Ok I have been wanting a jeep for awhile, and now that gas prices are going thru the roof it may be time to get something with a 4 or 6 cylinder, i would really love a wrangler but its hard to find one for cheap, but the cherokee's are plentifull and can be built up pretty good. My question is, what years should i stay away from when looking for one? What should i look for as far as powerplants, ect.  

Lifts, tire size and type play a roll in fuel usage too but a 4 cyl will generally use less fuel off road where speeds are lower and  a lot of time can be spent at near idle speeds too. Plus they are easier to cool as well. If you go 4 cyl route, just use some serious axle gears with bigger tires and you will not find it lacking off road and a added bonus is that it will weight about 150 lbs less too which is a "plus" to on soft ground or getting unstuck. With a 6, you DO NOT want a 89 or earlier model with a stick because they used a LD tranny with them, a BA 10/5 as they switched to MD AX15 in late 89. You really do not want any jeep with a BA 10/5 because first gear is only 3.39 to 1 while LD AX5 was 3.93 and MD AX15 was 3.83. Jeep used a AX5 since late 89 with 4cyl and it does fine there and AX15 with 6 in same time frame. The AMC 2.5 is a good sturdy engine (I have owned one for 8 years and 95K miles in a Cherokee now) and does a good job for what it is. Mine will consistently do low 20's in urban driving if not dogging it. (it is not lifted though and has stock rubber too) The 2.5 was MPI injection from 91 on and TBI from 87 to 90.  

what about the 2.8 v6? my friend's father had a mid to late 80's cherokee with a 2.8 v6. i can't remember what model year it was now but i remember him always bragging that it got decent mpg's and it ran forever. he said it was slower than christmas but he musta put a gazillion miles on that sucker (he stayed on the road working all the time)...anybody know much about it?  

Also I would stray from power windows/seats on anything older than 97. the electrical gremlins that come w/any rig that has power opts will give you a big headache,and its something you dont have to worry about...

wasnt the cherokee that had the 2.8 called the pioneer?  

keithpapa:
Also I would stray from power windows/seats on anything older than 97. the electrical gremlins that come w/any rig that has power opts will give you a big headache,and its something you dont have to worry about...

wasnt the cherokee that had the 2.8 called the pioneer?

There was a Pioneer package that usually included 2.8. The MPI AMC 2.5 has more power than GM 2.8 did.  

boy, that's pathetic, huh?  know that i think about it, it was a pioneer.  

2.8 was a low CR crab and 2.5 is a more modern design. 4.0 is actually based off 2.5, not the other way around.  

this is kind of my plan right now, would i gain much from it? buy a cherokee, (cheap) and put the dana 44 and 12 bolt from my blazer under it, and maybe if gas ever goes down i will put the whole drivetrain in it too.  

Gas is never going to go down much or for long so do not hold your breath. In a year 4 bucks is gonna sound cheap.  

you relly think it will?... scary
i think i might begin to like imports!
HA  

they need to start making super swamper boggers to fit mopeds  

wookie2395:
you relly think it will?... scary
i think i might begin to like imports!
HA

Yes the writing has been on the wall for a while for several years now but Detroit and public has ignored it. Several years ago they predicted that this would happen in 2007 or 2008 because world demand was going to catch up with supply. In next few years demand is going to exceed supply and it will be prices that stabilize demand at sustainable supply levels because most consumers will not conserve otherwise. When price gets high enough it will stabilize for while but I do not think it is there yet and I think $150/barrel oil will be new "standard" benchmark in 2009 and be considered a fair price. What this all means is that when you consider a new build, do not think of it in MPG but rather CPM or Cost Per Mile in fuel to drive it (cost per gallon of fuel divided by MPG) and it will give you a truer perspective of your cost of being able to sustain and feed your new or planned new pet.  

snoman is right on. it will never get any better. the big question is where is our breaking point???? when do we say enough's enough? $5? $6???
historically, we, as a nation, have always found a way to get the job done when we had to. for example: the bomb in WWII. we must come up with a viable alternative energy source immediately.
we either start drilling our own oil (which we have 150 billion barrels in ANWR untouched)and build new refineries or come up with something else to burn. we just need to get off our butts and get it done!
biodiesel works in small quantities but it's not gonna be enough to supply the thousands of tractor-trailers moving freight across n.america. ethanol is a stupid idea because now over 25% of our corn crop is going to ethanol production and driving up the cost of everything from feed to groceries! been to the grocery store lately?  

Theres plenty of untapped oil up here in MT. and in Wyoming...My uncles a shift manager for an oil drilling outfit in Sidney,MT for the past 15yrs and they say its all over up here...why dont the president grow some balls and tell the stupid asssssss eviroMENTALS to shove it and drill in anwr and other places!the retarded MENTALS drive cars and need to get from point a to b and I know theyd love not to pay high prices either...  

You guy kinda miss the point here. ANWR is but a drop in a the bucket and if it was drilled tomorrow, the peak production would not be reached for about 15 years and at peak it will make about 800,000 barrels a day for a few years before slowly fading. (BTW the USGS says that there is maybe about 7.6 billion barrels of removable oil up there at most, not 150 billion and if you do the math that is about a 1 year supply at our current consumption) Our reserves are gone and there is a few "puddles" of it here and there to yet be discovered but we simply use too much. We have about 5% of world population and use about 30% of oil used in world. Globally we use about 85 to 90 million barrels of oil a DAY or about. The US screwed up long ago by not taxing oil more long ago when it was cheap and making it cost more and last longer because public only conserves when it hits them in pocket book. Bush made matter worse when he took office by push for new power plants running on oil and natural gas rather than coal which we have about a minimum of a 300 year supply of (but oil men do not like coal) Stormy skies are ahead guys.