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J-20 Story |
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In the beginning of '97 I began to have serious thoughts about an axle upgrade on D' WAG. But heavy duty drivetrain stuff a very seldom to come by in Norway so it took a while before something came up. One day at work I drove by a very ugly looking '77 J-20 that I never had seen before. There are not many FSJ's here so I know where most of them belong. When I got home from work a started a search to find out who it belonged to.
When I found the owner it turned out that the J-20 was for sale for $800, but there was already another fellow that said he wanted to buy it and he was supposed to show up with the money at the end of that week :-( . He also had the truck at his place so I didn't even have a change to look at it but the seller told me it had a '83 engine because the old one had thrown a couple of rods. I told the seller that if the buyer didn't show I had the money ready. No such luck...... He bought it....
A couple of days later an old friend called me, asking for advice on some front end sounds he experienced on a car he recently bought. I asked him "what kind of car it was?" "Some kind of big jeep pickup" he replied ! I told him right away that repairing and getting parts for those old rustbuckets was out of the question in Norway, but I could be kind enough to remove that piece of junk from his driveway:-)) He wasn't buying that one........
At least I got a chance to take a look at the truck and it turned out to have a AMC 258 I6 engine backed by a T18 transmission and a Dana20 transfer. The axles were D44 front and D60 rear with 4.88:1 gearing. Rust has taken a good bite on the body, all the lower parts were full off see-through holes and the bed was starting to disintegrate. But mechanical it was much better and I could confirm that the engine was a '83. My plan was to put the axles under D' WAG. , strip it for other useful parts and sell the rest and maybe even get some of my money back. I told him that if he ever decided to sell the truck I would buy it.
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A year later I received a call from my friend saying that if
I wanted the J-20 it would be mine for the same that he had given $800.
I said "it's a deal". When I drove it home the engine was screamin' at
3800 RPM because of the very low gearing, the straight-cut gears of the
D20 was so loud because the lack of carpeting that I could barely hear
myself thinking. The only thing louder was the heater fan sounding like
a B52 at take-off. It also had a very misaligned front end so it
wandered all over the road and this together with a violent driveline
shaking at all speeds over 30mph was enough for me. I was in love with
that truck :-)
(Oh, did I mention the almost complete lack of brakes?)
My original plan was to take the axles and put them under my Wag and keep all other parts that was useful to me like transmission, transfer and all bodyparts that was in good shape and use it as spares for my Wag. The remain I was to sell. But I liked the J20 so I decided to swap axles instead. But I soon discovered that the Dana60 used in the J-series where the ones with 1,31" shafts and 30 splines, not the version with 1,5"/35 spline shafts. This made the D60 about the same strength that the D44 I was going to replace. They are a little bit stronger because the bigger ring gear diameter and the full-floater design together with the bigger housing, but it was not what I wanted. Another fact making this a bad plan is that the frames on the J-series are wider in the rear than the narrow-track Wagoneer, so the rear Dana 44 from the Wag can't be used under the J20.
What I did end up with was to keep the J20 as a daily driver and search for some other axles for the Wagoneer. So I took the J20 to the legal inspection and got home with two months available to fix a list of bad things as long as really bad year. Tie-rod ends, wheel bearings, leaking oil, completely rusted out exhaust, no rear brakes and all the other things that goes bad on a 1977 J 20 that has been neglected for most of it's life. I did however use most of the time on fixing the rust that has eaten most off the bed and fenders. But I returned it for final inspection only one month late:-) and this time it passed.
When I started to use the truck a new problem arise, the Carter carburetor ! It seemed to have a will of it's own, stalling and stumbling and a total unwillingness to start when the temperature was below 10 degrees celcius. I first tried a rebuild but the throttle shaft bushings where shot so I decided to install a Holley ProJection instead. A company in Norway had a 2bbl that they have had on the shelf for a long time so they offered it to me for $490 which I though was a good price.
Installing the ProJection was very easy and the fact that most FSJ's already have a fuel return line made it even easier. And it sure was an improvement. Now the J20 starts easy in any temperature, it idles smoothly and it has much better part-throttle torque. I haven't experienced any mpg improvement but I suspect this to mostly be the fault of the 4,88 axle gearing.
Things I want to do with the J20
Future plans for the J20 is to change the gearing to 4,11:1 (I have a 4,11 R"&"P set for the D60 in the garage) also I'll put on the 4" trailmaster lift kit that I used to have on my Wagoneer before the coil-spring conversion , put on a set off 33" tires and use it as a tow truck for my Wagoneer and a daily driver. Another thing I've been thinking on lately is to add some inches to the cab to get more room behind the seats. Maybe add what I did cut of the body on the Wagoneer :-)
Actually I ended up selling the J-20. I camee to the conclusion that I did not have the time and the will to do all the work necessery to make it the pickup I wanted. And I really had to have a daily driver. So I ended up with a 2003 Nissan Navara.
Questions ?
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