1992 Jeep YJ, the Wrongler

I've been thinking lately I'd like a Jeep. A classic, iconic styled Jeep. Not a Cherokee (though I do like Cherokees), not a Liberty, not a Fiat. Since the Wranglers were available with a straight six engine...that's what I want. I do not want a V6 engine (what replaced the 4.0 straight 6 in the newer Jeeps). I also knew a cheap 2.5 4 cylinder would be tempting, but nobody prefers the 4 cylinder over the 6. I might as well try to hold out for a 4.0. I don't really want to be in carburetor territory this time, so that rules out the CJ7s and earlier. Ideally, I want the coil spring multi-link suspension of the TJ ('96-'06...the last generation with the 4.0). And I like the round headlights. All this has had me keeping an eye on the TJ model...but I knew it would be hard to pass up a good deal on a '88-'95 YJ).

I have spent the last year or more keeping an eye on them and waiting for a deal to come along. But that was looking like a tall order. A nice TJ can easily go for over $10K. That's way out my league for a 25 year old utility toy. But then, as things usually go for me, instead of waiting for the Jeep I had decided I wanted, I ended up buying a too-cheap-to-pass-up example. This '92 Wrangler “YJ” with a 4.0 and a 5 speed.

I shouldn't have bought it and I know it. “It's a deal,” my friends said, “you can sell it for more than you paid for it if you don't want it.” But I knew better. What will happen is I'll spend as much or more getting it sorted out as I would just getting one that was a better specimen to start with. This is not a new concept for me...I should know better. Oh well, here we go!

The YJ has leaf springs all around. I know it won't ride like a jeep with a more refined suspension design. It has the rectangular headlights. Hrm...that just isn't as iconic as the classic round jeep headlights...and probably the main reason I was trying to hold out for a TJ. However, now that I've had it a couple weeks, I really am not at all upset I own it.

When discussing a few of the shortcommings of this Wrangler, Psteav here on the board said, we should call it the “Wrongler”...since there is so much “wrong” with it. I'll talk about that a little.

But first, the Pros:

• It is a Wrangler  
• It has a 4.0 straight six  
• It is fuel injected  
• It is significantly less rusty than most wranglers of this age in the area  
• It is eligible for historic registration (cheap and permanent)  

Cool. “How bad could it be?” you're asking. Have I got a little story for you.

Cons:

• It came with no real top (neither hard nor soft)  
• It came with the ugliest wheels I've seen in a while  
• I have pulled at least two nails out of one of the tires. I'm afraid to keep looking for nails.  
• There is no back seat  
• There is no spare tire  
• I have no keys other than for the ignition lock cylinder  
• Rear brake lights do not work  
• The power steering is leaking  
• The transfer case is leaking at the rear driveshaft output  
• It has a hack-tastic “Spring over axle” lift that is comprised of several sins  
• The front brake hard lines are not fixed in brackets where they meet the flexible hoses...they're just flapping in the breeze  
• The transfer case mount point has been lowered with washers to help make the u-joints live  
• The springs are splayed out at the front. This may not be due to the SOA lift.  
• The front springs are worn out and broken in places  
• The front seats are mounted in a manner so scary, even I think it's a bad idea  
• The roll cage has clearly been hacked up and welded back together  
• There is some fiberglass covering some rust in floor  
• The wiring is a complete and utter mess. I can't express, to my satisfaction, the disdain I have for whoever did such a number on the wiring in this thing. I won't even break down (on this bullet point list) all the ways this thing has been hacked electrically.  
• The PCV system isn't in tact  
• There is no battery hold down  
• The throttle cable is being held in place with a zip tie  
• HVAC Controls...Mode and Blend cables are not attached and blower motor is inoperative  
• Parking Brake is hanging loosely. I believe the mounting brackets have torn loose from the body  
• Super-Swanky Golf ball transfer case shifter knob is not adequately attached  
• The door striker assemblies (left and right) seem to be loose  
• The horn is inoperative (missing some hardware at the steering wheel)  
• The radio is held into the dash by momentum under braking and the memory force of the wires it is connected to  
• The wipers don't park in their proper spot (which would still be in the middle of the field of vision, but that part is by design)  
• And it wasn't until after I got it home and drove it around our nearby gravel roads a bit that I realized it doesn't look like it has much oil pressure once everything is up to temperature.  

So that's some of it. There is more that I can't remember or don't care to list right now.

“...but outside of that, she's cherry” (to quote CW McCall)

Awesome. Love the thread title. 

As it sat at the shop where I bought it (one of my customers has a buy-here-pay-here type lot):

^^I didn't realize it until Psteav pointed it out...someone has changed the tail lights.

Transfer Case Drop “Kit” washers:

I wasn't able to see past the kickass golf ball transfer case shifter to see the interior is a bit of a hodgepodge:

Deal or mistake...I loaded it up and brought it home

It was 45 minutes away. It was safer and easier to just bring a trailer.

