What? I own a CJ, not a stinking YJ. Why would I want YJ parts on my classic CJ?
Well, IF your a purist and and want nothing but original OEM parts on your baby, then stop reading and continue searching for the parts that are getting harder and harder to find. I feel this way on super clean and original CJs too..... BUT for those with trail Jeeps, projects in the works, or those you simple don't care, there are options to replacing your CJ windshield frame that doesn't involve purchasing thin metal repo
out of China that doesn't fit and will still rust out even faster than the original one.
Numbers are in your favor here as there were many more YJs made and they are newer by roughly a decade. The YJ frame is dimensionally the same as the CJ frame and will share the same hinge bolt pattern and still allow the same visors, wiper motor, and hard/soft top combos.
The advantages of the YJ WS frame is that the wiper system contains larger and more heavy duty links, pivots, arms, and the frame is in-forced with double layer metal at the pivot areas. The bottom section is double layered at the corner boxes and extends further into the bottom sections. All this extra strength is obvious when you feel the weight of the YJ and CJ frames hand in hand.
So the differences.....The YJ glass is larger and uses a different seal. The defrost does not go through the WS frame in the YJ so there are no provisions for this. The wiper motor uses a different plug and is a 5 wire instead of 4. (the 5th is a ground as the YJ hinges use plastic sleeves at the pivot pins for smoothness). Also, there is upper corner nut plates for the YJ spreader bars.
So the main advantages of using a YJ WS frame is for someone wanting a stronger wiper set up, a stronger WS frame, spreader bar mounts for those using using the YJ roll bars, and a frame that has OEM quality that is more readily found in the used market.
Follow along as I show you how to address the differences and make one work on your CJ.
I started with a free YJ WS frame as the glass was falling out and it looked really bad....my YJ buddy just picked up a nice one and swapped his out. Free is good.
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If your using the YJ glass, you can skip this part. You can use CJ glass in a YJ frame but must use the CJ seal as well. The advantage to this is that unlike the glued in YJ glass, the CJ seal and glass can be easily replaced yourself in the future. The YJ inner flange is wider and will need to be trimmed to CJ specs, or about 5/8" in my case when I measured from an OEM CJ frame. Double check with measurements from one side to the other. I used a flapper disk to make fast work of this task. You can see the material removed.
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I used a CJ frame again for reference when locating the defrost holes. I used blue tape and a razor blade to trace out the holes and transfer them to the YJ frame. A paint pen outlined the new holes and the use of a center punch, drill bits, and a dremel tool with a fiberglass cutting disk made the rough opening. A small grinding stone finished it off with deburing inside and out.
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The same procedure was used for the bottom ovals with the exception of using a hole bit for the correct radius on the ends.
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I knew that I the next step involved pouring paint inside the frame for further protection. All the seams need to be sealed. 3M body sealer was used all around where needed as needed. Other small holes and such are filled, smoothed out and primered.
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The larger holes were taped over and painted poured in before the frame is tumbled over and over for full coating. Be careful, this can be messy if you didn't seal everywhere or you rushed the tape job.
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Next, I hung up the frame and painted it white to match the customers CJ.
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New glass was installed as his was cracked. This was a 100 buck deal off E bay and worked great. I use liquid soap and a cotter pin tool to install mine. No string, but that's just me.
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The YJ moved the hold down brackets 3/4" outward to clear the dash pad. If you modify the CJ hold down bracket, you can leave the CJ dash and tub un cut and not mess with the YJ threaded nut plates. I cut and reweld the CJ plate as shown.
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The CJ wiper motor is used to retain the CJ plug. You simply swap the cam arm off the motor for the YJ one. Mark the position of each before you remove the nut and transfer. All the rest of the wiper system is YJ stuff. It works like a charm. The plastic CJ wiper pivot hole cover will work on the YJ hole even though the YJ hole is a touch larger. The other side needs a custom cover as it has a much larger hole for the larger wiper links.
Here is the finished results.
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