- Thread starter
- #1
Just curious what thoughts were considering I’m looking at retiring my xj after 20 years of faithful service now that it’s hitting 200k miles will the reliability be on par?
Sponsored
The front D30 is stout enough. You can run chromolly shafts and beat on 35" tires without too much issue. The rear D35 was the crap axle. 8.8 is a good swap for that.One of the XJ's advantage, due to the lack of frame, is that its belly sits way higher than a wrangler (and I'd wager probably a bronco as well). Not to mention the corners have rusted/been cut off/fallen off of most of them by now, so in an approach/breakover/departure angle situation, its guaranteed to be way better than either a new wrangler or bronco. There are a lot of issue with the XJ, it's far from perfect (crap cooling system, about as much power as a 1.5 ecoboost and so on), but the reliability is definitely there... The 2.3 has had its issues on the focus RS, but haven't heard of as many issues on the mustang/ranger... time will tell how they hold up. The 4.0 is a very low stress motor - essentially it doesn't make enough power to break anything - sometimes even the speed limit if you're at high elevation in Utah and you gotta hit 80...
Kinda weird to see this board talking about reliability in the XJ considering you hear on this board wranglers are the most unreliable thing since the rotary, even though in the same years as the XJ it had the same drivetrain (minus the HP D30 pre 2000).
I'm in the process of regearing mine... Top is the D30 HP 4.56 gears and bottom is the Ford 8.8 4.56 gears (it's also getting an explorer 8.8). The D30 is also one of the weak points for them...
Kinda weird to see this board talking about reliability in the XJ considering you hear on this board wranglers are the most unreliable thing since the rotary, even though in the same years as the XJ it had the same drivetrain (minus the HP D30 pre 2000).
I'm in the process of regearing mine... Top is the D30 HP 4.56 gears and bottom is the Ford 8.8 4.56 gears (it's also getting an explorer 8.8). The D30 is also one of the weak points for them...
It's hilarious how many people will defend the stock cooling system on those calling it adequate... and it's mostly people in places it never hits 100... meanwhile in Phoenix in 115F+ stop and go traffic those 4.0s are like the Fukushima reactor... That's one thing I've always loved about my Fords, cooling system is beefcake...The biggest downfall in reliability in XJ's in my experience is 1.) garbage Chrysler electronics and 2.) weak cooling system. The steel mechanical bits were all quite fine, it was the electronics powering them that constantly shit out. Crank sensors, temp sensors, oil level sensors (which were also easy to break during an oil change if you weren't careful), fuel level senders, crappy instrument cluster wiring, etc. Other things of note, crappy heater/evap cores, generally cheap interior plastics overall which don't help with the electronics problem either, interior water leaks and so on. When I went out on road trips and adventures with it, I had to make sure I had a spare of every damn sensor possible and the tools to change them all.
Don't get me wrong, I loved my XJ that I built to 3" on 33s, 4.56s, front e-locker and TrueTrac LSD in the rear Ford 8.8 I put in it. It was an absolute beast, and guarantee you it'd slap any of these factory Broncos on that trail. But, the main reasons I sold it were 1.) not reliable enough to be an overlanding rig that I wanted it to be and 2.) I couldn't bear to watch it rot away here in NY's evil saltlands. I must say though, I loved how that thing drove after the 4.56's went in.
Anyways, rose tinted glasses off, I have high hopes for the Bronco and really looking forward to see how it fares on the reliability front, as that is paramount to me at this point. It's the best looking SUV to come along since the classic XJ in my eyes.
I live in Reno. It doesn't get Phoenix hot, but it gets hot enough. I put Lebaron hood vents in the hood of my XJ. It actually helped a ton.It's hilarious how many people will defend the stock cooling system on those calling it adequate... and it's mostly people in places it never hits 100... meanwhile in Phoenix in 115F+ stop and go traffic those 4.0s are like the Fukushima reactor... That's one thing I've always loved about my Fords, cooling system is beefcake...