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How do we like the wj?

yossarian19 said:
Good to know.
So it's either pick the engine with head problems but lots of power,
or the underpowered 4.0 with a bad tranny
Sigh. I'm leaning towards "something else", sadly.
Daydreaming of a stripper model XJ with LS motor, WJ axles & 3" lift. Basically, half-tonning an XJ & deleting every bit of "extra" I can find... which, with a wedding on the way and kids on the agenda, will probably not happen for a long time.
Click to expand...
the WJ 4.0liter has a history of Breaking Piston skirts..

I personally know of two people dealing with this issue, currently. and its pretty known online..

I'd Pick a 4.7HO:firedevil
 
The 4.0 and the 242 were the only things I really liked about the 99, oh, and the sound system despite having to replace crappy tweeters in the dash, :). Must have been lucky.
 
yossarian19 said:
Good to know.
So it's either pick the engine with head problems but lots of power,
or the underpowered 4.0 with a bad tranny
Sigh. I'm leaning towards "something else", sadly.
Daydreaming of a stripper model XJ with LS motor, WJ axles & 3" lift. Basically, half-tonning an XJ & deleting every bit of "extra" I can find... which, with a wedding on the way and kids on the agenda, will probably not happen for a long time.
Click to expand...

Dude... The 4.7 lack of reliability stuff is nonsense... With good maintenance comes longevity.

Of course some vehicles are more reliable than others, but the wj would be first on my list for solid, long lasting rigs.
 
surprised i'm the first to say this but i had an 02 limited with 90k miles. 4.7 HO and the 545re trans blew up a month after buying it. after replacing that i still got 12mpg highway, blend doors broke which left me heatless, heated seats broke, power to the seats was iffy. after it had starter issues in february i traded it in at a huge loss.

long story short i'd like to think i got a lemon but it soured me on owning another one. shame too, it was beautiful
 
Burton58 said:
surprised i'm the first to say this but i had an 02 limited with 90k miles. 4.7 HO and the 545re trans blew up a month after buying it. after replacing that i still got 12mpg highway, blend doors broke which left me heatless, heated seats broke, power to the seats was iffy. after it had starter issues in february i traded it in at a huge loss.

long story short i'd like to think i got a lemon but it soured me on owning another one. shame too, it was beautiful
Click to expand...

As far as the trans, the 545RE is on the chryco's better ones. As you say, lemon and/or lack of PO maint. Have also heard about the auto HVAC system failing tho.

But, never really been a fan of ChryCo or Ford. That is why I would rather toss in some GM LS goodness into my heeps.
 
yossarian19 said:
Good to know...
Daydreaming of a stripper model XJ with LS motor, WJ axles & 3" lift. Basically, half-tonning an XJ & deleting every bit of "extra" I can find... which, with a wedding on the way and kids on the agenda, will probably not happen for a long time.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a lot of work for a daily/mild off road rig!

Yes, blend doors are a problem with the WJ. Lucky for me the heater core leaked so I was presented with the opportunity to pull my heater box. While it was out I replaced the left & right blend doors and the recirc door with some nice billet aluminum aftermarket ones. I had a broken recirc door, as seen in the photo. The blend doors looked like they had already been repaired by the previous owner. I replaced them too.

orig.jpg


I also have an inop seat heater, just on the driver's side. The passenger side works, my wife says it works great! Dealer list on the seat heater element for one seat bottom was $360. :eek: Be aware that there has been a couple of recalls on WJ seat heaters, it would be worth your while to see if your Jeep still needs it done. Free seat heater repair! Otherwise look up Chrysler Safety Recall J14. It gives step by step directions on how to replace your seat heater elements and even more valuable, gives a part number for a seat heater repair kit that includes 4 elements, which is all of the heaters for both front seats. Your local Jeep parts guy will be able to get it as part # CBMKF170AC, list on that is around $215. Cheaper than an LS motor and infinitely more practical!

