2wd XJ Questions

[white99z]

My girlfriend and I have been searching for an XJ for quite some time now and on Sunday we came across one of the best shape two door XJ's I have ever seen in Michigan. After looking it over and thinking about it (it needs a tranny) we decided that the $800 price tag was good since it is her first car and she is paying for it and college. I called the place today and found out it was 2WD. I hadn't even considered looking for 4WD when I looked at it because I havent even seen a 2WD XJ in Michigan before. Now she has her heart set on it and I am trying to talk her out of it. MY questions are as follows.

1. Does anyone on here have a 2wd XJ they drive regularly in snowy conditions such as in MI and how does the 2wd take to the snowy streets. She will be doing some expressway as well as city driving and I want her to be safe. I say wait and find a 4WD she says she doesnt care. Any input here?

2. If down the road she decided to have me convert it tto 4WD how difficult is it. I tried searching a bit on here. I know I need a 4WD tranny, transfer case, rear driveshaft, front driveshaft, and front axle. What other things are needed and what type of fab work (if any) will be needed? I cannot fabricate or weld but I have pulled axles, lifted my XJ, and put my AA HD SYE in my transfer case so I should be able to tackle something like this if no fabwork is involved.

3. What kind of costs did those of you have when converting your 2WD to 4WD? Is it worth it to take a $800 jeep and convert it to 4WD or should she just wait and find a 4WD.

4. If she ends up buying it, will snow tires help? She is already planning on buying them if she gets it/

Any help with this is greatly appreciated. If others say she should wait and get a 4WD then maybe she will wait. If those of you that have 2WD XJs in snowy states say they handle well then maybe I will be convinced.

 

[gba88]

I think the decision should be based partly on her *experience* driving in the snow. With some excellent snow tires & weight in the back, I'd think it would be pretty "do-able" if her skills/experience were up to par. I drove an 85 camaro through a TERRIBLE PA winter (96-98 sometime), with a bunch of sand in the back.

I don't think you mentioned the year or mileage either... that would further determine if the price was worth it.

 

[old_man]

Personally, I would prefer a 2wd in the snow for stability, unless it is one of the full time 4wd'x. Think of it this way. If you spin out the rears with 4wd, that means you also spin out the fronts. Then what do you have for directional stability? Other than actually trying to get unstuck, I never use 4wd.

 

[red91]

consider this....

most "hicks" ( and you know what I mean ) roar past you in the snow at 50 MPH thinking that "hey...it's 4wd, I cant get stuck"...


5 miles down the road...they are not on it anymore and needless to say are buried up to their eyeballs in something that should have never happened in the first place.

4wd doesn't compensate for the drivers ability. Usually the inexperienced ones end up like the person I mentioned because they think they WON'T get stuck.

Best time I ever had in the snow was with an old beetle. I could push snow up and over the hood all day and NEVER had a problem.

It's been said once...2wd, a little weight in the back, and a capable driver...WON'T have problems.

 

[carnuck]

Auto or std trans? The BA 10/5 is a bit of a pain to find in decent shape (I have one I'm about to swap out, but that's besides the point) The conversion is easy except the transfercase shifter. (I did it in 10 hours on a Comanche with a parts rig next to it)

 

[white99z]

Oh by the way it is a high mileage 95 with the auto tranny but the motor runsgood.

 

[carnuck]

You can use the auto from '87 to '99 2wd at least.

 

[Eagle]

With a limited slip rear axle (which can be added to a 2WD XJ inexpensively) even in the winter in New England I virtually never *need* 4WD. I use it maybe once a year to be sure it still works, and if I need to get out of the driveway (long, and uphill to the street) before the plow guy arrives I use it, but even then I could make do without it unless it's a VERY heavy snowfall.

I think she'll be fine. Pop in a Trac-Lok and let he enjoy her new wheels.

No fab work involved to make it a 4WD down the road. All bolt-in.

 

[Sarge]

I drove a 2WD for a long time then both my daughters used it. No problems in the snow but it could definitely benefit from a limited slip rear.

Sarge

 

[piperRonnie]

I'm on my fourth XJ now; first three were 4WD but my current one is 2WD w/ LSD. I have never gotten stuck, even with 6" of snow and un-plowed roads (Chicago, IL).
LSD, weight, and smarts can do the job.

 

[white99z]

We are picking it up for $1100 with the new tranny installed I believe. Thanks for the help. What would a limited slip cost to put in the rear? Will that keep the truck from being likely to spin out?

