TRS but for grand cherokee

[Ozwynn]

Hi fam... I need a Grand Cherokee forum that is like TRS with a tech library. I am registered on a few JGC forums and they all suck. I’ve said it before, “while I have not seen all of the internet, I’m pretty sure TRS is the best website out there”

And before you say just trade it in for a Ranger.... I don’t have new Ranger money and I am looking for a cleanish gen 1 Explorer the LS/4L80e swap on tons ....

 

[wildbill23c]

Yep, TRS is the only forum of any type I've ever been on that has a tech section. All others require very deep searches to find common answers to everything that TRS has built into the tech section. TRS is the best forum out there by far.

I had a 96 and a 98 ZJ...my 96 was bulletproof...my 98 was a disaster and it was babied while my 96 I had offroad all the time, I think it was white but was covered in mud 99% of the time I owned it. My 98 only got road grime on it. Sadly it was the one I really wanted as it had the Selec-Trac 4WD and limited slip rear differential, but it was the one that had all sorts of engine, transmission and electrical issues hidden in it. If I get another Jeep it'll probably be a WJ with quadra-drive and I'll do a Selec-Trac 242 transfer case swap in it.

I'm on the Jeepforum.com site, it don't have anything for a tech section at all, gotta go dive into all the threads in hopes of finding anything remotely related to what you are looking for.

 

[Dirtman]

Here's the only Grand Cherokee tech article you will ever need.

- HOW TO FIX ANY JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE PROBLEM -
By Dirtman.

* Difficulty level from 0-10 - 1
* Tools needed - Matches (optional, it's a jeep so it will most likely already be on fire)

Step #1 - Set the Jeep on fire and push it off a cliff.
Step #2 - Walk home. (let's face it you're a jeep owner you're use to this)
Step #3 - Drink enough pure grain alcohol to forget you owned a jeep.

 

[Ozwynn]

Yep, TRS is the only forum of any type I've ever been on that has a tech section. All others require very deep searches to find common answers to everything that TRS has built into the tech section. TRS is the best forum out there by far.

I had a 96 and a 98 ZJ...my 96 was bulletproof...my 98 was a disaster and it was babied while my 96 I had offroad all the time, I think it was white but was covered in mud 99% of the time I owned it. My 98 only got road grime on it. Sadly it was the one I really wanted as it had the Selec-Trac 4WD and limited slip rear differential, but it was the one that had all sorts of engine, transmission and electrical issues hidden in it. If I get another Jeep it'll probably be a WJ with quadra-drive and I'll do a Selec-Trac 242 transfer case swap in it.

I'm on the Jeepforum.com site, it don't have anything for a tech section at all, gotta go dive into all the threads in hopes of finding anything remotely related to what you are looking for.

I have an ‘08 WK with Quadradrive 2. I love the electronic limited slip in both axles and let’s be honest... since they are capable of 100% full lock up they are lockers... not wild about the lack of aftermarket support though.

 

[Ozwynn]

Here's the only Grand Cherokee tech article you will ever need.

- HOW TO FIX ANY JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE PROBLEM -
By Dirtman.

* Difficulty level from 0-10 - 1
* Tools needed - Matches (optional, it's a jeep so it will most likely already be on fire)

Step #1 - Set the Jeep on fire and push it off a cliff.
Step #2 - Walk home. (let's face it you're a jeep owner you're use to this)
Step #3 - Drink enough pure grain alcohol to forget you owned a jeep.

Yeah.... my brother tells me that a Jeep owner is a Toyota salesman’s best customer...

 

[Dirtman]

I have now worked on 2 grand cherokees and a commander with the 4.7 v8 engine. 2 spit out valve seats, one blew a head gasket or cracked a head (haven't taken it apart yet). The site of them just makes me cringe now. The older ones with the 4.0 inline 6 seemed fairly reliable but still always had electrical issues. I wouldn't mind having an older regular cherokee with an inline 6 and manual trans though.

 

[wildbill23c]

I have now worked on 2 grand cherokees and a commander with the 4.7 v8 engine. 2 spit out valve seats, one blew a head gasket or cracked a head (haven't taken it apart yet). The site of them just makes me cringe now. The older ones with the 4.0 inline 6 seemed fairly reliable but still always had electrical issues. I wouldn't mind having an older regular cherokee with an inline 6 and manual trans though.

Yep electrical issues are #1 problem with all of the Grand Cherokees...the 42RE transmission wasn't that great either. The 4L I6, 5.2L 318 V8, 5.9L 360 V8, and the HEMIs aren't too bad, but lots of 4.7L V8 hate, and a lot of that comes down to people skipping maintenance and some bad engineering on those valves and rocker arms self uninstalling LOL.

My 96 Grand Cherokee I beat the crap out of all the time offroad, never had a problem other than regular maintenance, and a radiator at 188k, and a starter at 197k. The viscous coupler in the transfer case failed at 232k, surprising it lasted that long given the beatings it took all the time in the mud....my 98 Grand Cherokee was just an electrical and mechanical nightmare shortly after purchase, looked like new but it had a lot of random electrical problems, a transmission that decided to start puking fluid all over my carport, and a bad low end engine knock that just progressively got worse...thought it was the typical valve train noise, but even after having the head gasket done, and a rebuilt head, the noise was there, and made it quite obvious it was a low end issue. Traded it in on the 2008 Ford Explorer that I have now...love the Explorer more, drives and rides a lot better than my Grand Cherokee.

