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Shawn McCoy - 1986 converted J-20 longbed - Houston, Texas Proud member of Texas 4x4, FSJ Owners Club Yahoo Club Founder and member of the IFSJA.
This here is "The Rusty Dinosaur." She started out three years ago as an 86 J-10, but through a whole lot of my time and over 10,000 bucks invested into her, she's become my "Al Bundy Dodge." The pictures are all taken in the order of the years I've owned and modified her, and let me say that its been a rough road, but I'm still glad I took it! She originally came into my life right after high school and I paid 1700 for her. She had 78,000 miles and mismatched wheels. I quickly took care of that by putting on the fluted aluminum ones you see here.
Her Original Drivetrain are as follows :
AMC 360, TF904B 3-speed auto, NP228 Vacuum actuated full time transfer-case, Dana 44 open knuckle and AMC 20 rear with 3.31 open diff's.
That didn't last very long though. On my third real wheeling trip, I blew part of the bottom of the transfer-case out. Every time I tried useing 4-low after that, I had roller-coaster noises so I opted and broke 2 more 228's before I landed on a better one. To make a long story short, the only original parts on my truck are the J-10 emblems and the body minus one fender; tree's are not your best friend
About a year ago my front pinion began groaning and locking up a wheel every now and then in protest. I began toying with the idea of a full blown 3/4 ton conversion. Thanks to the help of a friend or two and another member who recently wrecked his J-20, I made my dream come true. The next picture shows you the fruits of that labor.
By then the drivetrain changed quite a bit :
AMC 360 (original still), TF727 "bulletproof" 3-speed auto (titanium and kevlar everything), NP208 part time transfer-case (got rid of all the vacuum line garbage and went manual hub), Dana44HD open knuckle disc-brake front, and Dana60 Full floating rear with 13" drums and 3.73 track-lock diffs. Both dash and engine wiring harnesses custom built (electrical fire made me do it and it took them 8 months to build it). Underneath went on a 4" Superlift with all new bushings and a set of 32x11.50x15 TSL Super-swampers. And ... the blue fender from a tree incident earlier in the week.
After thrashing it around a bit, I had broken a spring pin and had to rebuild the leaf pack on the trail. After 10 and a half hours and a brief stint with an alligator in the area, I'm rolling again. This photo was taken at Spring Creek, Texas, at a hole similar to the one that claimed my spring later that day. Difference being this one didn't have a tree *stump* in it. See how it swallowed my lift? [img]smile.gif[/img]
Well, the swampers went kinda bald on me and I was plagued with a blown engine one day so underneath it I went again. The last picture shows you her current status.. far from done, but really starting to get there.
Now she's got :
New AMC 360 with 10:1 dish pistons and RV cam, TF727 tranny, NP208 case, same axles, wire harnesses, 16x8 Dodge Ram wheels and 33x12.50x16 BFG ATKO's. Not shown is the NOS Rhino Chaser Grille set that I have behind the 81 Wagoneer grille. Currently the truck has only 94,000 miles.
Plans for the future include :
Putting on the J-20 Emblems I bought, Paint job, total reworking of the interior to my liking, 3" bodylift, spring over axle conversion, atleast 35x12.50 BFG MT's, and all the Killer32 goodies minus the rear bumper which I'm making myself. I'll keep ya'll updated as I continue building her!