How come you never see a Currie Antirock swaybar on YJs? One exception was on a YJ in JP Magazine's September 2007 issue. Is the Antirock a bad choice on a YJ? I drove a custom buggy for a day in Moab. It had Antirocks front and rear and they controlled body roll like no other. This only made me want them on my YJ. Maybe leaf springs and Antirocks are a bad combo. Help me out here.
"Jeep Boy"
Logan, Utah
It's not that it's a bad combo. It's just that most people feel there's enough inherent friction within the leaf pack to give enough stability for most off-road situations. In short, they just don't need them. At least, that's what most people feel.
However, if you want to run a swaybar off-road, the Antirock is, in my opinion, the best choice. It will allow more flex with littleto- no binding and has several provisions for increasing or decreasing the firmness of the bar.
Help a poor student Jeeper, please! I'm going to UTI right now in Ilinois, but I've recently started my first buildup ever on an '87 YJ. I'm looking to drop a Chevy 350, TH350, and the stock NP231 into it in place of my beat-up 4.2L. I was also thinking of the Skyjacker 6-inch monoleaf suspension system-all this on a budget. What I'm wondering is where I might find all the mounts and adapters for the engine and trans, the place where I may find the best deals on the driveshafts, and what other things I might run into.
Jason Jahnke
Hanover Park, Illinois
There are a few issues you'll need to overcome. First, those monoleafs are most likely going to bend and pretzel as soon as they get some real power applied to them. When they do, they'll most likely take out the pinion yoke and/or driveshaft, so plan that into your budget. It's my opinion that a regular set of Skyjacker multi-leaf packs will do much better with moderate-to-big power levels and serious off-road use.
Advance Adapters, Novak, and even Trans-Dapt make purpose-built and universal motor mounts that will allow you to drop that engine in your chassis. As for the TH350-to-NP231 adapter, you're going to need to come up with the tranny-to-t-case adapter and either a spud shaft or new t-case input gear that matches the tranny output shaft. They're about $500 new from Novak or Advance Adapters, but used ones pop up on the Web all the time. Don't forget eBay and Craigslist, as well.
As for driveshafts, don't totally discount your local guy when shopping for the best price. Remember to factor in the cost of shipping into the equation. I'm not familiar with Ilinois shops, but mail order guys like JE Reel, and so on are a good bargain. Check the back pages of Jp Magazine and shop around. At that lift, you'll need a CV shaft in the rear and most likely in the front. You can nab a CV front driveshaft out of a TJ and have it retubed to save a bunch of money. For example, a new CV driveshaft may run $350 from a builder, but it'll cost $20 for the TJ driveshaft at the junkyard (or online) and about $80 to have it retubed. The downside is that you won't be getting new components, and for that price, the tubing probably won't be that thick.
Don't forget the other stuff you'll probably need, like a larger radiator, power steering lines, throttle linkage, tranny kickdown parts, exhaust, and so on.
I have been wrestling with the overheating blower switch for several months. Seeing your article "Retardant" (October 2007) had me hoping that I had finally found the solution. However, it seems to me that replacing the offending blower motor might be a better solution. You state that your inserted relays ended up operating at nearly the same temperature, (116 vs. 122 degrees) as the original switch, but you didn't seem concerned about this. Wouldn't the wires, cut to insert relays, still heat up dangerously, even with the relays? Your comments on this are greatly anticipated.
John Maguire
Ontario, California
Yes, replacing the blower motor needs to be done. We hadn't done so by the time we went to press, but did in the weeks afterwards.
As for the heat with the relays and wires, relays run under the hood at 200-plus degrees all the time, and most automotive wires are good for 300 to 600 degrees, depending on the quality of the wire and/or insulation.
In the stock system, the switch is the weak spot; once you pull the old one apart and look at it, you'll see-it just isn't rated for any kind of amperage. And, once the switch is overloaded, the connector won't be far behind in the melting pile of electrical stuff. How the engineers thought it would be a good idea just boggles the mind. Maybe in a sealed environment, it will work fine for whatever the designed life cycle is, but there are so many Jeeps out there with this problem that there is obviously something not taken into account.