I just sold a '97 Jeep Cherokee, that had 145,000 miles on it. It never left me walking. I did break an entire leaf pack in Moab, but we were able to trail fix it using the I beam out of a Hi lift jack. I drove the thing to Alaska, and Mexico. I also was a trail guide at the Ester Jeep Safari in Moab for six years. It never had issues with anything from the factory. The only problems that it had were from the parts I used to modify it. Also the 4.0 engine is a great motor. On highway trips my Jeep with 4.56 gears and 33x10.5 BFGs I would get between 17 and 18 mpg. I have a friend that has a 93 Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 that finally left him walking at about 300,000 miles when the fuel pump went. He replaced it and now has half a million miles on it. He is an attorney and could drive anything he wanted, but loves the reliable Jeep.
Once I changed my springs, my Jeep had no problems with payload. I used it like a pickup. I sometimes layed down the back seat and used the cargo space to haul tools for a handy man business, and for the last several years I have towed my M416 all over doing all kinds of jobs and trips, and it worked great.
