Neo101288

So I'm asking for yalls opinions on my up coming build. I traded the remains of my last Cherokee for an 88 mj sbortbed with a 2.5 auto 2wd with 4.56 stock gear. I have a buddy putting a 5.9 in his 97 dodge 1500. With that said. I will find him a trany for it and i will get all the powertrain and all the wiring out of the truck to put in the mj any advice would be greatly appreciated.

bighouts5591

Personally I would rather have a 4.0 in a Jeep instead of a 318. Also the 2.5-4.0 wiring swap is really simple from what I understand. Changing to the 318 (360? Wasn't quite sure what you were saying there) will mean different motor mounts, different radiator, etc. I just did a 4.0/Aw4 and 4x4 swap to an MJ and it was pretty simple, everything bolted right up.

In my opinion drop a 4.0/AW4/NP231 in it and put a dana 30 in the front and call it a day.

Neo101288

I had planned on putting everything from the dodge into the Comanche motor trans tcase axles drive shafts the whole nine yards. I'm going to lift it as close to 10" as possible with 37s or 38s

Neo101288

I've had 4 cherokees and I'm a big fan of them but i always wounded if it would do better than the zg with the same v8 cause i wheeled with a bunch thats what they swore by them so i was trying to think if in the 80's if they would have built it what would it be

dunnc1991

Not sure if shelbyluv is a member here, but he has a build on comancheclub where he did this swap, just the motor was from a ZJ. IMO if you are looking for something different I'd do the swap, but if you're looking for more power I'd just do the 4.0 and be done. I'd personally just run the 2.5 if it is primarily going to be an offroader. Just my .02

motorcharge

Meh, 5.9 is a pig and it's a lot more effort than it's worth to swap one in. For what you'll spend doing it you could get a 4.6 stroker and they bolt in. There are much easier V8 swaps than a 5.9.

You also don't need 10" lift to accommodate tires that size but you will need new axles because the stock ones aren't going to cut it.

XJ-92

If going with 10" of lift which is to much. Be prepared to cut the c's off the axle and rotate them. Because to get the drive shaft angle on the front decent your alignment will be way off. You could fit them with 6" of lift and trimming.

motorcharge

Trim the front, massage and cut/weld the wheel wells in the front. Yank the bed off the rear and run a flat bed and you could run 38s with much less than 10" or even 6" of lift.

Neo101288

Thanks for the support and opions guys the lift is the easy part and i had planned on using the 1/2 ton axles from the dodge truck and not much of a flat bed fan that's what everyone does where i live plus my bed has no dents in it i would hate to send it to the scrap pile you know what i mean and i wasn't just doing the motor swap like i have seen a couple times I'm going to use the trans and transfer case to simplify things abit

Neo101288

I was planning on a 1/2 ton Comanche

andrewmp6

The stock 1/2 axles won't live long with 37s you really need 1 ton axles.A gm v8 would be a lot easier or a swap and you can buy all the swap parts vs making everything work and fit yourself.

Neo101288

The truck I'm getting everything out of has had 39.5s on it sence lifted 5 years ago and anything is better than the 30/35 setup when it comes big tires

dunnc1991

Did he wheel with those 39.5?

Neo101288

Why not

andrewmp6

Wheeling it and mall crawler are two different things.Its hard to believe a dana 44 and chrysler 9.25 lived up to 39.5,Let alone the np231 even if its the hd one.A dana 44 is only good tell 37s and the dodge one used a 2 piece axle which is even weaker.A dana 60 is only good to a 44.