New Jeep Decisions for a Newbie

[rustyshackleford]

Hey guys--I'm looking to buy my first 4x4. I've pretty well narrowed what I want down to a jeep--for me a jeep seems like the quentessential off-road vehicle. I'm on a pretty limited budget...about $3000 all told with a slow income over the summer. I'm kind of leaning towards the CJ-5 or CJ-7, but I have some questions about them.

I would like to run at least a 33" tire (35's preferably) with as little lift as necesary. Would longer shackles and/or a body liift be enough to do this? If so, how much? I have no problems taking a sawzall to the body.

Should I wait and spring for the FI 2.5 and go for an early wrangler or will the 258 be a solid enough motor? How do they compare on power and reliability? For me, fuel injection is a big plus, but the carb setup isn't all that bad.

Please bear in mind that I will be using this vehicle for trails and light crawling. Any advice would be appreciated.

[mojo74]

The stock axles will let you down before the motor will { with 35 inch tires }.
In your case I would recomend 31 inch tires because you are going to daily drive this right? Your cash flow is low also?
With the dd activity and the low bucks makes me think you should start with smaller equipment { bigger tires means you will be more likely to break axles }
also the bigger tires would mean that your topend on the highways would suck bad needing you to re-gear your axles { and in my opinion a waste of time/money on anything smaller than a d44}. Yes, you can have a stock axle live with the tires you do want installed BUT that will be a weak point in your vehicle. Anyway just somthing for you to consider.

And don't forget "chrome won't get you home" happy wheeling.

[scope]

Hey guys--I'm looking to buy my first 4x4. I've pretty well narrowed what I want down to a jeep--for me a jeep seems like the quentessential off-road vehicle. I'm on a pretty limited budget...about $3000 all told with a slow income over the summer. I'm kind of leaning towards the CJ-5 or CJ-7, but I have some questions about them.

I would like to run at least a 33" tire (35's preferably) with as little lift as necesary. Would longer shackles and/or a body liift be enough to do this? If so, how much? I have no problems taking a sawzall to the body.

Should I wait and spring for the FI 2.5 and go for an early wrangler or will the 258 be a solid enough motor? How do they compare on power and reliability? For me, fuel injection is a big plus, but the carb setup isn't all that bad.

Please bear in mind that I will be using this vehicle for trails and light crawling. Any advice would be appreciated.

I would look for a 92-95 YJ, 6 cyl. Use a small shackle lift and a one inch body lift, cut as needed to fit your 33's. Then start saving cash. Spend a year or so driving the piss out of it. Learn how to pick lines and drive them. Join a club, make some freinds and go wheeling a lot. After that time you will have a good idea of the direction you want to take your rig, be it sprung over with slightly stouter axles and 35-37's or full on 1 tons, big rubber, trailer queen.

Why those particular yj's? Cuz they have a high pinion dana 30 front (stronger than CJ), a much better frame than a CJ, HO factory injected 4 liter (instead of BBD carbed 258) and galvanized steel bodies (rust issue with CJ's). IMO, the only arguement for a CJ over a YJ would be maybe that the CJ's factory AMC 20 is marginally stronger than the YJ's pos Dana 35 rear, and the CJ has round headlights.

[rbflip]

Either jeep would be a good choice. You need to sit down and write down what you eventually want out of your jeep, after you do this you will have a better idea of which one to get. Do you want leafs or springs, carb or fuel injection (without manually adding it), bigger diffs (which ones), gears...... the list goes on and on. Once you figure out the direction you want to go pick the jeep you think you would be most happy with when these mods are eventually done.

RB

[rustyshackleford]

Thanks for the no-flame info guys...it's all really helpful. It won't be a daily driver, maybe 2-3 times a week at most(including weekends). I just had a friend suggest the 360-powered Grand Wagoneers. He said they came with dana axles. What do you guys think?

[KiGrind]

Well it depends on what kind of Dana axels. The 74 and later SJs had D44 model front ends. Also seen were they came with the AMC 327V8 and some kind of automatic transmission. My CJ7 came with an AMC 304, and only had 70k miles on it. I have only put a little over 4K Miles onto that (its a little over 74K now lol duh) and its very worn out.



Good way to look at it is, you get what you pay for. my CJ7 costs 1800 and I've spent almost 3 times as much making it worth driving into the woods, with no "lift kit" and 31x10.5 buckshots, no re-gearing, no swaps. Upgraded the rear to solid 1 piece, its got Trak-Lok and 3.54. Still need to rebuild my engine, my trowout bearing is going out and tranny leaks everywere, D30 front oil seals busted bearing wearing out, and I'm working on the body so I might be albe to paint it a solid color. Still havnt replaced either of the bent bumpers, did build a roll cage and get new seats, seatbelts, new steering gear box and all kinds of stuff.

The list of minor things is very long.