1994 Hunter Green SE “Back to Stock” Thread

Hey all, some of you may have seen my other build thread. I think I’m going to stop using that one. Over the years there’s just been too much done, undone, and changed and it just makes for a confusing read.

I have recently decided that I want to put my Jeep back to stock in most ways related to the functional design. This means stock height, relatively small tires, stock steering & angles, stock axles, BUT can also include some functional improvements, like a TrueTrac LSD rear, possibly a front locker, LED lighting, better audio, etc. Essentially, this is my take on a true OEM+ type of thing.

The backstory as I outlined in the other thread is that this was my grandpa’s YJ. He was the third owner. He died in 2008, I bought it from my grandma in 2013. It was the summer of 2013, before I started senior year of high school. Best summer ever.

How it was when I got it:



The YJ came with some dry-rotted 31x10.50s, aftermarket chrome steelies, 6” fender flares, side steps, door armrests, a windshield sticker and a spare tire cover. Otherwise, it was bone stock. The tires needed to be replaced and since I was new to automotive, I figured I should just stay with the tire size that was already there, so I got a set of 31x10.50 Duratracs. The chrome steelies weren’t my thing at the time, so I got a set of Cragar black Soft 8 steelies.

How it was after the new wheels/tires:



The 31’s looked pretty cramped as they always do on stock suspension, so naturally instead of downsizing the tires, I opted for a lift. This is what started the unfortunate mod cascade that I could never seem to bring to a halt. Long story short, I went through multiple suspensions, including Rough Country 2.5”, BDS 3.5”, and OME 2.5”. I loved the OME 2.5”, but ultimately I don’t want lift anymore. The other two lifts were garbage. BDS was horrible.

After the 2.5” lift (it did look sharp)



Supporting mods for those suspensions:

• JB Conversions SYE
• Adams driveshaft
• Tummy tuck (for 33’s that didn’t happen)
• Motor mount lift (for the 33’s)
• Body lift (for the 33’s)
• Drop pitman arm
• WJ suspension
• 3/8” MORE Shackles
• Pinion shims

And I’m sure there are plenty of others I’m not thinking about.

Eventually what changed my mind on all this is that I stared to ask myself - “what is all this for?” Over the years it seemed to handle worse and worse, which I sort of answered with “it’s a Jeep,” but I don’t like that answer. It doesn’t have to handle like crap; it didn’t when I bought it. The mods I’ve spent years worth of time and money on literally provided no benefit except maybe cool looks. But even a stock jeep looks really nice to me.

Eventually I said screw it, I’m going back to stock, and that’s that. With that, here are the plans:

• TJ Grizzly Silver 15x7 5.25” BS aluminum alloy wheels
• 30x9.5R15 all terrains (little bigger than stock 27.5s)
• Dayton stock height non-HD suspension (4-leaf front 5-leaf rear) (done)
• All new stainless brake lines from Inline Tube (done)
• All new flex hoses for front calipers and rear frame to axle brake hose (done)
• Rebuild front Dana 30 HP with 4.10 gears (possible e-locker eventually)
• Source and rebuild rear Dana 35 with 4.11 gears and Detroit TrueTrac
• Stock Chrysler/Mopar pitman arm (done)
• Transfer case rebuild, converting back to stock slip yoke design
• Stock new AX15 (done)
• Stock sway bar links
• Reinstate stock track bars

Some of it is not “stock,” but are improvements. Such as the gearing and traction devices. I am okay with these not being factory. Open diffs don’t benefit me and neither do tall gears. The design intent is still stock.

I’m sure there is plenty I’m forgetting on this list as well. I probably come across as crazy for doing this, especially with as much money as I’ve spent. It’s unfortunate I change my mind so much, but I just can’t ever let myself not sweat the small stuff. There were many aspects about the build that I just didn’t like anymore, and going back to stock is the one true way to get the YJ handling the best it ever has. I’m honestly stoked for the results.

I’ve already gotten started on some of the stuff, I’ll try to update the thread as I go. I’ll eventually be doing things like an amp and speakers as well but I just really need to get this thing on the road. I’ve said it for years, it’s not that far from hitting the road but I keep finding reasons to tinker. With me reinstating the stock design that should come to a close soon. Right now I’m just waiting on more parts.

So there’s the backstory and about as much as I want to drone on about the history. Too many words is just not interesting and I’m probably beyond that.

At this point, I’m just bringing it back to what it once was in its past, and this thread will be dedicated to that purpose!

DOWNS said:

Good. I'm glad to see more and more YJs going the stock or moderate/reserved/sane modifications route instead of the full on mods where you basically have some random drivetrain on monster truck tires wrapped in a YJ body.

