I did it. I'm sorry. I bought a Jeep.

[human5]

My brother has a 96 Cherokee. The 4.0 is a long lasting motor. The Rear Main Seal likes to leak. Good luck with the truck. Keep us updated. I might be stealing some ideas from you though, my brother wants to do some work to his.

 

[mkpecor]

ya get rid of the manifold they are very well known for cracking they will some time, so find a header and that will take care of the problem, iv kept all my 4x4 mags over the years that has the xj builds, so when i get mine i got some good stuff to do to it. keep me posted has you build yours..

 

[mkpecor]

if you go with a manual the aisia ax-15 and nv-3500.both have reputations for strangth and peformence in a stock realm.

 

[mkpecor]

for t-cases np-231 they make internal upgrades including big chain kits [1-inch to 1.5 inch chains] and 2-low kits are availible from many retailers, fixed yoke kits for u-joint correcting joint angularity

 

[PaleBlue90]

it will be a good amount of work to make it a stick IMHO

 

[Jason]

I had a few XJ's and they were all solid off-road. The bodies flex more than a ranger but if you leave the hatch closed you wouldn't know. I never developed bad rattles. The axles are good except they will develop a pinion seal leak over time with regular abuse. Gas mileage in the low teens is considered good for them. Engine and tranny are normally solid as can be. Rear springs are a tad bit weak and will sag but that's a cheap easy fix, a good add a leaf.
As far as problems other than anecdotal stuff you will here on a biased web site? Nothing really. I never brake a t-case chain, even on rocks. I was running 33x12x15 tires and nothing in the driveline ever broke. You will however have to change the front axle u-joints annually or so. The parts stores don't seem to have them cataloged right so you may want to save the packages to remember the part numbers and make life easy.

Feel free to PM me with any questions as I know those trucks all too well. If I didn't need to transport my track bike IN the vehicle I would still own an XJ.