I'm sure this has been brought up many times before, but stirring the pot is so much fun! I am an fSJ owner who is thinking about downsizing. I know the basic differences between both platforms, (suspension, engine, etc...) I have 3 requirements, 1. must be fairly capable off road, 2. must be able to pull my boat (16 footer 1,800 lb...) and 3. get better milage than my 4 cyl Montero (less than 12 mpg!!!) My primary focus here though is off road capability, in your opinions, which is the better platform? Does the coil spring suspension on all four corners benefit the ZJ? does the lighter weight of the XJ benefit it more? etc. If you had to have 1 stock (ok 2-4" lifted) platform, which one for you?
anything is appreciated... and trust me I was thinking about a land rover classic for a while!!! YIKES! what was I thinking? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />
Harry

I would personally go with an XJ. Might not be much better on gas mileage but... it is a Jeep.

the basic platform is about the same. even the newer xj's have coil springs all the way around. the main differance is the overall length the gc is a bit longer for more passenger comfort and cargo space. another differance is you can get th gc with an 8 cyl and full time 4wd. I would however avoid that route, the full time 4wd transfer cases tend to wear alot out quicker. i get around 14-18 mpg in my xj which is an 89 and that is all city driving. you may not get 18 but 14 is a common average. I would think your best bet would be one with part time 4wd and the 4.0. do not howevwer buy one newer than a 98 or built after 5th month of 98. the head on those was weak and prone to cracks,they also didnt produce as much power. the best was 97 to 5th month of 98. those had the most power and the stronger head castings.

they are close to equal off road,concedering they are unibodied vehicles. the coil springs allow more wheel travel than leaf springs do. and heck of a lot easier to change if needed. the only other advice i can give is make sure it has a dana 44 or chrysler 8.25 rear diff. the dana 35's was prone to breaking. either one would be fine, xj if space for cargo,or passengers isn't impoartant and zj if it is

good luck

I have never heard of an XJ that came from the factory with coil springs all the way around..... What years had this option???

Ok im a ditz i confused wranglers for xj's for a moment. your right xj's always had leafsprings.

I would choose a ZJ over an XJ, but then again I'm biased <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. Both are fairly capable platforms for a unibodied vehicle. If properly set up both can flex equally as good on short arm lifts, long arm lifts are another story and if properly set up the ZJ's rear 4 or 5 link (depending on the lift) can outflex an XJ's leaf packs. Like Cuervo said try to get a newer one if you can for the stronger head castings and more power, also the D30 from 96+ came with 297X u-joints (same as D44 front u-joints) instead of the smaller 260x joint pre-96 jeeps. In the rear axle department it is pretty much a toss up, pre-96 XJ's came with the D35's, 27 spline chrysler 8.25" or the sometimes hard to find D44 (this only came on XJ's with the towing package between the years of 87-93 I believe), post-96 XJ's came with the D35 also but the 8.25" was upgraded to 29 splines (stronger). Pre-96 ZJ's only came with the D35, post-96 ZJ's came with a D35 for the I-6 engine or a D44a (30 splines but with an aluminum center center section and c-clipped axles) for the V8's. Or get whatever for the rear and just swap in a Ford 8.8 from an explorer as it has a Stronger ring gear than the D44 has 31-spline shafts has about the same WMS as the OEM axle can be set up pretty easy, upgrades the rear with disc brakes for the XJ and can be found fairly cheaply at a yard for around $100-$200 bucks compared to what most yards want for a D44 out of an TJ or XJ which usually run $400+. With front axles the XJ's win it because they have the high pinion D30 (stronger ring gear) versus the low pinion D30 that ZJ's came with. T-case wise the XJ's came with the 231 or the 242. ZJ's came with the 242 (I-6 engines) or the 249 (V8 engines), if you go the ZJ route with a V8 the 249 full time case can be easily swapped out for a 231 or a 242 so it's pretty much up to your personaly preferance. Also if you like comfortable wheeling the ZJ beats the XJ hands down <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />
Here are some pics of my junk... Specs below.


Hope this helps,
Fred R.