I have an opportunity to buy a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $1000, it has 177k miles on it, it's all time 4wd with a V8. The body is in pretty good condition. He says the only thing I need to do is to fix the door lock the drivers side door. I've never owned or messed around with one of these, I just wanted to know how reliable is the V8 and the all time 4wd. I think he is pretty firm on the price, is it a decent price? Thanks

 

ill tell you this..if it has a trailer hitch i wouldnt buy it...a v-8 grand with a trailer hitch isnt a good combo..

ive just heard that the trannys in them arent the greatest when used for towing

but for a grand, thats not bad at all...id buy it just for the heck of it...if nothing else you could turn it into a sweet trail rig

 

That's dirt cheap for one that's not rusted out and runs/drives good. I love my '97 V8 ZJ, and have towed with it many times.
Dan

 

It does have a trailer hitch. I didn't ask him if he had towed anything with it. Any thoughts about the motor?

 

The only problem I've had is I had to replace the water pump.

 

Well I think I might go for it. I'm going in the morning to check it out more, he did mention that he takes out the front drive shaft so it aint always in 4wd, I felt kind of fishy about that

 

That's very bad for the t-case to drive without the front shaft installed on the full-time 4WD systems.

 

X2

 

How exactly is that bad for the t-case. Unless he drives it around it in Full Time 4wd it should make abosulutely no difference that the driveshafts not there. If he does (makes no sense to me why you would but...) I still dont see how it would hurt anything.

 

It only has full-time. 4-Hi, N, and 4-Lo.
Dan

 

What kind of T-Case would that be, I didnt know Jeep made them that didnt have a 2wd option.

 

Neither my '97 V8 ZJ nor the'04 WJ V8 have the 2WD option (Selec-Trac).
They both have 4-HI, N, 4-LO. (Quada-Trac,& Quadra-Trac II)

 

That's exactly what it has, he says he takes out just so it will not be 4wd on pavement all the time and to save gas . I'm going to put the front drive shaft on before anything and see what happens. Thanks everyone!

 

He pulled the front driveshaft to attempt hiding a worn viscous coupler. The NP249 (ZJ fulltime case) is notorious for this and why most swap in a 231 or 242 transfer.

Put the shaft in and do some tight circles and figure 8's.. if it's hopping the VC is shot.

Check the oil and rad levels. The V8's have an issue with the plenum gasket where it will burn oil/water. Pull the oilcap and look for a white residue. It's not an expensive job to replace.. just quite a bit of labor.

If properly maintained these engines will last well into 300+. However, this is heresay as i havent personally.. what i read on the net. My V8 has 170ish and ticking along well.

 

Great post and advice. Mine's still running great as well. Just wanted to add that.
Dan