i'm looking to buy my first jeep,haven't decided on a tj or yj yet.it will be a daily driver which will also be used for light off-roading on the weekends.(hunting,fishing,etc.) i'm looking at a 3.5-4" suspension lift with a 1-2" body lift and 33's and 4.56's or 4.88's in the pumpkins.wanting to know your opinions on this setup.i know this is vague however i'm mainly looking for opinions on favored trannies,x-cases,axles,etc.etc and what to look for as far frame inspections etc.etc..
thanks ahead of time.:D

It depends on what you like also and how much do you want to spend.

do you homework and read the diffrence about the two.

Originally posted by KUNIN
i'm looking to buy my first jeep,haven't decided on a tj or yj yet.it will be a daily driver which will also be used for light off-roading on the weekends.(hunting,fishing,etc.) i'm looking at a 3.5-4" suspension lift with a 1-2" body lift and 33's and 4.56's or 4.88's in the pumpkins.wanting to know your opinions on this setup.i know this is vague however i'm mainly looking for opinions on favored trannies,x-cases,axles,etc.etc and what to look for as far frame inspections etc.etc..
thanks ahead of time.:D
Well....first if you dont list what tranny/motor combo you have, it will be a little hard to tell what gears you should run. If you have a manual/I6 then the 4.56's will be fine.

If you get a Yj....couple things. Make sure you get a fuel injected 4.0 Turn and run away from 4.2 carb;d crap ;) Try for a 95 with ABS. The ABS models have 297 joints in the D30.

Oh, and avoid the Puegeot tranny like the plague ;)

If you go TJ try and get one with a D44 rear :beer:

Welcome newbie :flipoff2:

Originally posted by KUNIN
i'm looking to buy my first jeep,haven't decided on a tj or yj yet.it will be a daily driver which will also be used for light off-roading on the weekends.(hunting,fishing,etc.) i'm looking at a 3.5-4" suspension lift with a 1-2" body lift and 33's and 4.56's or 4.88's in the pumpkins.wanting to know your opinions on this setup.i know this is vague however i'm mainly looking for opinions on favored trannies,x-cases,axles,etc.etc and what to look for as far frame inspections etc.etc..
thanks ahead of time.:D

Ya, SEARCH seems to be the most help some here can give. :-) I been at the same spot, wanna get started, but where to start?

Wish there was a beginner guide somewhere ......

Here is what I THINK I have found out, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm too far off. :)

1) TJ = coil springs, YJ = leaf springs SO then you want to know which is better, but if you ask, it'll start a fight. :) The coil springs seem to be MUCH much preferred for DD just an all around better ride. BUT, coils are more complicated to work with. Leaf springs are easy, and you can do a spring over axel (SOA) easy, very cheap, and I ?think? this will give you plenty of lift for 33's, SO, you don't need further lift if you go SOA on a YJ.

Both do great off road, so near as I can tell its if you want to spend the extra $$$ for the TJ and coil springs.

2) Del Albright says "Mostly I tell folks to: lift it; lock it; winch it; and rack it! " You can check out some more beginning advice at http://www.delalbright.com/products_buy.htm

3) Many folks here, even the non extreme folks, are doing pretty extreme off roading. :) Your stock axels should be fine for hunting / fishing type stuff, and 4.56 or 4.88 is probably not a big deal either. Sounds like you want to get from point A to point B where there might not be road between A and B. Many folks here aren't as concerned with just getting form A to B, they want the excitment, and often will take the hardest route, while you can go around stuff, and just don't want to get stuck.

4) Given 2 & 3, I would say go with lockers before axels.

5) SO what's the best axle swap? Beats me, if you find a good summary let me know. Search does have some stuff on this, also a little info here "best junkyard axle swaps".
http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticles/62558/index.html

Dana 40's seem like a good first step, then I seen folks switching them out for Dana 60s, GM 14 bolts, and so on, and then they sell their D60's and custom weld mog axels on. So no matter what axel you end up with, SOMEONE will tell you its not enough. :)

6) Of course, beeing here for all of a few weeks now, I can also tell you toyotas are popular. :rolleyes:

Seems that the yotas go forever, 200K miles on the engines, make great DD, never break down are dirt cheap, and are good for off roading at stock, and real cheap / easy to make it so they are great, not just good, at off roading.

7) That said, I'm probably going jeep.

A used TJ, Rubicon Express xtreme lift, good 33's, and a locker will drive comfortable and off road just fine. A used YJ, with SOA, 33's and a locker will be much cheaper and still off road great.

8) Can't help on trannies and x-cases, I been stuck on what vehicle and what axels. :-)

GOOD LUCK!


Oh, and Welcome newbie :flipoff2:

Originally posted by none1


Dana 40's seem like a good first step, then I seen folks switching them out for Dana 60s, GM 14 bolts, and so on, and then they sell their D60's and custom weld mog axels on.

First off newbie, what the heck is a Dana 40????? I've never heard of one, most rigs have D44's. Second off, Del Albright is by no means the God of wheelin rigs.

On the toyota note. Yes, toyotas kick ass. But.. My jeeps got 211,000 miles on the orig motor, and its still going strong. Its all in how you take care of it.
Scott

Originally posted by 1badPOS


First off newbie, what the heck is a Dana 40????? I've never heard of one, most rigs have D44's.

Ya, my mistype, thanks.

Originally posted by 1badPOS

Second off, Del Albright is by no means the God of wheelin rigs.


Didn't say he was. But, he knows a little bit about wheelin and a little bit about jeeps, and he's nice enough to share. His site does have some good basic stuff on jeeps. I happened to find his site in my searches on jeeps, thought I'd share.

You wanna be helpful and post a good beginners guide to building jeeps, or you just wanna hang out and bust nuts?

Originally posted by 1badPOS

On the toyota note. Yes, toyotas kick ass. But.. My jeeps got 211,000 miles on the orig motor, and its still going strong. Its all in how you take care of it.
Scott

Hey, I'm with you on the jeeps, that's what I'm looking to get. Just wanted to make sure dude knew all the options, wasn't sure how new he was. WOW, that is a good point you got, maybe taking care of the vehicle does help its longevity.

We can see many more toyotas for sale than jeeps with over 200K miles on them. Maybe that means all the yota owners take care of their vehicles better than the jeep owners do.
:rolleyes: or maybe its something else.

For the search impaired, there aren't too many posts with "TJ YJ difference" in them. There are a couple, one had this site
http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/Poster.html
that has a quick description of a ton of jeep models, including the TJ and YJ.

thanks for all the feedback.

none1 i emailed del and hope to get a response from him soon,thanks for the tip.

looks like i may wind up buying a rolling chassis so i can put in my own engine/tranny/x-case combo however we'll just have to wait and see what kinda deals are out there.:D

Or if you wanna do it right.....just buy my trail rig and be done with it ;) :D

Originally posted by none1


Oh, and Welcome newbie :flipoff2:

:rolleyes:

none1
Newbie

Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Sacramento, CA
Member #17643
Posts: 13

:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Keith Strong
Or if you wanna do it right.....just buy my trail rig and be done with it ;) :D

that is definitely a nice rig!!

thanks for all the welcomes,especially from ms. christina!!

Originally posted by none1



You wanna be helpful and post a good beginners guide to building jeeps, or you just wanna hang out and bust nuts?


I'm just hear to hang out and bust nuts. Everyone else knows that. :flipoff2:

As far as the rig, If it were me, Id get a YJ. They are a lot easier to work on, and I think they look a lot better, and wheel better. Just my opinion.
Scott