JJ's TY-7

[Jesse-James]

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]

..........

[Jesse-James]

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[Tinknocker]

cough cough 4 link!!!

[Jesse-James]

Copied and pasted from brewcitycrawlers.com, can't believe I missed that. Think a mod like yourself can hook a brutha' up?

This post was supposed to be in there right after the SYE and CV.....

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

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

[Mudderoy]

Wow, great pictures, and very interesting transformation. Thanks. :thumbsup:

[muddeprived]

I'm drooling here and trying to type on the keyboard with puddles of slobber on it....

[Jesse-James]

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.

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

[Jesse-James]

OK, think everything is in the right order now. Thanks for the kind comments, was a lot of $$$ and work to get it where it is now. Making it wheel/flex really well and still drive nice on the highway as a daily driver has been a difficult balance to keep.

[Jesse-James]

Got the 36" Swampers on today.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC04733.jpg

[Mudderoy]

Got the 36" Swampers on today.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i33/jlafaive/DSC04733.jpg

How do they ride? Certainly look more aggressive.

[Jesse-James]

They ride and handle terrible on the street, but that's why I have the 33" BFG's.

These are just for rocking the trail. :driving:

[Mudderoy]

They ride and handle terrible on the street, but that's why I have the 33" BFG's.

These are just for rocking the trail. :driving:

Well you are a very lucky man. I've been wanting a Jeep "Wrangler style" since I was 16/17 years old. I love our XJ and I will keep it forever, but I still want the thing I always considered a Jeep. It was pretty cool to find out my wife felt the same way.