Rehabilitation

This post is not so much about Jackson, rather it is an update on a truck. Several people have asked about the Jeep pickup we recently acquired and this will let those who are not able to follow the build post located at Novajeepers.com keep up!

The truck is a 1972 Jeep J2000. Yes, Jack and Daddy are now the proud owners of a thirty-seven year old truck! The truck comes to us by way of trade - one slightly used Warn winch was traded for one very used old truck. (As you will read later, we came out ahead!)

The truck was in Front Royal, Virginia and since the condition of important things like brakes and steering were unknown, the truck came home on a trailer. JLR Trailer Rentals in Manassas set us up with a great deal on a car hauler rental, so one beautiful morning I set off to pick up the pickup. The seller mentioned that the truck would run if the carburetor was primed with fuel. What he didn't mention was that the truck had not moved since he rolled it off the trailer he used to bring it to his home. After about three thousand cranking attempts (ok, maybe it was closer to fourteen) the 258 engine roared to life and maintained an idle. After gingerly driving the truck onto the trailer, discovering that the tires were hanging off the right hand side of the trailer, backing the truck off the trailer and repeating the process again, this time a bit more to the left, the truck was ready to be hauled to it's new home.

Some specs on the truck. The engine is a fairly clean, original 258 cubic inch inline six cylinder. The transmission is a T150 three speed, with a Dana 20 transfer case. The front axle is a closed knuckle Dana 44, and the rear axle appears to also be a Dana 44.

The truck arrived home safely, and has been named "Crusher" by Jackson. I tried to tell him that the truck had to run first before it could be called something tough like 'Crusher', but Jack insisted - so Crusher it is.

The truck has been inching it's way towards legality. I've concentrated on getting it ready to pass a Virginia State Safety inspection, so things like body paint and interior rework have been put on the back burner. So far I have determined that the truck is in great condition despite what the photos show!

Here I have replaced the front tires with the wheels and tires from the now dead CJ project. I'm not sure which look I like better but the tires on the 'new' wheels will pass inspection while the tires on the wagon wheels would not.

I have installed the driver's window, cleaned up the interior a bit, and removed some wood panelling from the passenger door. I also removed the custom door handle that a previous owner had installed - with very large lag bolts that prevented the window from rolling down more than three inches...thankfully the PO did this when the glass was rolled up and didn't shatter the window! The original paint color is revealed on the door panel. The interior is ugly, but functional. A PO (probably the genius that bolted on the door handle) also painted the complete dash with in a lovely shade of crimson. Why bother to mask anything off when with a few quick sprays from the rattlecan you can have a wonderful, newly painted interior?!

I've driven the truck around the neighborhood (don't tell Mommy!) and the truck drives like, well, a thirty-seven year old truck. The steering is old truck slow and requires many revolutions to affect the front wheels. The brakes are strong but not power boosted - fine on the road, but will require some interesting tricks to make them effective off road. Second gear is somewhere waaayyy over there near the passenger door. Engine and transmission are in good shape.

I removed the teardrop style cab lights and patched the holes. I didn't like how the lights looked, and the less stuff to go wrong the better. Keeping it simple!

Before...

After...

After closer inspection I have found that this horrible looking truck has many new parts. The water pump looks new, the starter is brand new, the brake hardware is new, the emergency brake cables are new, and the parts that aren't new are in decent shape. The kingpins on the front axle don't have any play in them, the cooling system is leak-free, and the lights and wipers work! A little work on the defroster - I hope it's just a fuse - and a little patching on the exhaust and it'll be time for inspection. The front hubs don't engage and the transfer case lever is disconnected so there may be something bad hiding in the front axle, but overall the truck is solid.

Stay tuned for more adventures with Jackson and his truck "Crusher"!