4x4 Conversion Questions
 

I have a few questions about compatibility with the conversion

I have a 2 wheel drive 94 Cherokee

I have found a very nice low miles Grand Cherokee 4x4 with a blown engine, is there any way the parts from the Grand Cherokee would work with my 94 Cherokee?

Does it HAVE to be the same year ONLY Cherokee?

I got this jeep for cheap and I can get a parts jeep for cheap also, so I don't want to hear people that don't know what they are talking about saying "I need to just buy a 4x4" I know in most cases all the parts are interchangeable and bolt right up.

I have a 99 that was 2WD. the lift i put on it made the rear seal of the trans leak, until it finally lost all the fluid and was destroyed. (smoked for an hour+ and the neutral safety switch caught on fire)

I called up a junkyard that pulled parts for you. Basically asked for a 4wd trans for the same year and they gave me a 1 year parts an labor warranty. Have had it for a year and a half with no problems, more than likely going to do a drain.fill soon but still no problems.

aside from that, the 4wd lever drops in with no mods, the Tcase should be simple to install, just make sure the spline count is the same (not sure if there is a 27/29 spline count), the front axle is direct drop in, and everything is very straight forward...

before:
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...7-20-09006.jpg
after!!!
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...inwithdon1.jpg

Thanks for the reply, do you know if the parts from a same year Grand Cherokee will fit into a Cherokee?

the grand has a low pinion front axle and a 42re transmission. you want a high pinion front axle and an aw4 tranny.
as far as the t-case, they should swap, however, some has a different spline count and most are either 242 or 249 t-case. i prefer to have a 231 myself...
then there's the 4wd lever, they are different, the front driveshaft is different and the rear would be different also.

so i'd say, since it's your first conversion, stick with cherokee parts that are as close to the same year as your jeep. and watch out for the vac disco front axle that came in the earlier xj up to about 92. keep away.
with that said, look for an axle with either abs or 95-99 cherokee xj only.

I've looked into it and GC is different enough to cause problems on a swap (drive shafts are different lengths, etc.). If you have about $300 to spend, hit the local JY and grab the front axle, both driveshafts the tranny and t case from another XJ. Then it's a direct bolt in project that should take a few hours.

Thanks guys, I'm stationed in Hawaii right now and its hard to come by a junk yard here. back home I could buy a whole other parts jeep for $200-$300, Here its more around $500-$1000. I'll keep looking. but atleast now I know to narrow down my search to only Cherokee and my year (94) and a little newer