Renegade Project

[Renegade]

After goin on the Katemcy trip with you guys I have determined that I need something to rock crawl with that I wont be so worried about. I have my 91 renegade as a starting point. Anyone know of a good lift, and axle manufacturer for a yj. Im too scared to run anything bigger than 31's on the stock 120,000 mile axles. :) . It could end up being a pretty cool rig.

[eight]

OK here I will outline your basic build plan.

You have 2 suspension options:
Spring over on stock springs. It flexes great but will have some wrap. Requires some minor fabrication, welding new perches on top of the axles. This will give plenty of lift for 33s or you can run 35s with just a little trimming.

Lift kit. Bolts on. Easy. Works good enough. No axle wrap. I happen to have a little brother with one of these for sale. It's a 4" kit from superlift. Again you can fit 33s or 35s with some trimming, maybe TJ flares, which I have a set to get rid of.

Do you want to keep the renegade flare stuff?

Axles:
Keep the stock front one. Put a drop in locker in and gear it. Get a spare pair of shafts, my little brother also has a set of those for sale.
Get an 8.8" rear axle from a ford explorer and swap it into the back. You should be able to pick one up for about $100 from snyder salvage north of circleville, or the dallas area junk yards like to sell them cheap. Lock it with a detroit or ARB and gear it.

Install a slip yoke eliminator on the 231 and get a cv driveshaft for the rear. You could skip this if going with the 4" lift, but then you'd have to use a transfercase drop kit which loses about 1" of ground clearance and u-joints won't last as long.

Get an add on cage kit to finish off the stock one.

[JeepPhisherman]

If you cut off most of the flare ****, you could probably run 33's with no lift.

I think kopecki's second lift option and an 8.8 is a great place to start and easy as pie with a little help from some club members.

[sasquatch]

if you go the 8.8 route, try get one out of a 97+ explorer. its got disk brakes among being 31 spline. depending on what size tires you want to run, you may or may not have to worry about the c-clip shafts.

i'd take the fiberglass fender flares off and sell them or store them if you want to keep them for whatever reason. under them should be a normal yj body.

[Renegade]

Cool ideas. Will the axle out of an explorer be too wide or does it fit nicely under a TJ? Ive been thinking of keeping the flares but modifying them in a way so that they would not be a hinderance off road. Ill keep yall posted as the project progresses, if it progresses, you know what I mean. :gigem:

[eight]

It's about 1/2" narrower than the stock axle.

You could just start wheeling it as it is and decide what you want to do with it later. Seems people in this club lately like to work on vehicles more than they wheel or drive them.

[sasquatch]

yea, the axles you have are good for 35s at the most. i'd take the fiberglass flares off before you wheel it though

[Renegade]

It is pretty capable stock, in the mud and dirt anyway. I might bring it next time. Im pretty shure I could do the aggie highway with a little patience.

[Seth]

Those fiberglass fenders are probably worth money to the right person and I think that they would get torn up quickly on the trail if you wheel it very hard at all. I also agree with the drive it more and work on it less. I know that I don't seem to really be one to say anything about this, but you can have fun with it and do weekend projects to make it better. Lissa's jeep runs d30 front and 8.8 rear and she has done alot of wheelin in it. Get yourself a little clearance and a good set of tires, then go from there. Not everyone needs one ton axles to get places, there are plenty of people in this club that show that (scouts, scott's patrol, lynda's jeep, Conlee's Jeep, lissa, etc etc.)

[Renegade]

Im kinda attacked to the flares, their the reason I bought the jeep in the first place. I know that their not practical for offroad use but Im going to see what I can do to incorporate them. Theyr what sets this jeep off from all the other YJ's out there and I get compliments on it all the time. Looks pretty good for 120,000 miles and original paint.

[uglyota]

are they fiberglass or some kind of poly? They would look super-retro-pimp with some wide 33s at that height, but they will get beat to crap the first time wheeling, especially the rockers.

[J Cooper]

i believe thats the back to the future II package

[TexTJ209]

Factory Rice. As if the YJs weren't ugly enough.. :flipoff2:

[CheapJeep]

Nice rig, it's really clean considering how many miles and age. :gigem: There's several "good" yards around the Houston area that will surely have an 8.8" for cheap. Kopecki pretty much covered all the area's of interest, all of the things he listed would be simple and get you out on the trail quickly.

