Originally you posted something about a Bronco.
I am kind of doing the opposite, I had a built up 87 bronco, 460, d-60, gm 14 bolt, locked front/rear, 37 inch mtr's. It has been dismantled and I am building up a 99 cherokee.
Anyway some thoughts on the Bronco;
The last bronco made was in 1996, they did get pretty comfortable in the last few years, the 351 made good power. For an auto the E4OD was the better transmission. For a stick they never really got a good 5 speed. (had a np 435 up to about 87 but that is a 4 speed) The A/C's in Broncos always seemed to kick ass.
The rear axle is a ford 8.8, it is good up to 33's, maybe 35's if you are easy on it. The rear axle can be easily swapped with a ford 10.25 which will have 8 lug axles. The 10.25 will hold up well to lots of abuse, it is not quite as strong as a gm 14 bolt, but much stronger than a stock rear d-60. The ford auto tranny uses the tone ring on the diff to shift so you are stuck using a ford rear axle with the 92-96 broncos.
The front axle is kind of a joke. It is a d-44 center with a twin traction beam suspension. The ttb front end usually starts breaking stuff and handling really poorly with anything bigger than 33's on it. Easiest thing to do is stuff a straight axle under it with leaf springs, preferable a d-60 from the same rig as the ford 10.25. The ttb does have a pretty big following for pre-runner type stuff it can be made to do speed well but for crawling it doesn't seem to work out very well. The ttb outers can be swapped with gm 8-lug d-44 stuff to make the ttb 8 lug (this is pretty cheap to do).
Overall if you can live with a 2 door and want a vehicle that old, a bronco isn't a horrible choice. You would be hard pressed to find another vehicle that has a comfortable place for 4 people to sit and a lot of gear. And you can find mid 90's Broncos for cheap.
You might want to look at k5 Blazers I think they made them up to early 90's, they have a straight d-44 up front, TBI 350, TH350, 1-ton axle swap is just about bolt in, but I don't think they ever got as comfortable as the Broncos, but they are more easily and cheaply modified.
With a full size rig you will probably bang sheet metal all over the place, I did.
Pretty much anything you pick will be more comfortable for 4 people than a cherokee, there are only a few vehicles smaller than xj's, my 2dr civic has more leg room front and rear than the xj...
Nathan
I am kind of doing the opposite, I had a built up 87 bronco, 460, d-60, gm 14 bolt, locked front/rear, 37 inch mtr's. It has been dismantled and I am building up a 99 cherokee.
Anyway some thoughts on the Bronco;
The last bronco made was in 1996, they did get pretty comfortable in the last few years, the 351 made good power. For an auto the E4OD was the better transmission. For a stick they never really got a good 5 speed. (had a np 435 up to about 87 but that is a 4 speed) The A/C's in Broncos always seemed to kick ass.
The rear axle is a ford 8.8, it is good up to 33's, maybe 35's if you are easy on it. The rear axle can be easily swapped with a ford 10.25 which will have 8 lug axles. The 10.25 will hold up well to lots of abuse, it is not quite as strong as a gm 14 bolt, but much stronger than a stock rear d-60. The ford auto tranny uses the tone ring on the diff to shift so you are stuck using a ford rear axle with the 92-96 broncos.
The front axle is kind of a joke. It is a d-44 center with a twin traction beam suspension. The ttb front end usually starts breaking stuff and handling really poorly with anything bigger than 33's on it. Easiest thing to do is stuff a straight axle under it with leaf springs, preferable a d-60 from the same rig as the ford 10.25. The ttb does have a pretty big following for pre-runner type stuff it can be made to do speed well but for crawling it doesn't seem to work out very well. The ttb outers can be swapped with gm 8-lug d-44 stuff to make the ttb 8 lug (this is pretty cheap to do).
Overall if you can live with a 2 door and want a vehicle that old, a bronco isn't a horrible choice. You would be hard pressed to find another vehicle that has a comfortable place for 4 people to sit and a lot of gear. And you can find mid 90's Broncos for cheap.
You might want to look at k5 Blazers I think they made them up to early 90's, they have a straight d-44 up front, TBI 350, TH350, 1-ton axle swap is just about bolt in, but I don't think they ever got as comfortable as the Broncos, but they are more easily and cheaply modified.
With a full size rig you will probably bang sheet metal all over the place, I did.
Pretty much anything you pick will be more comfortable for 4 people than a cherokee, there are only a few vehicles smaller than xj's, my 2dr civic has more leg room front and rear than the xj...
Nathan
