New here

[aocpilsener]

Hi i'am new here. I'am goign to retire my 1983 lada niva(thats breaks down every week and is hard to get parts for) And buy a jeep cj, yj or tj. I am not to concerned about the body becuze it will be seeing lots of off road use, or year and i am looking at the (4ooo$can) range but have some questions

1 are any years better than the others?

2 Whats a better engine 4 cyl or 6 cly dose it matter or is one not worth the powder to blow it to hell.

3 what size of axles do they have

4 can they handle 35's

5 WHat should i look for when buying one( aka the drive line)

 

[Sparky-Watts]

First off, welcome to Jeepz!! Always good to have a new member, whether they currently have a Jeep or not. As far as what Jeep is best, you'll get about as many opinions as there are Jeeps. As for me, I really like the CJ's, but I drive a YJ and love it. Don't care so much for the TJ's, but I'd still take one over any other brand of vehicle.

Just don't let Mingez talk you into buying a Surrey. He's kinda weird that way.

So, tell us more about yourself. Where ya from, whattaya do?

 

[judge09]

1 are any years better than the others?

A: Go as new as you can. The TJs are a ton more comfortable, than the YJ (Sorry YJ guys its true)

2 Whats a better engine 4 cyl or 6 cly dose it matter or is one not worth the powder to blow it to hell.

A: I HATED my 4cyl and will never buy another again. The 6cyl on my father in laws sahara is fantastic.

3 what size of axles do they have

A: I know your leaning towards YJ....LEAN BACK.

4 can they handle 35's

A: Ofcourse

5 WHat should i look for when buying one( aka the drive line)[/quote]

A: DONT BUY THE 4cyl.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1 are any years better than the others?
Newer the better, but '94 was a good year because the introduced the external clutch slave, and '95 was better because it added larger ujoints in the front axle. There is no '96 and the TJ was introduced for '97.

2 Whats a better engine 4 cyl or 6 cly dose it matter or is one not worth the powder to blow it to hell.
I like my 4banger (this from having owned a YJ with a built 350), it does okay on the road and even better offroad. It leaves a lot to be desired in deep mud, but other than that it'll hold its own. Get the 4.0L if you have the opportunity, but don't discount the 2.5L as it's light, easy to maintain, and rev happy.

3 what size of axles do they have
CJ's commonly have a D30 front and AMC20 rear (some have a D44 rear). YJ's all have a D30 front and D35 rear (some canadian sold YJ's have a D44 rear). TJ's commonly have a D30 front and D35 rear, with some having a D44 rear axle. A Ford 8.8 from a '95+ explorer is a good swap as it has the same lug pattern, disc breaks, and is a lot stronger than the D35 rear.

4 can they handle 35's
Yes, onroad and with moderate offroad use. Add a rear locker and/or heavy offroad use and you'll be working on axleshafts a lot.

5 WHat should i look for when buying one( aka the drive line)
If it's a 5spd, make sure it shifts smoothly between gears, and make sure you put Redline MT90 fluid in it after buying it. Many 5spd trannies go bad as the manufacturer recommended the wrong fluid.
Check for oil in the air filter, and broken exhaust manifold studs. Nothing serious, but a good bargaining tool that can easily be fixed later.

 

[LRwrnglr]

well you said that it was going to be an offroader, so if you're going to do a lot of mods and replacing everything for like a big rockcrawler, I would go with a YJ. That way its not the nicest rig that you tear down. It's easy to get parts for and you have many options on engines, axles, lifts, ect... Just my opinion.

LR

 

[mingez]

YJ would be the easiest to deal with for sure.

XJ's are unibody, so, that can be problematic. Although the XJ is my favorite.

I also have a TJ, and it's hard for me to bring myself to beat it up offroad.

A 2 door XJ is easier to trim the fender wells in the rear, thus making them easier lift. I like the balance and the wheelbase of the XJ.

And then there's the Surrey, the greatest jeep of them all!

 

[nica89yj]

Hey whats up? I was surprised that u mentioned a Niva, In Nicaragua were I grew up we had alot of ladas. Was the niva any good offroad? Maybe comparable to the WAS (dunno how to spell it). Been thinking of modifying a WAS but have my hands tied down with a never ending YJ project.