hello,
My wife and I are looking at a 93 Grand Cherokee V8 with a small lift.
Right now we've got 2 Wranglers but we need more room.
Are the Grand Cherokees reasonably capable off road?
Can they be made to be?
I know I won't be able to the things a Wrangler can do but we don't generally get too wild anymore anyway.
Anything I should look out for?

Also what kind of mileage do the V8's with full time 4wheel get?
Thanks.

 

It says Jeep on the front! V-8 zj's aren't famous for gas mileage but they can be great trail rigs and lifts are fairly east as they are coils on all 4 corners. Never gonna be a Wrangler but taking 4 people and there weekend gear off road isn't Wrangler territory either.

 

My wifes TJ is getting just over 10 and I'm not sure what I'm getting in the YJ but it aint good. Hopefully it'll get better than that.

What about lockers and such? I read a thread around here that there's only one locker available for the dana 44a and they're discontinuing that.
Are there other options for lockers front or rear?

 

That is correct, the 44a is a very limited axle. I would suggest swapping it. But it is a d30 in the front and there are plenty of lockers you can go with. Maybe you could go selectable up there and then decide from that point if it is worth it to you to get a rear locker.

 

ZJ's are one of the best family wheeling rig out there. I love mine. As for lockers you can still find dealers with Aussie Lockers in stock, and the used ones are starting to pop up already... I say buy it, geared right and you can get good gas milage....

 

Went down and put $500 earnest money on it today. It's got a leaky radiator and the track bar is loose. they're supposed to have a mechanic take a look at it in the morning and then we'll dicker from there.
Thanks for the replies.

 

Well congrats, keep up updated on your progress of the potential purchase

 

make sure you check the Viscous Coupler in the transfer case, they wiull fail, drive figure *s and feel for binding, if it binds teh VC is shot. Also not sure when they switched the 4Lo in the fulltime 4wd units to a locked 4lo. I am pretty sure a lot of the early ones also used the VC in 4lo which is less than optimal.

Alot of the Trackbars are worse than loose the hole they mount to gets enlarged from moving due to being loose and are much harder to repair, loos track bar = nasty death wobble

Capability check these out, does get much better than the second video.

Stock 1997 Jeep grand cherokee off-road at a park


http://www.youtube.com/v/HVlN5lsJkWc&hl=en

How may miles? Price? Option LEvel?

 

How hard/expensive is it to repair the viscous coupler, or better yet slap a better transfer case in?
We did the figure 8's and there's definitely some binding.

The track bar should be an easy fix for a competent welder right?

 

You could get a TC for 100$ or less at a JY. I would suggest looking around at a JY or at people parting out their jeeps.

 

X2 on the TC, pick up a good used 242 case and get 2wd, 4w partime, 4w fulltime, and 4 Lo, no more VC to fix. A VC at a tranny shop will probably go $800 to $1500 depending on labor rate and how they quote it. You just need to go out and read some facts on how to do the swap and what part numbers to look for. Not sure if anyone has posted a faq up here on the 242 swap but there are ones on JF and JU on how to do it. Maybe I will go and find one and post it up here as well.

A welder should be able to fabricate a new plate up and weld it to the existing one. Probably $100 will do that one.

 

Got him down to $2000

 

End up buying it?

 

Ya, that's it sitting in our driveway.

 

3 Jeeps, you my friend are a lost cause.