Builds 68 Kaiser Jeep Gladiator (4 Viewers)

[Gumby]

Next up. Benz is done. Lincoln is in no interest purgatory.

Last week I was deep into a Porsche 928 rabbit hole. A cheap one had come up, but research showed the autos were significantly worse. Looking into manuals showed the prices have started to come up on those. Mostly, opinions were that 928s were life ruining lovely things. Lots and lots of videos of people who loved them ending up with 4 parts cars and giant repair bills.

Right around the corner from my house there was a J-seriea back off by a side road with a sign so I stopped. 1968 Gladiator. Mostly there. Good grille. Really bad paint.

After I bought my very first 40 and blew it up, a friend loaned me a late 70s J10. I really dug that truck. Looking into them it was clear the early Gladiators had the best look.

Picked it up the next day for $1500.

 

[Gumby]

Looks like the truck was a light blue metallic. I hope the orange was for a company or municipalityand not a choice. Bed seams are shot. Toyota mini owners know the wisdom of the bed sides and bed floor having a common weld seam. Scored a 2nd pink rim with a slightly different offset from the white rims. Orange doors are shot. Brown doors that came with are pretty solid. Bed floor is there, Mas o menos. Tailgate is destroyed, but pretty cool. Frame is solid. Floors are too, but show at least three layers for patches. Welded, riveted and tapcons.

 

[Gumby]

Dash looks to have been painted. The speaker grille was on the floor and the little jeep badge is missing. It came with 2 glove box doors, but no glovebox. They are available in ABS and I could probably print one,
Seat is really good. Saddle blanket cover kept it nice. Two rips. Also two mouse holes in the back. Smells really bad. No window cranks. Sucks a lot to have the doors shut. I hope I can save the seat.
Three on the tree T-15 works so far.

 

[Gumby]

327 AMC Vigilante 2 bbl. New Holley 2 barrel came on it. Would not turn over with the key, but the oil warning light came on. Battery was given a well deserved retirement. I can't believe it had any charge after 10 years. Engine cranked, but slow with a charged battery from the parts Benz.
Ford type starter relay was nasty. Big voltage drops. Battery cables were junk. Swapped in new from parts on hand and it cranks much better.
PO had the coil wire off and had given me a new coil because it had no spark. I took the cap off, (GM sourced dizzy) cleaned the brand new 10 year old points and got great spark. Fuel down the carb vents and it fired up.
The fuel pump and tank had been disconnected. Hooked the pump back up to a fuel can and it runs by itself.
Tank is half out. Honestly, bore scoped not terrible. I'll test it and maybe clean it. Tanks are available.
Big problem so far is the water pump. Bearing is shot. Leaks water out of the shaft. Unobtanioum. $250 reman.
Alt bracket is broken and missing the sliding part. I can't imagine keeping an externally regulated alternator any way.
Got some wires to sort, but the whole truck wiring harness is pretty easy to replicate.
It looks like the last owner got it running, as he claimed, about 8-10 years ago. Plugs, points, oil sending unit, carb and battery all new 10 years ago.
Hoses could be 10 years old. Aluminum radiator has a custom ratchet strap hold down and a flexible lower hose, so I'm gonna go with that was done then as well.
Found an Edlebrock 5-1/8 air cleaner lid on FB. Met a cool guy with a garage full of neat cars. Scored an easy 10 hp over stock, stock air filter and seized carb were in the bed.

 

[Gumby]

Powerwashed in and out. Did a comet wash. It just got more orange. You can see where i didnt do the door and only half the hood.
Clearly had a carb fire once.
Took a mallet and dolley to some of the more egregious dents.
Bought a set of rollers in 285/85r15 when I noticed how close the tire is was working next to was to exploding.the same tire leaks down daily and I can't have that.

 

[Gumby]

Just the best damn Jeep gille ever.

 

[Gumby]

Door cards are shot. The paisley ones from the brown doors are nifty. Interior must have been grey once

 

[Gumby]

$250 for a water pump or $500 for a 5.3, 4l60 complete? 241 passenger drop from a burban. Hmmm.

AMC 327 or GM 327?

 

[Gumby]

Yeah. Well. My math skills being what they are, I looked at my rock auto wish list and the parts that had to come from a specialty shop, I bought a silverado. Dude took $600.
Edit: dude said he'd take $600, but sold it to someone else. I bought a trailblazer from the same guy i bought the gladiator from for $500.
Gives me engine, trans, transfer cases, but the axle is too narrow to use. 80s waggy front d44 will get me front disc and pass drop solid axle. Or first year post-k Suburban had a driver drop NP241 to a 4l60.

A pic of why the frame was swapped out.

 

[Gumby]

The view today that made me realize I wasn't gonna drive this truck stock.

I need brakes and axles that can do modern roads. 3 on the tree was novel, but driving around the yard was enough to know it would be a pain in the ass, especially towing. This is one of those trucks that a modern drivetrain is going to have few detractors with actual cash to spend. A little research said a silverado/seirra was the one with the good parts. Ida rather had a dbw motor. Might update. Easy enough to do.

Scored a set of 84 door cards.

The outer skin of the brown door is good, but mice rotted out the inner. The orange inner might be patchable. Honestly, used parts are really available for stuff that never changed, so I might just hold out for a good one.

 

[FuglyYota]

Choice approved

 

[Gumby]

I got out the powerwasher sand blaster. It worked OK, but fiddly. I thought I might hook up the old pressure pot to force feed the powerwasher, and it worked out the pressure pot worked pretty great on its own.

Orange melted right off, old red oxide primer was a little harder. Down to bare metal now.

Found this weird button in the truck.

 

[Gumby]

Got all 4 bleeders broken loose. PB Blaster and and awesome Snap On bleeder wrench I've had for 30 years. Got fluid to the fronts. No braking ability at all.

Cut the last 4 bed bolts while it was in the air. Popped the bed with the tractor. Truck was definitely blue.

Frame rust was just surface scale. It all come right off. Ready for the POR-15.

Im going to go ahead and pop the front clip and cab off too for ease of LS swappage.

This thing on the end looks like a frame for a hoist or crane or something. It's gonna be a bunch of scrap steel and a little less cutting gasses.

 

[Gumby]

3.92 - for my reference

Pic for content - future LS coil covers. Decal repops available.

 

[Gumby]

The cab has some rust. It's all fixable, but it's a welding job.

B-pillars
Roof overhang (eaves? Soffit? Brow? Visor? Sleeping berth for mice?)
Rear of the cab. This was all expanding foam repaired.
Rockers and inners.
Windsheild frame
Fire wall

 

[Gumby]

Insert welding montage with appropriate music of your choice in your head.

Finished!

 

[Gumby]

Rockers and cab corners too.

Before and after

 

[Gumby]

Pay no attention to that other chassis in the background.

I spent Tuesday and half of Wednesday driving to almost Iowa. About 700 miles round trip, including dropping down to Homer Glen and grabbing a co-pilot @4rnr for the last 2.5 hours of adventuring.

The new truck came with an 81 frame. The springs are in-line with the frame so it's much easier for the aftermarket to make lift springs than it was in 1968, when kaiser put the spring eyes on riveted on posts. These posts are in several diameter and require pulling the springs and measuring. There is no aftermarket.
This frame came with 4" lift springs in the front.

Power brakes and power steering

And an open knuckle Dana 44 front with discs.

Rear D44 with slide on drums rather than keyed hubs. Lift blocks.

All the lines are good. The 68 were all replaced poorly.

There was also a comical amount of body lift to clear the 35x12x15 on massive offset rims. That's gone now, so they dont.

I purchased fenders and the driver door as well. I threw the fenders on with the 68 hood and grill.

The wheelbase for the j3000 in 1968 was 126 king thumbs. In fact, that's what made it a 3000. 2000 and 4000 were the other wheel base options with 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton and 1 ton being options for each. Also, 2 styles of bed, 2wd and IFS on some early Gladiators. It's no wonder Kaiser went out of bidness.

By 81 the numbers 10, 20 and 30 were payload. This is a j10. 1/2 ton with d44 on each end. Turns out it's also a short bed with a 119 inch wheelbase. Im going to cut 7" out of the bed length in front of the wheel wells when I fix the rust in the bed seams.

They also changed the bolt pattern on the hubs. Kinda sucks because I just mounted decent rollers on the 68. They were 5x5.5, old Ford. Kinda doesn't suck because they went to 6x5.5. Old Chevy and old Toyota. A newer Chevy rim had been bolted on, but didn't have the offset to clear the frame. Behind the shop, in the mud, i still had the old Pig spare TSL. Held air, even though it is about half full of water. I had to use the tractor to get the tire on the trailer.