Another winter another jeep.

[Juggs]

The woody jeep started getting too unreliable for me so this year I decided an upgrade was in order. Found a hell of a bargain on this 96 grand cherokee. Its a laredo with the 4.0 and auto trans. Its got a 4 inch skyjacker double flex lift on it, swaybar disconnects, roof rack, and a few more goodies.

Right now I have been collecting a ton of parts for it that are going on in a few weeks. First up is swapping the dana 35 rear axle for a ford 8.8 completeley rebuilt and welded, with forged axles, a lock right locker, rock crusher diff cover, and 4.10 gears. The front axle is also being rebuilt with all new seals and bearings and 4.10 gears, and superior outer axle seals added as well.

Also I have a rubicon express extreme duty track bar, JKS quicker disconnects, and a couple more things waiting for a nice day to get put on as well. I am also building a stereo system for it that should be pretty good, and also I plan on replacing all the heim joints on my control arms with currie johnny joints. what do you think of the new rig?

[Spastik_Roach]

Looks nice. Loving the lift on that thing. My dads got a Grand Cherokee limited, really nice cars but a bit prone to unreliability!

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Spasik hits the nail on the head.

If you wanted reliability why on gods green earth did you choose a jeep?

[Juggs]

I bought a jeep because I wanted reliability. I don't know where you get your information at. The 4.0 is one of the most bulletproof engines of all time. No other vehicle will offer me the comfort, reliability, and offroad performance for the price of a jeep like mine. Get real.

[clutch-monkey]

the 4.0 is reliable, yes
it's just the rest of the car that will disintegrate then.. damn jeeps
Just Expect Every Problem

offroad they kick the shit out of most others though.

[wwgkd]

I've got a (real, sorry Juggs) Jeep. It's a 94 YJ (wrangler) and after over 250,000 miles the only problem I've had is needing a new water pump and I crumpled the suspension after being run off a cliff by a yuppie in a mercedes speeding down a road and unable to stop. I do some serious 'wheeling almost every weekend and have no trouble with it being a daily driver. I've got 33x12.50 BFG Mud Terrains and despite what most people expect, I manage 55,000-60,000 miles on a set due to the extreme tread depth. I'm not a big fan of the new JKs and occasional years and models are known for bad reliability, especially in the grand cherokees (relatives with them provide some personal testament to that) but all in all it's an excellent vehicle and I love embarassing H2s, H3s and land rovers at every opportunity.

[Spastik_Roach]

Well the Wranglers got bugger all in terms of complicated electronics. Grand Cherokee's on the other hand are loaded to the tilt with them. As long as Jeep keep it simple they seem to do alright.

[clutch-monkey]

well it does sound like juggs has experience with them though, and has a ton of sweet parts going into it

but i'm never touching a jeep again

[Juggs]

Ha yeah ok you can call your YJ a real jeep thats cool with me lol. They are very capable offroad, and tons of parts out there for them for cheap. Hell I even wanted a wrangler of some sorts for a little bit. But then I decided I was willing to sacrifice a little better offroad and aftermarket for a way more comfortable ride. YJ's are cool though my friend has one, and a few of my other friends have some of the other "wrangler" styles (2 friends with TJ's, one cj7 and one used to have a CJ5's, hell I even know a couple folks with JK's).

as far as reliability is concerned I guess ok there are a couple things to admit. Spastik let me guess, your dad has a WJ with climate control and had to pay a considerable amount of money to get the blend door fixed. am I right?
99-04 GC's (known as WJ's) are definatley a bit more unreliable than the jeeps of the past. I think its because it was the first jeep designed completley by chrysler engineers. the XJ (cherokee) and ZJ (my jeep) were still designed by engineers from AMC the first makers of jeep.

Yeah ok you might have some trouble with some of the electric stuff, but thats the same on almost any vehicle once you get the kind of milage these things get. My old cherokee had over 200k on it and it was a fully loaded model with every option. The motor and trans were absolutly perfect on it. front and rear ends were great too and I beat the CRAP out of that thing. The only thing that didn't work on that jeep was the drivers side back window didn't roll down anymore, and the rear window wiper didn't work. Other than that she was perfect.

When I said it got unreliable, I mean the suspension was all worn out, and I bent the shift forks in my t-case (my fault) and it just wasnt worth it to me to sink that kind of money into such an old jeep.

