I have been looking for a Cherokee for a while and recently one of my dad's friends from work his wife died. He is going to be retiring so he is going to be downsizing. One of the things he is getting rid of is his wife’s 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It is almost the prefect jeep it has 70,000 miles, garage kept, almost never seen any type of precipitation and looks like it just came out of the factory. The only downside to this car is that it is 2wd . Being that the car is in perfect condition and is only $2000. How would I go about converting it to a 4wd. Should I get a cheap donor car to pull the 4wd parts I need??? Plz help.

 

I don't think it would be too difficult to change it over and I think your idea of buying a donor car is right on the money. If you need things the donor car doesn't have, you can sell the parts you don't need for cash. If you choose properly and have the cash, you can buy an older car that has just what you need. In either case, IMO don't let this one get away!

The hardest part of doing the swap is making sure the transmission output shaft has the right number of splines, swapping a front axle that has the right ratio, getting the right length driveshafts, and most of all, choosing what transfer case to use. There are basically 3 different types. My personal favorite is the 242 Selectrac. It is an all manual shifted unit that gives you 2WD, partime 4WD, fulltime 4WD, and 4WD low range. The partime feature allows you to run 4WD at any time, on any surface, without worrying about wear & tear of the driveline. In other words, you can run thru snow and dry pavement without kicking it out of 4WD.

I'm sure you will get a lot a other oppinions on this, but these are mine.

 

Ok first of all you got your 4wd selection backwards. the reason its called part time is because you can only use it PART of the TIME, and you can use FULL TIME in any condition. and actually most np242's are **** and the shift forks get all buggered up and stop shifting when you change settings. and secondly its a proven fact the np231 is a much stronger t-case. and i have owned a all years of cherokees with just about every model engine/trans/t-case setup u can think of. so i've tested all of them pretty well. oh and srry for jacking thread for a sec. good luck on that swap with all the abs and computer crap that are on newer cherokees.

 

OK, Baja. Explain to me which range the t-case differential is used in?

 

,2wd to 4wd is a easy conversion I jus did one......u need both axles, transmission, transmission harness,transfer case, shafts, n anyother 4wd thinggs u don't hve on urs..... its a fun swap and if u do it good luck

 

Why not sell for a profit and buy one that is already a 4x4?

 

I'm sure there are a few write ups on how to do this and it should be bolt on. Just find one simmilar year with a bad motor or trans or one that got hit. Bone Yards are your friend. I bet if you found one from a crash you could sell the motor and other parts for what you bought your donor for.