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need help wife wants a jeep!!!!!!

1K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  hxcjohnny 
#1 ·
ok so my wife wants a jeep to i have a 2002 tj,86 cj7,89 yj all runing lol. now see wants one to. but she wants a cherokee i have no clue on these thing. i'm a know the in's and out's of cars i can pick one that a good deal so thats not my prob my prob is what are the weak point of the cherokee's. she wants 31x10.5x15 bfg mt so what kind of list am i looking at. i go on rocks mud sand hills clims ect. she just wants to be able to get to the plases not hit the rock and ride the hill but will see some mud and sand.
so my ?'s are.
1. how much lift for 31 with a little wheel travel.
2.what year cherokee should i look for
3.i know thay have a 30 hp front right?
4.was it and op for the 44 rear?
5.and what do you think about and 1990 cherokee(http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/car/728189276.html)
 
#3 · (Edited)
the weakest point in the driveline is probably the dana 35 rearend, but fortunately that was not the only option on an xj. look for one with a chrysler 8.25 rear. all fronts will be dana 30 hp. the 97-up 8.25's are 29 spline and comparable to a 44, which was an option on early xj's. some have swapped in a 44 rear in the newer ones but they are hard to find. with the 97-up you will have a possability of driveline vibes with three inches of lift. BTW that's what you'll need for 31x10.50's. on a pre 97 you should be fine with three inches of lift. very few upgrades needed other than springs, shocks, extended brake lines, or lowering brackets, and an adjustable trac-bar, or redrill trac-bar bracket. not sure about the 90 model you posted, no information on it. good luck. edit: JC is correct, I forgot that in late 99 the hp 30 was swapped for lp 30.
 
#5 ·
so i'm looking for a 99 dana 44. what mototr and trans ops where there i need to find one fast she is starting to whant one of mine lol just kiding.
 
#7 ·
a 99 is the best option..... it will have the hp d30, a 29spline 8.25, the older head casting, and the newer style intake manifold. honestly, if she's not gonna beat on it, any cherokee will be a safe bet. the only thing is the 00-01 models have a new head casting that some say are more prone to cracking when that temp creeps up over 210
 
#8 ·
well she is going to be going out with us to are trails and runing them she is just going to try to take the easy line. but as you all know some times there is no easy line. the is why i was wandering about the 44.
31x10.5 lockers and a woman with a lead foot.lol just want to know what my ops are. i have a 8.8 with a detroit and cromaly shaft no brackets how hard is it to put under a xj.
 
#9 ·
as far as I know, they make the bracket kits and whatnot to install them. I've never done it though. I'm sure if you search, there's some info on here about it. lots of people argue the 29spline 8.25 is as strong as a 44. I think you'd be fine with the chrysler axle
 
#10 ·
the 8.25 with 29 spline is arguably just as tough as a 44, or damn close to it. i dont think you would be upset with it. the only downfall to the 8.25 is that its limited to 4.56s gears for right now and doesnt have as great of a selection for lockers, although there are plenty to choose from. From the sounds of it, an 8.25 will be just fine
 
#11 ·
I picked my GF up a 98 for a grand a month ago. It had the 8.25 rear end and it finally passed inspection last night :) I only put like $350 into it for repairs. Get the 8.25 rear end.
 
#12 ·
my only resone for wory is i gave here a 1997 ford f-150 with a 2" lift 33" and a stock 400M c6 trans
she snaped two cromaly dana 60 axles. dont even know how. just playing in the sand snaped right off at the splines. same truck snaped the front punken of a dana 44hd open diff.
 
#14 ·
id look for a 99 cherokee. maybe im just bias..

the 8.25 is a strong axle and most newer jeeps arent used like they should be.

for example, my 99 was owned by a retired guy in virginia who took it to the jeep dealer every 4,000 miles for service. he knew what had to be done but didnt have the energy to do it. there was probably twice the price of the jeep put into it. when looking for jeeps, i found all of the older jeeps were beat up and used as work horses.

just my 2 cents.
 
#15 ·
if you want the chrysler 8.25 you probably want to be looking at the XJs with tow packages and no ABS since as far as i know that was really the only ones they put them on, or at least more common to be on (could be wrong here, wouldnt be the first time)

im pretty new here and to the jeep stuff but from what i can gather, which XJ is best falls in to the opinions are just like but holes, every one has one category. IMHO if it works and it has what you need at a reasonable price to you, then its the XJ for you. the best XJ is going to be mix and match parts which you probably wont be able to buy in a completed vehicle since no one would sell a perfected set up.

good luck
-matt
 
#19 ·
definitley look for an early 99 cherokee, the difference between the early and late 99s is the front brakes and hubs, the early ones have full cast rotors which are about 10-20 dollars cheaper to replace, and the later ones have a composite rotor. the hubs are also cheaperto replace on the early 99s. i have a 4.5 inch lift and 33s with the dana 35 rearend no new gearing. i wheel the living hell out of it, but then again when i got a year and 4 months ago it only had 43000 miles on it. i have no drivetrain vibes or anything. i did not even have to replace or extend the breaklines and they still had about 2 inches of slack when flexed out all the way. i average about 14-17.5mpg in the city. like that one guy said the 99s have the older head and the newer intake. dont go for 2001 because they have the coil ignition instead of the distributor which is more expensive to replace, and they only have like 3 more hp. also if you can try to find a 2 dr 99, pretty hard to find those, and if u get really lucky ull find a 2dr ax15, 4.0,np231 like aircruiser did. and if she likes purplish colors find her an even rarer 2dr with the pearl blue plum color like mine, i have seen only 3 in my life that are that color and they are both 2wd 4drs.
 
#20 ·
Well in that price you aren't going to get a 97+ (plus you don't want a 00 or 01 (Has the 0331 Head that is known to crack)

I've bought about 5 of these in the past few years.

don't really need to worry about miles but that Rear Axle does suck.
get something 90+ (pre 90 is the Renix motor AMC. 91+ is the HO)

There are a lot of good ones out there right now, so just keep looking...
 
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