Once again, for comfortable daily driving/occasional off road use on a budget it is tough to find a better all-around vehicle than the '02-'04 Overland. Figure on spending $8000 for a nice one and expect to do some maintenance once you get it home. Remember that these things are 10 or more years old and some other sucker has already absorbed the first $30,000 of depreciation. :) So what is if looks like you are going to pick up the kids at soccer practice!
orig.jpg
 
I am still wondering why you would want to run WJ axles under an XJ? wider dana 30 with CV shafts with no after market support and a dana 44A with the aluminum center section as a known weak point ?

at that point might as well go bronco 44/9 combo for reliability and strength, with deeper gearing, like say run 4.56/ 4.88s with your 31s, it'll be very fast …. and scratch the LS motor, maybe do some cheap and easy performance mods on the XJ, call it done.


I love the Wjs, do that instead ofWJ axles and an LS motor in the Xj, and still keep the XJ. Go with the 2004 overland with the factory posi front and rear with the 4.7 HO for a comfy camping rig and really move the XJ over to harder wheeling status.
 
I wanted basically the same thing you are looking for and ended up going with a Toyota Tundra. I have worked on too many wj's to own one...
 
Don't get me wrong I like the power but the longevity of the engine never impressed me. I judge a vehicle by how many over 200k I see with most original major components and I don't see many WJ's. Have seen a lot of major drivetrain issues. Blend door issue doesn't bother me. Front and rear ends going out consistently. Transmissions are not great either for longevity under stress. That's why I don't drive one.
 
Valve seats falling out of the head don't impress me much, either.
 
99% of the time the head only becomes a problem if it is over heated. Properly maintained it won't be an issue. The only heads I have seen in the machine shop have come from customers that had a cooling issue where the engine was over heated. The "Its been leaking a little coolant for a long time" type. If you dig deep enough every engine has some sort of common failure point.

The D44A can be a problem, but if you take it for a drive and don't hear any whine its most likely past its problem point.

As for transmissions the V8 has a fairly stout transmission as far as a Chrysler transmissions go. Its no AW4, but its years ahead of the POS 42RE.

P1020143.jpg

My mom's WJ. After hitting a deer it was cheaper to install an ARB over the stock bumper.
 
Re: Re: How do we like the wj?

joejeep92 said:
Don't get me wrong I like the power but the longevity of the engine never impressed me. I judge a vehicle by how many over 200k I see with most original major components and I don't see many WJ's. Have seen a lot of major drivetrain issues. Blend door issue doesn't bother me. Front and rear ends going out consistently. Transmissions are not great either for longevity under stress. That's why I don't drive one.
Click to expand...

What goes wrong with the axles and how common are those problems? Is it just the ones with the fancy hydraulic (?) limited slips, or the standard open diff axles too?
 
Talyn said:
I did until a few months ago.
Click to expand...

Hope you upgraded or anyway that all is well.

Come to think of it, the bad cylinder head that came in to the shop i worked in had a history of cooling system issues *before* it dropped a valve.
 
Red91Laredo said:
What goes wrong with the axles and how common are those problems? Is it just the ones with the fancy hydraulic (?) limited slips, or the standard open diff axles too?
Click to expand...
They use the D44A. A for aluminum. The housings tend to flex and cause bearing issues. They show up in a hum at higher speeds. Same issue with the WJ. One thing of note is that I avoid jacking up under the rear diff.

yossarian19 said:
Hope you upgraded or anyway that all is well.

Come to think of it, the bad cylinder head that came in to the shop i worked in had a history of cooling system issues *before* it dropped a valve.
Click to expand...
It was a part time job. Short story is one of the owners is a nutcase that accused me of something I did not do. Told him to take a hike and left. The extra money was nice, but I now have extra time.

One of the 4.7L heads we got was from the other owner (husband and wife) she had been losing coolant and didn't tell anyone. One day it started missing. Dropped valve seat and a few dislocated rockers.

The nut case took 3 months to correctly time the engine. And he wanted to use CuBe valve seats for some stupid reason.
 
thats a killer price.
 
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