I think its more of a wheeling issue when it comes to reliability and unibody. PLus lifting for 33" tires would require 6" lift with trimming, at that point your talking new driveline, SYE, lots of other mods on top of the tires and lift cost.. then you run into what my brother matt is having thats the unibody separating from the frame... I love the cherokee, even GC, I am looking into getting one to tow my little suzuki to moab and back and have a DD, but I wont wheel it on anything more than moderate trails, and off camber or flexing long term is OUT of the question.
I don't think I'd use either rig to tow anything heavier than 2500 lbs or so. Frames are nice to have for that kind of stuff (IMHO). Definitely not a 1200-1500 lb trailer with a 2500-3500lb trail rig on it. Buy a cheap half ton truck/suv for that. Some of them even get respectable mileage for a daily driver.
How could the unibody separate from the frame? Got pics?
Why do you need 6" of lift for 33" tires? 4-4.5" would be plenty for 33" on an XJ. I bet it could be done on a ZJ, but I'm not sure (yet
). I had about 6" lift with 35" tires on my XJ. I'd not cross the 33" threshold with another XJ and probably won't with the ZJ.
IMHO, the unibody has a set 'lifespan'. It can only twist so many times and then it's junk. (so does a frame for that matter, it just happens to be a much longer life span) If you realize that going in, you're fine.
For $3-4K, (back to the original post) I'd shop pretty hard for the RIGHT XJ, ZJ and think you could do pretty well and stay to the budget outlined. They're decent rigs and fairly reliable. I'd give the nod to the XJ for reliability just because it doesn't have all the foo-foo crap a ZJ or WJ has typically.
IMHO, there's really nothing wrong with a Toyota, but I DON'T fit in them at all. They're just not comfortable for me to drive or even ride in. They've earned their reliability reputation but there's still Toyota junk out there just like there is Jeep junk, Land Rover junk and ??? junk.
Let me get this straight. You would tow with a Grand Cherokee, but you wouldn't wheel one?
I'd prefer not to tow with a uni-body vehicle. I did tow my tent trailer, but does that really count?