1963 J-200 SLOOOOOW Build

[63J200atLSU]

NICE !!!
dash looks great.

love those saddle blanket seat covers,
and the color is right for your truck.

probably the coolest truck in town.

dave in NC

Dave, most days, I'm pretty much shocked that this truck came together as such a cohesive looking project. So much of it has been eyeballed and "I think that'll look good" aesthetically. It's turned into quite the looker though.

Last weekend, I also adjusted the clutch and steering box. The clutch was essentially being depressed even with the pedal all the way out, probably my fault, so I adjusted it to factory spec. I also removed the steering gear play per the service manual. I still have about 10 degrees of play in either direction driving in a straight line, but that's a HUGE reduction from before. Clutch lets out much much smoother than it used to also.

Has anyone noticed that I've never mentioned the condition of the diffs? Well that's because I've been sticking my head in the sand about them. Time to crack open the old Spicer 44's and see what's what. I'm getting some seepage from the gaskets anyway, so they warrant replacing.

I've got a drivability question. The truck currently has 4.27 gears in it but and can cruise at a relatively comfortable 55-60 all day long it seems. Has some grunt to go faster, but the 230 just doesn't have the revrange for it. I've thought about getting some 3.54's to give me highway legs, but not sure if this would make it unbearable around town. Maybe a 3.91 would be a good compromise? Just trying to give the engine a breather when I take the highways and would also like to be able to take the occasional jaunt down the interstate...

[rws31]

What rpms are you at now at 60?

If your current low gear is almost unusable due to being geared to low for normal driving, a better road gear is a good choice. 3.54 might be a little to much especially with taller than stock tires. And I think the carrier break on changing ring and pinions is about 3.73 I believe for a Dana 44. 3.54 will require new carriers. 3.73 would be good all around gear IMO especially with no heavy hauling planned.

Newer axle swap is a good choice also. All depends on your choice to keep original axles or not.

[Crankyolman]

Now granted I have an AMC 360 in mine but I have 3.73 gearing and it's just about right for me. If I remember correctly 70 MPH is 3000 RPM and it has plenty of pull.

[ddversatile]

I have 4.09s in my Glad, 1:1 4th gear 2850 rpm for 60 mph, quite high, but lots of power.

Big hills here and don't have to downshift, with a very tired 327

Cant wait to see the power this spring with a freshly built one

[63J200atLSU]

more pictures from the wedding

Hey guys and gals! Not a whole lot of photo-worthy progress on the little things here and there... But...

I felt like these pictures were too good not to share. A happy day indeed!





I AM almost done with the harnesses I'm putting together for the 4wd indicator lights. I'll be sure to post part numbers for the switches and pigtails for anybody looking to re-do this for a Dana 20. I got the lights themselves cleaned up pretty well, good enough for me at least...



Now I know what you might be thinking... "My indicator lights have a 4 wheel drive and a neutral light, but no 4 wd low," and you'd be correct. Apparently you could get any number of these lights between 1 and 4 and they had a 4-hi, 4-low, neutral and 2-hi option. They could be configured based on which shift rail was used on the D20. When I took mine out, the colored lenses were burnt up and melted and dirty and I thought I had a green one and a red one, so I made the 4-low switch. It turns out it was really just a burnt and dirty orange one, for neutral. So Now I've got the switches set up on the transfer case and the wiring is all done, but I have to make another lens with the neutral. Debating on whether to just make it on a red lens or do it correctly on an amber lens. I think I'm just going to do it on a red lens as it's more just to satisfy me that I have a working circuit.

I'm also going to be making a bracket to get so I can mount a little instantaneous switch to my reverse/1st rail and have a reverse light. I still haven't brought the truck for it's official inspection ("brake tag" as we say, for some reason in Louisiana...) and as it wasn't equipped with it, it should be grandfathered in, but if you've had any experience with my OMV, you understand why I'm not taking any chances... More on that soon!

[SOLSAKS]

really nice wedding photo !

nice indicator lights too !

I am not familiar with the older fsj trucks

but I do like those lights !!!

you have done a great job
and the truck and wedding came together and the same time !

dave in NC

[rang-a-stang]

That's awesome!!! thanks for sharing! Gonna show my better half when I get home.

Let's get mechanical about that picture:
1) assuming each person standing in your bed averages out to a svelte 200 pounds, that's ~1800 pounds of meat and bone in there! Good thing you didn't decide to build a Chevy Luv, Subie BRAT, or one of those FWD VW Pickups from the 80's!
2) your rear tire fits PERFECTLY in your fender, assuming the suspension is completely compressed! look how perfectly centered it is in the rear fender. Take pride in knowing those are your measurements and you nailed them.
3) Even with all that meat and bone in the bed, your truck still has a sweet stance!
4) Tell the dude on the far left to quit leaning on yo cab. He's gonna scuff the paint!