[agjohn02]

i believe thats the back to the future II package


:laughing:

if you happen to see the back to the future kit for a toyota truck let me know. that thing was pimp.

[Renegade]

That toyota was the truck that made me know that I wnated a truck when I was a little kid. I knew you guys would start bashin on the Renegade but I diddent think it was going to be that severe :p. The truth is that it is a blast to drive stock. Ive done a litle tinkering to the engine and its a little screamer. Once tied a V6 mustang in a drag race. Handel's really well too. Especially when I hit 89mph and shoot flames all the way down the street on my way into 2025 :cool:

[eight]

What is this engine you speak of?

[Renegade]

Stock 4.0 H.O. six. I have intake, exhaust, and a computer tune. Im looking into some headers and a cam for it. I dont know if there is something special about this particular engine but I whooped the crap out of a stock TJ with my old renegade YJ.

[Renegade]

Heres my sketch of the Renegade Rock. Beefed up axles, 5 inch lift, 35 inch tires, custum tube bumper and rock rails. Maby I should find a wrecked new ram and do a drivetrain swap including the six speed manual and HEMI! WOOHOOO!! :texas:

[stx4wheeler]

alright since you dont wanna trash it which i dont blame you for, i would go for a 4 inch lift, or either spring over, and a set of 33's. you dont have to tear your **** up to wheel look, at conlee's jeep. do the 8.8 swap toss in some drop in lockers and call it good.

[agjohn02]

That toyota was the truck that made me know that I wnated a truck when I was a little kid.

it was an 85 apparently
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6146/cap0039ia.jpg

[JeepPhisherman]

Heres my sketch of the Renegade Rock. Beefed up axles, 5 inch lift, 35 inch tires, custum tube bumper and rock rails. Maby I should find a wrecked new ram and do a drivetrain swap including the six speed manual and HEMI! WOOHOOO!! :texas:

You're going to have a hard time getting that tire/wheel combo to balance
:flipoff2:

[uglyota]

you've probably got a lot of carbon on top of your pistons that's bumping up your compression

[Renegade]

Im not claiming to be a great artist or anything, just wnated to see what it would look like. Looks pretty cool to me.

[TxCruzr]

If you want to get into wheeling without going bankrupt in a week why not start with a 4 inch lift and a set of 33s. Your axles will hold up to that and if you do starting breaking once a week, then upgrade. Throw in a locker and gears and wheel it. Keep it simple and wheel some, then start planning on where you want to take your build. You may be satisfied with a locked rig on 33's and then you may want to chop it to hell and tube it with some 40s.
I went wheeling with my brother for 2 years before getting my cruiser and in that time hanging out with different people and rigs, I changed my mind a hundred times on how I wanted to build it.

[stinger7401]

If you want to get into wheeling without going bankrupt in a week why not start with a 4 inch lift and a set of 33s. Your axles will hold up to that and if you do starting breaking once a week, then upgrade. Throw in a locker and gears and wheel it. Keep it simple and wheel some, then start planning on where you want to take your build. You may be satisfied with a locked rig on 33's and then you may want to chop it to hell and tube it with some 40s.
I went wheeling with my brother for 2 years before getting my cruiser and in that time hanging out with different people and rigs, I changed my mind a hundred times on how I wanted to build it.

Amen to this! I wheeled for about 3 years with 33's on stock axles, superlift springs and lunchbox locker in the rear. Over that period i found out just exactly what i wanted while still wheeling everywhere (colorado, oklahoma, llano (ooooo llano)). After that it took me 2 plus years to build it up, doing one project at a time, wheeling, and then another. Please don't pull the infamous "everything at once", to many have learned that it will keep you from wheeling during your college career. :gigem:

:EDIT: Better yet, take it wheeling, go somewhere with it stock, I would recommend southwestern Colorado during July, have fun, then come back and evaluate what your first step is but remember, baby steps, don't try and be an expert out of the gates...

