beater Jeep WJ as a work truck?

Posted By: GO_Fish

beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/04/14 03:29 AM

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?

Posted By: NITROUSN

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/04/14 05:10 AM

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.

Posted By: GO_Fish

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/04/14 01:25 PM

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.

Posted By: finn

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/04/14 04:35 PM

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.

Posted By: poorboy

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/05/14 04:04 AM

Quote:

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.

Especially with the last 1/2 of this, though off road in a cheap car might lead to big issues. You also have to take into account how many miles you will be driving your work vehicle. How many miles will you be adding to your Jeep in the next 5 years? What kind of shape will everything be in then, and will it last that long? Big difference if your adding 5,000 miles a year or 20,000 miles a year.

Really, you might want to look into an AWD Chrysler Minivan! They knock down decent gas mileage, and in AWD can go most places your jeep might. You can buy them pretty cheap and they have proven to be pretty reliable.

When my wife was driving for her job, she was driving 25,000 miles a year. When the trans on our 95 Intrepid gave up at 174K, it would not have been cost effective to rebuild it because the rest of the car probably would not have survived the required miles to offset the cost. We ended up buying a nearly new car because, when it was paid for, the miles would have been lower then any used car we were finding would have had on them when they were paid for. After 4 years, a 100k car stood a better chance of being a good car then something that started at 80K - 100K then added another 100K would be, and the Intrepid at 274K would not have been pretty either. Gene

Posted By: regularjay

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/05/14 04:32 AM

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.

Posted By: GO_Fish

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/06/14 03:21 AM

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.

Posted By: astjp2

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/09/14 11:26 PM

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

Posted By: GO_Fish

Re: beater Jeep WJ as a work truck? - 03/13/14 02:52 AM

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.