My 1995 Jeep Wrangler YJ

[Bigbike]

I just want to bolt and go for once in my life.

That lasted a while.
Pretty sweet though, I wanna build a YJ.

[OWEN]

That lasted a while.
Pretty sweet though, I wanna build a YJ.

Well I also hate to throw money away... and it seemed like I would be doing that if I spent anything on a dana 35. The 8.8 will bolt in... once I weld the perches on, hopefully I can handle that! And I must say, although I was against owning a newer jeep at first, it is nice to have enough room behind your seat to fit a backpack or a few friends.

[offrdyj87]

want to come and throw an 8.8 in the back of my yj after you're finished with yours? i'm sure it will be even easier the 2nd time around nice build btw

[OWEN]

Haha maybe

Well speaking of the 8.8, it is stripped down the bare housing, spring perches and sway bar mounts cut off. I bought a belt sender to get the axle tubes looking fresh. Also, I welded the tubes to the diff. All the brake parts are in to start putting it back together.

The front 30 housing with 4.10s is prepped and painted, I have the 4" springs in the frount of the jeep with the housing installed, going to put all the internals back in tomorrow and tighten everything down. And hopefully get some pics

[Kyle]

Wow OWEN, You are never done working are you? I envy you and your skills and know how and tools.

I Would love a nice YJ built Just like this one day just for a beach toy like you plan. Nice work, can wait to see more pics.

[netrachamp1853]

Cant wait to cruise the beaches in cape cod haha

[OWEN]

Wow OWEN, You are never done working are you? I envy you and your skills and know how and tools.

I Would love a nice YJ built Just like this one day just for a beach toy like you plan. Nice work, can wait to see more pics.

Thanks man, this one doesn't take that much know how, just bolting and unbolting. I would get a lot more done if I didn't have a house and job that kicks the shit outta me. Anyway, I have been trying to get this done ASAP because I love driving it.


Front is in with the new springs and stock shackles. I wire wheeled and painted the housing with rustoleum. I installed the 297 shafts. Hit everything with PB Blaster prior to removal and coated with never seize before putting it back together. The only mishap I had was getting the pitman arm off. I broke a cheesy pitman arm puller, so I cut a V in the piman with a wafer wheel and knocked the chunk out with a chisel. No splines or threads harmed! After that the one legged puller was able to yank the arm.

[OWEN]

Here is my 8.8, completely naked. I used a belt sander for the ultimate smoothness. I read some crap about 8.8 tubes spinning in the diff housing, so I welded the tubes in, as many suggest.




Next I gotta put it back together(after I get the spring perches welded on), got all new brakes and more!

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

Wow man I like it a lot. Nice welds on the tubes by the way. Its good to see this thing take a good turn in terms of the build. When you got it it really needed help.

[Kyle]

Looks sick Owen. Back to your question on unitbearings.

The biggest thing i discovered when i had my xj on 35s was making sure they are exactly torqued to spec. I realized i was not making them the 200lbs or what ever retarded torque it was supposed to be and they were wearing out at least 2 times a year (under warranty of the new bearing). Then i talked to will one day on the phone and he told me the right torque and that last set of bearings lasted over a year and are still going almost 2 years later with the new owner of that axle.

The jeep looks great though. I wish i was closer by, i would grab those bfg's and stock steelies from ya.

[Kyle]

Looks sick Owen. Back to your question on unitbearings.

The biggest thing i discovered when i had my xj on 35s was making sure they are exactly torqued to spec. I realized i was not making them the 200lbs or what ever retarded torque it was supposed to be and they were wearing out at least 2 times a year (under warranty of the new bearing). Then i talked to will one day on the phone and he told me the right torque and that last set of bearings lasted over a year and are still going almost 2 years later with the new owner of that axle.

The jeep looks great though. I wish i was closer by, i would grab those bfg's and stock steelies from ya.

[OWEN]

Looks sick Owen. Back to your question on unitbearings.

The biggest thing i discovered when i had my xj on 35s was making sure they are exactly torqued to spec. I realized i was not making them the 200lbs or what ever retarded torque it was supposed to be and they were wearing out at least 2 times a year (under warranty of the new bearing). Then i talked to will one day on the phone and he told me the right torque and that last set of bearings lasted over a year and are still going almost 2 years later with the new owner of that axle.

The jeep looks great though. I wish i was closer by, i would grab those bfg's and stock steelies from ya.

Cool, good to know. I just kept the old unit bearings, they were in fine shape. I will see how long they last. I wanted to run 33x10.50s on stock wheels to hopefully help the unit bearings and ball joints live longer.

[OWEN]

I pulled out the rear axle and suspension. I had a couple other things I wanted to do before installing the new axle and springs. I dropped the skid plate/trans crossmember to replace the old exhuast.


One of the major selling points of this jeep was it had a flowmaster that the previous owner installed. After I got the jeep this is was I found when I took a closer look

I ordered a new walker muffler and tailpipe from Rock Auto. Once I pulled the exhuast, I decided to replace the cat with a high flow universal I had kicking around, as the all of the catalyst materials inside the stock one had broken off and were rattling around inside.


Another problem was the exhuast used to rattle around, the tailpipe hanger was rotted off and so was the bottom seam of the fuel tank skid.


I repaired both. For the skid I cut out a 4"x13" piece of 12 or 14 guage steel and bent it to 90" I folded out the side peice and welded on the patch on so it was away from the tank. Then I folded it back on and stuffed a bunch of wet rags in between the skid and the tank. I tacked the patch down, after ever tack i would immediately quench it with water so it didnt get to hot. I felt safe doing it and it took some time, but it would have taken longer to drop the tank. Someday I do want to drop the tank, and at that point install a new, beefier skid.

End result

[clean4drxj]

looks good so far, how come you aren't using your greasable boomerang shackles?

[clean4drxj]

did those bolts bust your chops at all for the belly pan?