Need help folks (new to Jeeps)

CanadianYj

CanadianYj

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Joined
Jan 29, 2026
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9
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Alberta,Canada
Hey folks thanks for having me. So I am about to bring home a 1995 jeep Yj that has the 2.5 in it backed by a manual trans With 78'000 kms on her Basically she's never been broken in yet. Its in great shape. So I've been scratching my head on what to do with it lol so here is the following ive come up with now please keep me mind I'm looking for advice and wisdom here lol I've been around vehicles my whole life just never owned a jeep.

The following is what I have planed.

I want to use this as a daily ride but also go camping and use it on trails and some light overlanding ( no im not going to rock crawl it or go mudding in it) I plan on only running 35's

So my biggest concerns are the following

Engine swap
Front axle
Rear axle
Transfer case
Lift

So lets start with the engine lol in my driveway I have a 02 chevy suburban with a 5.3 LS and auto transmission. So there lol thats one thing out of the way besides the wiring harness lol

Now the axles are making my head spin lol
What would you folks recommend? I know theres kits out there to beef up the D30 but is it worth it ? Or should I hunt down a XJ D44 front? What would you recommend for the rear ? A 8.8 or 9" ? I found a 8.8 out of a 2010 ford ranger and its partially brand new. What would i need to make it worth putting under my jeep ?

Now Transfer case seeing how i wont be using the suburban one lol what you recommend as its replacement?

Lastly lol the lift kit. Would be BDS be ok?

Anyways thats it folks please go easy on me am new to this lol

Thanks for the help in advance
 
I cant recall even after owning 5 XJ's, but I dont think they ever came with a D44 in front, the rear yes. The front 30 isnt bad really for what it sounds like what your doing. The T case is decent as well, but again how hard are you gonna be on it? Your talking plenty of mods here. Kinda sounds like a mixed bag if this thing is as original and clean as it sounds. Lifts, yeah, BDS is good as well as some others. Just remember its leaf sprung so its never gonna be a Caddy. Lift = drive line issues so better plan on a SYE if you use the stock T case or some mount mods to correct big D/S angles.
 
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Gilaguy23 said:
I cant recall even after owning 5 XJ's, but I dont think they ever came with a D44 in front, the rear yes. The front 30 isnt bad really for what it sounds like what your doing. The T case is decent as well, but again how hard are you gonna be on it? Your talking plenty of mods here. Kinda sounds like a mixed bag if this thing is as original and clean as it sounds. Lifts, yeah, BDS is good as well as some others. Just remember its leaf sprung so its never gonna be a Caddy. Lift = drive line issues so better plan on a SYE if you use the stock T case or some mount mods to correct big D/S angles.
Click to expand...

Thanks bud I wont to hard but I radder over build something in case i do 🤷‍♂️i am definitely doing a SYE as well
 
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I'm sorry but 35s for "light trails and overlanding" is pointless.

You can do that with 31s. Why waste the time, money, and effort required to run 35s (you're going to spend a lot of money if you want to do it right) when all the 35s are going to do is rob power and cost you more money?
 
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Engine swap - What are you thinking? I6 258 or 242? , V8... LS , Ford...?
Front axle - The D30 with all Yukon and Locker would be plenty, 456 or 488's
Rear axle - Same upgrade Yukon, plus locker, I like the Mechanical Grizzly's
Transfer case - SYE and upgrade kit from eBay...
Lift - Anything more than 4" is overkill and unnecessary.

don't forget driveshafts, ( I like Adams, but that's me ) you're looking at some BIG money to do all of this, if you cheap out, you'll have clapped out poop in no time, buy quality stuff and if you go Yukon don't forget the warranty on all parts, carriers, gear set, axles... Mr. Blue at Randy's Worldwide, great dude, knows his shit!

If you do an I6 swap stay away from Titan and C&J ... if you build yourself, don't cheap out and do your research, Plenty of I6 FB groups and of course the forum here.

