Stroker or SBC305 for towing: more advanced turd polishing?

[Root Moose]

Having gone through the dreaming stages of building the "ideal" XJ/MJ based tow rig as you describe, I faced reality and bought a 2500 turbodiesel Suburban. If you want a good tow rig within a reasonable amount of time with the least amount of headaches involved from such an undertaking, I suggest you offload some of the hulks you have and get something decent. Reliability and repairability are two important things to consider when establishing a vehicle for long loaded road trips.

Once you go fullsize, you never go back. I was using a '87 MJ 4.0 5-speed longbed for towing Jeeps and boats, and it was working hard. It was nice to occasionally use my wife's '01 XJ 4.0 AW4 just to let the tranny do the work itself, but the small size of the tow vehicle was still a source of nerves. Once I got the Sub', I have no qualms about towing heavy loads over long distances. It just makes the experience much less stressful.

I think you should be realistic here, it will let you enjoy your project CJ sooner, and provide a decent daily driver. I'm preaching from recent experience.

Hmm, this is more or less what my wife has been saying... 3/4T diesel burban to replace her Impreza.

I just like the idea of a XJ/MJ hybrid I guess...

r@m

 

[Lawn Cher']

I also looked at crew cab pickups and the Ford Excursion, but found that a babied Sub' was the best investment. I bought my '97 in October '03 w/ 76k miles for $15k. It was clean, well maintained, and nicely accessorized. All I've had to put into it was fuel, oil changes, full fluid change and tires. It just turned 100k miles, and I've already had it on quite a few long road trips with stuff in tow (NJ to Maine once, NJ to MO several times, MO to FL once.)

There is a beautiful white '96 for sale near me, but the mileage is kinda high, 230k for $8k or so. I did a big search on ebay and various online classifieds, and looked at specimens all over the country. Wound up getting mine from a private seller on Long Island, NY, which was very convenient since I was still living in NJ at the time.

Whichever you choose to do, good luck.

 

[old_man]

I drive a 4.7L stroker in the mountains here in Colorado. The torque is exactly at the point you need for towing or mountains. It is simply a joy to drive. It will pass just about anything on the road in the mountains.

 

[JeepFreak21]

Billy