Junkyard upgrades and a strange lack of finding in my local pick no-parts

Kaptainkid1

TJ Enthusiast
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Today I found myself with extra time off and I headed out to the local "pick-a-part" in Sunland, CA. I've been here many times before but have never had an American car before until now with the Jeep TJ. So I never took notice of the selection. I all ways noticed more American Car, Truck and SUV at the Junkyard and that is usually case for the local junkyard in south cali. So I was in the search of the XJ front HP Dana 30, Tie Rods to upgrade or replace my TJ steering system.
What I noticed was no Wranglers at all, No Jeep XJ and a ton of Grand C ZJ's two wheel drive weird and 4wd. I always thought the Grand Cherokee only came in 4x4 iteration.
I even found two Azetec and no Heisenberg.
So I found a thread that upgrade my Tie Rods from the 1" Grand Cherokee system.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/zj-tie-rod-conversion.2373/
Awesome upgrade! Next Mod.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-brake-conversion-parts-for-wrangler-tj.7718/I want to do the GC ZJ rear disc conversion too.

Where can I find a cheap HP Dana 30 or Dana 44 front to upgrade my TJ?
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Today I found myself with extra time off and I headed out to the local "pick-a-part" in Sunland, CA. I've been here many times before but have never had an American car before until now with the Jeep TJ. So I never took notice of the selection. I all ways noticed more American Car, Truck and SUV at the Junkyard and that is usually case for the local junkyard in south cali. So I was in the search of the XJ front HP Dana 30, Tie Rods to upgrade or replace my TJ steering system.
What I noticed was no Wranglers at all, No Jeep XJ and a ton of Grand C ZJ's two wheel drive weird and 4wd. I always thought the Grand Cherokee only came in 4x4 iteration.
I even found two Azetec and no Heisenberg.
So I found a thread that upgrade my Tie Rods from the 1" Grand Cherokee system.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/zj-tie-rod-conversion.2373/
Awesome upgrade!

Where is can I find a cheap HP Dana 30 or Dana 44 front to upgrade my TJ?View attachment 136256View attachment 136257
I believe that for the most part, you won't find many (if any) TJ's in your local wrecking yard that caters to the masses. Those typically end up in more specialized establishments that cater to the off road community (4X4 wrecking yards), or to an exclusively Jeep wrecking yard. As for the XJ's, well, they're everywhere up in my neck of the woods. Always a good selection of them, even in the Pick-N-Pulls up here.

From things I've read on this forum, the XJ HP Dana 30 has climbed up in price, so they're getting increasingly difficult to find at a really good price. As for the Dana 44 for the front, there really is no such thing as a cheap one.

BTW, That Pontiac Aztek is just begging to be saved! ;)
 
I went recently to get a new (used) stock radio. One of the bigger junk yards in our area and same thing, I found (2) TJs in the whole place, both were almost completely stripped, only the tub was left. Plenty of Dodge caravans though!
 
Its rare, but every now and then you'll find a wrangler in the local yard here. This was back before christmas, needless to say there were not a lot of salvageable parts. The floor was cut up in the rear, looked like at one point they tried to replace the fuel pump. At least from what I could tell since it was rear ended. The doors looked ok but upon closer look they were dented to high hell and the bits of steel ripped out.
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XJs and GCs though are a dime a dozen. I pulled both my sanden compressors off of XJs, picked up my secondary fuse block from one too
 
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I thought you went to Jeep part depot in Sun Valley. No junk yards will have wranglers around here. If they have a Wranglers it’s only going to be a Wrangler junkyard or Jeeps only. Parts from jeep part depot are not cheap at all. Will cost a arm and a leg. Better off searching craigslist or offerup. Someone might be parting out their XJ. A Dana 44 will not be cheap either. Unless someone doesn’t know what they have. A Dana 30 with upgrades axles will handle 35’s just fine. Don’t think you’ll need a Dana 44. I have a Dana 30 up front on my jeep.
 
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I know it's not close to Sunland, but if you find yourself in northern CA, look up J&W Auto Wreckers in Antelope, CA. I had a Scrambler back in the early '90s and this place was like a candy shop for jeep parts. I think they still kind of specialize in Jeeps.
 
I know it's not close to Sunland, but if you find yourself in northern CA, look up J&W Auto Wreckers in Antelope, CA. I had a Scrambler back in the early '90s and this place was like a candy shop for jeep parts. I think they still kind of specialize in Jeeps.
They do specialize in Jeeps, but bring your wallet. Like everyone else here, you won’t find any Jeeps at the local pick-n-pull.
 
The reason why I want to go to Pick-a-part junkyards is because the prices are reasonable for a budget build. I went to Sunland Jeep dismantler and paid an arm and leg for used parts. I said I would never do that again. My next hunt will be Long Beach Pick-a-part.
What gets me excited is looking at all the wreck cars and guessing why most of them got here via a major wreck. Also I learn things by looking at wreck vehicles and web searches to find solutions. What I noticed from checking out a 1997 Grand Cherokee 4wd model the front end tie rods and track bar seem similar to the 2002 Jeep TJ set up but 1 inch thicker. I later found out alot Jeep TJ will upgrade mod swap with steering system from the Grand Cherokee.
Can't wait to go back and pick up these parts.
Next I'm looking into the Grand Cherokee rear disc brake swap too. I wanted better braking on my TJ.
 
Discs in the rear wont give you better braking. Easier to maintain, yes.
 
Discs in the rear wont give you better braking. Easier to maintain, yes.
Really disc don't have better stopping power? Regardless it's a better set up.

So the "Gold" I'm looking for is SYE left on a modded XJ since that model would likely be found at a pick a part. Plus the HP Dana 30 is my next major mod on my Jeep after SYE mod. It's all about the hunt and budget Build, I'm also in no rush. These parts can be found in couple years or months.
 
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