4 Wheel & Off Road – October 2019

4-WHEEL & OFF-ROADOCTOBER 2019 39

BY Harry Wagner

[email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHY HARRY WAGNER

J

EEPSTER COMMANDOS ARE A HOT

commodity lately, but to para-

phrase George Jones, “I was Jeep-

ster before Jeepster was cool.”

Eric Johnson comes by it hon-

estly, with parents who raced a

Jeepster back in the 1970s when

he was born. He has never known a world

without Jeepsters. They’ve been a part of

his life since the beginning. In fact, it was

his father who found this 1968 Jeepster

rotting away in someone’s front yard in

Tacoma, Washington. A deal was struck,

Eric got a Jeepster of his own, and the Jeep

received a new lease on life.

As the service manager at Northridge

4x4, Eric get s plenty of seat time in some

of the most capable JKs in the nation.

His Jeepster is at the other end of the

spectrum, not in terms of capability, but

comfor t. It has no radio or top, much less

luxuries like cruise control and heated

seats. Eric built the Jeep with the help of

Rob Boardway at Stainless Brain Fabrica-

tion, who bent and welded all of the tube

work, crossmembers, suspension mounts,

and aluminum body armor. “Basically, all of

the cool stuff,” Eric confesses.

We ran into Eric and Rob at King of the

Hammers, where they were putting the

newly completed Jeepster to the test and

having a blast in the process.

1968 JEEP JEEPSTER

COMMANDO 101

DRIVETRAIN

ENGINE: Ford 302ci V-8

TRANSMISSION: Ford C4 3-speed automatic

TRANSFER CASE: Advance Adapters Atlas II

with 4.3:1 low range

AXLES: D y nat rac Pro Ro ck 60 w ith 4.88 a n d ARB

Air Locker (front and rear)

SUSPENSION

SPRINGS & SUCH: 3-link with ORI struts and

Rock Krawler links (front); 4-link with ORI

struts and Rock Krawler links (rear)

TIRES & WHEELS: 40x13.50R17 Nitto Trail

Grapplers on 17x9 KMC Machete beadlocks

STEERING: Saginaw steering box, hydraulic

assist ram, GM 1-ton tie-rod ends

OTHER STUFF: Custom rollcage by Stainless

Brain Fabrication, Chris Durham Motorsports

hood, Optima YellowTop battery, drivelines

by Adam’s Drivelines, Stainless Brain Fabrica-

tion aluminum body panels, Corbeau seats,

AutoMeter Phantom gauges, Art Carr shifter,

Summit Racing Equipment aluminum radiator,

23-gallon fuel cell

TECH SPECS

1

The front suspension uses

14-inch-travel ORI struts in

conjunction with a three-link

constructed from 2-inch solid

aluminum lower links and a

13 ⁄ 4 -inch aluminum upper link

from Rock K raw ler. Rob Board -

way at Stainless Brain Fabri-

cation and the Jeep’s owner,

Eric Johnson, had to get cre-

ative with the Panhard bar in

order to clear the differential

and oil pan at full compres-

sion, but Eric reports that the

(^1) Jeep has zero bumpsteer.