This is my Grandpa Jim's 1987 Jeep
Wrangler YJ. He
bought this from a guy in Las Vegas, Nevada and I went
to pick it up in January (2005). Justin and I trailered it back
on some 31 inch all terrain tires, which made it look very
goofy. The Jeep did look like this but Grandpa did not
need the wheels or tires so we let the guy keep them.
| Engine and
Drivetrain
350 ci, 5.7 liter Chevy V8 crate |
Axles and
Differentials
Boyce Chevy Dana 60 front axle |
| Suspension
BDS 3.5 inch YJ springs up front |
Protection
Custom full roll cage |
| Miscellaneous
ARB air compressor |
Steering Thuren Fabrication high-steer with BTF arms Modified steering gear box Tires 42x15x15 Super Swamper TSL's (6 of them) Hella 7 inch long range lights |
The YJ was in good shape overall, but
needed a lot of attention to details. It had a great drivetrain but some
things were just thrown together, probably from being in a hurry when building it. The Jeep has a Chevy Dana
60 low pinion front axle with the Kingpin knuckles and it has Dynatrac crossover steering. The rear axle is a GM
14 bolt. Both axles had 4.88 gears and Detroit lockers. The motor is a crate Chevy 350 with a factory throttle
body injection system. It runs great and is mated to a Turbo 350 transmission and a Dana 20 transfer case.
The Dana 20 has a 4:1 low range kit. The suspension is a leaf spring setup, using YJ 3 inch lift springs in the
front and XJ leafs in the rear, and a spring-over lift. It also has a 3 inch body lift. It originally had 42 inch
TSL's on 16.5 inch Hummer beadlocks, then he put 39.5 Boggers on it and tore them up on the rocks.
So
he went and got six 42 inch TSL's but is running them on 15 inch wheels, just like my Jeep. This setup
is a lot better. The YJ was stretched 8 inches and the rear fenders were cut to allow room for this move.
It has about the same wheelbase as a Scrambler.
The Jeep also has a custom rock crawler
hood that makes the hood, grill, and fenders all one
piece. It's a CJ style hood so a lot of people think this Jeep is a CJ7, but it's not. It also has a 22
gallon fuel cell that has been recessed into the rear floorboard, and then we built a custom box
to protect the filler hoses and the other side is a storage compartment. The rear bumper is a
Currie swingout and the front bumper is custom, we made it and then put the old Ramsey winch
that came with the Jeep on there. The roll cage has some custom welding done as well.
After Grandpa tried to drive the Jeep with the front Detroit locker, he decided he wanted to go with a
selectable ARB air locker like all of our other rigs. While doing this, he went ahead and upgraded to
35 spline axle shafts and the best manual locking hubs Warn makes. The Jeep came with Super-
winch hubs and they were very unreliable. For added beef, Grandpa had CTM U joints put in the front
axle shafts. I don't think he'll ever break one of those! The steering gearbox has been modified to turn
the tires very easily, so at this point hydro assist is not needed. The 1 ton brakes also work great on the
light Jeep. The axles were totally rebuilt by Boyce Equipment and are in brand new shape.
Here are a few more pictures of the Jeep with the 42's on.
Here are pictures of the new steering
setup. This is a high steer setup using
Blue Torch Fab arms and a Thuren Fabrication tie rod and drag link. All of
the parts are HUGE! The bolts that hold the tie rod and drag link in place
are
3/4" grade 8 and the arms themselves are about 2 inches thick!
These are the new red shifter handles I
bought him for the Atlas
transfer case. They have the shift patterns engraved into the top.
The other shifter is a Lokar and the center pushes in to change gears.
Here are some more pictures of the Jeep in action while it had 39.5 Boggers.
