WJ vs. ZJ Off-road | Exploring the Ozarks 

yep the quadradrive is still working on the WJ. ZJ did pretty good for being open diff with no limited slip. It was a beautiful day to be out!

Thanks for watching! For sure ground clearance and lockers are a big deal. Although I don't have lockers, my varilockers/quadradrive eventually grabs. It's pretty fun to go slow and feel them catch. When the ZJ gets lockers it will be a different story

@@OverlandingOzarks also too much air in those tires

😂

I like how you think!

Love the v8 WJ! Thanks for watching!

I've had a 5.2l ZJ and now I have the 4.7l WJ. My ex wife took the ZJ and I fixed up the WJ

haha nice! Thanks for watching! More on the way!

I had a lunchbox in the rear once, never again. I was doing about 30 mph in the snow and when the highway started going up hill one tire fired and the lunchbox locked up and sent me sideways into oncoming traffic narrowly avoiding a head on with a semi, semi truck driver swerved to avoid me and hit 8 other vehicles, killing 3 people and shutting down the hwy. 3 people died because of my cheap auto locker. Do it right and get a selectable locker.

@@TheRealMikeWilly That's tragic. It sounds like the locker failed to me because if you are driving straight it should be locked up and then when you turn it will unlock. But if you were going up a hill and it was snowy/ice it could cause you to loose control. So I don't know. Also you must understand that they are a great bang for the buck and thousands of people use them without issues. So again I sympathize with you issue and the loss of life, but I'm not going to switch mine out.

@@KJsProjects Not sure what the hell happened internally. One tire started to spin out, it crash locked together and sent me sideways. I highly agree that they're a great price, but I will forever fork over the extra coin for a selectable. Currently putting a D44 with an OX locker and 4.88's under my XJ.

@@TheRealMikeWilly yeah the OX lockers are great. I wish they made one for the Dana 44a in my ZJ.

@@TheRealMikeWilly Interesting. When was this? It sounds like an incident I witnessed. Sorry you have to live with the outcome.

That's awesome! I'm looking for one to add to the collection!

Same I'm around 205k. About to do new brakes all around

Thanks for watching!

2004 was the last year of solid front axle

Thanks for watching! I know, same! I'll find a 5.9 ZJ to call my own someday! So sick!

Took me 10 years to find my 9er. Paid $6500 fully build motor and Trans, airfare intake, thorley headers, TB, injectors, roller rockers, cammed with sct tune. Got it from an old man with all paperwork down to its first oil change in 1999. 😁 making about 400hp supposedly.

i have a 5.9, and a grand wagoneer.. unfortunatly a week ago two deer ran in front of my 5.9, thankfully all it broke was the hard to find grill, the bumper, the plastic header panel and a turn signal so i was able to drive home no issues.... and of course dented my metal bumper under the plastic one.. I can get it back to normal for $250, with a normal style grill.. finding the 5.9 grill will be hard. The deer on the other hand.. two leggs were ripped off and its guts were all over the road.... lol.. Had the 5.9 for about 12 years now. I do love the 5.9, its got some good power and speed and deff a soft comfy ride.... but My grand wagoneer.. which ive had for 6 years.. is on a whole nother level of awsome, took 6 years to restore it, now its lifted 3 inchs with 31 inch tires, off-road lights, and all kinds of upgrades.. Wagoneers even with a 5-6 inch lift cant go much higher than 32 inch tires without major trimming.. I didnt want to cut any body panels.. so i left it a moderate 3 inchs and 31s. My mom has a 98 laredo with a 4.0, has 347k original miles on the drive train.. including the transmission.

I live in France and have access to a lot of really, really clean 5.9 zjs. Left hand drive too, obviously

I stay at 20 myself. I've had a tire come off at 15 in the middle of a 3 foot deep creek , while doing the DBBB in Kentucky . This was a winter ride too . Needless to say , I won't go any lower without beadlocks again.

I was at about 18 all the way around

6.5" IRO on 35's for WJ

@@OverlandingOzarks what axle do you have in the rear? any issues so far with the 35s and axle shafts?

Thanks for watching!

I lucked out and got ahold of a 5.9 zj.. With lower miles..my first and only jeep I own

you bring what you bring

6.5" lift on 35's and 17's

Thanks for watching! I believe he said that he has the 242 selctrac. which is actually what I have in my WJ in this video. I swapped in a 242HD when I did the long arms and 35's so that I can have a 2wd option for daily use.

@@OverlandingOzarks Thanks I appreciate the info! Your WJ is definitely one of the cleanest that I've seen and very tastefully executed as well. I'll be checking out your other vids in the future and I hope your buddy gets his ZJ squared away with the new upgrades. Ive been tinkering with mine (daily driver w/4.0) since I bought it last year so it's good to know about what the WJ/ZJ guys are currently doing. Keep posting and I'll keep watching!! Take care!

no ZJ came with a 231.. they have 3 transfercases... well 3 versions. The open diff 242 select trac, the open diff with NO low lock 249 which was on the 93-95 years, and the 96-98 had the 249 that locked in 4 low and the viscous coupler was tuned different for better traction

@@jeepsblackpowderandlights4305 Incorrect. I can assure you that the ZJ did in fact come factory equipped with the NP231 (Command Trac) transfer case. Mine has it with factory 3:73 tracloc rear end (Says so on the diff tag) and I can easily produce the build sheet to confirm it. There's absolutely no possibilty of it being swapped in before I purchased it because the family that I purchased it from last year had it since February of 1996 (It's a 1995 model). They kept meticulous service records from March of 1996 until May of 2020. There are many other things about this particular jeep that make it unique as it was built with very odd components for the time but they are ALL factory installed. Ive had different people look it over and the consensus is that it's an odd Jeep but probably not the only one ever built.

@@codered7453 still doubting it had it ive worked on zjs for 20 years now.. thats the first ever ive seen that especially for a 96. Or 95 model. But hey maybe im wrong.. Maybe it was some weird faction option you check on the build list when you buy it. But 231 was deff not standard 3.73 with limited slip isnt uncommon though

That's awesome! Thanks for watching!

Your welcome

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Pretty comfy too

Find yourself one! They are awesome! Thanks for watching!

You can probably blame a previous president’s “cash for clunkers” program. So many good vehicles, and even more good parts gone forever. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss seeing dodge intrepids and chevy celebrities on the roads. 😂

@@gregkrueger331 - it definitely got rid of plenty of trash cars but it absolutely destroyed the secondhand market. Tragggic

I see at least one almost everyday i drive around.. And I live in Buffalo where most old trucks are rusted out

Thanks for watching! I can listen to v8 WJ's all day! 😎

Are they reliable? Major issues?

Thanks for watching!

No zj had lockers from the factory. The only difference between the 5.9 and the 5.2 was the 5.9 had confocal hood vents and an electric cooling fan. Everything else was the same.

?

4.7 can't you hear the growl

Thanks for watching!

Best part*

Yank it and drop in a LS. FTW! 😂

Thats why you go with the 4.0

@@OverlandingOzarks Right. I’m convinced 99% of the people talking mess about the 4.7, like many other things, are just repeating what they’ve heard. Not to say they don’t have the problems listed by the op, but those problems seem to mostly be from poor maintenance, which is a detail never included by the person listing the problems. Not like it’s the best motor ever but it’s far from the pos people try to make it out to be. I overheated mine, pegged in the red about 40k mi ago 😬, still going strong at 190k. Just made a trip from SA to NM and back. Did great.