why its breaking,and dont make the same mistake that i did.if it breaks right away,make it bullet proof the first time that you fix it! http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/biggrin.gif

let us know what you end up doing with it...



------------------
scott
85 grand wagoneer
258 with motorcraft 2bbl/904/twin stick dana 300/dana 44/welded amc 20
38x15.5 gumbo mudders
snorkel/dual batteries/onboard air/"custom" convertable
3 inch body lift/mostly stock suspension/"modified" fender openings
custom front/rear bumpers and brushgaurd

possible small block chevy "test" swap in near future

[porkchop]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by scotty:
the moral of the story is dont keep fixing it if it keeps breaking-think about why its breaking,and dont make the same mistake that i did.if it breaks right away,make it bullet proof the first time that you fix it! http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~zeimet/ubb/biggrin.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with that! Mine never broke but I fixed it any way.


------------------
'67/'79 Wagoneer mix
"Old Timer"
Body of a 33 year old
Heart and legs of a 21 year old.
Spirit of a 1 year old.
360,TH400,QT,D44's F&R
SOA 32X11.50's

"I regret that I have but only one paycheck to give to my Jeep."

[RudyC]

dont ALL the big 70s motorhomes STILL around only have dodge 440s and TF747s?

[Thomas]

Being new at this computer crap, I not sure
if I have been getting all replies. Well,
enough snivelling, I want to keep the body
and need more info/specifics on drive train
upgrades. I also want to keep an auto trans.
I presently tow the boat with a Ram2500 Cummins, but need to buy a car due to a
back injury. So I will use some of the proceeds for the 68' upgrades. Roughly about
8k, so I want to do it right the first time.
Overkill is not an issue.

[ClarkGriswald]

What only 8k to fix up your wag?? heheh hmmm I dont know if that will do it.. Just kiddin I envy you your freedom. Do you do your own mechanic work? If so you will have no problem doin anything conceivable to your wag. Real shops is where you get bent over the proverbial barrel.

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88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229 (Funky)
Custom Hacking Via S.P.A. (Standard Polish Archetecture)