Infectious Off-Road.com

Short history lesson on the truck. My Dad bought the truck when I was 4 years old. I'm almost 34 so I've had it a little while. He drove it until he passed away four years later. I learned to drive in the thing. It was originally a 360/T18 granny truck. It went through my brother's abusive driving habits and ended up with a new rear end and a new engine. He liked to play in the mud but never cleaned it out. You'll see in a little bit. After the rear spring hanger rotted, I couldn't weld yet, my Mom sold the truck while I was at the beach one year. Shortly after I returned, the truck was mysteriously back at my house and the guy that bought it had some of his money back. The bed was trashed though. So I decided to start taking it all apart, 7 years ago. I got it all apart then had to move houses, twice. So it got put on the back burner for a while. Once everything was settled, I knew I was moving to CA in January of this year. I had to get a move on it. Here's my spin on my Dad's old truck. Hope you enjoy it.

This starts with the cab off the truck and everything apart. Many years in VA with cold winters and snow, along with some mud and other stuff the floor had to be redone. I had already finished it in the pics.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/1103101730a.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/1103101730a.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/1103101729a.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/1103101729a.jpg[/img][/url]

SO once I got on the build wagon, I just jumped in with both feet. Here's the frame getting the front part prepped with the wire brush, primer and paint.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2013-12-17_15-23-51_80.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2013-12-17_15-23-51_80.jpg[/img][/url]

The rear mid crossmember was a box and I wanted to make sure it was clean, so I cut it out and split it. Cleaned it up and put it all back together, and welded it back in.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2013-12-17_15-31-14_418.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2013-12-17_15-31-14_418.jpg[/img][/url]

Once I knew that was done I needed to work on the rear of the frame. Remember the MUD and my brother's habit of not cleaning it. Well, the driver's side of the frame after that crossmember looked like swiss cheese. So I found a better section of frame from a truck in a salvage yard. Measured a lot of times and cut once, four separate times.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-05_13-57-00_648.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-05_13-57-00_648.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-05_14-30-27_370.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-05_14-30-27_370.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-05_16-24-13_192.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-05_16-24-13_192.jpg[/img][/url]

Now it was ready for the axles and springs.

I knew I was going to go SOA in the front and the rear had to be inboarded. SO I started with the rear axle. It was already on the concrete. I built my plates and welded them on after the measure, measure, measure bit, set the spring pads at a close angle and hard tacked the pads on the axle.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-19_19-26-44_730.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-19_19-26-44_730.jpg[/img][/url]

Pay no attention to the butch mock up shackles. I just needed a height reference.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-24_16-57-45_808.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-24_16-57-45_808.jpg[/img][/url]

Those are bald 36" military's on there too.

Now it was time for the front. I pulled the 44 and slung it under the front end with all new bearings, and seals, brake parts, and all the other fun stuff. It was already a SOA axle so that made my life so much easier. Bolted it in and here ya go.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-25_20-08-35_689.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-25_20-08-35_689.jpg[/img][/url]

It leveled out alot better than I thought it might with the SOA in the front and the inboard in the rear.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-02-26_13-09-02_911.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-02-26_13-09-02_911.jpg[/img][/url]

Next up was the drivetrain. I had bought a 5.3 earlier in the year and then a SM465/205. So I bought some motor mounts that bolted it to the factory frame mounts. I had to build a different crossmember/trans mount but that was easy.

[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-03-02_15-33-09_50.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-03-02_15-33-09_50.jpg[/img][/url]

I set the cab on it, and then figured out that the motor I had wouldn't be as easy to make work as I had thought. SO I sold it to my friend and bought a complete motor to replace it.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-04-08_16-32-19_106.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-04-08_16-32-19_106.jpg[/img][/url]

Out with the old and in with the new.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-04-11_15-24-56_598.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-04-11_15-24-56_598.jpg[/img][/url]

In and all covered up to keep the weather out of it.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-04-11_17-27-59_361.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-04-11_17-27-59_361.jpg[/img][/url]

Well I knew I had to feed this thing, and I had no gas tank for it. I did have a tank from my YJ that was laying around. Plastic tank, 22 gallons. I just had to make the factory J truck sending unit work with that tank. SO I grabbed a jtruck tank from that salvage yard, most are rusted and crappy, I just needed the lock ring and sending unit anyways. SO I cut it all apart and made a new locking ring for the wrangler tank.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-05-09_13-10-01_329.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-05-09_13-10-01_329.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-05-13_15-47-11_603.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-05-13_15-47-11_603.jpg[/img][/url]

Plumbed it all, and added the front clip. Bolted some stuff down and started on the wiring.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-05-26_15-50-57_860.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-05-26_15-50-57_860.jpg[/img][/url]

Threw the bed on it and the hood. And fired it up, just to hear it run for a second.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-06-11_15-56-48_545.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-06-11_15-56-48_545.jpg[/img][/url]

Threw a little more primer on the front end to look somewhat better, but not much and pulled it up on the trailer to wait for the shipper.
[url=http://s236.photobucket.com/user/BigblueYJ/media/2014-06-22_14-38-33_941.jpg.html][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-06-22_14-38-33_941.jpg[/img][/url]

Looks haven't changed much since it got here. It has a radiator now and brakes, And the clutch should work, now. I'm still working on it every chance I get but my work schedule only gives me about 1 day a week to work on it. And it's usually a short day. Anyways, let me know what you guys think.

Oh yeah, here's the video of it firing the first time. Just manifolds. I love the sound of a nice V8. [url=http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/2014-06-14_16-05-07_934.mp4][img]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/BigblueYJ/th_2014-06-14_16-05-07_934.mp4[/img][/url]

looks good man keep up the good work

defiantly going to be a cool driver when it done.

Yeah, I'm hoping so. I just want to fire it up and let it idle at this point. I'm almost there though. Hopefully after Thanksgiving I'll be able to do it. Then I can move on to body work. YUCK.

any updates on this build? would love to see what it looks now.