 

[smccollamjr]

In high school and college I drove an '81 Buick Electra (land barge) and a 2wd S-10 and went anywhere I wanted no matter the weather...as long as I was on level ground. There were times that my rwd and dad's fwd vehicles couldn't make it home (the hills of WV) when our neighbors 4wd would. As long as you are on level ground and snow isn't up to the bumper and she is a good driver she should be fine. If she's travelling in the hills I would hold out for the 4wd. Some people just shouldn't drive in the snow. I have a neighbor with a 4wd Rodeo that parks at the bottom of the hill and walks if she thinks it's going to snow. She told me she doesn't drive well in the snow and knows it.

 

[BrettM]

I spent a whole winter in Michigan driving my MJ (no weight in the back) around in 2wd. I already had quite a bit of snow driving experience, and I did a lot of practicing in large open parking lots. I had a lot of fun with it actually, since giving it any sort of throttle will make the rear come around. You learn to basically never touch the brake, but it's very counter-intuitive, so frankly I wouldn't trust 99.9% of girls out there to do it.

for a wife or girlfriend, I wouldn't want them driving anything on snowy roads other than front-wheel drive or full-time 4wd (242 t-case)

 

[smccollamjr]

I agree w/ Brett. The Buick & S-10 were alot of fun. I used a lot of large parking lots to find out how they would react in the snow as well. I commuted about 30 miles to a college that had few commuters. The one day in five years that they cancelled school due to snow I didn't find out until I got there in my 2wd S-10. I passed a couple 4wds in the ditch that morning.

The few times my wife does drive in the snow it's in one of our fwd vehicles (XJ doesn't have full-time option). She says she's still confused on when to shift in and out of 4wd.

 

[langer1]

We are picking it up for $1100 with the new tranny installed I believe. Thanks for the help. What would a limited slip cost to put in the rear? Will that keep the truck from being likely to spin out?

Spin out? The chance of a "spin out" is greater because you can spin both tires, just because you can go forward better does not mean you should not still go slow.

4WD can be dangerous also if you don't use it properly because you can spin all 4 wheels, even letting off the gas can slide all 4 tires.

 

[smccollamjr]

One thing I've noticed in my XJ, when going down the hill I live on (paved) in the snow, if I let 1st gear (5-speed) hold it back (not touching any pedals) the back end will come around. In 4wd it doesn't do it.

 

[langer1]

One thing I've noticed in my XJ, when going down the hill I live on (paved) in the snow, if I let 1st gear (5-speed) hold it back (not touching any pedals) the back end will come around. In 4wd it doesn't do it.

True in that case in 4WD your not spinning.

 

[defenestrate]

4wd makes it quite difficult to get stuck, but it's so easy to go that if one is not experienced or is lacking weight/tire tread in the rear, stopping/turning can become quite hazardous. i spun my 93 with 4wd on around in the snow once because i had bald rear tires. i couldn't get it to slip accelerating, but from a dead stop i still had trouble keeping it in line. moral: don't expect bad tires to do good work.

 

[Eagle]

Having 4WD also gives young and inexperienced drivers a flase sense of security. My old full-size Cherokee was rear-ended while plowing my driveway (I was stopped parallel to the curb, as far to the right as possible and with 4-ways and rotating roof beacon on) by a teen-age girl who lived up the street. She came zooming down the road in mommy's new Cherokee, doing about 45 MPH is what is a 35 MPH zone on a dry day. It was still snowing, the road was slippery, and it never occurred to her that 4-wheel GO did not necessarily equate to 4-wheel STOP. She rounded a slight curve, saw my flashers, LOCKED UP THE BRAKES, and drove straight into me with all four wheels locked.

I am certain that if she had not had 4WD she would not have been traveling so fast under such poor driving conditions.

 

[the_bandit87]

From my experience with XJs up here in the frozen north 4wd is not needed all that much. My great-uncle who gave me my Jeep said that he only used 4wd a couple times in snowy conditions. But one or two of those times it did get him out of an accident (some one is sliding towards him, he drops it in 4 hi and gets out of the way). The funny thing is, a friend of mine owns probably the best winter car around here. He has a 1993 Ford Festiva with studded snow tires that cost 2-3 times more than the car (and they only cost about $200). I've seen him go through more snow with that thing that anything else. We'll be driving down the road through a snow storm, passing guys in 4x4 pick ups who are in the ditch or bogged down in the snow. That little thing is so light (1800-2200 pounds I think) that it just dosn't get stuck as long as you have momentum, it dosn't sink into the snow. I can also remember a time when everything was shut down and we were driving behind a small sidewalk plow on the sidewalk! While a 2wd XJ will weight a bit more than that (somewheres around 3000 with the I6) that's still pretty light for a SUV. As long as you don't go fast, and keep moving, it should do just fine.