Jeep Yj Daily/offroad

jburton50

Active Member
Joined
May 11, 2015
Location
Catawba
So I was originally on this forum with my K20 step side truck a few years ago. Our son was born, and truck sold. Somewhere in that pile of life, we picked up a wrecked 95 Yj. As bad of an idea as it was to buy it in the first place, we have done some work to it. Let me start with general specs.

1995
2.5L
5spd
4.5" RC lift
Tom woods rear driveshaft
slip yolk eliminator
31-10.50-15s (aluminum wheels)

The trans was replaced by a previous owner, and the jeep was painted Pink. Barbie doll pink. We Towed it home from Marion (incase anyone knows who previously owned it), one of the front spring hangers was ripped off and one of the leaf springs crunched. (Hince the lift and such) We opt'd for the military wrapped springs, and since then I have been fixing little things here and there. I just got a radio in it and the speakers working for the first time in 3 years. LOL. All in all, it does well for my back and forth commute.

Ultimately, I'm starting to struggle with the performance now. I have looked up mods and such and have basically convinced myself not to spend any money on the performance of the engine. I am however looking in the direction of gearing. With no plans to start cutting on this thing any time soon, and coming from a higher performance back ground, I'm looking for pointers/ideas on how to keep my self busy for now, because if I keep digging, I'm going to end up buying full width axles, trying to stretch the frame, and fit 40" tires on a daily knowing that I also don't have a garage/building to do such work!

So what I am looking for here is basically a discussion of the limits of having a daily driving offroad rig, and planning some kind of map to budget building a jeep Yj. (yes selling a 2.5 and buying a 4.0 may be better, but given our current situation is not really an option) I'm basically trying to be an irresponsible-responsible adult.

Yes, a bumper, etc may be some of the things everyone thinks, but humor me please.​

How it sat when we got it.
20160324_101604.jpg
20160330_140128.jpg
20160330_140142.jpg
20160324_101618.jpg
 
Last edited:
The only advice I can give you is to buy a cheap car to drive daily, or you will get tired of the four banger in a hurry.

Next, LS swap.............

Or, maybe do 4.88 gears, watch amazon warehouse and ebay for 30 spline axle stuff for the 35 on the cheap, and slap on some 33s.

I do realize me suggesting building the 35 is roughly the same as killing 25 young children, 17 puppies and 9 kittens, but it can be done cheaper than an 8.8 if you are patient, and IMHO will hold up behind a 4 banger with 33s.
 
Last edited:
junkxj said:
The only advice I can give you is to buy a cheap car to drive daily, or you will get tired of the four banger in a hurry.

Next, LS swap.............

Or, maybe do 4.88 gears, watch amazon warehouse and ebay for 30 spline axle stuff for the 35 on the cheap, and slap on some 33s.

I do realize me suggesting building the 35 is roughly the same as killing 25 young children, 17 puppies and 9 kittens, but it can be done cheaper than an 8.8 if you are patient, and IMHO will hold up behind a 4 banger with 33s.
Click to expand...


LMAO. Its most ironic because I just read a 10page D35 thread you started.. LOL. The idea of building the D35 is not something I plan on doing (considered yes). I would stock up replacement parts for it to take on the trail. Fortunately I have the 4.10 gears, and would not immediately require gearing if I can locate the right axle. I will likely build an 8.8 if I don't come up with a plan for full width axles. Mostly because I want to avoid doing a whole bunch of swapping down the road. The idea of a daily driver on full width axles is a little far fetched, but whenever the time comes for an axle swap, I will see where I am. I'm thinking more along the lines of capable build ideas that I can incorporate until I'm ready for the bigger items.
 
One of my next issues to tackle is the vacuum disconnect... (which has steered me towards an early D30 swap), one of the previous owners put a knock off posi lock set up in it that does not work the way it is supposed to. Ive contemplated the swap because of the high pinion upgrade ability. I don't really want to do the axle shaft swap because of the rebuild procedure basically required for the axle. I may manually lock the fork into place, but have wondered about swapping the front driveshaft from an XJ in to maybe cut down on the vibration that is experienced when its locked in...
 
jburton50 said:
LMAO. Its most ironic because I just read a 10page D35 thread you started.. LOL. The idea of building the D35 is not something I plan on doing (considered yes). I would stock up replacement parts for it to take on the trail. Fortunately I have the 4.10 gears, and would not immediately require gearing if I can locate the right axle. I will likely build an 8.8 if I don't come up with a plan for full width axles. Mostly because I want to avoid doing a whole bunch of swapping down the road. The idea of a daily driver on full width axles is a little far fetched, but whenever the time comes for an axle swap, I will see where I am. I'm thinking more along the lines of capable build ideas that I can incorporate until I'm ready for the bigger items.
Click to expand...

