My Jeep YJ build thread

[Shran]

Here I am a Jeep owner once again

This was a total impulse buy on my part but I could not pass it up - I only paid $2000 for it and it actually seems to be a really solid little rig. There are a couple small holes in the passenger side frame where they commonly rust out at but the tub is in good shape and it runs & drives great. It has a 4.0 inline 6 and 5 speed manual.

Plans for it - absolutely nothing beyond a few minor repairs. My wife is always complaining that we have to take separate vehicles to some of the club offroad events because my crawler only has 2 seatbelts and we have three kids. My two door Explorer build is a very long ways away from being done so this will be a fun little beater. And dat price!!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If only you knew someone that knew how to run a paint gun... your kids would love it!

Reference: Jeep Wrangler Guide | Jurassic Park Motor Pool | JPMotorpool.com

How to build a Jurassic Park Jeep : A complete reference guide.

www.jpmotorpool.com

 

[Shran]

I left it at the dealership yesterday afternoon and as I was walking out the door the guy said "hey, do you want a soft top & a box of parts for it? Previous owner left them." So I said hell yes I do!

When I picked it up last night there was indeed a soft top plus soft half doors, a bunch of oil, large box of bolts, an "emergency top" new in the box, a whole bunch of new parts, etc. SCORE!! Supposedly those Blue Ox tow bars cost quite a bit new too. Like $1500 and up - I think I will try & sell that, I'll never flat tow it anyway.

Dinked around with it a bit after work last night, got the gas pedal working correctly, it was hitting the AC blower motor for some reason. Will need to track down some seatbelts for it too, the driver's side buckle doesn't work and the passenger side buckle is missing.

Had my wife take me over to pick it up, didn't tell her I bought it, her first reaction was WTF, then quickly became "I kinda like it!!!"

 

[RobbieD]

Nice score!

Had my wife take me over to pick it up, didn't tell her I bought it, her first reaction was WTF, then quickly became "I kinda like it!!!"

Double score!

 

[superj]

so that a 91 or newer and judging by the stickers, around a 93-95. 87-90 were still the 4.2 and carburated, if i remember right.

thats a hell of a deal on a 4.0 and 5 speed wrangler with hard top and full doors. really really great deal.

those steel wheels sell for a bit also as they are the more rare version. i don't know why steel wheels are expensive but those go for more than some of the aluminum wheels that came on yjs.

do you have ac in it? its a totally separate system and can be removed from the jeep with only a few bolts and two or three wires if you want more leg room as it hangs under the dash. its also very easy to work on and get working as there is normally a ground that gets hit by the driver's feet that makes it quit.

i had an 87 and my wife had a 93 when we were younger. the kids loved them and both have had jeeps since they have gotten of driving age. my youngest still has us working on that 03 tj that rolled

 

[Shran]

Yeah it's a 1992 - in my haste I forgot to mention that. Does have the high output 4.0. 177k miles, didn't mention that either - that is pretty much nothing for a Jeep 4.0... I had a couple XJs back in the day that had WAY more than that on the clock.

It does have AC - I think it even works, I heard the compressor kick on, may be low on refrigerant as it didn't really get cold.

That's interesting about the wheels, I had a lot of those back in the day that nobody wanted but they sorta fit on a Ranger so we were using what we could find. Had no idea how they were valuable at all.

I was giving my buddy Justin shit about these, he has two of them and neither run so I've been calling them "Y Justins" lol

 

[superj]

for sure on the miles. our last xj had 325k when we sold it, i think. the dude that bought it uses it to deliver pizzas now. our last yj had 300k when we sold it for the same amount we bought it for, ha ha ha

 

[pjtoledo]

didn't your mamma warn you about Jeeps with rectangular headlights???

that was probably built about 6 miles from me.
sadly, around here they are mostly gone to the great rust ranch in the sky.

 

[Shran]

One of the boxes of parts had a previous owner's address on it and it was from Maryland. From the tow bar I am guessing this spent a lot of miles behind a motorhome. That might explain some of the lack of rust... who knows... there are a lot of YJ's left out here though.

 

[ryan]

Funny - my YJ is from Maryland too, and was originally a 4.0/manual combo. I think I have wiper arms and a motor sitting around if you figure out you need them. after destroying my windshield I have no need for them. Might have some other parts around too

 

[Shran]

My wife & I have been driving this thing quite a bit and other than being unbearably hot inside on 90+ degree days it's a lot of fun. She got some cool seat covers and spare tire cover for it.

We put about 200 miles on it and it developed a huge fuel leak in my driveway - someone had pinched an injector O ring. Easy fix, it actually came with enough new O rings for all the injectors. Also had to put a new TPS on it. Started running weird and threw a code for TPS out of range...running perfect now.

I also sold the tow bar that was on it. I found out that those are ridiculously expensive - like $1500+ for a new Blue Ox. I got $900 out of it, another YJ owner wanted it for towing his behind a motorhome. So I'm $1100 deep into this thing now... THAT is not bad at all!

 

[superj]

if you guys get bored and want to feel like you need an upgrade, drive a wrangler that has coil spring suspension.

having only had leaf spring wranglers and a cj5, back in the day, i was helping some people in our jeep club install lifts. i test drove a tj, (97-06 wrangler) and was astonished at how much nicer the jeep rode then mine did... and i had the most supple riding 2" lift kit you could buy for a yj. i had a kit that rode smoother than stock, an old man emu 2" leaf spring lift with their shocks and bushings.

now, we have that 03 tj which still rides smoothly even being lifted and having 10 ply tires and the wife's new 2019 jlu, which rides like a new car.

 

[superj]

if you get the ac working, you can run a bikini top and just point the vents at you guys and be cool.

 

[ryan]

Leaf springs are for poor people

 

[bobbywalter]

braggard