Recent Purchase 1992 YJ

[jhunter]

I recently purchased a 1992 YJ with the 4.0l, 6cyl, & 5 speed w/200k miles but it's a 2 owner vehicle and I knew the family. I'm a first time jeep owner (with a little bit of mechanical knowledge) so I'd like some tips and advice. I'm looking to turn it into a weekend toy/ "light" mud & trail jeep. Pics below are my starting point and my end goal jeep. First step is going to be paint and replacing the u joints and some other miscellaneous pieces before I ever drive it. After that I will be replacing Wheels/Tires, and would like some recommendations. I'm currently leaning towards 16 or 18 inch wheels with 31" or 33" tires. I'm not a fan of the overly wide wheels currently on it. After that I'm planning on taking out all of the interior components and "bed lining" the inside of the cab. Then I will most likely wind up replacing the electronics in the jeep (speakers & radio). Followed by replacing bumpers front and rear, and adding the rock slider side steps.
Few questions to get the thread going:
If you had to take a guess at it what would you say it's worth as it sits?
What are y'alls opinion on the order I'm looking at proceeding with this build?
Wheel/tire combo recommendations for under $1,800 including 5th wheel on back?
Do you see any need to buy a bumper with the rear tire rack holder as opposed to leaving it mounted directly to the jeep? (I read some posts/articles about this bending the trunk).
Any other things to keep an eye out on or to immediately fix?

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[HVACGuy]

I’m all for making sure it’s reliable regardless, so I agree with fixing items and giving it a good once over.

Weak points:
Front axle vacuum disconnect - put a posi lock on it or better yet, swap the front axle shafts with some from a TJ or visit a pull a part and steal some out of a 4wd XJ. You will then have a solid shafy instead of a two piece, and the u joints at the knuckle are going to be way stronger than the rinky dink ones that come standard.

Rear differential - Dana “turdy” five. These axles are ok if you don’t do too hard on them with the skinny pedal, but I wouldn’t go higher than a 33” tire. The older model YJ’s came with a non c clip rear axle shaft, which if you have that style will help on a trail or road because if it breaks your wheel won’t go flying down the road when you snap a shaft. I believe the main years for these were 87-89. If you upgrade your tire size, you’ll want a lower gear ratio. All 4cyl YJ’s come with 4.10 gears, and would be a direct bolt in swap. Perhaps you can find a non c clip rear. Your current gear ratio is a 3.07. If you go 31’s it will get slower, and if you go 33’s 5th gear will basically be useless.

Overheating - All 4.0’s love to get hot. They are nearly indestructible as long as you maintain them well. Make sure your cooling system is functioning at its best. Just don’t go in the red because the heads like to warp when that happens.

Wheels and tires:
If you stick with 15’s you’ll pay a lot less. You don’t gain any height or ground clearance by changing wheel size, only tire size. Summit Racing in McDonough has good prices and they offer free mount and balance. Just buy yourself some black steel wheels and tires from them, and they’ll mount the tires on the wheels for you and balance them. They only mount tires to the wheels. They will not do this on your Jeep, so bring just your wheels, or buy the wheels from them.
I really like Cooper STT Pros. They are a mud terrain tire, and grip like crazy, but still run very well on the road. If you prefer an all terrain tire, I really liked the BFGoodrich KO2’s I had before as well. You should be able to easily buy either tire in 31 or 33 with 15” x 8” steel wheels for under $1800.

Bumpers:
As luck would have it, aftermarket winch bumpers, recovery bumpers with tire carriers and real rock sliders (not nerf bars, they are useless and will get ripped off,) are pretty affordable. I would get a swing away tire carrier rear recovery bumper. The tires you want to get with the wheels are substantially heavier.

 

[jhunter]

I appreciate all the info! I’ve been reading quite a few Jeep forums, but there’s nothing the input from the ODT!

 

[InTune]

Gear ratio? Anything less than 4:10 with 32s gonna suck

 

[jeep78]

The first thing you should do is replace the timing chain and gears.. Cheap and easy to do, at 200K yours is worn out. Cloyes is the brand that is the standard.

You can check slack very easily by removing the distributor cap, turning the engine by hand one direction, then reverse the direction of rotation and see how many degrees of crank rotation occurs before the distributor rotor starts to move. Last one I checked with that mileage was 17 degrees of slack! Tht means the camshaft timing was 17 degrees retarded.

But they still start and run smooth even that worn. Much better with proper timing.

 

[jeep78]

Swing away tire carrier as mentioned, and a CJ style drop down tailgate mod to your tailgate. Fantastic mod.

 

[roundhouse]

As mentioned
Stick with 15” wheels
16” max
18”s are gonna look silly with a 31,32 or 33

Got my last two sets of 35”s from Smyrna Tire on south Cobb

 

[10-8 Gunworks]

Clutch master cylinder. If it hasn't been replaced, it soon will.

 

[jhunter]

Swing away tire carrier as mentioned, and a CJ style drop down tailgate mod to your tailgate. Fantastic mod.

That's a pretty sweet setup!

 

[jhunter]

Clutch master cylinder. If it hasn't been replaced, it soon will.

I could see this. The clutch right now nearly has to go to the floor to swap gears..