Course if you say any of this on a Jeep Forum they'll ban you HAHA!!! Oh well, truth is they have several electrical problems, and transmission issues. Not sure on the newer WK's and WK2's but the ZJ's and WJ's had a lot of regular electrical problems, and the 4.7L V8 was a normal problem LOL

 

[wildbill23c]

Yeah.... my brother tells me that a Jeep owner is a Toyota salesman’s best customer...

After my 2008 Toyota Tundra I'm not much of a Toyota fan either. Rear axle bearing failures at 47k front differential howl/growl TSB at 67k (dealer ended up replacing the front differential) luckily the 1 time I get an extended warranty it paid for itself on that one. Then within a couple years both issues had returned. Front end alignment problems all the time, cam tower oil leak issue had surfaced as well. Don't miss that truck at all. Sent it down the road at 104k.

So in my driveway now sits 3 Fords 87 Ranger, 88 Bronco 2, and 08 Explorer, and my grandfather's 1st gen 2005 Toyota Tundra.

 

[Dirtman]

Yep electrical issues are #1 problem with all of the Grand Cherokees...the 42RE transmission wasn't that great either. The 4L I6, 5.2L 318 V8, 5.9L 360 V8, and the HEMIs aren't too bad, but lots of 4.7L V8 hate, and a lot of that comes down to people skipping maintenance and some bad engineering on those valves and rocker arms self uninstalling LOL.

My 96 Grand Cherokee I beat the crap out of all the time offroad, never had a problem other than regular maintenance, and a radiator at 188k, and a starter at 197k. The viscous coupler in the transfer case failed at 232k, surprising it lasted that long given the beatings it took all the time in the mud....my 98 Grand Cherokee was just an electrical and mechanical nightmare shortly after purchase, looked like new but it had a lot of random electrical problems, a transmission that decided to start puking fluid all over my carport, and a bad low end engine knock that just progressively got worse...thought it was the typical valve train noise, but even after having the head gasket done, and a rebuilt head, the noise was there, and made it quite obvious it was a low end issue. Traded it in on the 2008 Ford Explorer that I have now...love the Explorer more, drives and rides a lot better than my Grand Cherokee.

Course if you say any of this on a Jeep Forum they'll ban you HAHA!!! Oh well, truth is they have several electrical problems, and transmission issues. Not sure on the newer WK's and WK2's but the ZJ's and WJ's had a lot of regular electrical problems, and the 4.7L V8 was a normal problem LOL

The 318/360s were incredible engines. I had a 360 in my Ramcharger and the damn thing ran for ever and had oodles of torque. They should have kept them and just upgraded them to better fuel injection instead of switching to that dumb 4.7. The one I worked on in the commander overheated for like 2 seconds when the radiator blew and that was that, spit the valve seat and became a boat anchor. Second one in the grand cherokee had ECM issues that was tearing up batteries at first because someone thought it was smart to have the ECM regulate the alternator. Fixed that and 6 months later a valve seat dropped for no reason. Didn't overheat, wasn't abused, just decided it didn't like the valve seat where it was. Third one is sitting in my friends yard running on 7 cylinders and pouring coolant out of the exhaust. We are gonna tear it open but I'm fairly sure the head is cracked or the valve seat dropped and caused massive damage.

 

[Rick W]

So, wait a minute, remember I’m still pretty new to owning a personal Ranger. Are you guys telling me I should buy a Grand Cherokee instead?!?

 

[Dirtman]

So, wait a minute, remember I’m still pretty new to owning a personal Ranger. Are you guys telling me I should buy a Grand Cherokee instead?!?

Yes. They are excellent for your health. All the walking is great cardio. Also no one will ever ask you for a ride to the airport or to help them move since they know the chances of your car being in working condition at the time is very slim. Very safe vehicles as well. Being on blocks in the front yard most of the time greatly reduces your risk of getting into an accident. Your fuel costs will be drastically less for the same reason. There's really no downside to owning a grand cherokee. And once you finally give up trying to keep it running, they make excellent small storage sheds. You can fill it with old paint cans, stray cats, your collection of pokemon cards, the sky is the limit!

 

[black_demon69]

LOL

 

[wildbill23c]

Yes. They are excellent for your health. All the walking is great cardio. Also no one will ever ask you for a ride to the airport or to help them move since they know the chances of your car being in working condition at the time is very slim. Very safe vehicles as well. Being on blocks in the front yard most of the time greatly reduces your risk of getting into an accident. Your fuel costs will be drastically less for the same reason. There's really no downside to owning a grand cherokee. And once you finally give up trying to keep it running, they make excellent small storage sheds. You can fill it with old paint cans, stray cats, your collection of pokemon cards, the sky is the limit!

On another note, the Cherokees weren't that great either LOL. The newer ones had electrical gremlins just as the Grand Cherokees did.

Their 4WD systems are awesome (quadra-trac, quadra-drive, selec-trac) but the rest of the vehicle isn't that great around it. I'd love a quadra-drive equipped Grand Cherokee WJ, but not with all the electrical issues and the 4.7L V8 issues that come with it.

 

[Ozwynn]

I love me the Quadradrive 2 ... the Eaton ELSD is seamless and flawless.

 

[Rick W]

How ‘bout this one