JJ's TY-7

[Jesse-James]

Not an XJ, but figured you might enjoy the read. Here it is a few months after I took it off the lot at Bel-Air Motors in Kenosha in Oct of '04. A 95 YJ, 2.5L auto, 79k on the ticker. Got it with a torn soft top so the top is new at this point and I threw my Hi-lift on the back. Otherwise pretty much how she came home. I sometimes forget how purdy it was back then.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/misc/DSC00091.jpg

Added a front bumper, OBA setup using said bumper as a tank, winch, and got rid of everything chrome. I was still pretty new to wheeling at this point and wanted to be ready for my first hardcore wheeling trip, lol, the Northwoods Jeep Jamboree. Isn't it clean? :lol:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC00390.jpg

Did the Jamboree and quickly found that it was rubbing and cutting up my front tires. The cheap AAL lift was pretty worn, especially in the front. Look at all that flex.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC00802.jpg

Cut off the track bars and got a set of lift shackles to combat the sagging springs while I saved up to do the lift. Wheeled it like this for quite a while. Did pretty good for what it was.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC01286.jpg

At the Cliffs, I discovered two valuable bits of info. Jeeps cannot swim, and the auto tans is allergic to water. That was not a fun day, not a cheap one either. Sat for months while I saved for a new trans.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/Cliffs/Cliffs06/e994re2.jpg

Back on the road and took a trip to the Badlands, where I found that bumpstops are important. Both of mine were rotted and broke off on the Pink trail. Didn't take long to slice up my tires and gull wing the fenders. Time to bring out the cutting tools.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC01625.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/Cliffs/Cliffs%204-08/DSC01972.jpg

Got sick of eating ujoints due to a bad pinion angle and running with too much slip yoke exposed toasted the output bearing of the T-case. So knowing a lift was coming soon decided to do the SYE and driveshaft. Man it was good to be rid of the driveline vibes.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC01900.jpg

[Jesse-James]

Somewhere along the line the wife got me a set of Corbeau Baja SS's, gotta love a wife that buys Jeep parts.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC00527.jpg

The time came to start the lift, did the work at CNC offroad. Bob was a member of the club I was in at the time and didn't charge me much for labor, and it sure is nice to work on a lift. I wanted to go SOA, but didn't have the means to deal with axle wrap plus I knew an axle swap was coming so I picked up a set of new RE4.5" springs dirt cheap that were leftover from someone's project and did a SOA/SUA lift.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/YJ%20Lift/DSC02089.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/YJ%20Lift/DSC02118.jpg

Got it home and decided the 31's looked funny. Hilarious even.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/YJ%20Lift/DSC02151.jpg

So the wife said happy Father's day, go get some tires. Woohoo, drove over to Sam's and got a set of 33" Mud Rovers.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/YJ%20Lift/DSC02178.jpg

Much better.

A stock tailgate was not a great answer for a 33" spare and my gate was already tweaked so I had a bumper built with a tire swing.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/Bumper/DSC02485.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/Bumper/DSC02497.jpg

Wheeled it like this for the summer and got a set of rock rails as a Birthday gift from the wife.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/Rockers/DSC02849.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC02857.jpg

So I knew I was on borrowed time with a D35 and 33's, plus I was ready for a locker so I began the hunt for an 8.8. Scouring the boards for weeks resulted in an 8.8 w/4.56 gears and a Detroit that was previously used in a TJ with a triangulated 4 link setup. Dropped it off at the shop ready to spring over the rear and Bob convinced me to link the rear since it was set up for it. Had him make new links with flex joints and hung it on TJ rear coils.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/misc/05121644.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/misc/05121416.jpg

Holy flex, Batman!

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC03074.jpg

While it was in the shop, I finaggled a deal that got me a set of 35" BFG's.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC03030.jpg

Shortly afterwards I ran into a Caledonia cop that didn't like the rooster tails that my front tires were throwing so I had to do something about tire coverage. After searching for two months for a pair of clean YJ fenders I gave up and jumped on a CJ front clip. I wanted a CJ7 when I was looking for this Jeep to begin with but I wanted fuel injection and didn't want a rust bucket which is all I was finding.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC02945.jpg

[Jesse-James]

And the swap was underway....

Out with the old

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/CJ%20front/DSC03505.jpg

In with the new

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/CJ%20front/DSC03551.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/CJ%20front/DSC03579.jpg

Painted it up and threw on some TJ Flares

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/CJ%20front/DSC03641.jpg

Flush mounted the tail lights

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/tails/DSC03136.jpg

Then I ran into another screamin deal and wound up with a full cage dirt cheap, got sick of the corbeau's and swapped in a pair of '01 Sunfire seats.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC03765.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC03767.jpg

And after a different top and some half doors, this is how it sat until this year.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC03972.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC04020.jpg


Edit: I'm sure there was things I forgot to mention, the 1" body lift, 4.0L TB swap, Ford 19# injectors to name a few but I think that's most of it.

[Jesse-James]

This spring went to stock width flares, got a set of Rubi coils in and ~1" lift shackles in the front. Picked up a set of Moabs w/33's for street driving and a set of 36" TSL's for the trail (which I still need to mount) Also went back to stock tail lenses since I was kind of iffy on them and someone offered me twice what I paid for the other ones.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC04607.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC04609.jpg

[rguignard]

goodlooking jeep youve done alot to it. i like the cj front clip it looks good :thumbsup: so when are you going to link the front end ? btw nice xj too :smiley-laughing021: show us the build on it too :thumbsup:

[BlueXJ]

I wholeheartedly agree. Great YJ. Do you feel you have enough power with the 2.5L?

[4.3LXJ]

I like that CJ clip too. I didn't know they were that easy to add

[Jesse-James]

Thanks for the comments. The CJ clip wasn't quite bolt on, but it wasn't bad. Went through about 10 cutting wheels getting everything trimmed to fit. Had to do a 1" body lift and weld on a new body mount under the grill. Bolted on pretty easily on the firewall side but at the frame the steering box caused a bunch of issues since the CJ nose is about 1.5" shorter than the YJ.

As far as linking the front the plan is in a year or two once the tow rig/trailer is finished. I'm going to be converting a short bus into an RV/tow rig. That should be a fun project. When the time comes though it will be getting a 3-link with a single radius arm using flex joints and coilovers. Should twist up nicely then.

As far as a build on the XJ, the lift was already on it when we got it so there's not too much to write up yet. Might be starting over on the suspension though, the BDS kit rides like shit, I'll start a thread when we decide what direction to go with it. I have a C8.25 sitting here waiting to go in as well.

[rguignard]

i have a 3in RC lift on mine and it rides pretty good :thumbsup: how come a short bus i was thinking a bus as well so let me know how that goes

[Jesse-James]

I'm thinking short bus because they're easier to drive/park, 1 ton chassis and drivetrain so parts are easy to find, and on the whole cheaper to maintain. It will also be a smallish RV that can be used for more than a tow rig. Finally sold the wife on the idea but says I can't keep it yellow or put "Short Bus" in big letters on the sides like I wanted, lol.

[rguignard]

i missed the trailer part i was thinking putting the xj on the bus and building a camper out of the rest of it :thumbsup:

[Jesse-James]

Do you feel you have enough power with the 2.5L?

Just realized I didn't answer this. Yes, now I do but it wasn't always. It took a regear, playing with tire sizes, free flow exhaust, 4.0L throttle body and port matched intake, and 19lb Ford injectors to get it there. It was always fine on the trail though.