So I just bought a new one instead. Sure my tranny shifts a little funny, but it'll hold up for a while and everything else on this jeep works great. I know what to look out for, and yes there are some issues, but almost all of them are very minor, at least to me. I know what to watch for and I don't expect many problems from this thing at all. Right now theres about 120k on the odo and this thing has like zero percent blow by, just runs like a champ. I am not worried about piddly things going wrong with it. Its a rig and you'll have that. I know what to do to fix anything that goes wrong with it, and I don't expect a whole lot of wrench turning. just a bunch of key turning and good times!

oh and I forgot to mention I have all terrains on it right now, but as soon as I get this axle and other new parts on I have a brand new set of 31/10.5 Cooper STT's waiting to go on it. I'm just waiting to put them on because it kind of needs an aligment job right now, and after all these parts get put on it definatley will need one, so I figure I'll wear out these weak ass all terrains for now and once its nice and straight we'll put the coopers back on.

[Waugh-terfall]

I think Spaz has a ZJ

I'm a huge fan of JEEPs, I have one myself, mind you, it does only have 2 wheels... But my uncle has a new Cherokee (last-generation Liberty for the Americans) 2.8CRD Limited Auto, it only manages low/mid 20mpgs on 200mi motorway cruises which I think is pretty poor and it's electricals seem to have a mind of their own... The alarm goes off all the time by its-self and last time I saw it he unlocked it and it started bleeping and squawking for a few seconds and then silence.

Tell you what though, I saw an 03 WJ Grand Cherokee Overland 4.7 the other day with some aftermarket exhaust system, quad-pipes by god that sounded unbelieveable. As does the new SRT-8 around here.

[Juggs]

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

I think Spaz has a ZJ

I'm a huge fan of JEEPs, I have one myself, mind you, it does only have 2 wheels... But my uncle has a new Cherokee (last-generation Liberty for the Americans) 2.8CRD Limited Auto, it only manages low/mid 20mpgs on 200mi motorway cruises which I think is pretty poor and it's electricals seem to have a mind of their own... The alarm goes off all the time by its-self and last time I saw it he unlocked it and it started bleeping and squawking for a few seconds and then silence.

Tell you what though, I saw an 03 WJ Grand Cherokee Overland 4.7 the other day with some aftermarket exhaust system, quad-pipes by god that sounded unbelieveable. As does the new SRT-8 around here.

Jeep as of late (all of chrysler for that matter) has been having a ton of problems. It would be hard for me to buy just about any new chrysler product at this point.

[Waugh-terfall]

I'd take the new Wrangler any day, but any other model, it's anything up to the WJ Grand Cherokee for me

[Juggs]

Originally Posted by Waugh-terfall

I'd take the new Wrangler any day, but any other model, it's anything up to the WJ Grand Cherokee for me

I must admit I'd kill for a 4 door rubicon. dana 44 axles with electric lockers front and back, 4 door room and storage, and the versatility of a wrangler? count me in! I'd love cruising with the whole top off and 4 tube doors on it in the summer!! Now they just need to come out with a CRD version. I'd actually take a closer look at a lot of the new jeeps if you could still get them with solid axles. I like the commander a lot but I'm not really into owning an SUV if it sucks off road. and of course the reliability problems as of late. They need to get those dang electronics figured out!!

I'm suprised your not satisfied with the performance from your uncles CRD. Have you thought about a programmer for it? could free up extra horsepower and gas milage! Also open up that intake and exhaust. I gaurentee you'll get much better numbers on everything. just make sure you watch those EGT's if you chip it!! aftermarket tranny cooler might be a good idea too.

[wwgkd]

Yeah, ride quality is a major issue for a lot of people, but it's not something that bothers me much. Has some advantages in fact, but we don't need to get into sportsbras here.

What I'm going to be getting once I'm out of college and get a real job is a TJ Rubicon with the Skyjacker double flex 2.5 inch, about 1 inch body lift (possibly just the four inch double flex with no body lift for extra travel,) then "highline" fenders from AEV (the actual fenders, not just flares) that let you fit 37's with a 3 inch lift, and if I have the money, you can also get a Hemi from AEV. Way more power, better mileage and lower running costs. Only downside is initial cost.

Well, I'll be getting a lot of other little bits, too. But it's one of those things that's never really finished. Another day, another cool toy...

[Juggs]

that would be cool but for the price you'll pay for that 4 inch double flex, you could prob find a nice long arm lift for not much more money. If this jeep didn't have the lift on it when i bought it it'd be long armed right now for sure. long arms FTW!!!