WJ Grand Cherokees

[BigSki]

Who has 'em and what do you like/dislike?

I put a deposit on one today, I'll pick it up on Friday. It's an '03 laredo, 4.slow, cloth high back buckets, 3.73 open diffys, select trac t-case. 172,000 miles. The body is spotless as is the interior. Everything seems to work ok. I've had enough of my POS '90 F250, that turd is going away.

This is a second vehicle, I hope to get a small utility trailer so I can haul anything that doesn't fit in the cargo area. I'll get a roof rack for the mountain bikes. No plans on any mods except maybe a Dana 44 rear axle w/ vari-lock. My days of hardcore back woods exploring are over, I just want the 4wd capabilities for crappy winter weather and to take the older vehicle to crowded parking lots, let the Jeep get dinged instead of the new Mazda 3.

[STANG KILLA SS]

loved my '00 with 4.7L with 3.73s
hauled the boat (3600lbs) with it for 4 years.
only thing thats weird is the 5sp auto trannys in those. sometimes they just dont know what to do and will clunk and up or down shift hard. usually when lifting off the gas right at a shift point.
the WB is awesome for tight parking.






loved it so much i "upgraded" to a '06 with the Hemi.
the '00 solid axle handled much better on and offroad than the IFS '06

[thatguy]

Loved my 02. Stock will amaze you with what it can do, Just don't get stupid.Had mine for 10 years Put 100,000 miles with less then a grand in non tuneup repairs. Only missed one day of driving, bad battery at 8 years old.

[BJoe]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

loved my '00 with 4.7L with 3.73s
hauled the boat (3600lbs) with it for 4 years.
only thing thats weird is the 5sp auto trannys in those. sometimes they just dont know what to do and will clunk and up or down shift hard. usually when lifting off the gas right at a shift point.
the WB is awesome for tight parking.






loved it so much i "upgraded" to a '06 with the Hemi.
the '00 solid axle handled much better on and offroad than the IFS '06

If the ZJ and WJ are anything like the XJ, that's not a surprise. We've done stuff with our XJ's on pavement that no proper SUV has a right to do...........usually while there's a driver of a sporty car behind us that is somewhere in the process of failing.......and on occasion on a pretty grand scale

[LR3]

I drive a WJ on 35s and lockers front and rear. It serves as my daily driver as well as weekend trail rider. I love the WJ. It is the best band for your buck rig I think you can buy

[johnnyh66]

Originally Posted by LR3

I drive a WJ on 35s and lockers front and rear. It serves as my daily driver as well as weekend trail rider. I love the WJ. It is the best band for your buck rig I think you can buy

I heard you were selling yours real cheap... something about a strange odor?

[BJoe]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

I heard you were selling yours real cheap... something about a strange odor?

[JeremyH]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

I heard you were selling yours real cheap... something about a strange odor?

[Lilgreenjeep1]

Transfercases are junk swap it out for a 231 eaZy simple upgrade worth the work trust me!

[BigSki]

Thanks for the replies so far. I've had the WJ for a few weeks so far, I like the way it drives. The 4.0 isn't as bad as I was expecting. I did discover that the front axle is toast, the pinion bearings are shot. The housing gets so hot I can't even touch it for more than a few seconds. I picked up a complete front axle from a '01 limited w/ 4.7 and Quarda-drive for cheap, it only has 68K on it.

For the rear axle, I'm going to have it rebuilt along with a new Tru-trac. This should give me all of the traction that I will ever need for this Jeep.

[Lilgreenjeep1]

Swap in a 231 you won't wear out the front axle like that or tires any that the transfercases in them is like driving in awd/4wd all time it wears out alot and probably help with mileage not sure

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Lilgreenjeep1

Swap in a 231 you won't wear out the front axle like that or tires any that the transfercases in them is like driving in awd/4wd all time it wears out alot and probably help with mileage not sure

Select-trac has a dedicated 2wd position. The front axle is always turning the gears because there are no lock out hubs.

[BJoe]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Select-trac has a dedicated 2wd position. The front axle is always turning the gears because there are no lock out hubs.

This, we've had 4 Selec-Trac XJ's and the front axles all lasted as long as the engines, in the case of three of them, outlasted one engine and the all three unibodies as well as seeing over 200k miles Mine hasn't quite hit 160k yet.

Running in 2wd does help in mileage, but full time is very nice for snow and ice

[BigSki]

Well, I've been plugging along with this GC, I scored a Dana 44a from a '02 Limited w/ Quadra-drive that had 61K on it, so basically I have relatively low mileage axles front and rear that have factory limited slips.

I'd like to install new springs front and rear for a very mild lift, somewhere between 1"-2". I'd like to get some articulation out of the suspension without it sitting up in the air. I need to get the rear drive shaft shortened about 1.5", it's a bit too long after swapping in the 44a rear axle.