I agree, and apologize for my suggestion.
I have no actual input on running a 35 with 35s on a 4 banger yj/tj, only what I read on the internet about building one for around $500 that would hold up to said tires and moderate abuse.
 
junkxj said:
I agree, and apologize for my suggestion.
I have no actual input on running a 35 with 35s on a 4 banger yj/tj, only what I read on the internet about building one for around $500 that would hold up to said tires and moderate abuse.
Click to expand...


Lol relax. I just read through it. I'm not slamming on your attempts.
 
jburton50 said:
Lol relax. I just read through it. I'm not slamming on your attempts.
Click to expand...

Got my feet up and watching Weird science, dont know how to relax more than that.....

I didnt mean to come across as being slammed, just ready for being called the antichrist for suggesting a dana 35 is a usable axle for a DD.
 
Personally I think the D35 is primarily a DD axle. Anywho, discussing the reliability of a D35 is not the intent of this thread. If you have/wheel a 2.5L TJ, what have you done to make it more capable?
 
I never had an issue wheeling my 4cyl yj with 33's and limited slip diff.
 
Had a TJ with the 2.5, the single best thing you can do and see the most instant night and day difference is 4:88 gears.

I could do 70 on the highway with the AC on, but only if it was flat. It was no rocket and def a slug on the hills, but for buzzing around town and running around it was great. It done excellent off road as well. I had 33” tires, 8.8 rear, locked f/r. 33s with 4:88 gears is basically the stock gearing.

Stock tire size is much smaller than 31” so you’re already outside the optimum gearing.
 
77GreenMachine said:
Had a TJ with the 2.5, the single best thing you can do and see the most instant night and day difference is 4:88 gears.

I could do 70 on the highway with the AC on, but only if it was flat. It was no rocket and def a slug on the hills, but for buzzing around town and running around it was great. It done excellent off road as well. I had 33” tires, 8.8 rear, locked f/r. 33s with 4:88 gears is basically the stock gearing.

Stock tire size is much smaller than 31” so you’re already outside the optimum gearing.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I kinda wondered about that. I never got to drive the jeep with stock tires, or height. Plan may be the same set up you described if I can contain myself. Lol. I thought about ditching the boomerang lift shackles to drop some lift and try sticking with 31s, the tires are just so small :(
 
So I brought the factory shackles to work, may try to make a sturdier version so I can replace the boom shackles and lower it back down a little bit. 31x1050's are more in my budget then 33x1250, and seem to be easier to come by. I also like the idea of a low center of gravity, so reducing the lift and cramming bigger tires later would be fun... Anyone got any thoughts on that? I haven't changed the pitman arm yet, so it will likely remain stock if I do this. Also plan to remove the fenders. I had put them back on to try to sale the jeep and was going to let anyone that bought it decide what they wanted to do with them, but now I think ill just remove them.
 
My attempt to make shackles during a 1 hour break. Gotta cut the other side, grind the radius, then i'll likely chuck them in the mill to square everything up.
20181107_232801.jpg
 
So I got the ends cut and ground, the holes dilled, and obviously in doing that, the shackles separated. If this shackle is going to be stock height, is there any point in adding a cross connector to each pair? I've seen where lift shackles have a through bolt, or a welded piece in the middle, and adding that isn't a problem, but seems like there's potential for limiting the suspension if there is an unnecessary cross piece? Otherwise, i'll be priming these tonight or tomorrow...
 
Soooo just something random about heat with a 95 yj. If you're already missing the diffuser at the bottom of the dash like I was, save your money and use a magnetic tool tray.. works better then the diffuser if placed in the right location on the trans tunnel.. 20181203_170747.jpg
 
Back
Top