Hey i just picked up a clean 91 xj for 100 bucks....rich peoples, leaks oil all over the drive way.....runs good.
It has the 4.0 ho. What is the diff between the ho and the regular 4.0?

next the origanal reason I pick this jeep up was just to drive it while I built my toyota, but i am thinking of building this instead.
it is an auto......How is the auro trans off road? Is it worth building......how do you guy like wheelin and auto jeep, how do they hold up?

You never have to worry about having 3 feet! I drove my friends standerd on one trip and went and bought a Jeep with a auto.

autos are nice.. add a tranny cooler and as long as the auto wasn't a piece of sh!t by design or by maintenance it should hold up fine. (you will discover in the XJ auto you can't put it in 1st and have it stay there... it will go to 2nd anyway.)

Personally I like manual... I have better control of the gearing, my battery dies I can bump start, my starter dies I can bump start.. generally considered more reliable.

I think it all just comes down to personal preference.

wow. 100 bucks and it runs good. Thats a sweet deal. I would personally sell the toyota and use the money to build the XJ. is it a four or three speed? The HO motor puts out like 10 more hp and 15 more toque or something close to that anyway. Dosconnect your ABS system or you will die.

trust me stick with your plan of building the toy! the jeep will be a great daily driver/weekend warrior to keep your urges down why you finish the toy. I'm sorry I had one vehicle before and spent many a sunday night up till 3 fixing something I broke that weekend so i could drive it on monday.

Also the XJ is a great offroad vehicle but once you get truly rough it will require large amounts of mods (the front end can't handle geometry of big lifts well expecially if you want a good daily driver) also they don't have frames :rolleyes: not my Idea of a tough setup

i wheel with lots of XJ's and they have auto's. they do quite well. i'm not really up on the different years and what they have in them but the D30 front, D35 rear and NP231 are common- same as in my YJ. here's a couple pics of some i wheel with. $100- what a steal!



http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-618984-axle5.JPG

http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-618988-martinez19.JPG

http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-618986-martinez16.JPG

being a NEWBIE i am still not sure if i got this picture thingy down yet. did these work?
thanks,steve

Don't let anybody talk you into building the toy instead. A real jeep will eat a toyota for lunch. The auto is probably fine, they are a pain to change anyway. $100.00 who did you have to kill?

The XJ is a great off-roader for light to medium off roading. I was out in my stock '86 XJ w/ a friend who has a YJ w/ 2" body lift and stock suspension and I was able to outflex him and I could go everywhere he could except some mudholes w/ deep ruts b/c I don't have skids installed yet (no cash or time). I have a 2.8L V6, auto trans, NP228 Selec-Trac, & 3.73s in the diffs. Auto is nice b/c you don't stall out as easily from not enough gas. Manual's nice b/c it's easier to keep it in one gear all the time. Here's a link where a guy turned his auto into a semi-auto though.

http://billyxj.tripod.com/automanual/auto-man_switch.htm

The auto is an AW-4 trans. It is a 4 speed and plenty strong for the 4.0l. The motor is the first year of the HO. The basic difference is the head design. They changed the way it breathes for a more effiecient cycle. They also went with the mopar MPI instead of the French Renix system. Both set ups are good, but I prefer the Mopar one that's why I went with a '91 on my swap. Most likely the oil leak is the rear main seal which is real easy to change. the hardest part is sealing the oil pan. Good luck.

Coming from a Jeep guy, build the Toyota.

Whoever said that a real jeep will spank a toyota is an idiot. Most built jeeps and toyota's have few original parts anyways.

NE Roktoy is right on.

Toyota's have stronger axles, transmissions, transfercases, and simpler suspension than XJ's.

Originally posted by Lost_Soul
Don't let anybody talk you into building the toy instead. A real jeep will eat a toyota for lunch.

Newbies:rolleyes:

I also picked up a '91 xj (4.0 ho, auto)to drive while I'm finishing my FJ but paid about 20x what you did... I've been really happy with it so far but plan on keeping the mods small (d44 rear, 4" lift, 31's or 33's with cutting :D and lockers).

The AX4 seems strong enough for the task and mine hasn't missed a beat so far. It is annoying not having compression braking due to it shifting into 2nd. I noticed my xj has a switch that changes the shift points of the tranny so it'll stay in 4th longer when cruising down the highway.

The 4.0 ho has been reliable and strong only mod I've made is a K&N and tube from turbo city.

My $.02 is build the Toy and just drive the xj in the interum. You can always build it later. :D :D