3.07:1 Gears...the least desirable of the factory options (3.07, 3.55, 3.73, 4.11)

Broken front spring leaf

Front Track Bar has been lengthened, I believe.

Front springs are splaying outward at the front

And they've sagged past flat (though, I'm not sure how much curve they had to begin with)

Within a couple weeks I accumulated 9 stock steel jeep wheels:

I tried them on to make sure they'd clear everything (I'm hoping for 31” tires and probably a couple inches lower ride height)

They definitely have a lot more backspace but it appears things will probably fit well. (stock on front, wacky aftermarket on rear):

Boy...I sure do like to talk about me and my projects.

You might be asking...what's the point? What do I want to DO with this thing?

When I first started looking at jeeps I had decided they are a “Modern Classic” vehicle. And by that I mean...I can buy a TON of parts for this 1992 Jeep. By comparison, even my '03 crown vic is hard to maintain without owning a parts car. For the jeep, I fully expect part availability will improve with age...and it's not terrible right now.

I want a vehicle that's capable of doing some off road duty. That's kind of silly because there's no real off roading to be done around here on a casual and legal (at the same time) basis. Ideally, I'd like to be able to use this as a “winter daily” (partly because I feel like I can clean the underside of a wrangler periodically to keep it from rusting away quite as fast as other stuff). I'm skeptical whether it will actually be suited to that though. If it isn't good for winter, so be it.

My end goal is as follows:

• 31” tires
• Undo the spring-over back to spring-under-axle with some Old Man Emu 2 1/2” lift springs.
• The line above may eventually involve upgrading to a “Slip yoke eliminator” setup for the transfer case and rear driveshaft.
• Add a back seat
• Properly mount some front seats.
• Keep an eye out for a deal on a hard top and matching doors.

I'll start with that and see where it wants to go from there.

I mentioned the low oil pressure. I haven't explored that too much but have already started keeping an eye out for either a “good used” engine or a core to rebuild.

https://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/body-chassis/154-0905-turn-your-yj-into-a-cj/

Interesting!  I have never been a Jeep person, but I still want one from time to time.

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

Thanks Woody.  Now that I have the  YJ though, the square headlamps are like a badge of honor or something.

Maybe Huey Lewis was onto something..."It's Hip to be Square"

I still prefer the iconic round headlights of a true GP "Jeep" but I got a square one...might as well own it ;)

noddaz said:

Interesting!  I have never been a Jeep person, but I still want one from time to time.

That has been me pretty much all my life until recently.  I don't need it, I can't use it to its potential, it can't do anything better than something else (that I'll actually USE it for) but when it came down to it...I wanted it ;)

This is the only top-down vehicle I think I can enjoy.  Most* other convertibles (sports cars) I don't have much use for.  I'd rather have the hard-top version for rigidity and whatnot.

*I love Miatae and will happily own one in the future.  But I sure do wish they had come in factory hardtop/coupe form.

The splayed front springs are likely due to the (over-) lengthened front track bar. Internet wisdom says both the front and rear track bars are unnecessary on a leaf-sprung YJ; lots of guys throw them out completely. YMMV.

In reply to newrider3 :

Thanks.  I appreciate that info.  It lines up well with what I've been thinking and seeing.  I plan to put the suspension together spring-under and leave the track bars off (there is no track bar on the rear already) and see how it does.  From what you and others have said, it sounds like it'll be just fine.

On Friday, the fedex guy loaded my porch up with lots of goodies.

This morning I got up and Mrs. Sparks and sparksdoggie and I took the jeep for a chilly ride into town to have a small cars-n-coffee-n-kids-n-dogs-socially-distanced-in-the-park get together with Psteav and Singleslammer. Once we got home from that I went to work.

What we have here is the Wrongler with 4 new leaf springs, shackle bushings with greasable bolts, u-bolts, and braided brake hoses (uninstalled...on the floor...in front of it).

Today I was able to get the front end apart and ready to go back together another day.

I had been trying to give all the pertinent fasteners a shot of Pblaster every couple days for the last week or so. With the exception of having to cut two u-bolts, everything came apart without drama.

The plan is to put the wrangler back to "Spring Under Axle" arrangement with these 2 1/2" lift springs.  I was hoping to be able to leave the axle in place and just remove springs and install new springs. But it was evident that the spring perches for the spring-over conversion were going to be in the way of the u-bolts for the new setup (they are wider than the stock perch as you can see here)

It think that's probably one of the causes of the springs splaying outward as well.

Anyway, the perches were going to have to be removed and that meant grinding and sparks. Since the barn is both my primary workshop AND the hay storage for Mrs. Sparks' horse habit, that means no grinding IN the barn (the very same place I had just spent an hour disabling the Wrongler. I then spent another hour disconnecting brakes, steering, driveshaft, and 4x4 actuation stuff so I could drag the axle assembly outside.

I then went to work with my go-to tool, the death wheel, and removed the perches.

