Any real world experience? Jeep is an '01 Grand Cherokee Laredo, 4.0 and AWD. Needs an engine. Slight rust for the year, minor scratches and dings. My GF will give it to me.

My present truck (forced into work use when the company took our company trucks away in 2012) is a clean Ram 1500 4x4, 5.9 Mag with 70k miles. 13 MPG. I visit construction sites and work in severe snow and hurricanes alike. Can be lots of fallen trees and debris in the work zone. I carry mostly survey type equipment and safety gear, not hard work for the truck, other than off road and lots of obstacles/tight spaces.

The Jeep has 185k on it, and I'm wondering if it would be worth my while to put an engine in it. Maybe get 16 MPG? Full size trucks are so expensive to purchase, I'm wondering if it is good money spent to fix the old Jeep and have a dedicated "work" truck to save the pickup truck from getting scratched up, hogged up and worn out? Is the Jeep WJ tough enough for commercial use?

Its 13 years old and made it 185k. Its tough enough but is it worth spending 1500 to 2000 to get it back on the road. Thats your call.

The older Cherokee's were often used as Mail delivery trucks, and that is similar use. But didn't see the WJ's used by Mail carriers, maybe because they were more expensive line of trucks when new.

Ram is worth about $8600 retail now. So I'd be spending $2000 on the WJ to keep the truck clean and low mileage, and avoid a truck payment in the future. But I'd have another vehicle to maintain and pay insurance on also.

Give the undercarrige, brake lines, cooling system,, ball joints, tie rod ends etc. a once over. If that stuff looks ok, a $2K engine is probably worth it. I'd fix any obvious issues at the same time the engine is replaced.

You can't get much for $2K that is guaranteed to have no issues.

Your other option is to spend a little more and get an economy car, even a new one. That isn't a popular option on a car site, but there is a big difference between 16 mpg and 28-30, unless you don't drive much. It's nice to be able to gas and go for the next 5 years after driving worn out junk, too. Again, not a popular assertion on a car site.

Interesting parallels in our lives,

I have a similar all weather construction site job in Maryland (Liberal Hell) and until I sold it to buy a Ramcharger I alternated between a 99 WJ and Ram 1500 4X4. My WJ was a 4.7 with 185K miles with a 2" lift and JK Rubicon wheels & tires. For my job of carrying myself and some equipment to pretty much anywhere the WJ was actually a bit better than my pickup due to the smaller size. Capability wise the WJ with BFG Muds & quadra-drive would go really sloppy places much more confidently my pickup with similar tires. I found maintenance cost was a bit more than the truck and mileage for me was not that much better at around 13 with the Ram and maybe 15 with the Jeep. The WJ did lose a mile or two per gallon when I switched to the heavy BFG muds. If you like your truck and want to keep it decent I'd fix the jeep and save the wear & tear. Sure a 2K investment seems pretty big to save a couple of MPG but once your truck is worn out it'll be way more than 2K to replace.

The WJ is not really bad on rust at all. One rear dog leg between the rear tire and rear door is rotted, foam inside is showing. And the trans crossmember is swelling with rust (easy to replace). Brake lines look surprisingly good, minor blistering on some under body seams. I'll have to get under it again and poke around to make sure I'm not missing anything big. I would put some Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac's on it to be sure I get around in deep snow and mud and have decent tread life. But they would probably pull the MPG down to 15 as suggested. With my daily commute to the office plus the "company time" driving, we are looking at 15k miles a year easy. And as you said, the 1500 is more difficult to drive in congested work areas. I think I'll try and get a lower mileage 4.0, give it a new oil pump and a gasket set and throw it in for closer to $1000.

Your idea of not bad rust and mine is totally different, if you have rot through, you are looking at sever rust in a unibody, I have TJ and a YJ, full frames on both and the TJ is getting a few corrosion lumps but is still solid and same for the YJ. Its not a bad deal, but if you do the work yourself, its a full day to change the engine and get all of the accessories working. I have done several jeep engine swaps and they are just time and money, the hardest thing to do is get the bolts of the top of the tranny to block. They are a male torx and hard to reach. Everything electrical is plug and play. Tim

I've seen Caddy's, Ford's and Jeeps rot sheet metal when they apply foam inside body cavities. I guess it sweats a lot and can't breathe. I don't think the rust is structural, but you are correct, it needs a very close look over before I spend any $. Weather getting better, I may get to crawl under in the mud soon and check it out.