Not all YJ's are the same, there were slight changes here and there.
 
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If I purchased a 20-30 year old jeep for use as a daily driver and light trails, I would do exactly what i did with mine: basically nothing.

30-31” tires
2.5” lift on stock shackles
SYE/ DC driveshaft only if needed
Stock gears if 4.10
Restore interior and exterior as needed.
Rust mitigation

You’re talking about rabbit holes within rabbit holes. If you have the money, do what you want, but a near-stock YJ is capable and fun.
 
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Chris said:
I'm sorry but 35s for "light trails and overlanding" is pointless.

You can do that with 31s. Why waste the time, money, and effort required to run 35s (you're going to spend a lot of money if you want to do it right) when all the 35s are going to do is rob power and cost you more money?
Click to expand...

Only reason for my plan is that I won't have to upgrade anything for a long time
 
PCS said:
Engine swap - What are you thinking? I6 258 or 242? , V8... LS , Ford...?
Front axle - The D30 with all Yukon and Locker would be plenty, 456 or 488's
Rear axle - Same upgrade Yukon, plus locker, I like the Mechanical Grizzly's
Transfer case - SYE and upgrade kit from eBay...
Lift - Anything more than 4" is overkill and unnecessary.

don't forget driveshafts, ( I like Adams, but that's me ) you're looking at some BIG money to do all of this, if you cheap out, you'll have clapped out poop in no time, buy quality stuff and if you go Yukon don't forget the warranty on all parts, carriers, gear set, axles... Mr. Blue at Randy's Worldwide, great dude, knows his shit!

If you do an I6 swap stay away from Titan and C&J ... if you build yourself, don't cheap out and do your research, Plenty of I6 FB groups and of course the forum here.

Not all YJ's are the same, there were slight changes here and there.
Click to expand...
I would like to rebuild that D30 what would you recommend from Yukon gear ? Can I use RCV shafts with there products?
 
CanadianYj said:
Only reason for my plan is that I won't have to upgrade anything for a long time
Click to expand...

You don't need to upgrade anything to that level is what I'm saying. There's no reason to run 35s unless you're doing some serious rock crawling, and at that point I'd argue that you'll do much better with coil springs over leaf springs, so if you want to do it right you're going to be spending a ton of money.

31" tires and a 2" lift is a great thing, trust me ;)
 
Chris said:
You don't need to upgrade anything to that level is what I'm saying. There's no reason to run 35s unless you're doing some serious rock crawling, and at that point I'd argue that you'll do much better with coil springs over leaf springs, so if you want to do it right you're going to be spending a ton of money.

31" tires and a 2" lift is a great thing, trust me ;)
Click to expand...

I guess am not making myself clear....so here ill try one more time.

I do not want 31" tires and a 2" inch lift....
Explain to me then if I went with your trust me bullshit how my stock Rearend will hold up to the 5.3 Ls im going to be putting into the jeep ? Did you borther to read the post ? I can afford parts etc trust me all I asked for was for some simple help on fucking parts for the axles! Not don't do that crap I am not a child pal. Ya I've been around vehicles my whole life but I've never owned a jeep. For what i plan on doing with it again as Ive said i want to build it now not later its that bloody simple.
 
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CanadianYj said:
I guess am not making myself clear....so here ill try one more time.

I do not want 31" tires and a 2" inch lift....
Explain to me then if I went with your trust me bullshit how my stock Rearend will hold up to the 5.3 Ls im going to be putting into the jeep ? Did you borther to read the post ? I can afford parts etc trust me all I asked for was for some simple help on fucking parts for the axles! Not don't do that crap I am not a child pal. Ya I've been around vehicles my whole life but I've never owned a jeep. For what i plan on doing with it again as Ive said i want to build it now not later its that bloody simple.
Click to expand...

Yes I totally agree with you sir. Almost impossible to get a direct answer to a question without the “just leave it stock” opinions. These forums aren’t for gearheads anymore.
 
