Tacoma vs...

I'm sorry to say but when you customize your truck it in fact lowers the resale value. Most people won't buy a 9" lifted truck for around town and their daily driver. They, or at least I would go buy a beat up truck for a hell of alot less and not care what I did to it.
I think you need to keep the taco cause its pretty sick and go buy a shit car thats good on gas for campus.

 

Keep the Taco, lose some lift and put on more streetable tires. That should be the fix

 

You might even want to loose the big honking bumper and slap the stocker back on because that big one looks like it screams I kill MPG's

 

just out of curiosity so you score a cylinder on your 3.4.. the 3.4 is really not able to be bored .30 over? or is that the parts are just unavailable?

or if theres a problem we just have to get a new long block?

 

but you gave the option in your first post.

1st gen 3.4 or cherokee.

I've had both, cherokee was ok, worse gas mileage than the 3.4. The jeep's tranny was going out when I sold it around 125k.

 

i think he was just trying to get our opinions cause he wanted to know the differences so he knows whats going to change or what hes going to gain or loose by getting a cherokee and loosing the taco

 

Like the others said, lower it a little. Remove the body/TM lifts, stick on an OME 3 inch lift, and maybe get more street friendly tires.

 

is it even possible to ditch a TM lift after its installed? dont they cut parts out?

 

Yes, it is possible. You need to find the original parts and put them in, basically just UCAs

 

if this is true then it will end up being a better deal to put your truck back to stock or put in a different lift. from what i can tell your only issues are bad gas milage and bad ride quality. swapping your lift will be in your best intrest

 

you have to weld the cross member back in as well.

 

Ok, here's this new to taco's but long time Jeep guys first post....

Just sold my daily driver 95 cherokee for my 99 taco. The Jeep 4.0 is about as bulletproof as they get. BUT there are a few years I'd personally at least be carefull with if not avoid. 87-90 have the crappy renix fuel injection that has been mentioned here. 99-00 have the bad casting #0331 cylinder heads that have also been mentioned. Typical potential problem areas for all years is crank sensor (no start) TPS (runs weird) IAC (funny idle) cracked exhaust manifold (you'll know as soon as you start it). They all get about the same mileage... 15.

Now there is a HUGE difference in auto trannys in the regular (xj) cherokees vs. The grand cherokees. Regular cherokees got the AW4 auto that is also bulletproof as long as you obviously change the fluid more than once a decade. (I've seen em suck in muddy water and live for another 100k+) The grands had various different autos based on year and engine. Some were ok some were not. But none were as good as the AW4.

Rear axles....avoid the dana 35 (oval centersection). Its crap, there is no way to not make it crap. Chysler 8.25 (stop sign looking centersection) good strong axle but not much aftermarket support. 96+ got 29 spline shafts too. 87-90 you could find a dana 44 but good luck. 99% geared at 3.55 with an auto. 3.07 or 3.73 with a 5 speed.

Front axles... all dana 30's. Better than a lot of people give it credit for. Good up till a 33-35inch tire depending on driving style. All cherokees got high pinion too until about 2000ish. 84-mid90's had a vacuum disconnect on the axle. Not necessarily bad but all those vacuum lines are old, brittle and leaky now. 99% geared at 3.55 with an auto. 3.07 or 3.73 with a 5 speed.

Transfer cases. Most are decent but the part time NP231 is the best with the most aftermarket support.

Body/interior. Pick what you like. Just look real good at the floorboards for rust. (Its why I just got rid of mine) If the AC doesn't work its the evaporator core behind the dash leaking. If it hasn't been done it will probably need to. If it needs to be done plan on $800-1000 for a shop to do it. If you're handy and want to do it plan on at least 8hours.... it sucks.

If your going to lift it. Plan on vibes. Pretty much anything over a 2" is going to start to vibe. But no 2 are alike. One you might get up to a 3-4inch before it vibes. The one built right after it on the assembly line might vibe at 1". There is no rhmye or reason. But the newer ones do seem to vibrate a little more frequently. I'd plan on a slip yoke eliminator and new driveshaft for anything over a 2". You might be able to get away with a t-case drop though. (I had a 3.5ish" hombrew lift and 31's with only very slight vibes at above legal highway speeds) Also if you're going to wheel it you're going to have to trim fenders on any tire bigger than a 30-31.

Cherokees are great. But like what you're experiencing now....once you start to mess with em and modify plan on less streetablilty unless you're prepared to sink the money into it to make it right.

Honestly I do miss my xj. But it was time. In another 1-2 years it was going to be a pile of rust with a fantastic drivetrain. (Had 203k on it when I sold it and ran and drove like new) BUT I have also always been a fan of the little toyota trucks and so far am very happy with it.

Hope that helped and hope I can learn some from you guys too!

Paul

 

Also being that I'm a cheap bastard...if I were in your shoes I'd put your truck back to stock or close to it (sell what you can). Fix your drivability issues and go with it. Its almost always cheaper to fix what you have than to buy another vehicle and/or start another project.

 

Great first post Paul. Where are you located in stl?

 

Just a small thought, if somone is going to seriously consider a 9" lifted truck, they would probably be atleast a bit serious and knowlageable about lifted trucks. And if they inspected your truck and saw the piss poor TM lift, wouldnt they notice and decide against buying it?

 

South County / Crestwood area.

 

Cool man you can pm Tw member adio3x with your email if you want to be added in the mailing list of a local 4x4 club we're trying to start up. We will be heading to st. Joe state park for some light wheeling in the next month or so if you would like to join. Alright enough with the thread jack let the debate commence....

 

Cool, thanks for the invite.

 

Nice writeup on jeeps there

 

wow just got back on this thread. was busy for 2 days. A lot of info.

heres some reasons why im thinking of selling and getting a cherokee.

1) tacos hold good vaule and i can get a newer cherokee with fewer miles

2) cherokee's have soild axel. tacos have ifs. easier to lift and more durable

3) really don't want to tear down my truck and try to put it back to 3" lift

4) if would give me something to do this summer.



and guys i didnt build this truck. the lift was already on. i've only done minior things


thoughts....???