OK, here is the deal. I just picked up a YJ, bone stock, for $3200, 130k miles, very little dirt time. Thinking about a lift and tires. I got a buddy who say's sell it and get a TJ. Cut the losses. Run, Fast, NOW.

The YJ has a 4.2 6 cyl., auto, air cond, and I kinda like it.

I was gonna do a spring over, put 35"s, and B happy.

What do U guys think.

By the way, there is TMI on this here internet! :eek: (just kiddin')

Thanks :D

I have a 87 wrangler and i love it. but i would ditch that shit carb and do fuel injection. Or a different carb.

Edit If you like the jeep keep it. don't lesson to your buddy.

unless you intend to do that stereotypical pirate comp cut 4 link stretch crap I'd stay with the yj. Just personally i grew up playing with a couple of intermediate cj5s and now trying to fix a tj constantly is driving me nuts. its alot easier to deal with leaf springs and shackles than 3,4,and 5 links. You have no idea how many times i have been tempted to put a set of 4.5 leafs on the tj. alot less stuff to break, worry about, fix, and when it does break i know i can fix it in a day. also with the carb vs efi, just remember that efi will climb a hill twice as steep but i can rebuild my carb in the woods if i have to.

We put together a 94 (4.0) this past fall. We did spring over with stock yj springs, 8.8 rear 4.88s and aussies, sye & cvdrive shaft, and a traction bar.

He runs 36'' tsl sx and the jeep goes good.

I've been look'n at the 8.8 as a viable option to the rear 35. Which one is weaker, the 35 or the 30. I also been lookin at the Rocky Road over the top steering conversion. I already have the RE conversion kit, no springs, and ordered soa shocks from Rusty's. They should be in the mail. Also ordered a Posi Lock for the 30. The vac stuff is original, and very brittle.

Thanks for the input. :)

Swap the 35 for an 8.8 or D44 while you are doing the soa.

The front will be okay for 33-35's if you are careful.

That's what I was thinkin'. Altho, it do have a stock trac-loc. Werks pretty goot too.

Which 8.8 is the better one?

That's what I was thinkin'. Altho, it do have a stock trac-loc. Werks pretty goot too.

Which 8.8 is the better one?

get a '97 or newer 8.8 out of an explorer.....they come with disc brakes, 4.10 gears, and a lot of them have LSD's and they are very close to the width of a stock jeep axle

get a '97 or newer 8.8 out of an explorer.....they come with disc brakes, 4.10 gears, and a lot of them have LSD's and they are very close to the width of a stock jeep axle


I agree with the years and such but my research when i was doing it was that the Ford 8.8's came with 3.73's and the Mercury 8.8's had the 4.10's

Also, do not use an 8.8 out of a Ranger or Mustang. There is only 1 model Ranger that has the 31 spline, the rest have 27 or 28 and are weak.

If the choice is between a 8.8 and the D44. Always go with the 8.8

The 8.8 beats every stock 44 in strength and is equal to or stronger than some stock D60's.

The only real upgrade that you should probably consider is the Super 88 kit. It gives you cromos for the axles and removes the c-clip while 33% stronger shaft with either 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern.

I also been lookin at the Rocky Road over the top steering conversion.

Save your money. No matter how many bends they put in their draglink, the angle from one end to the other drawn in a straight line doesn't change. Until that angle is nearly flat you will have bumpsteer, regardless of what their marketing BS says.

Don't go SOA for 35" tires. Keep the YJ unless you plan on going crazy with it, and even then both YJs and TJs pretty much need to be gutted to be anything really spectacular offroad.

Thanks for the input. Almost bought the wrong 8.8, out of a Must. I'll keep my eye out for the 8.8 Merc.:D

Save your money. No matter how many bends they put in their draglink, the angle from one end to the other drawn in a straight line doesn't change. Until that angle is nearly flat you will have bumpsteer, regardless of what their marketing BS says.

i agree 100%. also, rr takes about 500 years to get their shit to you and they are a bit sketchy. my buddy ordered a 4.5" lift for his zj from them. the instructions told him to reuse the front coils on the rear and half of his lift never showed up. we ended up contacting rough country for a whole new lift and they helped us out a lot. def dont use rocky road

So then, what steering linkage do most people use for soa with a 30? Or do they just nut up and do a 44. At this time, it looks like I might just put off the lift for awhile, till I get the axles I'ma gonna use. :jeep:

So then, what steering linkage do most people use for soa with a 30? Or do they just nut up and do a 44. At this time, it looks like I might just put off the lift for awhile, till I get the axles I'ma gonna use. :jeep:

yep, answered your own question. Why put the money into a weak ass 30 to correct the steering geometry. What I've seen is high-steer crossover (what I did on my toyota) or full hydro on SOA. Granted my Toyota was already SOA, when I lifted it I had to go high-steer crossover.

I used a drop pitman arm with the stock steering when I was spring over on stock axles. It had a tiny bit of bumpsteer, but nothing terrible. It was a lot better than I thought it'd be. You are better off just waiting and doing it once though. It is quite a bit of work to do twice.
Travis..

So then, what steering linkage do most people use for soa with a 30? Or do they just nut up and do a 44. At this time, it looks like I might just put off the lift for awhile, till I get the axles I'ma gonna use. :jeep:

There's no point in going SOA unless you're riding on 37+" tires, which is too much for any D30.

Dude, run while you can!!!! I have / had a 87. It still registered as an 87 but there nothing stock on it. 87 is the worse year you can purchase. Besides the carb, it has peugeot transmission and a NP207 transfer case. Transmission sucks! and there is little to no aftermarket support for the transfer case.

Dude, run while you can!!!! I have / had a 87. It still registered as an 87 but there nothing stock on it. 87 is the worse year you can purchase. Besides the carb, it has peugeot transmission and a NP207 transfer case. Transmission sucks! and there is little to no aftermarket support for the transfer case.

Not all 87 had the shit trannies, but yes they were the worst YJ you could buy. Mine was an 87 as well. In the end it didn't matter as like you nothing was stock anymore.

OP....

It's better to have your junk wheelable then to start turning it into a project thats sitting for years. Do a few simple upgrades to make it reliable and wheel the shit out of it while you gather parts to upgrade it.