Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Need input on older Jeep

Run from the 4 cylinder. They may be geared lower but the 4 banger is a turd. The gear in the 4.0 liter is high but you can regear or find a front and rear end out of a 4 banger in a junk yard and swap them or do like a good hillbilly and drive it in 4th gear unless you are on the highway. All this talk is if you go big with tires. I only have 2.5" of lift and it handles ok not wonderful but passable.

I have a 95 and it has 198000 hard mountain miles on it and I have in 14 years put a radiator, clutch master and slave cylinder, a pinion Seal a rear main seal and a wheel seal in it. I drive it like I stole it. The 4.0 is bullet proof and anyone who says different don't know there a$$ from their elbow, lol. Ask anyone who has owned one. They sound a little rattley and they leak from the valve cover a little bit but the bottom end is strong. The AX15 5 speed is what they also put behind dodge trucks that had the 318 in it. It's a notchy transmission, but again bullet proof. They hold their value very well also. Not much room in them but very manuverable and they are light, tires last for a long time.

I have had mine as a daily driver/hunting vehicle plus I pull my boat with it and it has been a champ. Lots of off road use but no mudding and I take it easy over rough stuff. Best vehicle I have ever owned, but if you do need to fix some thing you can actually do it yourself. I changed the radiator in less than 30 minutes. Lots of aftermarket stuff too, it's like the 10/22 of the vehicle world.