Re: [AMC-list] towing capacities

[Jim Blair <carnuck@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had a custom hitch done up for my '83 Eagle wagon (sorry I sold it now as it would have fit my '82 Spirit, but I hadn't planned on any more AMC cars falling in my lap) It was a class 3 setup but they warned me that it wasn't mounted strong enough to do the job, so I opened the "trunk" )part where the spare tire lives) and added another brace that went from frame rail to frame rail. After that, and my addition of an extra main leaf (with the eyes cut off) I was able to move around my trailer I had made from an IH bus. (5 tons empty) Unfortunately I didn't have a low range, so I killed several 998 trans in short order.
   I ended up with an '83 Jeep Cherokee full size (that I bought because I was told they all had 727s. NOT! The 6 cyl models came with 999 which is a bit stronger than the 998) that had a NP208 with 2.72 gears. It's motor was dead (bad ignition module led the owner to believe the motor was bad because it kicked back and sheared the nose off several starters, so he let it sit with the hood off till it seized up) I put the motor from my Eagle (4.5L Mexican motor) into it and hauled the trailer no probs till State Patrol made me take it across the scale and required me to get a 1 ton truck to pull it. (so I parted it out)
   I found rust in the frame where the rear axle hanger is on the Eagle (I was going to do a V8 swap on it) and ended up scrapping it, but I've been into the FSJs ever since.

   My '82 Spirit is getting the hitch (and bumper) off my '80 Eagle wagon I recently parted, but it's very light duty. I put the rear axle from the Eagle wagon in, complete with springs. They are indeed 2 inches longer than the Spirit springs, but still bolted in easily (they just have no place to extend backwards) Now my Spirit looks like a Funny car! http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y209/carnuck/spirit/
(I have to sort the pics out yet as I put some of my other toys in the same album by accident) More to come later. I have to put the Eagle tires on now as the lower gear ratio made my speedo 9and motor) think the car was doing 85 mph on I5, with everyone passing me like I was standing still!

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