Maverick's kid's YJ build

[Maverick]

We picked up the old cabin plow jeep from my sister last month and it's been hangin' around the house with occasional jaunts to the church parking lot for donuts.

'90, 4cyl, 4:1, SYE, stock 4.10 gears in stock D30/35 axles, rear lockrite. Worn out, rock-hard 33's. Cool SteelHorse modular top with crappy door windows. Hand-me-down towbar for trips to Moab.



Plans? Mainly to drive it/wheel it mostly as is and enjoy a fairly fun and cheap rig. Depending on funds, possibly drop in a 5.3 and 8.8, run 33's as long as we can stand it, then get funky with the suspension. Keep it as streetable as possible for as long as possible. More fun to drive around every day than once a month.

Needs:

1. fix the crappy running 4cyl, and try to resist the temptation to drop in jeepin4x4james' 5.3/4L60 using a Novak kit and then a required 8.8.
2. Intake/exhaust gaskets and stuff
3. Driver front seat (gray)
4. rear bumper w/receiver
5. front cage
6. winch
7. aggressive tires, 31 or 32" (anyone have two 32x11.50 AT's? I have two Dean Mud Terrain Radial SXT) - DONE 2-23-13 MT/R's
8. Spare D35 shafts/bearings/whatever we'll need when it breaks.
9. CB DONE 3-19-13
10. Ham DONE 3-19-13
11. Front locker (thought I'd add this since we found one) DONE 3-17-13
12. Posilok cable actuator for front disconnect axle DONE 3-17-13

Wants:

1. someone's swapped out D30/35 w/ 4.88 (or lower) gears.
2. maybe 44's?
3. 5.3 (see above)
4. Novak 5.3intoYJ kit
5. 8.8
6. And a 26'-28' flatbed bumperpull.

 

[Greg]

I like the way you think! Lucky kid!!

 

[RogueJeepr]

Nice YJ . That should bring years of fun.
I hope when I sell my YJ it goes to a good home like yours.

 

[TJDukit]

This should be fun to watch.

 

[Maverick]

I like the way you think! Lucky kid!!

It's fun to be his dad.

Nice YJ . That should bring years of fun.
I hope when I sell my YJ it goes to a good home like yours.

That was part of the decision to buy it. We did the mods the first time for my sister and decided to keep it in the family and have some fun with it.

This should be fun to watch.

Actually...it might be pretty boring, especially compared to most of the other builds including Sixstringsteve's stuff. Heck, he'd already have 5 pages by now. Wait, 15 and counting, seeing as how we bought it at the end of November, that's about the same time he bought Carlos.

Maybe some of the stuff on the Need list this spring, then we'll see what summer brings.

 

[TJDukit]

I like builds that progress over time. Kinda like mine, slow and methodical. I know a lot of people like the mentality of build it right the first time and that is true a lot of times. But for a DD rig sometimes the slow route is better even though it takes more time and may cost more in the long run. Since this is a build for your kid I can see the learning process being a really fun and important part of this.

 

[Maverick]

Well, hopefully that will be what this is. The emphasis is to DRIVE IT. And fix/maintain/upgrade as necessary. And like you said, give him some experience.

It's already pretty capable, with known weak links. Ber Knight has been doing all the trails down in Moab for years with a CJ and a YJ with the 4cyl and 4.10 gears, though with front and rear lockers (and a LOT of skill). This will likely get a front locker...but there's no hurry. Matt (my kid) has been driving my scrambler on trails for a few years, and the blazer (locker/35's) last summer, so this will also be a good experience in finesse and patience.

He came in after one of the first few times driving it and said something along the lines of, "your eXcursion has hops, your jeep has hops, even the blazer has hops. Julie's Jeep? No hops." I smiled, "Nope."

 

[TJDukit]

That's the best. I had to learn to wheel in a Jeep with no "hops" 4cyl TJ no lift on 31's, best way to learn.

