4.0 L Jeep Engines?

[ramcharger]

Whats scary is when you finally outgrow the normal vendors and wonder into the specialty territory for steering and suspension upgrades! Need a big pocket book!!

That's exactly what I'm trying to stay away from, lol!

For all your Cherokee/Comanche needs check out www.NAXJA.org There are some good guys there. Check out the Colorado section... There is a for sale section.

I was checking out that site last night. Lots of great info.

Reminds me of the $500 Traxxas T-Maxx nitro-powered radio control monster truck I saved up for and bought when I was 14. Damn, that thing was fun, but like all things automotive (even at 1/10 scale) it was a money pit. Some day I'll put a nice TRX 3.3cc engine and steel tranny gears and sealed high-strength driveshafts in that thing and go terrorize the neighbors dogs again...

A hobby should be defined as a way to spend your money on anything you don't really need, lol.

Check this site out for Jeeps, seen several of them listed tonight:
http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucitsrh/
Click on vehicle auctions.
C

I like the Montana Forest Service Cherokees. They even have a steel mesh divider for the dogs.

 

[fishman]

Rear main is easy to change. My Cherokee had an 8 inch lift with 35's, locked f/r, 4.88:1. My last run back from the Hammers had me at 19 mpg with all of my spares, heavy bumpers, skid plates, etc...that was with the cruise set to 80.

Like others have said, i recommend the HO motor (91 and newer) with the AW4 auto. Try to get one with the 231 transfer case, the 8.25 rear end (D44 is tough to find), and a high pinion Dana 30.

Feel free to ask any questions...sounds like a few of us know a lot about them.

Thank You!

OldMoparsRule!

The rear mains arn't bad and while your there if it has close to 200,000 thousand put a new oil pumpin it. Got one for my son and he has beat the hell out of it. It has been from the beach to the mountains and cut no slack.
I havent seen one die that has had the oil changed on a normal basis.

 

[yooper822]

Oops

 

[ramcharger]

Thanks Fishman!

I got my settlement taken care of today. I should have the check next week. It was 945 and change. They are letting me keep the 4Runner though so I figure it's worth more if I part it out. I'm hoping to end up with $1500 to $1800 (including the settlement) when all the parts are sold off the Turdyota.

I've seen a couple of Cherokee's for 900 bucks but they are rough non or barley running 2wd models. I saw one for 1300 but it was white (blah) and had some pretty good front end damage. Relatively low mileage though. 139k.

 

[ramcharger]

Found a '92 Cherokee Laredo for $650. It needs a lot of work but the body is rust free. 5 speed, 4wd, 4.0 L. Engine was rebuilt 55K ago, but needs a radiator, windshield, exhaust and some TLC.

I'm going to check it out on Saturday.

 

[fishy68]

Just another plug for the 4.0 L. My dad bought a new 91 Cherokee 4wd with the 4.0 5 spd. He was hard on stuff. (Guess that's where I got it from LOL). He kept it until he died in 93 and it had 158,000 miles on it and still ran and drove fantastic. Only repairs he told me about were 1 new exhaust system, 2 clutches, 1 water pump, and usual wear items like brakes, belts and hoses. The real main did leak some but not real bad. No more than a qt. of oil every 1,500 miles. When he passed on I sold it to a buddy that used it to pull a 20' car trailer converted to a scrap trailer (had sides added). The drivetrain held up real well but the back bumper didn't after he tried to pull the trailer with 5,000 lbs of junk on it:violent1:. He traded it off when it had about 200,000 miles on it and it still ran and drove good. Oh yeah it had great power too. It was the HO for that year. Don't remember the hp rating but I think it was about 200 or so. I know if you jammed the gears it'd get a real good 2nd gear bark and a little 3rd gear. Also got real good gas mileage.

