School me on the WJ

GotWood

GotWood

Sayer of Fact
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Location
Maiden, NC
Ok, I'm trying to help a friend get a new car. He presently has an older lumina and it's time to move up to something newer and bigger. He is not mechanical at all and only has about 4k to drop. He likes the WJ and I think I could help him keep it running for a long time. He doesn't need 4 wheel drive or anything special and doesn't really go far (10k a year max).

I have suggested a 4.0 2 wd. What should we look out for? What is the bad and weak points? This vehicle will never see off road and will be driven like a baby.
 
We have an 04 WJ.....been a daily for about 7 years w/o any major problems. If the battery gets old/weak, the electrical system gets nutty & the ground wire breaks in the driver door jamb, killing the locks & Windows - ready splice fix.
 
Good to near. I know there are plenty of other people here that have one. Let's hear the horror stories and the kind of mileage you have on it. Should I look at or away from the v8?
 
My mom has an 04 with the 4.7v8 (non-high-output) and full time 4wd. It averages 16.5-17mpg for regular driving, and gets closer to 18-19 on the highway. Shes got 150k miles on it with only a few issues. Biggest one was the carrier bearings in the aluminum D44 in the rear at about 80k miles. Other than that, its been really good to her. She bought it new in 04.

For comparison, my wife has a 95 ZJ with the 4.0 and selectable t-case, 240k miles, and averages 19ish for normal driving, and about 21-22 highway. But the 4.7 is more fun to drive!

Alot of people don't like the 4.7, but I'm a big fan of it. Dual overhead cam and extremely torquey off the line. I think thats why the carrier bearings went so early in mom's WJ. She drives like I do.
 
The gas mileage between the 4.0 & 4.7 is negligible. The '99-01 4.0 WJ's had a bad run of pistons and they're prone to cracking skirts. The 4.0's also have a weaker transmission. The V8's can have head issues and the limiteds with Climate control have blend door issues Any jeep is going to have a higher degree of "preventative" maintenance vs. say a toyota. But for the price they've dropped to I think they're a good value for the $.
 
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My mom has a 04 model with the 4.7 and 140K+ miiles and she's replaced the carrier bearings twice. Other than that no problems. She loves it.
 
My wife had a 02 overland. Window regulators will go out unexpectedly, I always kept some shims in the trunk. Had 195xxx when we traded it and was having electrical issues, would just cut off going down the road and not restart. Replaced key and security module, ECM, a lot of other sensors to no avail.
It was a great jeep but I was done throwing money at a jeep with so many miles.
We never had the blend door issue or carrier bearing problems.
Very fun to drive with the 4.7HO.
 
Window regulators for sure! i have been through 3 and praying that there isnt gonna be another one. I love my wj but i have had to put a motor and transmission in it and it is also stuck in 3rd due to a shift solenoid. Not saying it will happen to everyone but i have had a lot of trouble out of mine.
 
The Window regulator is easy to fix and fix permanently. I had to do it in my '99 WJ. After replacing the same POS regulator twice, I took a look at the fail point. It was the same on both parts. a crappy little plastic piece that is molded into a metal rail. Why on earth they felt the need to tool up and mold a plastic part into it is beyond me because the same function could have been stamped into the metal rail and never fail. I ended up tacking on a piece of metal to make a bracket to replace the plastic crap and never had another issue. This is one of those points the makes you scream FAWKING AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS! and pull your hair out. They can design a car to go 200mph, but can't see the simplest things.

aside from that, I loved my WJ.
 
The 9" is actually a pretty good swap for the WJ since it needs a wider axle then the 8.8 especially the d35 equipped WJ's. The 44a is decently strong as far as the R&P and shafts go. Its the aluminum center section and lack of aftermarket support that kill the 44a.
 
Going to look at an 04 that is having problems just shutting down. I think it has had a new computer installed but problem still exists. It will be fine for a day or two then just shut off for no reason. I'll know more tomorrow.
 
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