J4000 Build

So I finally ditched the BII(need to change my avatar) thank god. I think it was one of the happiest days of my wife's life. I picked up the J4000 for 200 bones. Good deal for a solid truck that actually runs. The bed has been bobbed a full 12 inches in the rear, and it's got seats from and Isuzu Trooper.

Things that have been done so far. I have an EZ-wiring harness half installed, still need to wire the back half and a brake switch. I put in a new dizzy with an Accel points eleminator I found at the junk yard(never even hooked up before).

So far I have the springs I want to use and half of the brackets to in-board the springs front and rear, still need shackle hangers from ballistic. I found some perfectly good Super Winch hubs that still need to be installed. I'm picking up a 16 gallon summit racing fuel cell today which will go in the bed.

I think I've got all the parts to make the PTO winch work. I have a Rhino grill for it, just need the headlight buckets.

In-boarding the springs should hopefully get me about 8 inches of lift maybe more depending on the springs I have. I'm gonna try and start it out on some 38's not really sure though maybe at some point I'll have to find someone that's got some wheels and tires I can test fit after it's lifted.

Looks like a fun build.

Hey, I might have a spare set of military lights if you aren't looking for the chrome rings.

Tacoma said:

Hey, I might have a spare set of military lights if you aren't looking for the chrome rings.

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Thanks but I've got the chrome rings someone had already stripped the buckets out of the truck I found. The buckets I have for the Razor grill will not work with the Rhino rings. I got lucky enough to find a '66 Gladiator at A one Salvage in Ogden and I picked up the grill, chrome rings and pie plates for 44 bucks. I'm thinking about putting some lights in the pie plates but I'm not sure if I want to cut them up. I went back another day and pulled the hubs and all the emblems and a horn button for 11 bucks. The prices there are awesome compared to Tear-A-Part on Redwood.

Also if anyone needs Dana 44's they are everywhere up there and most of them would be easily pulled since they have all their trucks suspended from the frames instead of the springs

Cool.

I might have a spare set of M-7xx fenders too. I should go look. 38's w/no cutting!

I likey!! I'll be watching to see how that turns out. Looks like you got a steal. All for 200 clams!?!

Tacoma said:

Cool.

I might have a spare set of M-7xx fenders too. I should go look. 38's w/no cutting!

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Those fenders have been on my list of things I really want to do. I kinda even want to put a M715 bed on this thing or make one. Let me know what you find.

turbohaulic said:

I likey!! I'll be watching to see how that turns out. Looks like you got a steal. All for 200 clams!?!

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Yeah my buddy Justin was gonna put some rockwells under this thing but he found a '92 runner for $200 and decided to build that instead. So I basically got him a runner for free.

Hopefully after this week is done I'll be able to start getting some work done on this thing again. 12 hour shifts kill garage time. I'll be putting some more pictures of the wiring up this weekend when I get a minute.

These are one of my all time favorite trucks--even if it is a Jeep :greg:

Can't wait to see where you go with this

TJDukit said:

Those fenders have been on my list of things I really want to do. I kinda even want to put a M715 bed on this thing or make one. Let me know what you find.

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I've got a set of bedsides from an M-715. They're heavy.

You should probably come visit and take a gander.

EDIT: oh, Clearfield's kind of a haul. Maybe I can just email pics and save you some gas.

Rot Box said:

These are one of my all time favorite trucks--even if it is a Jeep :greg:

Can't wait to see where you go with this

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At least it's a real Jeep.

Tacoma said:

I've got a set of bedsides from an M-715. They're heavy.

You should probably come visit and take a gander.

EDIT: oh, Clearfield's kind of a haul. Maybe I can just email pics and save you some gas.

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Yeah I'd love to see some pictures and maybe even just come out and look around anyway. I gotta get down to Boyce as well and see what they have my buddy says they might even have complete M715 beds but I'm sure I don't want to pay as much as they are gonna want.

well, lemme know. I'm here until Thursday, EJS calls.

The 715 beds use the same floor and inner fenders as at least the older trucks. The sides themselves are beefy steel, but not that impossible to replicate if you were so inclined. the toolbox under the bed might be a little more difficult though.

I got the lighting all sorted out yesterday. It took me taking a step back for a couple weeks and starting over on the column. Turns out I had my hazard flasher hooked up wrong. Oh well live and learn right.

So yesterday I ordered my shackle mounts, greasable DOM sleaves and shackles from ballistic. Once that gets here I'll be able to get my new springs mounted up in a weekend. After that it's on to wheels and tires, not looking forward to that bill.

I also got my Rhino grill mounted up and the hood release swapped out. I'll get the pictures up this afternoon. Still have to add some sheet metal for the pie plates and I need some CJ headlight buckets so I can get the headlight bezels mounted up.

New Lights

I picked up some 4 inch LED trailer lights to replace the excuse for visibility in the rear. $45 and a little time and it looks great.

The inside black ring is how much metal I had to remove to get the rubber grommets to fit. It's about 4 1/4" diameter. The outside ring was just the closest thing I had to the correct size so I traced that ring and just eyeballed the rest of it. I used my dremel with a few cut off wheels to grind the metal away. Luckily with these lights it doesn't need to be exact.



One side close up.



Both of them done. The grommets fill the entire tail light hole so it still looks stock.



Here is the picture of the grill mounted up.



Had to cut out the hole for the hood release and drill some holes for the bracket for the top of the grill.

Got a buddy with a highly modified J3000 - big block Chev -Ford highboy frame- sectioned & bobbed bed....


You guys probably have a lot to talk about!

Seriously thinking about resurrecting this project. I'm thinking about shortening the wheelbase quite a bit more, a dove tail and narrowing the front quite a bit as well. Not sure how the wife will handle the news but I just hate seeing the truck sitting on the side of the house rotting away when there is so much potential for a cool truggy project.

I love these trucks. I think you should make a replica of the new nukizer. 38's, tons, elockers, low slung daily driver. You still have that tree that grows money, right?

sixstringsteve said:

I love these trucks. I think you should make a replica of the new nukizer. 38's, tons, elockers, low slung daily driver. You still have that tree that grows money, right?

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If build this it won't be a replica of anything and it will probably be the shotiest body work ever but it will still be cool.

"wheelable", not "shoddy".