i want to by a jeep from 76 up to 93, and i want to be able to get good components for it, and i don't want to get a jeep with a crapy motor, trans, t-case, or axles. so what im asking is what year jeeps are crapy and what are great. im wanting a weekend toy but good enough to go to moab. can anybody help me out? thanks a bunch.

start looking for 91-93 YJ's. They have fuel injection, good trans, and a good t-case. The front axle is also a pretty good unit...but like all YJ's they have an awfully weak rear axle.

Do not get an 87-90 wrangler as you will be stuck with a crapy carberated motor and from 1987-1989 they all have the POS BA-10 5-speed trans.

CJ's are nice, however have weak frames and are all carberated. They do have very strong t-case (D300) and good axles (D30 front, M20 or D44 rear)

ok if i were to get a 91 - 93 yj what axles would you use?

It really depends on ethe size tires. With out a doubt, if your running anything bigger than a 31" tire I would put a Dana44 in the rear.

I like the 91-95 YJ 4.0L.
Axles, D60's front and rear is what I would use if I had to start over, but I want 37" tires. If you plan on running 35" tires or smaller just replace the rear D35 with a Ford 8.8 and you will have one nice strong jeep. The D30 upfront is fine, but you may eventually want to replace the axels with TJ or YJ /ABS axels, they use a stronger u-joint. As far as Moab, a stock Jeep on 31's can do all of the trails in the Charles Wells book without lockers (except the last two difficult ones).

zman

95 yj also have the larger u-joints. You can find one that isn't modified (like from a college kid) for a good price.