"SAVE THE SQUARES!"

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Agreed! And the monster truck tires wrapped on a YJ body is what some folks want, but personally I am just tired of feeling like everything is a compromise with all the decisions I've made. Handling has only gotten worse, as has ride quality (though it was good with OME), but overall I just want the stock intended design back, plus gearing, traction and some other upgrades.

HRDROKN said:

What fits your intended use and expectations is exactly where you should go with your rig. I would much rather have a tastefully done stock'ish looking rig than an overdone "Mall Crawler", that never hit the kind of trail you are portraying. The wife on the other hand may choose the other, to each his own.

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Yeah, it really all started out of me not knowing what else to do as a high schooler. Things are different when you want to show off to your friends, and nothing doesn't impress friends like stock tires, so downsizing (which I should have done) really wasn't something I considered back then. Live and learn. Had the Jeep actually come to me stock with nice condition wheels, I may have actually left that part alone. But the 31's that came on it encouraged me to lift, then SYE, etc.

Fully agree that a more stock build that actually accomplishes what is asked of it is far and away better than cobbling together parts to go bigger and badder with no purpose or reason for any of it.

Wheels & Tires​

Wheels​

I had a tough time deciding on wheels. I definitely wanted a stock set because I think they look better than aftermarket, and I like the placement of the tire under the fender. I knew I was either going to run 215/75R15 (28”), 235/75R15 (29”), or 30x9.5R15.

I originally bought some of the classic YJ 5-Spoke wheels. I LOVE these wheels and really wanted to run them. I especially like that you balance them with the weights inside the wheel so you don’t see them. Most Jeep alloy wheels want you to clip on weights at the bead of the rim. Not a fan of that.



Unfortunately, the YJ wheels need to be refinished to look good, and the bigger problem is the center caps. You can’t buy them anywhere new, and used all look the same: bad. I refuse to not have center caps, doesn’t look right to me. So until some sort of option ever becomes available for center caps, these wheels will probably just sit in storage sadly.

That left me to make the decision again. I always liked the TJ Grizzly wheels. The XJs had a cooler dark gray version with a shiny lip, but they’re harder to find. The all-silver TJ version was available as a set of 4 brand new on eBay for about $200, so I bought those and then ordered another one from Mopar (still available there also, but for more $) for a full set of 5.



The wheels did not come with center caps, so I had to buy those next. I found them at Hubcap Haven, where I placed an order for five caps. Not cheap, but they do the job. They matched pretty well, enough that no one would question it.

However, I saw a set of super clean used wheels from a 2001 go on sale near me, a set of 4 that had the caps. They were only $100, so I essentially got 4 caps for $100 and achieved a set of 4 spare wheels as well lol. I don’t need all these wheels but I’ll probably keep them because it never hurts to have extras. The caps were a perfect match, so I moved the 4 used caps over and used one of the purchased caps. The 4 other purchased caps will be installed in the old wheels in case I ever need to use an old wheel.

Tires​

I’m going with 30X9.5R15. I saw this thread by @Chief Hof, which I thought looked really good (and would be functional):



So I decided on 30x9.5 like the photo above. The only difference is I don’t have any shackle lift and that one has a bit, but it won’t matter.

I’m leaning towards Toyo Open Country ATIII. I really like those tires on my truck, and probably going to use them on the YJ as well.

This will be the perfect wheel and tire option for me. It will keep the jeep looking cool but also being functional.

Brake Lines & Hoses​

Stainless Lines​

I bought a full vehicle brake line kit a few months ago from Inline Tube. I actually did all new stainless brake lines from Classic Tube in 2015, and the fit on that kit was not great. Almost all of it was too long which made cramming hard lines into place quite difficult.

I decided I wanted to refresh that stuff again and I had read a bunch of great reviews about Inline Tube, so I decided to try them over Classic.

The fitment was significantly better than what I used before. Pretty much every line fit perfectly with no extra work. Of course, there will always be some dangling as you try to snake a preformed line into its home between other lines. It’s not exactly easy, but wasn’t too bad.

One thing really nice about the kit was the long lines (passenger front, and the rear that runs down the frame) are broken into two pieces and they provide couplers to join the halves together. This makes getting a long line into place much easier because you only have half the length to deal with.

I also added to my order the 3/16” fuel vapor line. When I was removing the lines in 2015 to install the Classic kit, I cut the rear line for easier removal. Unfortunately, I accidentally cut the vapor line instead. I patched it back together with hose and clamps but it looked tacky and I got fuel smells at times. Always bothered me. I installed that now and all is well. Glad to have that fixed and it also fit like a champ.




