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I found this truck posted for sale on jeeptruck.com last year and purchased it to use as a beater to haul stuff around. It is a 1978 J10 SWB Golden Eagle with a 360, 4 speed, Dana 20, and 4:10 axles. It wasn't running all that great, and needed some work.
The engine, transmission, and transfer case have all been rebuilt, after which, it very quickly turned into a full frame off restoration. Sorry, I know it had great patina, but it has been fully brought back to bare metal, and will be re-painted in the factory Golden Ginger Metallic.

I've done a lot of work since purchasing it and will try to bring you all up to speed as time allows.

Welcome from another Colorado J-10 owner

Here are some earlier progress pictures.

I ended up buying two more as donors. Another 78 and a 77. The white one is the 78, and it turned out to be a Golden Eagle as well. The brown one is the 77 and was at some point in its life a U.S. Government Interagency Motor Pool vehicle. I might try to keep the 77 intact as much as possible and get it road worthy.

While the drivetrain was out, I stripped the the frame cleaned it up, treated it with POR15, and painted it satin black. A new Rough Country 3" lift, shocks, and Dutchman axles where also installed, as well as, new stainless steel brake lines and new brake components.

If you have a rear bumper floating around and you not too far from me, I would love to have a J-10 bumper

akguy09 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 2:37 pm If you have a rear bumper floating around and you not too far from me, I would love to have a J-10 bumper

I do have one that's on the Brown truck. It's pretty rusted out on the underside though. I just spent quite a bit of time working on the one off the white truck. Cut a lot of rust out and patched in new metal, which is going on my current restoration.
I'll keep you in mind if I decide to sell the one off the brown truck. I tried to reply to your PM, but do not have that ability yet. I'm up in Loveland.

That's the way to do it! What a great build.

Thanks for saving it. That's going to be an awesome truck.

Awesome! I had a '76 Levi addition but it was so far gone that I salvaged it. These trucks are so COOL. Post more pictures

While going through the truck after I started the tear down, I came upon some butchery of the wiring harness. I ended up ripping out the entire thing and painstakingly rebuilt it from end to end.

One of the front bumper bolts snapped off in the frame, and I broke off a drill bit while trying to extract it. So, I had to cut it out and try my hand at welding in a new nut. I think it turned out ok.

The best condition body parts were separated from two of the trucks, stripped down, and then sent off for body work and paint.
Notice the Eagle is still visible after media blasting. (The spot in the center of the hood was left by the Dustless blaster to avoid "tin canning" of the area).

Here are a few progress pictures of drive train install:

Some body work pictures.

Some body work pictures (CONT)
Second primer after etch primer. Third coat in high build primer. Tailgate looking very straight.

Earlier last year I reproduced the air cleaner decals and a door jamb vin tag. I'm also going to try to replicate the little AMC Jeep sticker that was on the rear bumper manufactured by Flex-N-Gate.

The truck was also a Levi's edition, but the only remaining part was a ratty door panel. The seats were replaced with a bench by a previous owner. I tracked down a pair of buckets out of a Cherokee Chief in Grand Lake, and a armrest that was up in Casper WY, and recently had them reupholstered to pay homage to the way they would have looked. The door panels will resemble the original design.

looking good

Thank you for saving this one. I was watching it and had committed that if it was still there when I could get the 800 miles away to look at it, it was probably coming home, and was gone by the time I could get that accomplished. Its great seeing it not only saved but brought back with a high level of detail that will be better than it was when new.