select track/command track

i have all but made up my mind to replace my s-10 pick up (no room in the cab for anything) with a cherokee. a cargo bed is nice, but so is a back seat, and with a nephew on the way i may need to use a car seat. i already read about the cooling problems and to check for rust under the seats, anything else i should know when looking for an XJ? are any years particularly better than others? i like manual transmissions, but i've been getting tired of shifting myself as of late so i am leaning towards an auto so my girlfriend or mom could use it if need be.
my question is this: aside from select track (if i remember right) having a full time 4wd option which would be handy in winter, is there any reliability issues with one transfer case or the other?
i am only about an hour from paragon in hazelton PA and would like to head up there once in a while, so i am also considering a smallish lift for it, no more than 3" as it'll be my daily driver. is one transfer case better than the other for a light trail rig?
i'm also not rich, so i need to keep this on a low budget type thing, so no more than like $5000.

You'll get a few differnt answers on this one, I personally like the full time option on a daily driver. There is a point around 97 or so that when lifting much that a SYE is pretty much nessacary to prevent driveline isues, someone else should chime in though and spell that out better.
Mike B.

basically, look for anything but an 84-86 cherokee.

get the 4.0L/auto combo the drivetrain, aside from the axles, is virtually indestructible. being in PA, the "selec-trac" is a godsend for winter weather, and you will love it.

in '95, they got better brakes (89-92 ABS models were garbage, and EXTREMELY problematic) personally, I feel that ABS is more of a hinderance than a help

you are also an hour from harry's u-pull it (also in hazleton) they usually have tons of cherokees there and a plethora of nice parts to upgrade with. about half of my cherokee came from harry's

thanks guys, i'll keep an eye out for the ABS stuff. if the abs does go, do you lose breaking performance, or just the ABS function? there are tons of cherokees for sale around here, and honestly the only one i have ever seen with a 4cyl was an '84. aside from that they have all had the 4.0 L. i was leaning towards an '88 to '94 anyway just due to price and i want fuel injection.

My ABS was already gone when I bought mine. I would have the ABS disabled if it is still active. I think it hinders stopping more than it helps, especially if you've never been in a car when it activates.....its kinda scary.

If the ABS quits working then the brakes just function like normal, non-ABS brakes. You don't lose any braking ability. You just lose the additional steering control that ABS gives you.

Personally, I live in Colorado and do a lot of mountain driving in the winter (snowshoeing is a hobby). I purposely chose a Jeep with the 231 xfer case. I see no benefit to full-time 4WD as long as you have the shift-on-the-fly option (which all Cherokees do). If it's bad enough to need 4WD then it's almost always bad enough to put it in 4WD and leave it there with very little, if any, shifting in and out.

That's my opinion, others may disagree. I've had full-time 4WD before and, like I said, I purposely chose the 231 xfer case.

dmillion said:

If the ABS quits working then the brakes just function like normal, non-ABS brakes. You don't lose any braking ability. You just lose the additional steering control that ABS gives you.

Click to expand...

That's the way it's supposed to work. With the older XJ ABS system, there have been reports of losing the entire braking system when the ABS fails. (Note I said "when," not "if.")

Personally, I live in Colorado and do a lot of mountain driving in the winter (snowshoeing is a hobby). I purposely chose a Jeep with the 231 xfer case. I see no benefit to full-time 4WD as long as you have the shift-on-the-fly option (which all Cherokees do). If it's bad enough to need 4WD then it's almost always bad enough to put it in 4WD and leave it there with very little, if any, shifting in and out.

Click to expand...

The guy who asked for advice lives in PA, not CO. Here in the northeast we often get storms that send out the highway crews. The result is roads with alternating patches of snow and dry pavement. I've driven multiple hour trips through such conditions and the right arm gets very tired after rowing the transfer case lever. Selec-Trac is a God-send in those conditions. I only wish Jeep had offered it with the 5-speed.

We get patches of snow and dry pavement here, too. If there's more snow than dry pavement then leave it in 4WD. If there's more dry pavement than snow then 2WD works just fine.

Like I said, you're welcome to your opinion, this is mine based on having owned vehicles with both.

Oh, by the way, I'm guessing the conditions in PA aren't a whole lot different than NJ. I've lived in NE, ND, NJ, back to NE, FL, NC, IA, and now CO. I suspect that I have a pretty good feel for driving in a lot of different kinds of winter weather.

Rain is where full-time really helps me. In 2WD I'm all over the place with a little too much gas. But in full-time I don't even have to worry about it. It sticks like glue to the road. There is a night and day difference with full-time in the rain. I thought you weren't supposed to use part-time onroad. Obviously if the road was covered in snow it would be different, but I wouldn't think that rain would allow enough slippage to permit use of part-time. Don't you risk damage by using part-time on pavement even if it's wet?

i looked at an '88 wagoneer with 125,000 miles this afternoon. nobody was around, so i am gonna call in the morning to see what they want for it. it had the select trac t-case. i assume any lifts/performance parts are the same as for a cherokee. interior looks ok, but the paint is fadeing in a lot of areas, but that seems common from what i have seen around here.