A few months ago I found a very straight rhino grill in excellent shape, badge attached, at an antique store in Boise. Naturally I had no choice but to purchase it, sending me down the path of an eventual rhino conversion. I know there are pig nose lovers out there, and to them I apologize, but I care for chrome over plastic.
I already had the round headlights and chrome trim rings from a 60s J truck that got parted out on eBay, and BigJ200 had pie pan plates for me. There was a 65 wagoneer on craigslist in our area that had the core support and 3 piece bumper I needed for the conversion, but upon further inspection it was trashed. My only option was back to cutting tabs and welding a custom solution to make the 79 cherokee core support work, or shipping a 3 piece bumper and core support from montanaoverland.com...
Later that evening I checked craigslist again, and a J300 gladiator had popped up 3 hours earlier. Just what I needed! The previous owner began restoration starting at the front, but didn't get far. Fortunately, that's exactly the part I was looking for.
I only owned it for about 2 hours before the essentials had been removed. Off to the junkyard! You were a good FSJ to me.
The rhino grill that came on this gladiator was a little crunchy in the corner... Anybody looking for one?
The dash will be painted black and swapped into the Golden Eagle. In order to accommodate the wider modern steering column, some cutting and welding will need to be done so this will take place later on. The 3 piece bumper isn't a direct bolt on for the 79 bumper bracket either so I'll wait for that for now too.
May have stumbled into a treat here - the speedo has 5 miles on it. Either broken, or NOS...
Judging by the back of the cluster, it looks NOS! If it works, I'm going to use it.
