dave1123

Ever since buying my 97 ZJ and finding I had been a sucker with a toasted 42re that had been cleaned up with clean fluid and started slipping 2 months after I bought it, reading all the posts about how weak they were, and spending $2500 to have it rebuilt, I've been a little gun-shy about how good or bad they are.

When I bought my 00 WJ, it was a clean one-owner and the records showed it had a T-Tech (complete fluid change) just before I bought it at 125K miles. I've not abused it since and have put an additional 55K miles on it. Yesterday, I dropped the pan for a filter change. The fluid was a touch dark but smelled good, the magnet had a tiny bit of fuzz on it, and just a bit of grey clutch sludge near the magnet and nowhere else. It's always shifted good and solid at the proper times and I've only used WOT a couple of times since buying it.

I'm pretty sure it hasn't been opened up since it came from the factory. It had a Mopar filter on it and the gasket was dry and brittle. It came off in one piece and snapped when I bent it. It had been leaking a tiny bit but I had snugged up the bolts a while ago and stopped it.

I feel a lot more comfortable about the 42re now. It's true that if you take care of it and don't abuse it, it's a good transmission. I haul a lot of weight delivering newspapers and it's never showed signs of slipping.

andrewmp6

I have heard both good and bad things about them.I believe if you take care of any car it will last a long time.

RJCannonZJ

I just picked up a 97 ZJ, 4.0L auto. almost 200,000 miles on it. What sold me, the guy had serviced it religiously and had the proof. The ZJ was a 2 owner Daily driver commuter San Diego car, the seller was afraid to have me put it in 4wd, he'd never used it! The original owner had a trans oil cooler put inline with the stock one, rarely towed with it. The second owner, 13 years, was the commuter.

I've been out over a dozen times in it,newby to mild trails, 2wheeled off camber and plenty of undercarriage scrapping. The Auto Trans has been flawless and stout!

Everyone I've talked too in this community has said, Mx is the #1 important thing for the Cherokees, you let Mx go, and bad things follow. Keep Mx up, you have a happy long lived Jeep!