 

[ramcharger]

Just found a Jeep today for a $1k. It's green 4L auto 4wd. 220K, has a bad lifter tick at idle. Head gaskt kits go for around 60 bucks and a lifter is 4 dollars. Power everything. Headliner is trashed though..... Body has no dents or rust but paint is oxidized bad on the hood. Side molding is all gone. It's just that stick on crap anyway.

Ha! neighbor just came over and offered $400 cash for the toyota as is. This all just might work out.

 

[fzmax]

You don't find many Mopar guys on the Jeep forums, I'm surprised there are so many Jeep guys here. Here's a video of mine:



More pics and videos here.

You don't hear much talk about performance on Jeep boards and whenever someone brings it up you get responses like "A Jeep isn't a race car", "Jeeps aren't meant to go fast" and my personal favorite, "If you want a race car, buy a Honda".

The funny thing is most of these people don't realize how much power a 4.0 makes and that flat torque curve kicks ***. My Jeep's engine is totally stock from the air filter to the tailpipe. It has run a best of 15.90. Cherokee's are lighter, many have the NP242 transfer case with a full time position. With a little tweaks they can get into the 14's.

Not to Hijack, but I'm going to Rausch Creek this Saturday if anyone in the PA/MD/DE area wants join in. We'll be running blues and blacks.

 

[ramcharger]

fzmax, check this out. http://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/index.php

 

[Renegade]

Now that you got your cherokee, lift it and go 4wheelin!!!

 

[ramcharger]

Now that you got your cherokee, lift it and go 4wheelin!!!

Nice XJ! I saw a lot of white ones in my search and they didn't seem to have the headliner problems that that the blue, black and green ones did. My guess is that the heat/sun here bakes and releases the adhesive. As far as wheelin' is concerned, that's what the RC is for.

I'll have the '92 green one tomorrow night!! :cheers:

I saw and drove and a black '91 today and the engine, trans and 4wd worked great. The engine was far stronger than I would expect. Had a big bash on the back though and all the window/lock switches were trash and windshield was busted up too bad to drive. Headliner was gone (as usual) and grill had a fist size hole in it. Rear tailight was busted out, etc. I figured it was cheaper to pull the head and drop in a lifter than fix all that crap. Plus the guy with the '92 green one needed the dough for his family for Christmas. The guy with the '91 owns a very infamous tow yard out here and was lying about how he got the truck. Didn't trust him and he didn't need the money. Boy that thing ran strong though.

 

[yooper822]

oops

 

[yooper822]

Not to Hijack, but I'm going to Rausch Creek this Saturday if anyone in the PA/MD/DE area wants join in. We'll be running blues and blacks.

Been to Rausch twice this year, a couple of the previous pics are from there on "yellow jacket"

Check out trail 22, snake bit, the quarry and yellow jacket, trail 17 these are blue and black trails....17 is red...oh yeah, crawlers Ridge! I dont know what level of build you have but there is something for every level there. I have 33's and air down to 10PSI at Rausch, works great.....I love Rausch!

UPDATE: Just looked at all your pics....looks like you know the place pretty well! Enjoy!!

Joe

 

[cuda65vpt]

mine was '90 Pioneer. great truck until it got rear-ended, then my son taped up the air leaks on the Passenger side and drove it some more.

 

[homeboysduster]

this is a pic of my 89 sport. great on power only sold because i needed a truck. if you could put that motor in a dakota....... WOW!!!! that would be fun!:toothy10:

 

[ramcharger]

mine was '90 Pioneer. great truck until it got rear-ended, then my son taped up the air leaks on the Passenger side and drove it some more.

These things don't seem to die until their crashed to death from what I've seen so far.

this is a pic of my 89 sport. great on power only sold because i needed a truck. if you could put that motor in a dakota....... WOW!!!! that would be fun!:toothy10:

Very nice! I like the Sport model. I got the 4 door for the dogs. I guess I better get seat covers. :-D

Well, here it is! 6 way power seats, power mirrors, keyless entry, sunroof, leather (or pleather) seats. Drivers is trashed, lol. I got seat covers, no big deal. 4L HO, air conditioning, 2" receiver hitch, factory security system, full size spare and alloy wheel. 220k and a lifter tick. 1000 bucks.

