I've been highly considering buying a 02-04 grand cherokee. As much as I love the inline 6 I'm really considering the 4.7l but i have just never heard anything great about them. So what's your thought. Good, bad, this is gonna be a daily driver atleast for a few years with atleast 33s on it and I would mostly be doing creek riding with it and sandy trails. I pull a boat occasionally which is why I'm leaning toward the 4.7l

 

Some people love them and some swear its junk.If you buy one thats been taking care of and don't have a ton of miles it should be ok.

 

My parents had an 01 grand 4.7l that bought in 04 and sold in 07 I believe.
Worked fine for the first year but we got a few sensor issues after.
It's a good engine with alot of grunt imo but it is the wiring that is so messy.

If it is towing that you are worried about, have you considered changing axle gears ?
What make and length is the boat and do you know +/- her weight ?

 

A xj can pull 5k a wj can pull a 6500 and both are more then i would want to tow with the short wheel base of both.

 

4.7s are known for catastrophic failures due to poor PO maintenance, as in oil changes.

 

I bought my 2004 WJ an "Overland Edition" 4.7HO with every option offered by Jeep that year. I purchased it in 2010 with 201,000 mi. on it everything worked on it including all electronics without a single dent or scratch and the leather interior was perfect.

It had been on craigslist for several months before I called about and the owner said that he had very few calls on it because of the mileage. I purchased it for an excellent price well below loan value even.



This is a very good towing car for my XJ and does a vg job of it. It has my become my DD for the last 4 yrs. and have nothing go wrong with it all the time I have had it. When I bought it I did have a complete brake job done and all fluids changed with a tune-up at a dealership.

This is an older photo of the XJ behind the GC.



This is one of the best year around DD's I have ever owned over all my years of driving and has all options my 13 Lincoln Town Car has plus a few more it has.

 

^This, I wouldn't touch a 4.7L V8 (or the 3.7L V6 which is the same engine minus two cylinders) without full maintenance records. They can be decent if maintained, but a poorly maintained 4.7L is pretty much a time bomb that could fail catastrophically with little to no warning.

 

The boat weight isn't the problem with towing with my Xj. It's lifted 7" and no sway bars so towing with it on the interstate isn't fun. And if like to make it a true trail rig. And I always thought it would be cool to tow a lifted jeep with a lifted jeep. So if I got a 4.7 with below 100k miles the chances of it being ok are good? And what about the 5.2l did they offer that in the wjs

 

The WJ only came with the 4.7l V8 or the 4.0. The 5.2 was the V8 used in the ZJ's(93-98 Grand Cherokee).

 

It is all about maintenance with the 4.7L, they have been known to fail before 100k mi when poorly maintained and some well maintained ones will go 200k-300k mi. The 4.7L is a very "sensitive" engine and can't handle abuse and lack of maintenance the way the 4.0L I6 (or 5.2L/5.9L V8s) can. The 4.7L was the only V8 offered in the WJ, the ZJs had the 5.2L and 5.9L (98 only) V8s as options.

 

Hell that can be said about any make or model of engine where have you been the last 60 or so yrs.

 

True, but some engines are much more "sensitive" to poor maintenance than others and the 4.7L V8 is one of these, where missing an oil change or a single overheat can lead to catastrophic failure.

 

Agreed.

 

Well no more 4.7l thoughts for me. Unless I can find one with super low miles from an elderly. Keeping with the straight 6 it is

 

Or go zj and get the 5.2 or the 98 5.9.