For the Love of Jeeps - JeepTruck.com

Since that day I have built and restored a
CJ-5 and CJ-7 which are my daily drivers
depending on the season. I have also recently
purchased a J4000, found through
Jeeptruck.com's Facebook. My plans are to
build and restore this truck as well. My
inspiration for buying a J Truck is my
father's truck. In 1972 he purchased a new
J4800 Camper Special from the local Jeep
dealer and has owned it ever since.

When I was five years old my father and I
took the truck, trailer and his 1925 Hupmobile
on a antique car tour of three states. As I
grew older we took the truck camping with his
1973 Amerigo truck camper, which he also had
from new. These were some of my favorites
memories growing up, camping with my father
in the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania. As
the years went by more and more problems
seemed to pop up with the truck. From bad
bearings in the transfer case to teeth stripped
off the ring gear on the fly wheel.

Imagine drag starting this huge truck with my little CJ-5! Needless to say she hasn't been on
the road in almost a decade, much to my father's dismay as my own.
This past spring we finally got it in the barn where we could start to work on it. There was
much to be done. There still is, being the truck needs almost a complete restoration. My parents
do not have the Amerigo any more, being they took favor to a travel trailer instead, so there
was much to be stripped off the truck. All the tie downs, wiring and slide out rear bumper were
still in tact on the truck. Over the years my father had replaced the stock AMC 360 with a
AMC 390 from a Rebel Machine, added a overdrive behind the transfer case, replaced the rear
axle with a Dana 70 from a FC-170 to upgrade to dual rear wheels, made custom fuel tanks so
the truck could hold one hundred gallons of fuel and many more custom modifications. Once the
tear down started we were careful to save what parts we needed that would be reused.

As of right now the
truck has had the frame
stripped bare from the
cab back. It has been
sanded, primed and
painted black. Once the
back of the truck is on
the ground again, the
engine will be pulled to
replace the ring gear.

When all is said and done what ever needs to be rebuilt will be completely rebuilt top to
bottom. There is a new style NOS bed that will go on the back, and the whole truck will be
painted Jet-Set Blue once again to match the factory color. We have hopes of getting the
truck back on the road for summer 2011, as I know my father misses driving his favorite
vehicle.