[Graystroke]

Amen to this! I wheeled for about 3 years with 33's on stock axles, superlift springs and lunchbox locker in the rear. Over that period i found out just exactly what i wanted while still wheeling everywhere (colorado, oklahoma, llano (ooooo llano)). After that it took me 2 plus years to build it up, doing one project at a time, wheeling, and then another. Please don't pull the infamous "everything at once", to many have learned that it will keep you from wheeling during your college career. :gigem:

:EDIT: Better yet, take it wheeling, go somewhere with it stock, I would recommend southwestern Colorado during July, have fun, then come back and evaluate what your first step is but remember, baby steps, don't try and be an expert out of the gates...
ditto

[stinger7401]

ditto

does this mean i'm getting old????!!! :flipoff2:

[J Cooper]

it was an 85 apparently


everyone knows its an 85... thats when the movie came out
"check out the new line of toyotas"

eric has the same truck
... i just try to make mine look like it :flipoff2:

[J Cooper]

does this mean i'm getting old????!!! :flipoff2:

nick are you drunk? :gigem:

[davido]

Yes to Joseph. Yes to Nick, twice. :flipoff2:

I probably made 20 runs with 32" Michelin MTX tires. They're crapier than BFG ATs. I later went to just 33" Swampers. That think went just about anywhere I cared to go. All I had was a 3" body lift. I was locked F&R though. I bought front half shaft and sold it with a second broken one, but they're really cheap in the grand scheme of things. I never broke the rear and was always able to drive home. I probably had 30+ outings on that 4Runner. On the other hand, it took me 3 years and upwards of $9k to build my Cruiser, and it's really not even done yet. If it were me (and I was in a college student tax bracket), I would put 33s on it, lock it as cheaply as possible, maybe add a cheap 8.8 just for added insurance on the rear, and wheel it until you wear those tires down to baldies. You'll have a lot more memories from that than months of looking at a project sucking it up in your garage.

[Seth]

second

[agjohn02]

everyone knows its an 85... thats when the movie came out
"check out the new line of toyotas"

eric has the same truck
... i just try to make mine look like it :flipoff2:


wasnt that truck in part 2 it came out in 89 and 3 was in 90

[Renegade]

Thread oficially hijacked. :haha:

[AggieTJ2007]

another point is to pay cash for everything you do, don't do it on credit cause you will get yourself into debt.

[Renegade]

Im all about the cash man. Dont have a single debt in my name and I plan to keep it that way. Keeping it simple is probably the way to go but its just so easy to dream.... Ill start tinkering this summer and see how far i gat.

[agjohn02]

power wagon axles would go well under that renegade

[eight]

I wheeled the scrambler for a year or so on 33s that were 30" tall new. I ran 2 or 3 trips before welding the rear end then another 4 or 5 like that. Then figured out it'd be cheaper to swap in fullwidths than to regear the axles. The thing was almost allways driveable untill the past few months.

Will you be trailering this thing to the trail or do you want to drive it?

Do you have a budget? Jeeps, especially YJs, can be built very capable for not alot of money. I just added up what I listed up top and it comes to about $3000. But it could be done in pieces.

A front locker will run about $250 and will greatly increase offroad performance. Lots of people like to do tires and lift first but I think you're really much better off with the locker since you allready have decent tires.

[Renegade]

I do want to drive it to the trail, and im not riping apart my power wagon to build up my jeep. The budget is kinda up in the air. I am pretty good with tools and cars but ive never done anything as involved as tearing apart the undersides of my jeep and splicing in new parts. The tires I have are 31's i would want at least 33's before trying anything too extreme. Living in galveston means getting help from you guys who know what your doing is a little tough.

[chevsu]

is this jeep ever in nastysota? i saw one that looked pretty much the same in town yesterdsay.

[Renegade]

My jeep is in dallas in the garage with a busted fuel pump but congrats! I love my renegade so I am always keeping my eye out for them. In the past three years I have only seen four. There were only six or seven thousand made from 91-93. Im guessing that maby half of those are still on the road

[TxCruzr]

I wheeled mine once or twice stock and it was fun. I wish I had pictures :D Next step was lockers and p/s and it was a world of difference. Its fun to wheel it and then change one little thing like lockers or gears and see how much different it is. It will also give you time to get a feel for the jeep and off road and also allow your bank account time to try to recover.

[Ben97XJ]

Here is a buildup of the exact same jeep.
Link (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334736)

[stx4wheeler]

Here is a buildup of the exact same jeep.
Link (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334736)

did you not read the thread? he doesnt wanna get rid of the body thats what makes it unique.

[Ben97XJ]

Ya but it still has plenty of ideas.

[Renegade]

I dont blame him for choppin that one up. It was in pretty bad shape. Mine is basically cherry besides the red interior being a little faded from the sun. If it is done correctly these renegades can look really cool with a good offroad setup.