Good idea on the backup lights. Even if we didn't have to have back up lights, you really want them. I had an old chevy pickup in High school that had no back up lights. It sucks being in a busy parking lot, in reverse wanting to back out, and no one knows you're there so they keep blowing by. It also sucks backing up at night with only the soft red glow of your tail lights.

[63J200atLSU]

really nice wedding photo !

nice indicator lights too !

I am not familiar with the older fsj trucks

but I do like those lights !!!

you have done a great job
and the truck and wedding came together and the same time !

dave in NC

Thank you Dave! I had almost forgotten about the lights at one point. They were one of the first things I took off of the dash years ago during disassembly. I think I saw pictures of them in Kaiserjeep's thread, but I also saw a wagoneer that Jonathan Ward if Icon 4x4 did (amazing. google it) and I'm pretty sure that he custom made a new set out of billet aluminum if my memory serves me correctly. I had to bring them back.

Probably not a coincidence that the truck was more or less finished for the wedding...

[63J200atLSU]

That's awesome!!! thanks for sharing! Gonna show my better half when I get home.

Let's get mechanical about that picture:
1) assuming each person standing in your bed averages out to a svelte 200 pounds, that's ~1800 pounds of meat and bone in there! Good thing you didn't decide to build a Chevy Luv, Subie BRAT, or one of those FWD VW Pickups from the 80's!
2) your rear tire fits PERFECTLY in your fender, assuming the suspension is completely compressed! look how perfectly centered it is in the rear fender. Take pride in knowing those are your measurements and you nailed them.
3) Even with all that meat and bone in the bed, your truck still has a sweet stance!
4) Tell the dude on the far left to quit leaning on yo cab. He's gonna scuff the paint!

Good idea on the backup lights. Even if we didn't have to have back up lights, you really want them. I had an old chevy pickup in High school that had no back up lights. It sucks being in a busy parking lot, in reverse wanting to back out, and no one knows you're there so they keep blowing by. It also sucks backing up at night with only the soft red glow of your tail lights.

Haha, I appreciate the mechanical commentary. I was doing some quick mental math when the photographer asked if everyone could get in the bed... Very glad the springs survived to tell the tale. The funniest thing about those pictures to me is the leaf spring... It is... compressed to say the least... EEK!

The fender measurements... Well I suppose it's time I confess to this. I didn't AAAAAAAAAACTUALLY take that many precise measurements when I was mounting the fenders. I made a series of shims to get the height right. This is where I got really lucky. At the rear fender height I finally settled on, the top of the fender was exactly in line with the seam between two boards on the bed side. Since I cut all the boards the same, this was the same on both sides. Then to center them on the axles, I literally moved them forwards and backwards on the shims, on the tire until the top of the fender lined up with the lines of the bed. Since I'd built the bed to the lines of the truck and not made it level to the ground, this made the bed floor perpendicular to the rear axle's line of travel. Then once I got the fenders positioned level, I did actually drop a square edge from the top of the fender to the wheel hub to make sure that they were centered. Clamped them to the bed and drilled my two starter holes. Then once they were mounted with those, I drilled the rest of them.

It was a little nerve-racking to say the least, but turned out remarkably correct looking!

That guy on the left is my buddy Joey. He's so dang likeable that even if he scuffed the paint, I'd be ok with it!

[63J200atLSU]

DOH!

I didn't mean to post the same truck picture twice up there... Here was our celebration shot with the truck...



We are not a very serious bunch. Jeez, what a freaking great day!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Liz and I really enjoyed the pictures. What a great looking bunch. Looks like the weather was perfect and what great memories.

Don't be a stranger Greg. Mmmmkay....

[63J200atLSU]

Short update...

Not a whole lot going on here in FSJ world for Gregoire...

Got my 4wd indicator lights finished up. Built a new harness based on the wiring diagram. I did run into a little snag in that I couldn't find the same bulb socket that has the rubber grommet built into it. I found one with metal tabs. This is no good since the plates in the back of the indicator housings are metal and so the lights either short out and blow the fuse or stay on always, depending on how they're wired. So I recreated the backing plates out of acrylic. That did the trick.

I also finished my bracket for my reverse light switch
I'd seen another thread somewhere, I think on a CJ2A page about adapting the earlier T-90 tower for a reverse light switch. I'm sure I'll have more troubleshooting to do, but for now, I'm calling it good.

Also, I thought my alternator was on the fritz, as when I put everything back together, the idiot light wouldn't come on before I started the truck. And the alternator was putting out nothing. Doh.

Then I remembered I'd used an LED for the cluster lights. So I flipped the polarity of the bulb and voila! Light! But not so fast. When the truck was running, the light remained on, but the alternator still wasn't being triggered to charge. Then I remembered the basically the alternator and battery have to be able to "talk" both ways for the charging circuit to work and the LED won't allow for that. Replaced it with the incandescent and problem solved.

More soon. I have some neat little things coming up....

[rang-a-stang]

...More soon. I have some neat little things coming up....

"soon"...