 

[mesha]

ANTICIPATION

 

[jeepin4x4james]

Sounds like a fun build! I've got more parts besides the 5.3 for sale as well

 

[RockChucker]

you want a 5.3. correction. you need one! :greg: I couldn't be happier with mine. and you won't have to deal with all the emissions ish i had to to keep it street legal.

 

[Bart]

Cool idea and good luck with keeping the build slow. As much as I try I can never manage that step.

 

[TurboMinivan]

[*]aggressive tires, 31 or 32" (anyone have two 32x11.50 AT's? I have two Dean Mud Terrain Radial SXT)

PM sent.

 

[Maverick]

PM sent.

Thanks Dempsey! I'll show those to Matt. YJ mod funds were misappropriated to the eXcursion Duratrac fund today. The X is doing its part to keep the YJ build at a slow pace.

 

[TurboMinivan]

YJ mod funds were misappropriated to the eXcursion Duratrac fund today. The X is doing its part to keep the YJ build at a slow pace.

I fully understand what it's like to have a lot of automotive mouths to feed, as it were.

 

[Maverick]

Well it's licensed and he's driving it. Signed up for some Jeep Safari trails too.

Need to install a ham and a cb. I put mine on my overhead cage where BC left a nice mount. Wondering where to mount it in the YJ. The ham antenna will go on the hood, the cb whip will go out back.

I'm looking for two 32" Dean Radial SXT Mud Terrains (they look like a Cooper all terrain). I already have two.

For sale are a set of TJ 7" extended flares for $75. He didn't want to put them on.

 

[Maverick]

Matt and I took the jeeps out to Rattlesnake at 5MP in the snow (mud) yesterday. I flat-towed his jeep behind my trailer...it wasn't too bad at street pressure but got wiggly at trail pressure. The drive back was pretty slow (50mph). Part of the trip was to see how well that plan would work for Moab.

I missed the turnoff so we pulled off a couple miles to the north and worked our way back to the trailhead through the snowy foothills. His tires sucked at street pressure (15psi) and sucked marginally less at single digits. It was warming up a bit when we got to the trail...we actually ended up at the top so we drove to the bottom, back up, and then down and out the graded road. He only had one rock he couldn't crawl over (no front locker) and actually did one of the bumps easier than me (my tires turned for a second before getting a bite).

By the time we got done it had warmed up quite a bit and most of the snow on the flats had melted. Heading back to the tow rig was a mudfest. I loaded my jeep on the trailer and motioned for him to bring the jeep over. He made sure to spin one more donut before hooking up the tow bar.

The pic on the snow pile is his parking spot at the gym. I washed my jeep today...he wants to keep the mud on his for a few days.

 

[ricsrx]

great trip report, i remember the days when i thought a mud coverd vehicle was cool.......now all i see is how much cleaning i have ahead of me

 

[Maverick]

Update: We found a friend selling some older MT/R's with about 5/16" tread (half life) and pulled the trigger. Matt found out that he can climb higher on the pile now. And get more stuck. (he had his buddy pull him out)

While talking about jeeps and stuff with my friend, we mentioned that it would be cool to find a lockrite for the front end. He just happened to have one. Score! I will feel a lot better about him going up Cadillac Hill this summer with a front locker.

We need to find a time to go over and pull it out of the axle it's sitting in. I guess we're about to learn how to pull down and reassemble a Dana 30.

That has me thinking though, as I recall in The Time Before Hydraulic Ram, steering with aired down tires and front locker was a beotch. Has anyone used a Posi-lock ($159) or even a manual vacuum switch? (seems MUCH less expensive) Right now the vacuum lines have been "rerouted" to make sure the front stays engaged. Seems like it would be pretty easy to put in vacuum switch, anyone done this? Does the vacuum have enough mojo to disconnect it when a little bit bound up? (a little vacuum goes a long ways)

Flat-towing, do I run with the axle connected or disconnected? (don't know that it really matters)

 

[TJDukit]

If you want to keep the disconnect you could do one of these.

http://www.4wd.com/Jeep-Drivetrain-...spx?t_c=12&t_s=237&t_pt=101224&t_pn=ALY451100