Anyone have experience with 4.7 grand Cherokees?

Looking at replacing my Nissan p/u with a used Grand Cherokee. Something in the 2003 - 2006 range. Lots of them have the 4.7 liter engine. Would it be suitable for pulling a decent sizes pop-up camper? Any common problems with the 4.7?
I'm sure it would do a better job than my v6 Nissan.
Or should I hold out for a 2005-06 with the Hemi?

Current thread from the Moparts truck forum. 4.7's don't have a great reputation...

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post2024305

Don't waste your money....there is a reason that there is so many for sale...invest in a Hemi

Hmmmm, interesting

Mines been great 237k couple of water pumps, exhaust manifold gaskets and that's it. There's several hundred thousand 03 - 06 4.7's in Dakota/ durangos and jeeps still on the road. My quad Dakota pulled my demon on full trailer just fine.

My brother has one (probably less than 10 years old, somewhere around 100k). He's happy with it.

One of the problems is with the OEM water pump. The impeller is plastic pressed on the steel shaft. It gets loose one turns barely enough to cool. When it does let go, it gets hot and blows a head gasket. Then the motor cost too much to fix. Have the radiator pressure tested before you buy one to see if the head is cracked or gasket is blown. The 3.7 and 4.7 can have the lifter followers gum up and loose pressure on start up and fall off. Then you have a miss. Those are easy to replace on the car. The seats can fall out of the heads as well. Other than that, they are great motors.

Was reading on several Jeep forums last night, and it seems to be a mixed bag of folk who's had trouble and folks who have 200k mile without much problem.

its about 50-50 guys who have major issues and guys who like em. Not good odds in my book. I have 3 with bad engines sitting here, one I finnaly found a replacement for gonna cross my fingers and put it in, one I am gonna try a 5.7 swap, the third I am looking for a good used engine, not haveing any luck unless I want to spend $1500 plus and hope for the best. I have seen rockers fall off and not hurt anything, put em back then another falls off then another... if you are lucky you can keep putting em back, sometimes it gets trapped between the cam and valve and holds the valve open for the piston to kiss it. Sometimes it busts the head when the cam hits the misplaced rocker. The most common problem I see though is probably the head gasket, lots and lots of em, that problem snoballs real fast, the overheating (even a little) can let the valve seat fall out and reak havock on piston and block, the water in the oil can take out crank bearings real fast, most of the time the heads are warrped real bad (hard to tell if that caused the head gasket to leak or visaversa). Also seen tensioners fail and if your lucky the chain just rattles on start up, sometimes they jump and hit valves. They are better than a 2.7. We see a lot of failures in dodge engines ending in .7 the 2.7 3.7 4.7 and even the 5.7 hemi (usually only if overheated, the only non avoidable failure I see is the rods like to snap in perfectly maintained engines)and 6.7 cummins with injectors failing and pistons getting melted.

If you can find a 4.0 GC they are a much better rig.

Buy a 2007 and up GC. Updated 4.7L w/ better mileage (2-3 mpg)and a ton more power.(Dual plug cyl head w/ poly chamber.) Engines are hyper sensitive to the condition of the oil.Use the best oil you can afford. 80% of issues are oil related. And yes I have experience with the 4.7L.

the 4.7 is a strong engine I loved our 99...until it just spit a rocker out the valve cover. It only had like 90k on it and it was very well maintained. Seems to be an issue with some. The tow truck driver said he has one his dad gave him w/ over 350k, no issues at all, original motor and trans.

I had an earlier GC with 4.7 and thought it was a great match for the vehicle... including moderate towing. A nice balanced runner. I did not keep it to high miles and no problems. The 4.7 seems very sensitive to oil maintenance and a mixed reputation. In a used vehicle, sounds like there is some risk.

The Hemi seems very solid. I traded my last one at 175k and before that at 165k. They ran as new and used no oil when traded with minimal maintenance beyond standard (one water pump each, fan clutch on the first and leaking left exhaust manifold on the last).

yea, I'm not liking the odds on the 4.7, especially since the years I'm looking at already have an average of 125-135k on them already.
Maybe I'll save up a bit longer and try to get into a Hemi.