Advice on Yj Model

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Meekn027

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Oct 8, 2021
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Location
Greenville, NC
I’ve been looking to buy another Jeep since I some my 01 TJ to buy a more family oriented car for my wife. It seems that everyone is overpricing their TJs by ungodly amounts. Though I’ve seen that very well kept or modded YJs with Minimal rust or mechanical issues go for significantly cheaper. I wanted to know some core differences and what to expect if I do switch to a YJ model.

Thank.s.
 
YJ have leaf springs and will offer a rougher ride. There are no air bags. There really isnt a dash. Depnding on the year you buy, you may or may not have power steerings and or fuel injection. The Air conditoning is not that great. The lights are square.

Haters gonna hate. Ainters gonna aint.
 
SirDoopYJ said:
YJ have leaf springs and will offer a rougher ride. There are no air bags. There really isnt a dash. Depnding on the year you buy, you may or may not have power steerings and or fuel injection. The Air conditoning is not that great. The lights are square.

Haters gonna hate. Ainters gonna aint.
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Appreciate the info. There is a guy selling a 91 YJ with a 4.0 stroker in it. It seems pretty enticing.
 
Oh, and the 4x4 will either have the stock vacuum setup that may or may not be working or a posi lok mod.
You will know if it is a posi lok if it has a red button on the dash.
 
Pretty much what doop said. TJs are great, but much overpriced almost all of the time. Half of them are stock and you’ll want to spend a hell of a lot modding them. The other half are already half ass modded pieces of garbage that you’ll spend money undoing the garbage first before you can get to the stuff you actually want to do.

YJs are mostly in poor shape so unless you find a real clean one, expect some work. Even on the clean ones, expect some work. They’re all super old and none are perfect anymore.

YJ quirks are the vacuum 4wd system which you can get rid of in a few different ways. Dana 35 rear axle is semi weak depending on what you plan to do, YJ steering sucks, and gets worse once the jeep is lifted. You have to expect a rough ride and very few to no amenities.

For the good, they are fun to drive, can look great, and are unique. The ride quality can be improved and most quirks can be solved relatively easily. If you can find a good shape YJ for a decent price, go for it. Stroker would be fun, I would want to know the details on it before I bought the Jeep. Where it came from, how long it’s been in there, how many miles. Lots of stroker recipes and some are better than others. Longevity is the main reason I haven’t jumped on a stroker. Some can last a long time, some don’t. The inconsistent reliability is why I haven’t jumped on it. I’m sure one would be a blast to drive though.

It’s not a must but I would stick to 91-95 if you can. They came from the factory a lot more modern than their older brothers. YJs evolved quite a bit over the years, the best year hands down was a 95 but all of 91-95 are good. 92+ is all electronic backlit gauges, 94+ is external slave cylinder on the manuals. 91+ is all MPFI.
 
I have not personally dealt with them, their claims of 50% more torque and hp were enticing, until I did my homework.
One thing I have learned is customer service is EVERYTHING.
Being a customer is an every-day thing, feeling like a Client is an order of magnitude above that!
From what I've found, they're not even close.
And again, I'm with you Macho, I don't know how they stay in business.
 
Being pretty unimpressed with newer is better here is my $.02 on it for what its worth. Venture down the forums pages to the TJ's and read up on the common problems. I will admit much of the issues are owner caused by trying to mod them cheaply and the endless junk parts on the market suck as Procomp fine lift kits etc. So dependent on what you get " buyer beware". YJ/CJ= older basic stout traditional type 4x4 vehicle that rides like a buck board but gets the job done. Clean ones are out there.
TJ= A mall crawling soccer mom pile of plastic with far more electrical sensor systems and failures based on P/E and friends with them. Unquestionably America's #1 overpriced vehicle. I loathed that 98 POS. Im confident China could build a better quality vehicle than a TJ or what ever their labeled now.
 
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Gilaguy23 said:
Being pretty unimpressed with newer is better here is my $.02 on it for what its worth. Venture down the forums pages to the TJ's and read up on the common problems. I will admit much of the issues are owner caused by trying to mod them cheaply and the endless junk parts on the market suck as Procomp fine lift kits etc. So dependent on what you get " buyer beware". YJ/CJ= older basic stout traditional type 4x4 vehicle that rides like a buck board but gets the job done. Clean ones are out there.
TJ= A mall crawling soccer mom pile of plastic with far more electrical sensor systems and failures based on P/E and friends with them. Unquestionably America's #1 overpriced vehicle. I loathed that 98 POS. Im confident China could build a better quality vehicle than a TJ or what ever their labeled now.
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I believe it was an Admiral or a General, who upon his first ride in a WWII Jeep, described the ride quality as "Falling down stairs".
I think that still holds true for the CJ/YJ.
 
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jeepjoe43 said:
I believe it was an Admiral or a General, who upon his first ride in a WWII Jeep, described the ride quality as "Falling down stairs".
I think that still holds true for the CJ/YJ.
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LOL!!!,...perfect ;) if you havent seen the John Wayne movie Hatari have a looksie. They beat several CJ6'es like a red headed step child. Good fun!!
 
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Gilaguy23 said:
Being pretty unimpressed with newer is better here is my $.02 on it for what its worth. Venture down the forums pages to the TJ's and read up on the common problems. I will admit much of the issues are owner caused by trying to mod them cheaply and the endless junk parts on the market suck as Procomp fine lift kits etc. So dependent on what you get " buyer beware". YJ/CJ= older basic stout traditional type 4x4 vehicle that rides like a buck board but gets the job done. Clean ones are out there.
TJ= A mall crawling soccer mom pile of plastic with far more electrical sensor systems and failures based on P/E and friends with them. Unquestionably America's #1 overpriced vehicle. I loathed that 98 POS. Im confident China could build a better quality vehicle than a TJ or what ever their labeled now.
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What problems did you have with the 98? Typically they're not too unreliable, although the TJs got significantly worse as the years went by. 2005-2006 are downright awful on a lot of them. As far as sensors go, besides a clock spring in the steering column and airbag inflators/sensors, they have pretty much the same number of sensors as an EFI YJ.
 
Gilaguy23 said:
LOL!!!,...perfect ;) if you havent seen the John Wayne movie Hatari have a looksie. They beat several CJ6'es like a red headed step child. Good fun!!
Click to expand...
Ya I've seen it, gotta love the Duke!
Even though he made a couple stinkers, like Jet Pilot OMG that was awful.
Ha, the CJ6s', just every now and again I'll see one, talk about rare!
 
My 98 had reoccurring dash gauge outages regardless of cleaning the terminals etc. Broken hood latches from the wind from passing truck big rigs bending the hood, a twisted rear diff carrier when my foot slipped off the clutch pedal at about 1500 rpm, interior leaks from the cowl area, blown radiator, you'd get death wobble when hitting something as wimpy as a pine cone ,lots on the road where I lived. It just did nothing for me with the mass plastic interior. The above issues are common I suppose, but again It didn't do much for me after owning several same vintage XJ's with three times the mileage on them with no problems to speak of. The first a 86 with the Chevy 2.8 that I took everywhere kept going save the intake gaskets failure. Granted the TJ was a few years old, but it was a one owner,bone stock with 55K on the odo when I bought it.
 
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