Greeting from Monteroland...

I'm working on a 96 Grand Cherokee that has a cracked manifold. I heard somewhere that this is a common problem.
On RockAuto site they list an "improved" replacement by ATP Challange.
What's your opinions on this part????
Thanks,
Dave H.

I'd prolly weld it if it was mine.. But then a STAINLESS one like this one for only $70. delivered might make me go thataway.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-97-98-...sQ5fAccessories
Big Jim

I went with JBA

See: http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep-yj/exhausting-options

I welded mine like BJ was saying, the problem is they like cracking right where the collector is so there is usually no space to get your welder in. After about the 5th weld job I bought one of those "improved" manifolds with a banjo in the 1 and 6 port. I've put 20K miles on it, and it still runs great. Then again, the stock manifold had 120K when it cracked originally... I'd buy something cheap, the thermal expansion on the 6 cyl. manifolds is considerable due to the length of the runners. A 200$ manifold every 100K miles seams like cheap maintenance to me.

Had one cracked so bad that it wouldn't pass smog. My son (the other guy) took it off and we had a local muffler shop buddy weld it right ($35.00). That was over a year ago and over a lot of rocks and still no re-crack!

Man , driving my nieborbor 2wd soccer mom mobile around makes me remimber the days when I had a jeep with the straight six. How I miss that low end torque. This thing has all that torque and horsepower and gets better milage than my Montero.

The exhaust pipe is in a bind as it presses right up against the oil pan.
I just read a JP magazine at the drug store. An article on myths and truths about the 4.0. It talks about the manifold crack and says it's caused by the lack of flex in the system. As I recall it says something about welding a flexi-joint into the pipe. With this tight fit against the pan I think I'm gonna add that flexi and get an inch or two gap away from the pan.

Well guess what? I, who advocated welding the manifold, now a year and a half later the manifold is leaking in a non repairable area and I now need a catalitic convertor which I replaced at the same time as the manifold repair. With the large leak before the O2 sensor, the sensor read a lean mixture and richened the system to the point of taking out the cat! Now I have to deal with buying a manifold and then a new cat!
I hope this helps anyone with a leaking manifold and a cat that is still good. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />