Ran out of talent at the Southern Cruiser Crawl this past October and the 80 took a bad hit with a tree and suffered serious damage. My wife and all 4 kids were in the truck when it happened and luckily aside from my wife having a hurt back and me a swollen ankle all of the kids were injury free. It could have been a lot worse. It’s days on the rocks are over and once the rebuild is complete it’s time for me to add a buggy to the fleet.
A little back story on this 80. I purchased this truck in December of 2006 after moving to Mississippi from Virginia in April of 2006 without a vehicle as I left my 94 with my dad as it was broken after catastrophic wheel bearing failure and couldn’t make the 1000 mile trip. Like with any 80 purchase it didn’t take long before it was on a 315 then 39.5 Swampers and then 40’s back before it was the norm. Have been running 40’s since the middle of 2008 before it was cool. LS swapped since September of 2016. Have owned many of other 80’s during this time but this one has always had a spot in the driveway.
This build will involve a complete body swap and a complete renovation while it’s disassembled. I now have the opportunity to start with a blank canvas and will be able to correct mods made over the years that I was not fond of later down the road. The replacement body is not going to be cut and I will be running flares. That being said the 40’s have to go and will be replaced with 37’s. Build will be geared more towards overlanding/exploring vs rock crawling. I want to make it something that can be used and enjoyed by family for many years to come.
Build thread may be slow as all work will be done in what little spare time I have with a full time job and 4 youngins. Have been in the Cruiser world for a couple decades and want to document everything for myself as I go along. Feel free to follow along.
A little back story on this 80. I purchased this truck in December of 2006 after moving to Mississippi from Virginia in April of 2006 without a vehicle as I left my 94 with my dad as it was broken after catastrophic wheel bearing failure and couldn’t make the 1000 mile trip. Like with any 80 purchase it didn’t take long before it was on a 315 then 39.5 Swampers and then 40’s back before it was the norm. Have been running 40’s since the middle of 2008 before it was cool. LS swapped since September of 2016. Have owned many of other 80’s during this time but this one has always had a spot in the driveway.
This build will involve a complete body swap and a complete renovation while it’s disassembled. I now have the opportunity to start with a blank canvas and will be able to correct mods made over the years that I was not fond of later down the road. The replacement body is not going to be cut and I will be running flares. That being said the 40’s have to go and will be replaced with 37’s. Build will be geared more towards overlanding/exploring vs rock crawling. I want to make it something that can be used and enjoyed by family for many years to come.
Build thread may be slow as all work will be done in what little spare time I have with a full time job and 4 youngins. Have been in the Cruiser world for a couple decades and want to document everything for myself as I go along. Feel free to follow along.
