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Builing the YJ, need opinions!!!

mesha

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
Okay I have some money to throw at the YJ. I would like to know what you guys think. I know opinions are plentiful here on the board.

I have a 95 YJ 70,000 miles
2.5 liter, stock tranny. 231 tcase.
4to1 in the case.
8.8 in rear 30 in front 4.88 gears arbs FR.
spring over with revolvers and traction bar
35 inch MTRs
stock bumpers, wheel base.

I am looking to throw about 2,000 at it give or take. I am debating on what to do. here's what I am thinking about.
front 44 geared and locked not full width although I will narrow and axle.
doubler(231 type), klune-v, or nv4500
wheel base stretch
cage, bumpers.

Any ideas would be cool. If you have a doubler let me know what you think. I have read some of the reviews on pirate and am done with that. If you have a klune-v let me know what you think. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. Maybe I am not thinking of everything.
 
AINT SKEERED

AINT SKEERED

Balls to the Walls
Location
Salt Lake
I wouldn't bother with the 44. The only real advantage you would gain is gear strength.

I also wouldn't bother with the doubler, if you really need it geared deeper and have two grand to spend, get an atlas or stak.

Out of the options you listed I would go with the cage and bumpers. But if it was my jeep and my money I would look into a motor swap or coil overs.
 
1993yj

1993yj

.
Location
Salt Lake
I would think that with 4.88 gears and the 4-1 you should be low enough already. I have 4.10's and nothing else running 35's and I do fine. 4.88's would be great, but I also have the 4.0. I would put the $$$ into a bigger engine first, and maybe stretch it.

I also have the Ford 8.8 in the rear and the 30 upfront. I have toyed with putting in a 44 front many times, and always came to the conclusion of saving the money towards a 60. I don't see a real benefit in doing the 44. I already have the updated shafts with the 760 u-joints, and have never broken one yet.
 
BCGPER

BCGPER

Starting Another Thread
Location
Sunny Arizona
You've got a pretty nice set up now, cept for that engine. That would be number one on my swap list, and a small block chebby and auto trans would be my choice.
 
Skylinerider

Skylinerider

Wandering the desert
Location
Ephraim
IMO I would go with a tranny swap to the NV4500 (and it's what I'll do in the future) good tranny and you can still use it when you swap engines later on down the road.;)
 
SAMI

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
why swap the motor? don't need HP to crawl.. gears and armor, and go.. simple as that..

why spend money on a motor that already works?

put your money where it'd make a difference in off-road handling/capability.. for now i'd say lockers, gears, cage, bumpers.. pretty much in that order..

my $.02
 
rondo

rondo

rondo
Location
Boise Idaho
Here are my thoughts on my YJ evolution...

At first(many yrs ago) I bought the D30 front Warn hub conversion so i could run a front locker...big mistake and when it blew up the hub parts were hard to find and were $$. After that i got a Ford HP D44 front and rear 9" and it's been a great investment...ran it for years with only 1 short shaft failure. With that said to do it over again i'd go with D60s but back then i never thought i'd get hard core enough to need them.

As for the stretched wheel base, except for lockers that it the one best mod i'd ever done...the change in ability on this jeep is miraculous.

Revolvers: i've run them for years in both my rigs. Lately i did a rear 4 link on my YJ but honestly i don't see why people hate revolvers. no complaints from me.

Klune V, the real reason i got it is because i missed the 2.72 low range. A few yrs ago i got the 4:1 kit in the tcase and this is basically good for 90% of rockcrawling (even now). But I previously ran 4.56 gears which made made high range useless. Now i run 5.38 gears and the 2.72 in the klune means i have a whole new world of capability and i love that. sure it'd be great to swap in a V8 or something...but that's way past my ability level and if i could do it over again i probably would try and figure it out or hire it out. But since my YJ is where it is i like it. It just won't be in any mud bog competitions :D

with that said, when i got my klune i got a note from AA that said no more 21 spline adapters will be made. which if true, means i got the last AX5 Klune. You would need to change your trans and tcase. Too much hassle perhaps to adapt all that to a 4banger.

If your jeep was my jeep, and i had $2000 to spend, i'd ditch the D30 right away no matter what. A spring over stretch for the rear could be a good move...pirate has lots of info on that. And a deep gear swap would get you moving,,,unless you commute in this and need the gas mileage.
 
mesha

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
It really is a pretty good set up, but when my wife says, "Spend some money on you jeep" I'm not going to say "I like it just how it is".
I may go with some lower gears and a different front. Maybe a 9 inch. The 4.88s aren't low enough for me. My overall crawl ratio is about 75 to 1. My last jeep was at 109 to 1 and I really liked it. With a 9 inch I could go for 6.14s and that would make my crawl ratio about 95 to 1 which would be better. I would like to be able to drive on the highway but don't need to go 75. It isn't a daily driver. I tow on the trailer most of the time anyway A new motor wouldn't be a bad idea, but my motor runs great and power hasn't ever really hurt me(except on the highway).

Rondo, what did you do for a fuel cell when you did the stretch?

I still haven't decided what to do. Maybe a motor would be good.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Is your a manual or auto? More than likely a manual... if that's the case & it's a 4 cyl, I'd add the 231 reduction box your talking about & put your t-case with the 4 to 1 behind it. Those 4 cyls need gearing since they don't have much power. Kinda like a Toyota.. and you've seen what dual cases does for a Toyota. ;)

If you did that you'll have all kinds of options, stock low range, 4 to 1, and them doubled would be 10.8 to 1. That's deep, but you'd only need it for the highly technical stuff. You have a range for sand/snow, a range for trail running and a range for nasty big rocks. Between the 231 adapter, new driveshafts, etc you'd probably spend half of your money, $1000.

With the other half of your money I'd stretch the rear about 12" with a 4 link & TJ coils. You can get your control arms for around $500, TJ coils are free and spend the rest on brackets, fuel cell & the other small things you'll need. You'll be stretching your driveline for the new doubler, so might as well only do it once.

IMO, your axles are up to snuff for 35's. You are pushing that Dana 30, but it should be reliable enough that I wouldn't worry about swapping it out... yet. If you decide to go up in tire size to something like a 37-38" tire in the future, then I'd worry about new axles. At that point you'd already have the 4 link, deep gearing, etc.
 
DevinB

DevinB

I like traffic lights
Location
Down Or'm
If you plan on staying with 35" tires for a LONG time, leave the axles how they are and carry some replacements for the D30. If you want to go any higher, skip the D44 and go straight to the D60 - I wish I would have.

If my wife gave me $2k to drop on the YJ and I was sticking with 35's, I'd do a XJ rear leaf spring stretch and a quality cage. Sell that D44 of yours, then with the money from that and whatever you had left over, hookers and blow.
 
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