Grindy grindy, sparky sparky, scruby scrubby, painty painty. Hopefully tomorrow I can wrestle it back under the front of the jeep and start putting it back together.

I knew a guy with an earlier YJ when I was in college in the late 90s. 

My condolences on your purchase. I hope they paid you before pushing it up on your trailer. 

Ok, sort of kidding. Any Jeep that starts cheap will be a train wreck, and half the expensive ones are too. But at least it's easy to get parts even if they're overpriced. And despite my sunny outlook on cheap Jeeps, I fully intend to buy one someday too, LOL

My parents had a YJ Renegade when I was younger. It was a cool Jeep and it lasted until 250K, when they finally traded it in--for a TJ nonetheless. 

For the seats, if you aren't set on OEM, I suggest looking at some Corbeau Moabs. I had them in my old XJ and they're really nice seats for the money. 

Interesting that this should pop up. I took my TJ out yesterday for the first time in a long while, also the 4.0L, thinking about finally doing the things I've been wanting to do with it since it was new.

I've always wanted to get a YJ to do the Jurassic Park build, but that's now kinda overdone.

One of my best friends from college has a YJ, in fact we were introduced by a mutual friend because I had a TJ (Muffin).  He had a lot more automotive and offroad aptitude than I did at the time, so I learned a lot from him, working on our Jeeps together and wheeling.

I had a poster on the door to my room, mostly at his expense, it came out of a JP or Fourwheeler magazine, real similar to this image, I think it was the same picture.  The tag line under it said, "Real Jeeps have round headlights."

He's still wheeling his YJ, I just got sent a video from the Big Meat Run at Disney this past weekend.  His YJ was the only 33" tired rig to drive up the waterfall.  His started life as a 2.5l, AX-5 rig, but it's had a GM 4.3l V6, 700R4, Atlas II, & Currie 9" transplanted over the years.

You're gonna love it!

Running around with the doors off is a automotive experience that you can't easily get anywhere else.

In reply to Lee :

Thanks Lee.  I've been re-reading your Muffin thread over the past few days (I'm maybe halfway through this time).  I keep forgetting yours is a TJ, but I learn a lot from it regardless.

I got the front springs and axle hung back under the Wrongler this evening.  

I need to install the new brake hoses before buttoning up the front end and calling it "complete" (for now).

Setting on the bumper there is my little needle/dropper bottle of PBlaster.  The best "why didn't I think of this earlier" idea I've had in quite some time.  

I found the little needle applicator bottles on eBayazon or such.  PB Blaster can be bought in a gallon (which I did) or you can drill a hole in the side of a can that went flat before it was empty (which I've also done...but don't anymore because I bought a gallon 3 years ago).

JeremyJ said:

For the seats, if you aren't set on OEM, I suggest looking at some Corbeau Moabs. I had them in my old XJ and they're really nice seats for the money. 

Thanks for that suggestion.  I definitely want to unhack the seat situation that is in there currently.  It has some unknown seats that aren't offensive but they're basically only "good for now."  The real hack is how they're mounted.  

That's three lengths of square tube on end with a long bolt running through the whole mess.  The corner of the seat without a square tube stand-off has no fastener at all.  Safe!

I have a guy who's going to sell me some stock front seat brackets as soon as I can get to where they are and pick them up.  It seems like stock Cavalier seats  fit stock brackets and I just so happen to have a nice-enough pair of those.  So that may be the mid-term fix.  But I'll definitely keep that Corbeau Moab suggestion in mind for the long term.

On the subject of seats...

There was no rear seat in the wrongler when I got it.  I have since come up with a seat and the floor brackets.  

I went to see where the floor brackets go and found that one of the original mounting bolts had been broken off.  "Yay!"

(the awl is pointing to the broken bolt)

I tried 4 times to weld a nut to it and just couldn't get it to penetrate the bolt

So...I got out my drill and 20+ year old, dull, harbor freight drill bits and did what I hate:  Try to drill a perfectly centered hole along the exact same axis as the broken bolt.  I ran a tap through it and  it seems things are all good now.

Brackets installed and seat set in place.

Now I need to do some fiddling with the "feet" on the back of the rear seat to try to get things to line up.  Looks like I need to do some repair to those "feet" though, so I might put that off until later.

I got some seatbelts with the seat as well.  I guess I'll see how those are supposed to attach and get that done eventually also.

I am the wrongler, I speak for the dirt

I'm friends with the Lorax I think he's just fine.

I'll tell you a story, I'll drop you a line

A history of histories, from beginning of earth.

Come with me, a journey, I'll show you the trees

As well as the mountains, the beaches, and seas.

Sand, mud, snow or clay, I let you pass

For I am the wrongler, I go where you ask.

I love it...thanks!

This evening I got the rear end freed up so I can haul it outside and lop off the spring-over perches.  

actually, I might be able to get away with just grinding down the weld boogers so the u-bolts can seat where they belong.  Honestly, though...it'll probably just make sense to cut them all the way off.   Here's what I'm talking about...