YJ Owner trying to pick between XJ or WJ

Mugzz819 · 01-26-2011, 04:26 PM

Ok guys, I have 2 YJs but one needs to be temporarily retired to be restored and the other is currently OOS due to some offroading casualties

Sooooo, I'm looking into buying a cherokee or a grand cherokee to have as more of a daily driver. I'm not a mechanic by any means but I have learned to pretty much do everything required so far on my YJs. It seems like the Cherokees are similar enough that I should still be able to do a fair amount of the work myself, I'm wondering how much more difficult it is to work on the GCs. If anyone has any recommendations about either model or things to look for or avoid that would be awesome. I'm trying to keep it cheap so I'm looking mostly at 90-97s...

Thanks!

Bigbud · 01-26-2011, 05:38 PM

Mugzz819,
STOP!!!! Fix your old retired YJ! I rebuilt my yj last summer and it cost about $7K, to replace it with the newest wrangler was over $20k. Other benfits lower insurance, lower taxes and no car payments.

**2GPS4ME** · 01-26-2011, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigbud

Mugzz819,
STOP!!!! Fix your old retired YJ! I rebuilt my yj last summer and it cost about $7K, to replace it with the newest wrangler was over $20k. Other benfits lower insurance, lower taxes and no car payments.

Did you even read the original post?

Mugzz819, if you want to keep the price down, go with an XJ. '97-'99 are your optimum years, as they still used a distributor (instead of coil packs), and they sport the stronger front axle (high pinion Dana 30).

Drivetrain is very similar to your YJ.

Hussler · 01-26-2011, 09:07 PM

Good luck finding a WJ of that vintage

Mugzz819 · 01-27-2011, 09:40 AM

Ok, as far as the first reply goes, I AM planning on restoring the YJ but to do it right it's going to take time and I need reliable transportation in the meantime. Thanks though.

I've actually seen quite a few WJs in my price range around here, ranging from early 90s to 97. Amazingly there were more of them than XJs, but I would rather have something I know I'll be able to work on easier and things do seem pretty similar with the XJ and YJ so I'm trying to stick with that. The WJs also have higher mileage, which is understandable for the price.

Anything I should watch out for in the early 90s XJ models? I know the newer engine started in 91 so I'm trying for that but wouldn't rule out an older one if the package was right.

Thanks again for all the input!

Hussler · 01-27-2011, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mugzz819

I've actually seen quite a few WJs in my price range around here, ranging from early 90s to 97.

Mugzz819 · 01-27-2011, 11:17 AM

Guess I meant ZJ, sorry, new to the whole cherokee world

njjeepthing · 01-27-2011, 12:31 PM

What is your price range?

adkjeepxj · 01-27-2011, 12:34 PM

96 XJ all the way HP front axle you get some of the newer items that came with th redesign in 97 but looks a lot better.

Mugzz819 · 01-27-2011, 12:35 PM

Trying to keep it under 2000 because I'm temporarily out of work due surgery so I'm living off a little less until March. I could go through a dealer and spend more but I know how that game works so I'm trying to avoid it.

RogueSpear2023 · 01-28-2011, 11:52 AM

I would go with XJ less problems with them in that year range. If your trying to keep it around 2K I would go with the XJ, over the ZJ.

Mugzz819 · 01-29-2011, 03:55 PM

Well I did it...96 XJ, Country edition so it has a few little bells and whistles. 107,000 miles, inside looks great for the most part, no rust, engine compartment is clean enough to eat off compared to the oily mess under my YJ hoods haha. It's the 4.0 which is what I was looking for. It's amazingly from a dealer but the PO actually wrote down all his maintenance records in the owner's manual and there are only 10,000 miles not included in them so I feel really good about the maintenance history. And the best part, I only spent $2200, way less than most of the other deals around here. Thanks for all the input, happy Jeeping

Hussler · 01-29-2011, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mugzz819

Guess I meant ZJ, sorry, new to the whole cherokee world

Its called tough love

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mugzz819

Well I did it...96 XJ, Country edition so it has a few little bells and whistles. 107,000 miles, inside looks great for the most part, no rust, engine compartment is clean enough to eat off compared to the oily mess under my YJ hoods haha. It's the 4.0 which is what I was looking for. It's amazingly from a dealer but the PO actually wrote down all his maintenance records in the owner's manual and there are only 10,000 miles not included in them so I feel really good about the maintenance history. And the best part, I only spent $2200, way less than most of the other deals around here. Thanks for all the input, happy Jeeping

Put up some pics of this b*tch, sounds like an awesome deal

adkjeepxj · 01-31-2011, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mugzz819

Well I did it...96 XJ, Country edition so it has a few little bells and whistles. 107,000 miles, inside looks great for the most part, no rust, engine compartment is clean enough to eat off compared to the oily mess under my YJ hoods haha. It's the 4.0 which is what I was looking for. It's amazingly from a dealer but the PO actually wrote down all his maintenance records in the owner's manual and there are only 10,000 miles not included in them so I feel really good about the maintenance history. And the best part, I only spent $2200, way less than most of the other deals around here. Thanks for all the input, happy Jeeping

Good choice on the 96 the best year of all of the Cherokee....And happens to be there largest production run year as well