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CanadianYj said:
Exactly makes no sense to run the stock Rearend if im swapping in that 5.3 L lmfao
Click to expand...

I would not waste money on the Dana 35 rear end. I ended up selling mine for $100 and also the Dana 30 front for $100. Wrestled with the idea of building the 30 but I was looking at $2500 plus with everything that it needed and the options that I wanted. With the RCV axles add another $1000 to that. The RCV’s are a great choice and the Dana 30 can be made into a pretty good axle. Like the other gents on here said earlier, it is going to cost you, but hay we are not taking it with us are we. Spend your fortune on the dreams of your choice I always say. Do you “need” 35’s? Well does anybody need 35’s, or 40’s, or 43’s? The funest things to spend money on is stuff we want not what we need. If you want to see some good info on the capabilities of the RCV axles check out dexj on YouTube.
 
We haven’t been given much info to help you with. We know you’re swapping in a 5.3, we know you’re going to run 35’s, but you aside from “overlanding and light trails” we don’t really know what you want to do with it. You don’t need anything for overlanding and light trails. Are you going to drive it hard on the road with the V8? I would think so, otherwise I see no point in the V8 just to putt around in grandpa mode.

If you insist on 35’s I’d highly recommend a brake upgrade because stock brakes are terrible when taken outside of the stock job they are asked to do, aka with large tires like 35”. I don’t mean better pads, I mean a better brake design like larger rotors and bigger calipers with a saddle mount bracket design.

I won’t recommend a rear axle because again, don’t really know what you’re doing with it. Will you be flooring it? An 8.8 with better axle shafts will likely hold up. The stock 8.8 shafts are not great and neither is the stock LSD most of them come with so I’d suggest a locker of some sort or at minimum rebuild the LSD if it has one. 8.8 locker options aren’t amazing. The E-locker is a known weak design due to its ball and ramp actuation compared to the collar design the better ones use, the TrueTrac LSD will have axle shaft slop, and ARB isn’t the best quality these days. I don’t remember why but I thought people recommended the Explorer 8.8 over the Ranger 8.8 for some reason. Maybe it was because the Explorer had disc brakes a lot earlier on than the Rangers which got them in 2010. If that’s the only difference people use to make the decision, then the 2010 Ranger may be a fine axle to use. You’ll need to weld perches at minimum to run either.

The Dana 35 can be built to reliably run 35’s on hard trails but you aren’t doing hard trails. V8 power on the street is also different than hard trails. I agree getting rid of the Dana 35 is probably best because the torque of the motor if you drive it hard could strip the ring gear.

Will BDS be okay? I don’t know. Okay for what? What product from BDS do you want? How tall do you want it to be? 2”, 3.5”, 4.5”, 5”, 6”? Only springs or a full kit? I had a set of BDS 3.5” springs and I hated them. It was like they wouldn’t flex at all and were horribly stiff on the road and they held the jeep up too high (around 5”). Will they keep the jeep up in the air? Yes.

I don’t have a recommendation for a transfer case without more info. What transmission? 4L80E? The stock transfer case is pretty good as is and can be beefed up to be better. That said, it won’t hold up to infinite abuse.

The front axle is okay in stock form. Overland and light trails will not do anything to hurt that axle and you don’t drive heavily on that axle so I’d leave it. Put in a locker if you want one but overlanding and light trails doesn’t sound like it needs one. Technically aside from brakes and beefier steering I don’t think you need to do anything to that axle.

Not trying to be a dick and hopefully I dont come off that way but you’ve kinda asked bare minimum questions. I get you don’t want the keep it stock advice and that’s fine but at least help us help you with more precise info of what you’ll be doing. Technically you don’t need anything for what you’re doing at a bare minimum so it’s hard to really guide you without knowing more. You’re installing a V8 so there will be at least some abuse, but none of us can tell you how much abuse you need to build for until you tell us how you drive. We know you don’t need anything for the off-roading part.
 
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