Chris Overacker Jeep PreRunner

Join us as we present a multi-part series of articles in which Chris Overacker owner of CODE 4x4 Inc. describes how he built this awesome truck.

I’ve been building Jeep’s since my first CJ2A, back in 1975. By far, my favorite are full size J-trucks. I live in western Colorado, but grew up in the desert and have a love for off road racing, and simply love the vintage racers (1980’s). Back then, racers would “pre-run” the race course before the race, in order to learn it. The pre-runners were somewhat like the race cars, but typically had more creature comforts (windows, A/C, etc.), and could carry spare parts, fuel, and tools so during the race the crew could “chase” the race car.

Jeep Honchos were very popular during that time period. So, my goal was to build a vintage 80’s looking pre-runner, that could be a daily driver, yet was unique in today’s world of Ford’s, Chevy’s, Ram’s and Toyota’s. With that brief background, I’ll walk you through my build.

Starting with a 1983 J-10 Honcho step-side, it suffered from the typical rust as most do, but I couldn’t bring myself to send a rare FSJ to the crusher, although in retrospect, it would have saved me tons of money! So, here is what I started with.

I decided to take it down to a bare frame throw away the junk front fenders, hood, and stuff I wouldn't be using. I knew that an in-cab cage would be fabricated so the decision was easy to gut it to a bare cab. The factory fiberglass rear fenders were cracked, but all-in-all, in pretty good shape, compared to some I’ve seen.