The vehicle is a 96 Grand Cherokee 5.2L. About 2 months ago the upper radiator hose cracked and began to leak/steam like crazy which I beleived was the reason why the vehicle would overheat after driving 5-10 miles. After replacing the hose I had no issues until about a week ago. Now after driving about 5 mins at a time the car quickly would overheat and the check gauge light came on, also the jeep idles very rough. After the shutting off the vehicle at the grocery store and trying to start it back up 20 mins later it took about 5 attempts to start and ran very rough.

I replaced the thermastat yesterday hoping to fix the issue. After installing the thermastat I took it for a test drive and it died 3 different times at stop lights throughout a 5 min span. It also reached the redline in terms of temp which obviously means it is still overheating. I am guessing the next step would be to replace the water pump but I am confused as to why the vehicle would run so rough and shut off like it did. Are there any tests to make sure it is the water pump causing the issues?

 

If it runs that rough, it is mostlikly head gaskets, vehicals dont like to be overheated, and it sounds like this one has many of times.

 

Welcome to CF.
I'd do a compression test to check for a blown head gasket. Also do a cooling system test and or a leak-down test to see if it's holding pressure or maybe leaking from any cracks.