I'm gonna wind way back the original question, and encourage you to get what you want! I'd love to wheel a ZJ, probably a Limited because of the anecdotal evidence that they have more satisfied owners. I'd opt for a V-8 with the 231 t-case (if possible... probably not) or the 242. For 35" tires it would need a rear Dana 44 at least (not the lame aluminum 44 it comes with). I would probably go with 33" tires, though.

All this talk about wimpy unibodys is BS. The uniFrames hold up fine. (I understand Finite element analysis professionally, which is how the XJ and ZJ were designed... very well, and with a built-in frame.) The SoCalXJ guys beat the crap out of their XJs, usually at the Hammers. They break eventually, but so does everything. Mine (XJ) is still in great shape.