The Jeep Wrangler YJ is a great platform for building a serious trail machine. Pick up one cheap, sink a few bucks into it, and have a moho tow-along that's more off-road capable than the stock Suzuki Sidekicks that seem to be the current Good Sam Club mainstays. Another advantage is that several DIY-able lift kits are available for the YJ. In a weekend day at home, the Gen I Wrangler can go from stock sorority-girl chic to getting thumbs-ups from TJ owners. (The flatfender Mafiosos will never turn their heads, however.) That's our thought process for lifting a stock, clean '87 Wrangler, which was purchased for $3,500, an average price in the L.A. area. Add a few bolt-ons and it's at least "tail-rated," judging from the play its owner now gets from the ladies. Trailwise, it's up to moderate rock and dune duty.
Our kit of choice here is the Black Diamond 3.5-inch system, which allows running 33-inch tires on the stock wheels. The Black Diamond kit fits this YJ's theme: affordable and easy. Black Diamond got the Jeep world's attention in 1996 with its XCL coil-conversion kit. Warn Industries subsequently sold the division to Superlift, which has fine-tuned parts of the product line and geared it toward trail vehicles. The basic Black Diamond kit includes brackets, leaf packs, mounting hardware, and shocks. The leaf springs feature shot-peened steel, tapered ends, military-wrapped eyes for durability, anti-friction pads, and polyurethane bushings. The spring rate cuts a compromise between topless YJs and those with added hardtop weight. Many upgrades are also available, including a dropped pitman arm, which corrects steering slop, and a steering stabilizer to help control wander. Rear-driveshaft bind or vibration can also be an issue on lifted YJs. The Black Diamond kit comes with transfer-case spacers to ease the pinion angle. However, this YJ's owner chose to keep the 1-inch-lift Con-Ferr shackles that were already on the vehicle, so it does suffer from driveline vibrations at highway speeds. Black Diamond offers an NV231 slip-yoke eliminator kit, which allows more than 4 inches of rear-driveshaft length and should solve the problem. No mad-crazy skills are required to install a basic YJ kit, although a couple of specialized tools are necessary. Superlift rates the job a "4" on the 1-5 difficulty scale, estimating installation time at 4-5 hours, but this job took closer to 8 hours with photo interruptions and installation of optional equipment. The lift made way for 33x12.50-15 Pro Comp Mud Terrains, which are surprisingly quiet on the road for a high-void-lugged tread; they even showed good dune prowess when aired down to about 8 psi. (For people who pay attention to the details, Superlift offers the TruSpeed speedo recalibrator for '92-current Wranglers to compensate for nonstock tire diameters.)
The sum of these parts has transformed a dirt-cheap, basically stock YJ from a weekend toy into a daily driver. With its top down and tub up higher, the Wrangler is equally at home on the pavement, the dunes, or exploring mining trails.
1. Black Diamond components...
1. Black Diamond components are covered by a limited lifetime warranty. The standard kit includes springs, U-bolts, shocks, transfer-case lowering spacers, hardware, extension brackets and links, and easy-to-understand, well-illustrated instructions.
2. Because the axles will...
2. Because the axles will be 3.5 inches farther from the frame, either the stock brake line must be carefully extended or longer hoses must be used. When bending or extending the OE lines, be careful not to kink the tubing.
3. The Black Diamond kit includes...
3. The Black Diamond kit includes zinc-plated brake brackets for the front. These secure to the frame at the stock hold-down location, then extend the hardline-to-hose fitting out and down so that the hose can handle the added suspension droop.
4. Specialty puller tools...
4. Specialty puller tools can often be borrowed from your local auto parts store. A pickle fork is an inexpensive toolbox addition and is handy for separating the sway-bar links.
5. The track bar centers the...
5. The track bar centers the axles under the Jeep. The kit's front track-bar bracket ensures that the Dana 30 remains centered following the lift
6. White lithium grease minimizes...
6. White lithium grease minimizes squeaks and helps the steel sleeves slide into the Black Diamond polyurethane spring bushings. Using a vise to squeeze in the sleeves is more elegant than beating 'em in with a hammer.