I am looking at a wrangler to build into an offroad toy. most of what i have seen for sale in my price range are 1988-1993 models. anybody have any opinions about any of these years, good or bad? Anything that i should be looking for or looking out for?

Make sure you get the MPI 6 Cyl. stay away from the carbed versions.

I would say watch the manual tranny they are imported and do alright for dd duty but suck for trail use if you can get an auto some dont like the square headlights its ok for me I have looked at a few for the wife who likes Yotas and Jeeps go for a Sahara model if you can find one larger gas tank.

O yeah No 4's!!!!They suck majorly drove one with 33's once never felt so underpowered

91 and above will have EFI on a 4.0 before that they will be a 4.2 with a carb. Stay away from the carb. HTH

92 and above have the family style roll bar.

from '91 on they also have the AX-15 5sp which is a far transmission. Most of the ones that fail are abused(such as mine) THe front HP Dana30 is a good axle, just replace the vacum disconnect with a cable version and your all set. But ditch the rear axle the Dana35 is weak. Good choice is to swap a Ford 8.8 in.

look for a '91-'95. stick with the 4.0L, best power, fuel mileage is pretty much the same as 4cyl., manual trans ax-15 is better then 4 cyl. ax-5, or auto is a good option as well. yep, dana 30 front needs a cable actuator, or swap it out. and the rear dana 35c is fine for stock tires and light wheeling. but swap it if anything more is needed. over all my 1992 YJ has done me very well for more then 200,000KMS. ive got no complaints. and after market is still coming out with new stuff for the YJ's! leaf springs rock too;)

i have a 92, the motor is still running strong at 165,000 and I bought it used, by the looks of it when i bought it the guy before me wheeled it pretty hard too. My ax-15 trans is pretty much done, but other then that it works well after swapping out the axle and the stock cage actually does pretty well. I rolled 1 3/4 times (slow roll, down hill) and the cage didnt tweak or crack any mounts. just my 2c

Most defects/preferences have been covered. You definitely want the latest YJ you can afford with an inline 6. The earliest ones, as mentioned, have vacuum disconnected front axles, smaller roll cages, and weak transmissions. Wheel the snot out of it until you break the Dana 35 in the rear and then upgrade to a Ford 8.8 or a Dana 44. When the transmission gives up, ditch that. When the Dana 30 gives up, upgrade to another Dana 44. You'll probably never kill the engine if you take care of it. It is easy to get 200K out of the inline 6.

What ever you do, do not get a carbed YJ unless you plan on making an engine swap. The Mopar injection upgrade is over $2,500 and you tend to not pay much more for a factory injected rig over a carbed one. Also, check the air cleaner in any I6 rig you are considering. When the rings start to go you get blow-by that forces oil out of the top of the valve cover at the PVC and into the air intake. Look for evidence of oil on the air filter, in the air box, outside of the air box (the fender, etc.), or in the intake hose. The motor will generally run for some time after this problem begins but it will make a nasty mess on the driveway and inevitably you will be changing out the motor. If you do find one with this problem, point it out to the owner and lowball your offer. Talk about all the costs you will have and the work that you will need to do, you might just cut a good deal. Put a new motor in it and you're good.

Good Luck !

Kriss

What everyone else said, NO CARBS! And the worst years by far are 87 and 88 they came with peugot tcases/trans and vacuum disconnects. Stick to 92 and up and go for a 6 cyl.

But my advice is to go with a tj. You may spend a little more but its more than worth it. I've had plenty of cj's, yj's and tj's and the tj's are by far the best.

All YJ's are vacuum disconnects on the front axle

you can change the passenger axle out for a tj axle shaft it will make it stronger being its a one piece axle shaft

Just remember when looking for a jeep, try to find one that has the most “goodies” on it for the buck. All these aftermarket parts cost big money but you get little for them when you go to sell the jeep. Of course, this assumes that the mechanic and structure of the jeep is sound. Good hunting.

Kriss

lyep, dana 30 front needs a cable actuator, or swap it out.

the 30 needs more than a cable actuator. The u-joints on MANY of the YJ's are 260x joints instead of the stronger 297x or 760x joints. With a 30 I would swap in TJ shafts... no disconnect, and 297x joints.



of course I did that, and I still broke them with 31" tires, so I went with a Dana 44. (yes I know they use the same size joint)

While I agree with a lot of the above, I would NOT count out the 4 popper. For the guy whining about being underpowered with 33's, it's called regearing... 4.88's and 33's would be a fine combination, and you can swap the AX-5 for an AX-15 fairly easily. With the 4 cyl you can do anything a 6 cyl can do, and break less parts in the process. Personally I love my 4 popper. It's a damn reliable engine (mine has over 196,000 miles on it) and if regeared correctly, can push any size tire.

I would say watch the manual tranny they are imported and do alright for dd duty but suck for trail use if you can get an auto some dont like the square headlights its ok for me I have looked at a few for the wife who likes Yotas and Jeeps go for a Sahara model if you can find one larger gas tank.

I've never had any problems with my AX-15:confused: i cant imagine wheeling with an automatic :p

Definitely go for the 91 and newer 4.0L!!

The fuel injected four oh's are hard to beat and have a great service life.

Yeah but look at the buggies most of them run auto trannys for a reason easy to use and no clutch fo mess around with and lose points over.Now I am not saying the auto is any better but I have grown to live having mine in the woods on steep inclines with stop and go driving.