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Greetings Jeep community, I’m a 20 year old kid, living in queens nyc. Alittle back story before I start asking the noob questions, so please don’t make fun of me, I moved here from Ocala Florida about a year and a half ago, down there I own a 94 yj 4 banger 5 speed with a 2.5 inch lift, and some 33s. Besides riding through some mud puddles to Impress A few female bystanders I’ve never really been off road off road ( going places Tacoma’s and fjs can’t go.) A terminally ill family member of mine has pasted on his beloved 2011 jku Sahara to me. I was giving the option to either sell it or keep it. But obviously i will keep till the day I die. Jeep has fox shocks 2.0 with reservoirs, RC steering stabilizer, mannomth wheels with some 35 nitto trail grapplers. The jeep does have an exhaust leak, and above a year ago I re did the heads ( leak down test, took it to the mill and had them sand it down.)
my questions, how do I figure out the size of the lift on the Jeep, the condition on the shocks, and what can I do to get alittle power ( jeeps are not for speed yes I know ). Also how would I figure out if it’s been re geared or not. Would buying a super chip make it any better? And finally would this be okay for myself to work on like my 94yj is super easy and fun to work on or should I do the adult thing and let the pros take care of it mechanically ?
Thanks for any kinda feed back this gets!!!
( Farley knew to Jeep life, please don’t laugh )
p.s if anyone has any tips for a beginner off roader I’d appreciate it, thanks yall
First off, welcome to the forum. You sound more than capable of working on this thing yourself, and I'd submit you'd do a better job than any shop would. They are easy to work on, and the support is out there. I'd challenge you to find some issue that hasn't been covered over the JK lifespan.
Here's a pic of the stock JK height measurement so you can get a general sense of what you're working with -
It's going to be hard to squeeze much extra power out of the 3.8L outside of having proper gearing. Tunes/chips really aren't worthwhile, and forced induction is going to be very pricey. You can search Youtube for short video, but basically jack up front end, put a mark on the front drive shaft, rotate the tire a full turn (I can't recall, you may need to make 2 rotations with a tire due to open diff), and count the drive shaft rotations. Gearing for the JK comes in 3.21, 3.73, 4.10, 4.56, 5.13, and 5.38. Most people with the 3.8L and larger tires tend to go 5.13. Having to squeeze as much out of the engine as possible makes it hard to go too low on gearing.
Try to identify if the jeep has some form of caster correction....either cam bolts, control arm brackets (frame side), or aftermarket control arms. Caster on these JKs from factory was 4.2*. If there's no caster correction on it, you might want to consider that.
Very nice jeep, specially for someone your age.....sorry to hear about how it came to you, but I'm sure they'll be smiling down over the years at the places it will take you and the smiles it will put on your face. Get out there and explore!
First off, welcome to the forum. You sound more than capable of working on this thing yourself, and I'd submit you'd do a better job than any shop would. They are easy to work on, and the support is out there. I'd challenge you to find some issue that hasn't been covered over the JK lifespan.
Here's a pic of the stock JK height measurement so you can get a general sense of what you're working with -
It's going to be hard to squeeze much extra power out of the 3.8L outside of having proper gearing. Tunes/chips really aren't worthwhile, and forced induction is going to be very pricey. You can search Youtube for short video, but basically jack up front end, put a mark on the front drive shaft, rotate the tire a full turn (I can't recall, you may need to make 2 rotations with a tire due to open diff), and count the drive shaft rotations. Gearing for the JK comes in 3.21, 3.73, 4.10, 4.56, 5.13, and 5.38. Most people with the 3.8L and larger tires tend to go 5.13. Having to squeeze as much out of the engine as possible makes it hard to go too low on gearing.
Try to identify if the jeep has some form of caster correction....either cam bolts, control arm brackets (frame side), or aftermarket control arms. Caster on these JKs from factory was 4.2*. If there's no caster correction on it, you might want to consider that.
Very nice jeep, specially for someone your age.....sorry to hear about how it came to you, but I'm sure they'll be smiling down over the years at the places it will take you and the smiles it will put on your face. Get out there and explore!
thank you so much for this super informative info, waiting for it to warm up before I start digging.
Welcome... no bad questions! Also you can use the search feature on this site and find hundreds of posts on most topics! Not that it will answer the question on which lift you have, but you will have more that come up! Leaky hard top... type it in... and you will get someone who had your same problem!
Thanks dude, I love this forum so much, everyone here is just like one big community mechanics. Atleast we here are all honest and No bullshit thanks for the input man I appreciate it!!!
Welcome to the community my friend! You have an awesome Jeep. Sorry it came to you under those circumstances but never the less its awesome! I see some good tech on the gearing on here which is spot on. As you probably know, any time you throw those big tires on it definitely slows it up a bit. I have a 3.5" Lift and 35" Nitto Grapplers as well. As far as a little more power, perhaps a simple cold air intake system. I did that to mine and it gave it some help without dumping a fortune into it and made it sound a little nicer too. Happy Jeeping!
Last edited by BentCreek4x4; Aug 22, 2019 at 04:05 AM.
New jku
