Before Chad Roberson could even drive, he was the unofficial mechanic for the fleet of Jeep trucks at his father’s excavating business.
More than 25 years later, Roberson—now an official technician at Russ Complete Auto Repair in Wabasha, Minn.—has never been able to separate himself from those classic Jeep trucks of his childhood.
In 2005, he bought a 1987 Jeep J20 from his long-time neighbor for $2,900.
“I remember this truck from when it was brand new,” Roberson says. “I was a teenager when [our neighbor] bought it as a farm truck.”
Roberson’s neighbor had only racked up 60,000 miles on the truck, so very little mechanical work was needed. But the body was torn to shreds. He fixed a coolant leak and put in a new timing chain, and then set about the bodywork. Previous body repairs were falling out of the bed. The rocker panels and driver’s side floor had large holes in them and the truck was in desperate need of a new paint job.
“I may have overpaid for it, because it needed a lot of work,” Roberson said.
Finding parts for Jeep trucks isn’t quite so simple these days. Lucky for Roberson, he had a few run-down jeep pickups sitting around his property in rural Wabasha, including his father’s old ’78 J20. The wheels from his father’s ’78, as well as a few other small parts, have made their way onto the ’87.
To find other pieces he needed, Roberson had to buy entire trucks simply to use a few parts. To get a replacement floor plan, he had to look out West to a retired body man in California who makes them by hand.
“That’s the only place you can find them,” he says.
He bought another J20 just to strip the roll bar, rail guard and receiver hitches to put on the ’87. Roberson says he tries to take every possible part of the trucks to either use or sell.
“They’re too rare to scrap,” he says.
