1997 Jeep Wrangler TJ - Jeep Autopsy Wrangler TJ

When The TJ Debuted, It Had All-New Body Panels And Exterior Hardware, But Jeep Reused The YJ Tailgate.

The Transfer Case
The Two-Speed Part-Time Transfer Case Was Also Carried Over From The YJ; The Command-Trac NV231 Featured A 2.72 Low Range. The Extension Housing Was Eliminated For The Rear Yoke, And A Lip Seal At The Rear Of The Main Housing Utilized Only Rotary Motion Of The Output Shaft. When The Rubicon Was Launched In 2003, It Had The Heavy-Duty NV241OR As The Standard T-Case, Which You Can Read More About In The Sidebar "Where's The Jeep Beef? The Rubicon."

The Suspension/The Axles
Perhaps The Biggest Thing To Hit The Jeep World Was The TJ's Use Of A Four-Corner Quadra-Coil Suspension System Instead Of Leaf Springs, Stolen Straight Out Of The Grand Cherokee. Gaining 7 Inches More Articulation, Having A 15 Percent Thicker Transfer-Case Skidplate, And Using 25 Percent Thicker Frame Side Rails Over The YJ Made Jeep's Engineers Spaz Out - But So Did Enthusiasts, Who Lost Their Marbles Over The Ride And Handling On- And Off-Road. There Were Variable-Rate Rear Coil Springs And Single-Rate Front Coil Springs, Inverted Shocks, Sway Bars At Both Ends, And Axles Located Longitudinally By Control Arms In Front And Trailing Arms In Back.

The Rubicon's Rock-Trac Transfer Case. Innards Usually Make Us Sick.

The Saginaw Box Was Also Updated, Running A Constant-Ratio 14:1 Recirculating-Ball Rather Than The Previous Variable-Ratio Gear. What Was Called Haltenberger Steering Linkage Replaced The Previous Centerlink System (Another Grand Cherokee Item). Speaking Of Steering, The Power-Steering Pump Was Mounted Right On The Intake Manifold; The Reservoir On The 4.0L Wasintegrated Within The Pump, While The 2.4L Placed It On The Fan Shroud.

Axles Were The Good News/Bad News Part Of The Equation. Returning Was The Dana 30 Front And Always-Popular Dana 35c Rear. While The YJ Dana 30 Was High-Pinion And Had An Axle Disconnect, The TJ's 30 Was Low-Pinion And Sans Disconnect. Much Like The Grand Cherokee. In Mid-'97, A Dana 44 Rear Became Available (Theoretically) On The Sport And Sahara, With 3.55s And A Trac-Loc Diff. The Axle Ratios For The '97 30 And 35c Went Unchanged From YJ Years. The 2.5L With Manual Trans Got 4.11s For The Manual Or 3.73s With The Auto, While The Stick-Equipped 4.0L Got 3.07s, Or 3.55s With The Auto. A Year Later, However, The 3.55s Were Dumped In The Rear In Favor Of 3.73s. The Axletubes Also Went From Welded To Seamless In 1997.

The Hardtop Was Also Redesigned From YJ To TJ And Included Quick-Release Latches And A Weight Loss Of Nearly 15 Pounds.