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.

[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..

[CheapJeep]

Nice rig, it's really clean considering how many miles and age. 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

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