1983 Jeep Other

Long Bed

360

Automatic

1JTNE26N3DT061299

Salvage

1983 Jeep J-10 long bed pick up. It is powered by an AMC 360 V-8 and has a Chrysler 727 automatic transmission. Options include power steering, power brakes (front disc and rear drum), cruise control, digital clock, tinted glass and power bucket seats.The truck has factory four wheel drive with lock-out hubs (model 208 transfer case).The axle ratio is 2:72 to 1. It has an aftermarket Reese hitch and factory slotted aluminum mag wheels. It also has an aftermarket bed mat cut to fit using an original factory mat I borrowed from a buddies truck. I bought this truck at auction in 1990. The truck had been in a minor collision needing a front bumper, left front fender, and the front valence and left side bed Qtr straightened. The truck had also been towed without putting the transfer case in neutral and the transfer case housing had cracked as well as the transmission valve body. My father owned an auto body shop and had a dealer's license at the time. The valence and bed side were straightened and the bumper was replaced with an older 3 piece unit. The fender was replaced with an aftermarket unit which is now the only body panel showing through rust( see pictures). At the time, I found a 1987 J-20 ex- state highway department truck in a junkyard with only 15,000 miles on it and swapped out the transfer case and front J-20 leave springs and sway bar. I had a friend who owned a transmission shop install a new valve body and go through the transmission. The 360 engine originally had a two barrel carb. and I promptly installed an Eldelbrock aluminum intake manifold and Carter competition series AFB, as well as a set of headers, and a dual exhaust system with Cherry bomb mufflers. At some point soon after I treated the engine to a treatment of Slick 50 and within a week, wiped the factory cam. I ended up installing a Mopar Performance cam and lifter package that was one step hotter than the factory unit.Other than that, the only other thing I've done to the engine was to replace the water pump and fuel pump. The truck was originally white with a tan interior and had a bench seat. I decided to change the exterior and interior color to blue. Before doing so, I installed factory cruise control along with the factory tilt steering wheel and factory three spoke steering wheel. I also added the factory digital clock and a set of power seat frames from an 83 Grand Wagoneer with 79 Cherokee Chief seats. I used the Chief seats because the seat backs tilt, the Wagoneer seats don't. I dyed the dash pad, horn pad and door panels blue and painted the dash and doors blue. I never got around to doing the seats. I drove the truck several years with dealer's tags as we kept the truck in inventory. Upon my father giving up his business and dealer's license, I decided to re-title the truck in Virginia where we live ( the shop and business was in Maryland) and found out Virginia had passed a law not allowing me to obtain a regular title from a previously issued salvage title. From this point on the truck was trailered and used strictly off road and very infrequently at that. About three years ago I discovered only one front brake was working. I determined it was the result of a faulty proportioning valve. In trying to remove the hard lines from the proportioning valve, most the fittings snapped off the lines because they were badly rusted. I bought most all the parts to rebuild the brakes and decided the next step was to remove all the hard lines and have them re-bent by one of the shops that specializes in this. After removing all the hard lines(see pictures) I lost interest in the project. Included with the sale of the truck are all the new parts: master cylinder, rear brake cylinders, rear brake shoes, flexible brake hoses, proportioning valve, front brake pads and rear brake drums (see picture).The gas tank was also removed to gain access to the hard brake lines and it needs to be reinstalled. The truck has sat now for three years. The weekend before last I put a battery into the truck, ran a fuel hose into a jug of gas and primed the carb. The truck immediately wanted to start and after priming the carb three different times, I got it to start and idle. What about rust: The body is in overall good shape. There is quite a bit of surface rust, some pretty heavy, but the only sign of through rust is in the aftermarket left front fender as I previously mentioned. The surface rust is heaviest in the typical location, the seams between the upper and lower body panels on the bed, and the seam between the front fenders and flares. There was a small hole through the upper layer of the passenger side floor board(see picture) that I patched nearly twenty years ago. It looks like moisture has gotten to it and the rust is active again as well as the same loaction on the driver's floor board (see pictures). Neither appear to be through rust and the areas are relatively small. You can see by the pictures that rust is bubbling up in quite a few places on the exterior of the body. I don't think any of it is through yet, but can't really tell for sure. The inside of the bed is in exceptionally good shape as is the tailgate as you can see by the pictures.The cab is also very solid with the exception of the spots mentioned above. Both doors are exceptionally good with some rust showing at the lower seam on the right door (see pisture). The inner fenders are also very good with only some slight surface rust visible, very solid. What does it really need: The whole brake system needs to be rebuilt includiing replacement of all the hard metal lines. The rear brakes are currently removed so there are no brakes at all including parking brakes. The fuel tank needs to be reinstalled and hooked up. The rear bumper is no good and is completely rusted away from the inside out. It looked pretty good up until a couple of years ago but I ended up sticking my hand through the outer layer of chrome. The inside structural "bar" of the bumper rusted away to nothing leaving the outer layer of chrome. The bumper brackets are okay as I had replaced them with NOS units in 1991. The truck is complete except for the mouldings around the rear of the cab. I can't seem to locate them now. They were removed for polishing many years ago and never reinstalled. As I stated above I only have a salvage title, so if you're thinking of fixing this up for the road, you'll need to transfer this to a regular title if your state allows this. This truck could be fixed up or used as a donor for another project. There's a lot of good parts here. The bed, tailgate and interior are exceptionally good as is the windshield. As you can see by the pictures, the door panels and headliner are really nice. Everything you see on the truck is included except the radio. I do have the original emblems that were removed and never reinstalled when i painted the truck in 1991. Sold as is, with no warranty. Obviously because of the lack of brakes, the truck will have to be winched or pushed onto a truck or trailer. Local pick up only. I will not arrange shipping but will work with your shipper if you want to go that route. If you have any questions please email me. I have many more pictures I can provide which will give you a better indication of the overall condition, if you're interested. Please contact me by email and I can provide you with the additional pictures.