1963 J-200 SLOOOOOW Build

[Crankyolman]

Man, I just read through your truck bed saga. That kind of stuff makes me want to pull my hair out. If you ever feel like building a bed like mine, I've got a solidworks assembly file for it!

Nothing ever seems to go exactly as I think it should with my truck. Sometimes I wish I had gone several different routes with it. If anything ever happens to it I'm going to buy a catalogue truck so I can at least get parts for it.You are doing great and have done a great job saving a truck that most people would have written off as scrap.

[chubbinius]

That really looks great! Loving the wood on it too. Very cool!

[63J200atLSU]

On your vibration, check to see if your rear driveline U-joints are withing 1 degree of each other. Despite using all new original parts, Sadie was 8.3 degrees out. (terrible vibration driving)

Have a good one!

Al, I've been doing some research on driveshaft angles and fixing potential issues. I have also just learned about phasing, which is pretty interesting, but I definitely did NOT check any of these things 3 1/2 years ago when I, a total noob to all things drivetrain related, began this project by installing the rear driveshaft. The truck isn't lifted and the springs don't actually seem saggy front or rear, so I'm kind of betting it's a phasing situation. Adding to this suspicion is that the driveshaft (if it was even intended for this truck originally... I don't know, it was in the cab when I bought it...) was not attached to the truck and I can easily imagine it coming apart and just being thrown back together. Will get under there and check that out this evening after work.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Greg, when are you going to post the picture you sent me? You gotta post that and show the guys.

[rang-a-stang]

POST POST POST POST!!!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

The pic is super cool, I mean really super cool. Come on Greg, Post up already. Geez you would think he is getting married or something.

[63J200atLSU]

The pic is super cool, I mean really super cool. Come on Greg, Post up already. Geez you would think he is getting married or something.

Haha, ok, ok... If you guys insist.

I got the bedskirts assembled and mocked up. I know Rang-a-stang is a fan of the exposed leafs of the suspension, but I just felt like it would make the whole situation a little more "buttoned up" looking. Today after work, I'll take the skirts back off and tung oil the wood/blast and paint the mounting brackets.







I also got to work making the bulkhead. The sheet of 16 (or 18, I don't remember which) ga steel I bought to originally do the floors has really gone a long way... I didn't have a long enough piece to do the whole thing, so I but welded two pieces together. This is going to be covered, so I'm not really worried about the weld being perfect. I'm also going to reinforce the bulkhead with c-channel pieces. After I got the sheet tacked on to the top tube, it was pretty substantial anyway, but this is something that will hopefully allow me to mount a spare tire carrier to my bulkhead at some point and not compromise its structure.





Oh, and I found and vanquished this guy.



I got my hands on a 2" thick slab of heart pine that I'm going to plane, rip and chop to form the main portion of my tailgate, hopefully I can get that done today once I get the c-channel attached to the bulkhead. 15 days till the wedding and I'm really gonna be cookin with gas, so apologies for the random nature of many of my posts... More soon-ish.

[rws31]

Shazaam. Very nice indeed. Anybody that doesn't like that is on crack.

That spider just gave me the eebeejeebees. I hate spiders

[Driftwood]

This outstanding project confirms I just need to throw in the towel. My low skills will never bring my wag up to this level of perfection. Off to a corner to pout, I shall.

[63J200atLSU]

This outstanding project confirms I just need to throw in the towel. My low skills will never bring my wag up to this level of perfection. Off to a corner to pout, I shall.

Oh no you don't. Go back and read some of my first posts... My work is still far from perfect, but anything I learned is pretty much from the doing.

I do have one piece of project advice. It's to come up with a real vision of what you want it to be at the end and every decision you make, think, "Does this bring me closer to or further from my vision?" Don't be deterred by other people's thoughts on how it's going to turn out, don't be afraid to mess it up (I had to paint this truck, including the dash, twice because I messed up my first paint job with urethane window sealant). As much as possible, try to learn the right way to do things. Don't be afraid to ask questions. This community has some truly awesome folks in it

Mostly, enjoy the waggy as much as you can, that's presumably why you have it! And enjoy the process of making it how you want it!

[rang-a-stang]

...I know Rang-a-stang is a fan of the exposed leafs of the suspension, but I just felt like it would make the whole situation a little more "buttoned up" looking...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!! It's not my truck and you OBVIOUSLY have MUCH better taste than I do because yours is approximately 1,321,434% nicer than mine! I do love the exposed leafs but those skirts look pretty darn magical too!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Does that not look totally sharp? Told ya....

Dang on the black widow. You can keep that and we will keep the great big cougar that has been lurking at my neighbors and my place. At least you can see a salivating cougar charging you...
Looks like the spider is a victim of carb cleaner? How did you bag it ??
Ugh, I gotta go look again.
You can see it's fangs.

[offthebeatenpath]

Does that not look totally sharp? Told ya....

Dang on the black widow. You can keep that and we will keep the great big cougar that has been lurking at my neighbors and my place. At least you can see a salivating cougar charging you...
Looks like the spider is a victim of carb cleaner? How did you bag it ??
Ugh, I gotta go look again.
You can see it's fangs.

I'm with KJ, you can keep those suckers.

The truck looks great! I like the bed skirts, they do give it a more finished look.

[63J200atLSU]

Tailgate is DONE

Very pleased to report that in the last-big-push-before-the-wedding weekend, I got the tailgate done, and resultingly (word? I don't think this is a word....) the bed as well.

The frame of the tailgate itself was pretty straightforward. Measured out my box opening and left 1/8" on each side and 1"4 on the bottom. The wood, similarly, was simple. Planed it down so it would close flush. The frame corner posts are made of 2-1/2" angle and the tailgate fits inside of it with a 2-1/4" angle iron. Then I cut to length and ripped the pieces and got them snugged in.





The hinges are heavy duty gate hinges from home depot. I cut them to fit and tacked them onto the frame of the tailgate. They look strangely appropriate.



For the chain loop, whatever it's called, I used an eye bolt through the bed support gussets. I also cut a steel tube to length so when I tightened down the eye bolt, it had something to clamp down on besides the sheet metal. I realized I'd need a second hole to connect the other end of the tailgate chain, so I mounted a piece of 2-1/4" angle iron and cut it down so it's hidden behind the gusset, then drilled a hole through the gusset and the support. Way stronger and an easy fix.

20191116_171913 by Greg Talmage, on Flickr

Painted the frame black and got a good coat of tung oil on the panels before final assembly and installation. The chains are some modified trailer safety chains.







Only thing I have left to do is route the old school Jeep logo and do a little black epoxy fill. That'll have to wait until after the wedding...

I also got to work on the door panels. They're the ones Men In Black sells here on ifsja. Fitment was great. I'm planning on covering them in tan vinyl, which I have already, but that may or may not get done this week before the wedding. But the black abs cleaned up the door panels a lot. Now I've just gotta get the headliner panels installed. My truck was apparently not the deluxe model, so it doesn't have the holes in the front for the third headliner panel, so I'll have to get that *very carefully measured* and holes drilled. Then, it should just be a pop in situation.



More soon-ish!

[SOLSAKS]

that wood is just beautiful.

a fine truck.

dave in NC