 

[ramcharger]

His wife was bummed (she was there to pick him up). She said the kids loved it because they could adjust their seat without having to use a lever. He was a bit bummed too. They needed the cash bad for the holidays though.

 

[fishy68]

Looks pretty darn good Joe. All except the drivers seat of course. But that's an easy remedy.

 

[yooper822]

Yup! Looks good, wont take to much to clean it up.......So whens the lift date? Does that have the leafs or coils in the rear?
Joe
LOL

 

[ramcharger]

Thanks tracy. That headliner problem sucks too, but I saw 4 of these with more body damage and driveline problem get sucked out of craigslist for 1500 or more in the last week or so.

I think I'll paint the bumpers and fender extensions satin black. I'm not in love the factory basket weave alloy wheels but they'll have to wait. I've got some nice pleather seat covers in the RC, they'll go in the Jeep. Then it's on to the lifter tick. I'll pick up a manual, a head gasket set, a lifter and some coolant. I figure I can do this in a weekend easy and replace the valve stem seals and lap the valves in too. I probably won't be to help doing a bit of port and bowl clean-up too, lol! Hopefully the guides are good.

 

[ramcharger]

Yup! Looks good, wont take to much to clean it up.......So whens the lift date? Does that have the leafs or coils in the rear?
Joe
LOL

I don't know, let me check.... Leafs. I'd like to go just an inch or two. I don't want to wreck the handling.

 

[yooper822]

I don't know, let me check.... Leafs. I'd like to go just an inch or two. I don't want to wreck the handling.

Probably have coils on the front. you can buy the pucks for the front and back. 2" wont be a problem for the driveline as the heavy duty suspension just used a bit taller springs with the same running gear.

Or you can do like my friend Derek did....he went to pick and pull and pulled the springs and coils off one with the heavy duty factory suspension and just transfered it over. it was cheap and labor is free....LOL

 

[Renegade]

You can usually find seats over at NAXJA.org on the colorado for sale section, or checkout the junk yards. I noticed you had the sunroof... those are pretty rare on the cherokees... And for sure you have coils up front leafs on back. If you load the back with stuff you will prob notice the sagging as this is very normal for old cherokees, the rear leafs are most always shot.

 

[ramcharger]

Probably have coils on the front. you can buy the pucks for the front and back. 2" wont be a problem for the driveline as the heavy duty suspension just used a bit taller springs with the same running gear.

Or you can do like my friend Derek did....he went to pick and pull and pulled the springs and coils off one with the heavy duty factory suspension and just transfered it over. it was cheap and labor is free....LOL

I like the pick and pull idea!

You can usually find seats over at NAXJA.org on the colorado for sale section, or checkout the junk yards. I noticed you had the sunroof... those are pretty rare on the cherokees... And for sure you have coils up front leafs on back. If you load the back with stuff you will prob notice the sagging as this is very normal for old cherokees, the rear leafs are most always shot.

Thanks Renegade,

naxja.org is a super informative site and I plan on joining as soon as I can come up with the fee. Sunroof works fine, is removeable and doesn't leak. Rare option? Cool! I;m going to pull the seat this weekend and find out what's up. Only the front to rear adjustment presently works.

Yep, rear springs are shot. Nice soft ride though, lol.

 

[myasylum]

I just wanted to add my .02 cents as well. I have a 93' with a 4.0. It has 160,000. I have had it for 10 years. It to this day is perfect! I'm pretty hard on cars too! The exhaust manfold did crack, and it's a pain in the *** to replace! After all the years I've had it though I can't complain. The best car I have ever had hands down! I thought about replacing it, just for something new, but then I think about it, and it's like? Why?