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1994 Jeep YJ - The YardJeep

1994 Jeep Wrangler YJ 2.5L/AX5/NP231/HP30/D35
Overview Gallery Discussion
You guys are a bad influence. I'm thinking about sending back my LockRight and getting... either:

www.rustysoffroad.com

Ten Factory Dana 35 '30 Spline' Axles and ARB Locker Combo ( Fits: 90 & Later Dana 35 C-Clip Axles)

Fits: 1990-2001 Jeep XJ Cherokee models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1990-1992 Jeep MJ Comanche models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1990-1995 Jeep YJ Wrangler models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1997-2006 Jeep TJ Wrangler models equipped with Dana 35 Axle...
www.rustysoffroad.com www.rustysoffroad.com

What does the collective say?
 
CyberSniper said:
You guys are a bad influence. I'm thinking about sending back my LockRight and getting... either:

www.rustysoffroad.com

Ten Factory Dana 35 '30 Spline' Axles and ARB Locker Combo ( Fits: 90 & Later Dana 35 C-Clip Axles)

Fits: 1990-2001 Jeep XJ Cherokee models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1990-1992 Jeep MJ Comanche models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1990-1995 Jeep YJ Wrangler models equipped with Dana 35 Axle - C-Clip Axles 1997-2006 Jeep TJ Wrangler models equipped with Dana 35 Axle...
www.rustysoffroad.com www.rustysoffroad.com

What does the collective say?
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if you do the ARB both axles would be selectable. one of my TJs has a Super 35; supposedly as strong as a D44.
 
No matter what you do a 35 is still c clip so a broken shaft is still leaving the housing. A 44 can at least be limped off the trail. I wheel with two guys that have super 35s, both have broken shafts, both regret not going with a different axle. A YJ on leafs makes almost any axle an easy swaps. Ford 8.8, 9”.
 
CyberSniper said:
I like it. How were the RE springs on the road? This thing is mostly going to be a YardJeep and a Rubicant Xtreme Recon Mall Crawler.

I think I'm going to end up with Zone Offroad 4" springs. I bought some Rubicon Express U-bolt kits. You guys convinced me to piece the suspension together since I don't really need a kit. Need to figure out which 1.5" spring bushings they take without overpaying for them.
Click to expand...

to be honest; I never drove it on the road.
 
I'm chasing weight, so that limits my options. It'd been real easy to pull one of my spare 79HP60 and 14FF off the axle rack, but that'd add 1000lbs to it. I'm trying to keep it under 3,000lbs because of my yard.

Ford 8.8 has never impressed me for 50% weight increase, seen way too many broken and the ones that didn't flat out break eventually spun a tube. Everything else costs more money, plus I need to spend just as much to get to the same spot as a Dana 35 with all my parts in it. I did look around for a sub-$500 not-broken Dana 44 but they don't seem to exist around here anymore. I still look for both a Ford 8.8 and a D44 every night on Facespace, but I'm not paying much for one. People seem to think they're worth a lot around here.

C-clips don't scare me. I've never broken one, and when I've broken a shaft the caliper kept the axle in long enough to complain about the destroyed bearings and chewed up tube. I expect the caliper will keep the shaft in the tube on a D35, even though the calipers are comically small.
 
When I saw you mention yard, I went back and reread the original post. For your intended uses I think a 35 would hold up. I apologize I thought you were wheeling this thing (when I saw locker). I sold 2 TJ 44s for $150 each last year here, there is a guy local to me that parts out Jeeps and he gets $400 for them.
 
I know, it does seem silly and unorthodox (because it is) and an epic way to waste money (because it is).

It will see some "light" wheeling for sure, but on 33s with a 100nothin HP four banger. If the 4 banger ever gives out, it'd likely get a LV1 4.3L V6 which weighs the same but triples the power. I think the Dana 35 would still hold up to 33s, but for sure would be at its limits for the pinion and tubes. I was thinking about trussing it, but I don't really need more weight on the YardJeep.

I can find JK Dana 44s for cheap and the shittier PITA to swap Ford 8.8s for cheap. The easy Explorer ones you are better off buying the whole Explorer.

The weird thing is that you see a lot of 37s on JKs with modern D35 with a ton of money thrown at them wheeling around here. But I think the modern D35 must be a lot beefier housing.

See a lot of these angular 8.8 for sale here:

Facebook

www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

Like seriously, selling a bent axle?
 
