Do I really need upgraded axles on my TJ?

ktugboat42

ktugboat42

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Joined
Jan 12, 2020
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27
Location
Cape Cod
So i'm a newbie to jeeps and in the market for a TJ for my wife to drive 7 miles to the beach, air down to 15 psi +- and drive a few miles on soft Cape Cod sand. Does she really need the beefier Dana axles for this type of offroading? At first i was looking/researching X and Sport trim levels but saw a lot of supposed issues with the rear axles so then i started looking at the Saharas and Rubicons. Nice, absolutely but is it really worth and or needed to spend the extra money for the 35 or 44 axle? For the most part its fairly flat beach with just a few wash board sections on the back trails that you'll go over doing about 10 mph. Thanks for any thoughts and comments.
Pete
 
Biggest thing is no rust in your area...an automatic sport or X should be ideal. She will enjoy that a lot ...rinse it regularly, especially the frame .

If your marriage doesn’t work out , one of us might marry you if it involves a free Jeep and beach trips (insert ridiculous emoji here)
 
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Stock axles will be fine unless she's running 35s and wheeling in some gnarly terrain.

You're over thinking it big time ;)
 
I pretty much figured i was thinking too much, not that i think all that often.
Here's a 97 Sport that i found and surprisingly it was next to NO rust ANYWHERE...

97 TJ.jpg
 
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ktugboat42 said:
I pretty much figured i was thinking too much, not that i think all that often.
Here's a 97 Sport that i found and surprisingly it was next to NO rust ANYWHERE...

View attachment 141838
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hate to be a killjoy but given that you're a self-described newbie are you sure you've looked in all the right places for rust? When we talk about rust on TJs we're talking bottom side for the most part. I've seen many TJs that look nearly brand new while you're standing there looking at them but when you tilt your head underneath it can be a whole different story. So a "97 Sport with surprisingly next to NO rust ANYWHERE..." is really a surprise, unless it's spent the past 23 years in the desert southwest or it was garage kept where you are, kept away from the salt water and off the winter roads... There are a bunch of frame rust threads on here with all kinds of great information, upshot is do a very thorough inspection inside & out of the frame before buying.
 
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If anyone else has a better cheap idea, please chime in. OP, buy an extendable/flexible magnet. They have collapsible ones at Home Depot that cost around $6-7. Jam it anywhere and everywhere that you can inside the frame, especially by the transmission skid plate and the lower control arm mounts. See if you pull anything out, it can tell you a lot about what you can't see. It won't tell you everything but it can definitely tell you whether or not you should walk away fast. Stick your fingers in the frame wherever you can, check for smooth vs rough/chunky/uneven surfaces. Look closely at the seam where the skid plate mates with the frame so see if you can see anything lurking between them. Look on top of the coil spring perches where they are welded to the frame, junk can gather and sit there. Check the front fenders closely. Also pay attention to the front and rear crossmembers, behind/underneath the bumpers. Stuff can get trapped there too and go unnoticed.
 
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Westtown Willy said:
hate to be a killjoy but given that you're a self-described newbie are you sure you've looked in all the right places for rust? When we talk about rust on TJs we're talking bottom side for the most part. I've seen many TJs that look nearly brand new while you're standing there looking at them but when you tilt your head underneath it can be a whole different story. So a "97 Sport with surprisingly next to NO rust ANYWHERE..." is really a surprise, unless it's spent the past 23 years in the desert southwest or it was garage kept where you are, kept away from the salt water and off the winter roads... There are a bunch of frame rust threads on here with all kinds of great information, upshot is do a very thorough inspection inside & out of the frame before buying.
Click to expand...

I crawled all underneath it and was extremely surprised at the condition of the frame. I guess "no rust" was an exaggeration. How about minimal? Compared to all the other TJ's i looked at, this one has relativity no rust. Supposedly it spent its first 19 years in a garage used as a mall crawler. I kind of believe him since its a 97' with just over 81k miles (under 4k a year).
 
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ktugboat42 said:
I crawled all underneath it and was extremely surprised at the condition of the frame. I guess "no rust" was an exaggeration. How about minimal? Compared to all the other TJ's i looked at, this one has relativity no rust. Supposedly it spent its first 19 years in a garage used as a mall crawler. I kind of believe him since its a 97' with just over 81k miles (under 4k a year).
Click to expand...

I wish I had spent more time on this forum before buying my TJ, because I too crawled under and thought it was pretty much rust free, then after purchasing it and reading what all the killjoys like @Westtown Willy I found a surprising amount of rust inside the frame - and this is on a TJ that's lived its whole life in the high desert! I guess it really is what's on the inside that counts...

I don't mean to put you off your purchase, there's just a lot of great knowledge on this site that you can use to make sure your new TJ really does have minimal rust.

Are you thinking about doing any Angry Eye upgrades after you purchase it? @Chris has lots of great recommendations.
 
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Oh i agree with all the posts about rust. I'm not discounting anyone's input on it but this TJ has far and away the cleanest frame i've seen so far. There's a few i looked at that the ad said had a little rust...it should of said it had a little metal!!! I'm surprised one of them was still a daily driver and didn't split in half.
As for upgrades, its all about what the Boss/CFO wants.
 
So I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this TJ Sport ($7500 w/ 82k mi). I had it gone through by a local shop that specializes in Jeeps and he gave it his stamp of approval. He stated he had 4 other customers come through with TJ's and my frame was far and away in the best shape, supposedly. He found a few things with the biggest being a leaky exhaust manifold which i already had repaired. Another is it seems that the shocks are pretty warn because it drives like a marshmallow. So here's a question for dealing with that... would new shocks and different springs lift it a bit? I'd like to add an inch or 2 so nothing crazy. I read on here about the pucks but they don't seem to be the greatest option. Oh, this will only be driven on the soft sands of the Cape and not offroading so it doesn't have to be a beefy lift.
And here's the mandatory pic of the wife being topless for the first time. Notice the ski coat on since it was about 40 degrees and blowing out but with the sun out, she wanted the top off.

97 TJ.JPG
 
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Yes- You can get springs that will lift it a inch or two
But why-- I would leave it- thats perfect for her
Nice pick up, you did well
 
BlueFl.Wrangler said:
Yes- You can get springs that will lift it a inch or two
But why-- I would leave it- thats perfect for her
Nice pick up, you did well
Click to expand...

I kinda agree with keeping the height the way it is.
Looks like l'll just install the Rancho 5000x shocks (RS55128 and RS55240 i believe) that have been discussed on here and that will probably "lift" it a little.
On an a side note, can i edit the thread title?
 
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