Well.....
Where to begin.....

I hate Jeep, period.

I have owned a 1987 YJ for 3 years now and have come to the realization you HAVE to be a god damn millionaire just to keep it running. Whoever thought that these things are a good 4x4 was clearly smoking FAR too much crack. This thing doesn't 4x4 good at all. Since the day I bought it i have been under the hood. Like I said, 3 years, only on the road for maybe half of that. I have only 4x4'd it maybe 6 times.

Now I have owned a lot of 4x4's and can honestly say that my STOCK 91 Zuki Sidekick,(May she rest in peace,accident=write-off), out 4x4'd my POS Wrangler by 100 times.

I just put $600 into this thing last month, Clutch, Pressure Plate, Slave Cylinder and Clutch Master Cylinder. Easily $3000 put into it since I bought it and i've had enough. It's gonna rot in my driveway till some dumb kid comes along that just wants to jump on the flatfender bandwagon.

Sorry I'm ranting, but seriously, IMHO, unless you POUR LOADS of money into a Jeep you will never have a good 4x4.

Karnage  

Let me guess, you have it lifted and you did not regear it and you fried clutch right? Jeeps of that era with 6's and sticks came with some pretty tall gears in them that had no business being in there to begin with before it was even lifted. I have a 79 J20 that I have owned for 22 years now and I pushed snow with it for many years until I retired it a few years ago to restore it and I have put "maybe" 300 dollars in it tops in repairs in that time (Ujoints, carb rebuilt, new starter and such) It was very reliable.  

Nope, I haven't done a thing to it performance wise. No lift, not even a K&N Air Filter.
You're definetly right about about the tall gears. Mine's got the Peugot 5 speed with a first gear that's almost like "bow-low". But either way I have obviously picked the wrong year/era and it has turned me right off of Jeeps. When I had my Zuki the funny thing is I was the one pulling full size Blazer's & Jeep's out of the mud or off of a log. Since I've owned it, hmmm, new carb, hub assembly's, rotors, rear leafs, shocks all around, entire clutch system, steering stabilizer, alternator, 2 batterie's, rad, steering box, fuel pump, t-case rebuild, u-joints. I've had the infamous under hood wiring harness fire as well. The only thing I still like about the damn thing is that 4.2 is sooo torquey. Shame is use's the same amount of fuel as a Chev 305, but that's the trade off for the torque I guess.  

Ah yes, you have the BA 10/5. Not best tranny. It has a 3.39 first gear. A AX15 is basically a bolt in replacement for it (it was used for 89 to 2000 with six) and it has a 3.83 first gear which is a noticeable improvement. Jeep replaced it with a NV3550 in 01 that was a 3500 is a case design to bolt in replace a AX15. You would do well to consider on of those options. The NV3550 has a slightly deeper first gear (4.02 vs 3.83) but it has a much taller reverse (3.55 vs 4.22) so overall I think AX15 would be better. Sound like you Jeep had a hard life before you got it and you are paying for someones folly with it. On the MPG, 4.2 were basically smog motors then and had low compression and retarded timing and MPG suffered a lot. Pre-smog 258's (before 73) ran really well and got better MPG too. Since you have a carbed 258, you might try advancing base line timing about 4 to 6 degrees for starters and using 89 octane and it should help power and MPG and given todays fuel prices it should be cheaper to drive it that way too. BTW, do not give up. You have one of the old good Jeeps as far as basic design. You just need to maybe swap tranny out for starters because as "luck" would have it you got one made between 87 and early 89 when BA 10/5 was used. Had it been a 86 it could of had a T4 four speed or a T5 five speed OD tranny. Both of them had approx 4 to 1 first gears.  

or you could make sure it is done right the first time, i have a 87 too and and i think its great but i like to call mine Junked Each &Every Part. do this and you will start to love it more. most 80's ford rear 6o's will bolt in with a spring over with no mods at all very easy.  

A 60 is overkill unless you plan running 40's and a V8. Why carry all that extra weight. A Ford 8.8 is better for this.  

nothing is overkill if your trying to not break, thats why i went with a 70 rear but my straight six has never had a problem with fullsize axles and 42's  

Your problem is not the Jeep, it's the OLD Jeep. Any older vehicle is going to need normal maintanence and wear items replaced at some point. Next time by a 97 instead of an 87... what do you expect from a 20 year old vehicle?  

4WOR Web Editor:
Your problem is not the Jeep, it's the OLD Jeep. Any older vehicle is going to need normal maintanence and wear items replaced at some point. Next time by a 97 instead of an 87... what do you expect from a 20 year old vehicle?

I do not quite agree with this. Jeeps have been slowly going down hill since Chrysler bought them and I would much rather sink some coin into a clean 87 over a 97 any day. To me the Jeep kinda died when they scraped the 4 corner leafs and went to coil over and lowered center of gravity too. One of the worst things to happen to Jeep was trying to morph them into cars for daily driver comforts. They should have left then YJ/Wranger a Jeep rather than what it is now. There was a time when they were smaller, lighter and nearly bullet proof stock. That day is long gone now. Old CJ7's were great Jeeps and CJ3's CJ5's even better in tight spots off road.  

For some reason i think you are like the die hard metallica fans who cant get over the fact that they "sold out" and you would rather complain about something "new" instead of try to find a way to like it. You dont have to buy or build a  new or old jeep but you dont have to not appreciate the newer, better and stronger tech the todays engineers have over those 20 years or more ago.  

what you've put into your jeep is nothin. i have a 95 yj and i've already had to rebuild it once. i've put roughly 12,000 into mine plus the 5000 for the jeep. i flipped it and messed it up bad. my transmission has gone out once and then reverse quit workin. i flooded the engine while upside down, broken several u-joints, pulled the driveshaft out, broke the old suspension and shocks, bent the body, bent the frame, bent the doors, bent the roll bar, flooded the inside, broke the seat, ran over a pontiac on accident, and i still love my jeep