Newbie looking for advice
- Thread starter mtbnmat
- Start date
SilicaRich
Wandering Inverted
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Not if you keep them mostly stock. It's the modifications that kill the reliability. I've had two almost completely stock wranglers (a TJ and YJ with 4.0's) and both were/are dead nuts reliable. Both were also close to stock - just a winch and good tires added to them. My current YJ has 255k miles on it and the motor runs fine and uses zero oil. Only issue I've had with it in the 2 years I've had it is a broken (aftermarket, of course) muffler.
I've had 3 other Jeeps - 2 of which were heavily modified CJ's and a Grand Wagoneer that was 'restored', and they were/are nightmares (some self-inflicted). The GW is mostly stock but had some very questionable mechanical work done to it that I'm still sorting out. The CJ's were cool but needed a ton of sorting out due to prior poorly done modifications. The stock stuff is pretty stout and if maintained and not overstressed with lifts and big tires, will last a long time. Electrically, they're similar - as long as people don't butcher up the harness adding accessories, they're not bad. That said, I had a very difficult time finding a Jeep that wasn't at least somewhat heavily modified, so if you've found one for a good price and want to get in the Jeep game, it should be a good buy.
Do not start modifying it if you want it to be a reliable DD unless you, or somebody you know, really knows what they're doing. Lifts can start to throw off driveline angles and steering geometries, and the resulting bigger and heavier tires all add up to reduced component life, leaks, wobbles etc. More than 2" lift and 31" tires and you'll have issues.
CCPAJeeper
Observer
I agree, the 4.0 is a rock engine, especially the way the fire dept. would have maintained it. I have had 2 XJs and the wife is an 04 WJ right now. All have been stock, except for the one XJ. All ran good and it any small issues came up, a forum search would yield a ton of info for me to do the repairs. Parts are pretty reasonable in my experience. I can tell you this, based on helping a friend work on his Tacoma years ago, those parts are way more expensive than Jeep parts.
Psykokustomz
New member
I have had 2 ZJ's and now I have a have a WJ. My first ZJ was a 1995 with the 4.0 in it. I put a 3in skyjacker lift on it and some other goodies and I had an absolute blast with it. It is what started my Grand Cherokee obsession. I had no major mechanical issues with it. If I remember right I had to replace the rear main seal, valve cover gasket, and the collector on the exhaust manifold developed cracks. All fairly simple repairs that didn't break the bank either. For $1k i would jump on it.