yes Don. I am working on two projects at the moment. I have the monstaliner here and was planning on painting it next week. I have been doing some reading and am now debating on getting an ARB style refrigerator and possibly cutting it into the side of the body so I can have outside access to it. I don't remember if Imentioned it or not but my jacks on the passenger side are going to need to be put on a piece of tubing where I can extend them out. When I got out I could feel the drivers side lift off the ground( I don't think it lifted far but any lift at all is not acceptable to me. I already have the tubing so I just need to grind off a couple welds and weld in a couple of stingers.
I know it's not related to my trailer but since you asked about the Jeep here are a couple of pics and some info.
It was listed on ebay as a pristine '84 with a fiberglass body and 350 chevy sb and th400 transmission. Let's just say that I got SERIOUSLY screwed on this deal. Frame rot, narrowtrack axles(indicating it's actually a 70's set of running gear), motor was claimed to be recently rebuilt but it has a tick in it indicating either a collapsing lifter or worn cam lobe so it was obviously not rebuilt. I bought it with intentions of being able to use it out of the box but it couldn't be further from the truth.
had to gut the interior. The seats were broken and the carpet was in terrible shape with mold/rot
I put a weld in front cage kit(I wouldn't have done this mod if I were to do it again. It didn't fit anywhere near as tight as I was told it would and couldn't even mount the crossbar with grab handle because it would have gone right through the steering column.
inside of jeep monstaliner btw three weeks later and I still have some of it on my nails on my hand. This stuff will stick to anything if you ever use it make sure to wear plastic gloves and when they start to tear change them immediately.
I built a JCR DIY offroad bumper with rear frame tie ins. The frame has some rot where the tie ins connect to the frame so eventually I am going to have to deal with it but it will probably wait a little while.
Put the dash back in. I am going to do a wiring harness change out but I think I'm going to wait to do it until next winter(especially now that I have had my back surgery)
We put in some best top bucket front seats and their folding rear bench seat
this is how the Jeep is now:
other items I've had to address: had to replace the steering shaft from the column to the box because it had almost a full half turn of play in it, alternator wasn't charging, carb had to be rebuilt(had it done by a shop), did a heater motor upgrade(also had to install all new duct work because the heater wasn't even hooked up) new heater core as well, I could go on and on. I got royally screwed on the deal but I'm trying to make the best of it. My main uses will be for taking up into the Ozark mountains in Arkansas and the Smokey Mountains in East Tn. I won't be doing any serious crazy four wheeling. I love to back country camp and kayak so that will be the main uses for us.
other items to address: next winter I will pull the fiberglass tub and do some patching/boxing of the frame, replace all the wiring(going to wait until next winter as well. I am going to put in a GM Factory 350 crate engine(was planning on doing it in January but it may depend on my back recovery if it will be done then....basically want to do it while it's cold outside), I have a set of HD OEM length shackles from a vendor on here(shackles are like 7.5" eye to eye and it wanders going down the road pretty bad), I will likely remove the body lift and see if I can clear the 35's with just the suspension lift that is on there. If not I may go with rubicon express 4.5" kit to clear the 35's or 2.5" OME and 1" body lift for 33's on there. Since my back is messed up lowering the Jeep some is of high priority. I will likely be lowering the suspension as soon as I can. The Jeep has tons of room and could run a much bigger tire than the 35's. I'm going to try to stay with the 35's though since I also have 35's on my trailer as well. If I stay with the 35's I'm interested in putting a set of wide track axles or maybe even full length with lower gear ratio's. If I go to 33's I'll likely keep the stock axle housings and do the one piece axle upgrades for the rear and will probably stay with whatever gear ratio I'm running now(haven't looked into it yet).
Keep in mind I started the Jeep build the same day I started the trailer build. I'm going to have to slow down on all of the work I've been doing but as you can tell between the trailer/jeep I have lots of stuff left to address. I'm going to try to get the trailer more or less to the point where I can use it(not far from there now) then I will try to get the Jeep mechanically sound.
As you can tell me Jeep was far from Pristene but I am trying to make the most of it.
