Wife Says Make it Bigger and Badder

redcardinal

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Fort Worth, TX
We took the 1995 YJ, 6 cyl. 5 spd, out this weekend for the first time on the trails of Barnwell Mountain and managed to break the left rear spring at the rear shackle. After looking at the broken spring my wife said “We need to make it bigger and badder!”. What can I say to that other than the fact that that’s one of the many reasons I married her 43 years ago! So, I’ve been given permission to spend.

This Jeep has a 1 1/2 inch suspension lift and a 3 inch body lift, drop Pitman arm, and a transmission/transfer case drop of about 1 inch with a SYE. We put in a reman. long block and had a trans. rebuild about 1K miles ago.

We use the Jeep as a second means of transportation behind our RV, but we want to do mild to medium trail runs on some of our outings.

So, my question is, what would you do to get this old girl (the Jeep, not my wife) trail ready without breaking the retirement bank?
Thanks in advance for your responses!
RC
 
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Not too big. We don’t need a crawler.
Probably a $3-$4K budget.
Doing the work myself with the assistance of a certified mechanic at his shop. Or should I say, I’ll be assisting him. We barter all the mechanic work, so free shop time and help.
 
Not too big. We don’t need a crawler.
Probably a $3-$4K budget.
Doing the work myself with the assistance of a certified mechanic at his shop. Or should I say, I’ll be assisting him. We barter all the mechanic work, so free shop time and help.
What size tires do you want?
Are you willing to cut your body?
There's a lot of different ways to go and things to consider.
Spring over or spring under?
Gears?
Lockers?
Armor?
Bumpers?
Winch?
Stockish only with bigger tires?
We can help you spend as much of your money as you want 😉
Just trying to get a feel for what kind of build you're going for.
 
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It’s running LT tires now on aluminum rims with Jeep logos on the center cap. I have a set of 31X10.5-15 tires on steel wheels that were on it when we got it. Those tires are old and won’t be used. But I liked the 31’s. They’re about an inch taller than what’s on there now and drive well except for a balance issue. So, 31’s.
I’d like to stay spring under.
Current gearing seems to be okay with 31’s.
Don’t think I’ll need lockers. Just another thing to break. It has manual CAD currently working well so far.
Armor is something I’d be interested in to protect suspension and drive train.
Current bumper in back is 4” square tube. Front bumper is 3” x 1/4 inch thick angle. Tow bar is mounted to that.
Absolutely a winch.
I wanna go on difficulty 2 trails and have a reasonable chance to get back.
 
If you are staying with 31’s, I recommend replacing the springs and throwing on a big pair of truck nuts. I am only half kidding. Based on the type of wheeling you are doing it doesn’t seem like much else is needed.
 
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I guess it all depends on what you want to do with it. A basically stock yj on 31s is surprisingly capable off road.
If you are planning on 31s it looks tall enough already.
Aftermarket flares and or fenders can definitely add to the "bigger badder" vibe and make room for larger tires.

A winch is always a solid upgrade.

I installed an OME 2½" lift and had enough room for 31s
The addition of 5½" shackles and a one inch body lift made enough room for 33x12.5s. Some trimming was required, It has minimal rubbing.

Anything bigger than 33s and fairly major mods are required. (Significant cutting and axle upgrades are probably necessary)

Fwiw:
Since you need new springs.
I recommend eliminating your 3" body lift and replacing it with a prothane 1" BL. Prothane comes with all new hardware and would be a an upgrade to your worn-out bushings and 3" pucks.

After that, decide how much lift you want and order a good quality suspension lift, or piece one together with the parts you choose.

Depending on how high you go, you might need to install a slip yoke eliminator. (Recommended for lifts over ≈2½") ditching the skid plate spacer and adding an SYE would gain ground clearance and make the drive train stronger.
 
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I ordered and installed a set of 1 1/2 inch lift near OEM springs. I found that the pins in the rear spring packs barely made it through the door stop size shims that the PO installed. The rear end had been slipping back and forth on the springs. That explains the popping and bumping around we heard coming from the rear. And it may have helped the rear spring eyes to break off on both sides. The new springs fixed all that. Driveshaft angles look great now. No vibrations.

We purchased a new set of 31x10.5-15 tires. I had the tire shop check the wheels before mounting the new tires. All the wheels were good to go.

With the steering geometry more like factory after dropping the suspension at least 3 inches, the Jeep handles better than ever.

The next project was the A/C blower. Actually found one at the big box auto supply store 4 blocks away. It was the exact replacement for the old one. That turned out to be an easy and rather inexpensive fix compared to other fixes. It’s blowing cold air now! It keeps my knee caps nice and cool!

We installed a 12000 lb. Badland Apex winch on a new winch plate today. I was happily surprised when the plate to frame holes and bolts lined up perfectly.

Well, that’s everything either rebuilt, repaired, or replaced from the engine to the diffs. We’ll be taking the Wrangler out to some trails soon. I wonder what will fail next. Time will tell…