I’ll add a photo of the rear axle lines once I have the axle project done and installed. Same for the rear hose.

Hoses​

I also ordered some new rubber hoses for the calipers and the rear frame to axle. I used Raybestos brand. They were a perfect fit and look great. They uphold the stock design perfectly. I’ve used aftermarket lines in the past and I am just not a fan. They’re always universal fit so they never have the perfect bends and metal sections to form them to the path they need to take.

ACKyj said:

The TJ wheels are a good look, IMHO. Any changes to interior? Is yours mostly stock? Great looking jeep.

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Thanks! Interior is mostly stock, I do have a Tuffy 6.5” stereo console. The center dash panel has a switch panel in the radio location but I may decide on a different way to do the switches and put a factory radio back in place to be my clock and to make it look stock (even though the real radio doing the music would be in the console).

No photos currently of the interior as it’s sort of a storage yard in there for random crap currently, I’m busy bringing the exterior/underbody back to stock, once that’s done I’ll clean up the interior and put it back together. I did get a new carpet kit and put sound deadener all over the place. But overall it will be very close to stock inside when I‘ve got it all back together.

Transfer Case Rebuild and Back-to-Stock Conversion​

I still have my original 1994 transfer case that came in my YJ. The past few days have been spent getting it to where I need it to be now. It has been through a few projects over the years. When I first lifted the YJ with the Rough Country 2.5" suspension in January 2014, I initially installed a t-case drop. I was not really happy with the results of that and the still present vibes, so a few months later I caved and bought an SYE (Rugged Ridge brand) and had a custom double cardan shaft locally built. I was not too pleased with the Rugged Ridge SYE. The output shaft seal leaked right out of the box. The tail housing did not do a good job of supporting the oil pump like the JB Conversions and stock tail housings do. Next time I opened it up, the oil pump tabs were actually broke, so I needed a new pump. Overall it was just a cheap kit and the quality showed - sadly I didn't save all that much $ vs a standard JB conversions at the time either, so I should have just gone JB in the first place. Oh well, live and learn.

That was back in 2014, then in 2021 I bought a JB Conversions standard SYE and a JB rebuild kit. I also ordered a 6 pinion planetery, a wide chain kit, and a true neutral shift plate. I rebuilt the t-case with all the new parts and installed it. Funny enough, I still have not driven since then. Now that plans have changed and I went back to stock, it was the best course of action for me to return the t-case back to stock as well....so I did.

I picked up a 1989 transfer case off FB marketplace for parts. It came out of a 4 cylinder so it had the wrong input gear. I tore down the '89 t-case and set aside all the parts for future use. Mainly I needed the mainshaft with sprockets, the front driveshaft sprocket, the synchro, and the tail housing pieces.

I tore down my own t-case that had all the parts in it from a few years ago. I ordered another JB rebuild kit (mostly for the seals, I kept most of the (old but still unused) JB bearings intact and reused them. I removed all the SYE parts and the wide chain kit. I'm eventually going to build up the spare transfer case with these parts and sell it. Since I had the 6 pinion planetary and it requires no extra work to install, I reused it. I ordered a new Borg Warner chain, an aluminum range fork, a new tailhousing extension, and a new front yoke. I also picked up a new Mopar vacuum switch since I am reinstating the CAD system.

I spent the last two days doing cleanup of gasket and reassembly. One snag I ran into was the mode fork length. For whatever reason, early (88-89) YJ NP231s had a longer rod attached to the mode fork (the fork that shifts from 2HI to 4HI). This rod extends through the rear half of the case. In stock form, its length is no problem, obviously. With SYE kits, the rod needs to be shortened because the SYE kits are made to be compatible with the later shorter rod only. Since I am going to rebuild an SYE case and sell it, I decided to use my shorter 1994 mode fork rod in the spare case, and used the old rod in my case. Otherwise, I would have needed to cut the longer rod short to use it in the SYE case I intend on selling. They both perform the same, they're just different so no downside to using the older one. I'll post a photo to show what I'm talking about. Left is the one I'm using in the stock rebuild case, right is the one from my 94 going into the SYE case I'll sell.



I also did not reuse the range fork (HI-N-L shift) from the '89 transfer case. Early models came with a really crappy steel shift fork that over time can bend and stop shifting properly. My 94 fork was fine, but there is a newer version called 17833, which I bought from AllState gear. I used that one. Photos attached.