CyberSniper said:
I know, it does seem silly and unorthodox (because it is) and an epic way to waste money (because it is).

It will see some "light" wheeling for sure, but on 33s with a 100nothin HP four banger. If the 4 banger ever gives out, it'd likely get a LV1 4.3L V6 which weighs the same but triples the power
Click to expand...

funny you should mention that, Saturday I sold a 1994 Oldsmobile Bravada to a guy whose plan was to swap the 4.3 and auto into a YJ
 
JKs always had 44 rear axles unless you got one of the very first ones. The new JL comes with a 35 rear (unless you get a limited slip or rubicon) but it has been seriously beefed compared to the TJ/YJ 35s.
 
Yeah, the first of the 3.8L JKs are old enough now that they're like $6k here for the whole Jeep. So people are modding them now as opposed to TJs which are like $10k here. Rusty LJs are still $15k. There is a metric shit ton of early JKs here because employee pricing made them dirt cheap for 2007-2011s. I live by the Chrysler proving grounds and you can't throw a handful of cracked corn without hitting 5 Jeeps. Later JK D44s are for sale all over the place, I had been eyeballing some Rubicant JK D44s but they're kind of pricey and require a lot of work to stuff under a YJ.

I had thought about getting one of those early JKs myself but apparently they suck to swap GM powertrain into.

Most of the desirable Explorer 8.8s long ago went to scrap.

Can find 2012-2014 JK Rubicon 2doors for $10k here now. I almost bought one of those instead of doing this, but they're like 900lbs heavier.
 
About half of my property is soft. Like you can only go out there when it's frozen (and it really never freezes much) and in peak summer. I learned that the hard way when I got a Case 580KC stuck out there. It's basically like snow wheeling. The top 4" is held together by trees/plants and the rest is grease. You bust through the top and it's slime. About 12" below the surface is marl. The marl is fairly solid, but it is super greasy also when wet. Below that is sand or clay depending on where at.

If you drive on it too much, or spin a tire, it turns to grease. I have a Bolens large frame garden tractor with trencher tires on it I have had to winch out more times than I care to admit. My mud truck gets around out there fine, but it's too ****ing big. My neighbor got his Danger Ranger stuck out on his property a couple weeks ago trying to get his Kubota out and it took me a few hours to winch him out.

I'd have considered an Explorer 8.8 if I could find one for $200 or less, but I'd have to put all the same money into it as a Dana 35. And if I'm going to have something that fat and heavy and still likely to bend... might as well dump the money into a D60SF.

One of my friends has been looking for an Explorer 8.8 to put in his Florida Man TJ he got like a year ago. No deals. Lots of bent ones for sale, like the one I linked above.
 
I tried to buy some Rubicon Express parts from multiple vendors, all of them said they think Rubicon Express might be closing. Almost nothing available to order. Another vendor going belly up?

I ordered a bunch of Smittybilt crap for my parents' TJ back in January. None of it has showed up. 4 Wheel Parts struggling since Polaris sold them off?
 
never been a huge fan of 4WP only got some stuff from them when my coworkers brother was with corporate. They never really had any parts for my old stuff anyway

Hard to believe a Jeep vendor is not doing well, must not have their ducks in row
 
Rubicon express has gone way down hill and 4wp is horrible, they say they have things in stock but they don’t so they sit on your money when you could have got it somewhere else and had it installed
 
So a while back, Transamerican Auto Parts bought RE. Polaris' bought TAP years ago, and included many aftermarket business that included Rubicon Express among many other things.

Wheelpros bought TAP from Polaris. Wheelpros owns things like Teraflex and Fuel wheels. Which surprised me. They also bought other stupid shit like "throtl". Anyway, since they're owned by private equity, I expect what they are doing is drowning the companies in debt to then send them through bankruptcy. Because what kind of company rebrands themselves after a dead guy's company?

Wheel Pros Announces Corporate Rebranding

Wheel Pros, a leading provider of aftermarket vehicle enhancements, proudly announces its rebranding to Hoonigan, effective immediately.
www.wheelpros.com www.wheelpros.com
 
Also not sure why a company cant just make a good product and skip the "entertaining content"
 
Zone makes decent stuff. I sold a lot of it over the years and never really had any issue. Rubicon Express, Teraflex etc is decent. For me, if you were doing only a 2 inch lift, i would run Old Man Emu springs and shocks. Very good ride quality and build quality.
 
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