Finished the job last night and reinstalled. Not too bad, I just hate dealing with RTV and scraping old gasket. Time consuming, and makes a mess. I used liquid thread sealer on a bunch of the bolts - any bolt hole that reaches into the internal case, which is basically every single bolt except for the case half bolts. But all the tail housing, tail extension, and front input bearing cover bolts all reach into the oiled area, so they got sealer.



One thing is for certain - my driveline angles will be good! The pinion angle is high here, but that's because of my welded perches on the custom D44. The D35 will be at the perfect angle, just like stock, once it's back in. Just waiting on Revolution to ship me my 4.56 gears and then I can finally wrap that project up.



I have an all new slip yoke from Spicer, and I bought a stock 94-95 6 cyl manual driveshaft off eBay. That driveshaft has the 1330 rear axle u-joint as all 94-95s did, so I ordered a new 1310 and 1330 u-joint to rebuild the shaft. I'm going to hold off on that until the rear axle is in. I’ll build it up now, but not install until rear axle is installed. At that point, I'll install the rebuilt driveshaft w/ slip yoke into the Jeep and hook it up to the rear axle. I don't want to install it and then not have a yoke to bolt it to since my existing axle I’m going to remove is 1310.

I'm going to work on installing the vacuum harness, skid plate, and transfer case shifter today after work. Then once the driveline is back up in its normal height, I'll drain and fill both t-case and transmission. I'm going to run Driven Oil 80W-90 GL4 in both, as ATF is known to mist out of the t-case over time and the fill runs low. Gear oil will likely provide a bit of extra protection from wear anyways, and probably lower the noise too. We'll see.

Making progress!

DOWNS said:

I'd be worried about the T-case pumping that 80-90 around when it was designed for something more along the lines of 10 weight (ATF). Not to mention bearing clearances, oil passages ect. Lots of T-cases have run hundreds of thousands of miles on ATF, no need to reinvent the wheel there. As for "misting out" I daily drive my XJ. 100 miles round trip to work and back at 75-80. I've never changed the fluid and noticed any significant amount gone. Granted I do run my T-case change intervals at half what the maintenance schedule calls for. 15k miles vs 30k miles.

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Good points, definitely not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Mostly only doing the thicker oil because of some browsing through NAXJA where others did the same and had good results (noise, wear). I've taken apart a few 231s, none for failures but I always find a decent amount of metal wear in there. I'm sure some is normal and would be interested to see a comparison amongst various fluids, but have no way to test that. I do think the transfer case has always shifted a bit clunky, in mine anyways. The 80W90 is for sure thicker, but it fits in the bearings and passageways fine. I actually was squirting it through passageways during the rebuild. The passages are pretty large really.

The misting thing isn't a big problem I've had, although a few rebuilders warn about it and actually push you to use motor oil for their warranty. I haven't really checked my t-case lube much over the years but it definitely was below full when I removed the fill plug after a few years and around 20K miles. By how much, not sure. Probably not enough to be a big deal, but is something to be aware of. Sooner changes definitely take care of that as you stated.

I will add, not that it's exactly the same thing, but my Tacoma calls for a straight 75W gear oil that is about the same thickness, if not slightly thinner than ATF. That was a fuel economy decision by Toyota - the previous gen transfer case was almost completely identical and it called for 75W-90 GL4 prior. I put the same 80W-90 in my truck t-case and shifts are no doubt more smooth. Going from 2HI to 4HI, I used to get a similar clunk as my Jeep 231 would do occasionally, probably from the synchro bringing the front up to speed. That feels more cushioned with a thicker manual trans gear oil in the t-case. Could be my imagination.

I did fill it up partially last night and turned the yokes. It pumps fine. I opened the fill plug and watched - the fluid immediately flows right over to the pump, the pump sucks the fluid right up and disperses it as it should. Overall I'll keep an eye on it but it should be fine. I will not ever be driving in extreme cold, and it will always be garage kept.

DOWNS said:

75 weight gear oil is around the same viscocity as new ATF if you look at the charts. New ATF is around 20 weight engine, or 75 weight gear oil but apparently shears down pretty quickly in use to be more of a 10 weight after a while. Which is still around the bottom end of the 75 weight gear oil range.

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Yeah they (ATF & 75W) are close for sure. I replaced the 75W with 75W-90 and it’s been great. I don’t think t-cases are too picky, my truck t-case is made by Aisin and its pump and pickup tube are similar to the NP, except they’re driven by the input and not the output.

HRDROKN said:

Hmmmm.... well this certainly sent me down a rabbit hole with the use of a gear oil. Initially my only thought was pumping ability of the pump to handle that at speed. I just pulled my 6 pinion NP231, now swapping for a NP241OR and was about to fill with C+.....

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Lol. Those danged oil rabbit holes. Most use ATF, some use motor oil, a few use gear oil. I really don't think it matters much what you use. It just needs to be some sort of flowable pumpable lube.

Not much progress since the last post. Waited all week for the Revolution Gears to arrive. They arrived just as I headed out of town Friday night. Got back home last night to see them, turns out the D35 ring gear from Revolution is dual drilled. This makes sense because Dana upsized the ring gear bolts from 3/8" to 7/16" starting with model year 2003 in the TJ. Weirdly enough, the Dana gear set I originally tried had 3/8" bolt holes.

Anyways, it's obviously smarter to use the 7/16" bolts since they're stronger with more clamping force and a higher torque spec for carrying more load on the ring gear. Especially since the D35 only has 8 ring gear bolts as opposed to 10 on most other axles including D30 and D44. So, I ordered 8 Dana 7/16" bolts. Part #45784 for anyone interested.

I ordered a crush sleeve eliminator from eBay. Came with a few bent shims so I'm working through that, but it will for sure be nice to get my pinion preload dialed in with shims instead of a crush sleeve.

Now I need to figure out what I'm doing with my rear driveshaft. I still have the stock front driveshaft which I rebuilt and installed new u-joints in. No issues there, it has no slop and it won't be spinning often anyways due to the CAD. For the rear driveshaft, I bought one off of eBay, but I'm not happy with the quality. The tube is pitted/rough and clearly rusted away in spots, with a black paint job over it to cover it up.



Since my YJ is a 1994, it has the 1330 rear axle u-joint as all '94-'95 models did. I wanted to maintain the year specific change as part of my going to stock plan, so I bought a 1330 yoke from Denny's Driveshaft. Doing so means buying a driveshaft used limits me to those 2 years of production on eBay or similar...or I can buy from another year and use a conversion u-joint (1310 to 1330), which I don't want to do.

I was considering Tom Wood's for a stock shaft, but I think I'm going to go with Denny's. Denny's spins them crazy fast (machine goes up to 10,000 rpm) on the balancing which ensures they will have no vibrations at any point. Denny's takes into account your engine's redline, your axle gears, your tire size, your maximum governed speed, and determines where the max speed is the driveshaft could end up at, and they balance it to above that. I think TW puts out a good product but they like to see lower driveline speeds than I will be running and I don't want to put myself or TW in an awkward situation in case vibes do occur where I blame the shaft and they blame my driveline speeds. My driveline speeds will be 3200 at 60 due to 4.56 & 30s which is not negligible.

So I'm leaning towards Denny's. They'll build it with all Spicer parts, they'll do the 1310 and 1330 ends, they'll use whatever tubing I want (probably keep it 2.5" x 0.083" like stock), and they'll paint it a nice black to protect against corrosion. Seems like the best option overall and out of the 20 years of people posting on the internet about their driveshafts in various forums, I've only seen good results.

I did end up reaching out to Denny’s today. $425 plus shipping which includes a 3” X 0.083” tube as opposed to stock 2.5” X 0.083”. I think I’m going to go through with that. A local build with me supplying parts will cost nearly that, and the local dude only balances to 1200-1500 rpm. He maintains the “once it’s balanced, nothing changes above that so it’s still balanced” theory, which I guess is true except at higher speeds sometimes things could flex and no longer be balanced as well. Seems more proper to balance it beyond the speeds you know it will live at to truly guarantee problem free operation.

They are suggesting I do a 1330 at both ends instead of 1310 at transfer case/slip yoke and 1330 at rear axle. I already have the rear axle yoke so I’m definitely doing 1330 there. I’m probably going to let them do 1330 at both ends like they want to, but part of me wants to keep it originally sized. The only reason to keep it purist and stock would be so you can walk into a parts store and say “get me the u-joint for a 94 at the transfer case,” or similar. Obviously I know what will be used so really in my case I’d just walk in and say get me a 1330. But part of me wants to keep it stock anyways so that there is no chance of confusion. It’s not going to matter strength wise as either is fully capable. I don’t know why Jeep decided to step up the rear axle joint only for only 94-95. Then in the TJ went right back to 1310. Makes no sense and muddies the water.

DOWNS said:

This is according to Motor Trend.

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Eh, factory 2.5L with 205/75R15 and 4.10s would do about the same rpm I’m about to be doing. I think it can easily do it, just need a shaft setup for it.

My Tacoma with the way I geared it is actually doing about 4700 driveshaft rpm at 80.