Meeting of the Minds

[racerky]

I need some opinions from some more experenced owners.
I have got a 1981 Cherokee 258/727/219. I hate the full time 4x4, it seems the 258 does not have enough power. It is driven mostly on paved roads, some weekend off roading. My question is I would like to change to a stick shift and different transfer case maybe a 208, and put manual hubs on the front. Do I leave the 258 or upgrade to the 360? Should I keep the 727? Or what combination would you all and knowing jeepers suggest. The Jeep is all orginal. 73000 miles I do run 31x10.50x15 tires. 3.31 gears.:) :fsj:

[Ristow]

upgrade the 258. lotta potential in that superior I6 engine.

[addicted]

The 258 is a great engine with a manual behind it. The auto's leave a whole lot to be desired especially with the anemic gearing the factory used. It would probably be easiest to swap a manual into it, plenty of them around if you search some. You could also swap in some lower gears like 3.73's. That would make a really big improvement over the 3.31's.

You could do what Ristow recommended and swap in a bigger cam add a 2150 carb and header and really wake it up.

[ob1jeeper]

I have essentially the same combo on my old 1980, with a tad over 279,000 miles. Other than the "small" difference in miles, mine has the 208, and 3.54's with the std 225 tires. It's certianly no race car, but is "acceptable", and I've used it to tow an approx. 2500 lb fishing boat for years.

That said... IF I were to EVER go to a large tire, it would get minimally 3.73's, but more likely 4.10's or 4.27's.

3.31's are simply too tall for that engine and 31" tires. The ablsolute first thing I would suggest you do is to go to minimally 3.73's, or better yet 4.10's, ESPECIALLY if you ever have thoughts about increasing tire size to 32's or larger.

Finally... IF you decide to open up the tranny for any reason, check into obtaining a different convertor with approx 1950-2050 stall speed. (current convertor should be an 1800-1850 stall IIRC...) That will also help with launch torque, and make it feel like a whole new vehicle during launch...;)

HTH... Good Luck...:D ;)

[racerky]

Thanks to all, I may switch to stick and 208.

[jaber]

I was told that putting the head, intake, and exhaust from an early '90's 4.0 HO would up the horsies by 40.

Can any one confirm or dismiss this??? I am about to do this for a project I'm building and would like to know for sure.

[MistWolf]

Are you planning on leaving the gears in the 208 stock? If so, you's be better served with a 231 or 241 t case. Yes, they are chain driven but I put a lot of hard wheeling miles on both and they come standard with the 2.73 gears. With the I-6 you'll want those lower gears. The 241 comes out of a full-sized Chevy truck. If I recollect, the 231 can be found in some bigger rigs with V8s. You can find'em cheap too

[addicted]

I was told that putting the head, intake, and exhaust from an early '90's 4.0 HO would up the horsies by 40.

Can any one confirm or dismiss this??? I am about to do this for a project I'm building and would like to know for sure.

I don't know an exact HP # but do know that it will increase the power noticeably and retain the low end torque the 258's are known for as well as make it more efficient all around. I plan to do this with a '78 short block I have and replace the 4.0 I am putting in my '89 with it eventually. The 4.0 runs great with great compresssion but I want the grunt of the 258 with the efficiency of the 4.0.

[Elliott]

Lots of guys swap to pt cases when they can't part time the case they have... I've driven both and can say that pt really sucks part time... and that's when you drive in conditions that quickly alternate (winter) between slick and dry road surface. In another instance, wet road surface, I was driving at highway speed during heavy rain with a full time case and hit an unseen puddle at night on a turn. Had I been running a pt case I very likely would have wrecked my cherokee but the 4x4 kept me in line. Just something to think about before you go to the trouble of swapping the case and drivelines.

[addicted]

Are you planning on leaving the gears in the 208 stock? If so, you's be better served with a 231 or 241 t case. Yes, they are chain driven but I put a lot of hard wheeling miles on both and they come standard with the 2.73 gears. With the I-6 you'll want those lower gears. The 241 comes out of a full-sized Chevy truck. If I recollect, the 231 can be found in some bigger rigs with V8s. You can find'em cheap too

I really don't think that a low range ratio change of .11 is going to make a noticable difference in anything and all NP cases except the 200/205 are all chain drive.

The 208/219/228/229 all have a 2.61:1 low range ratio while the 231/242/241 (241OR having 4.1:1) and so on have 2.72:1. With that said the newer ones have slip yoke rear outputs (again with the 241OR being the exception) while the older cases have a bolt on yoke.

So keeping the factory 208 will save you money and time.

[jaber]

I don't know an exact HP # but do know that it will increase the power noticeably and retain the low end torque the 258's are known for as well as make it more efficient all around. I plan to do this with a '78 short block I have and replace the 4.0 I am putting in my '89 with it eventually. The 4.0 runs great with great compresssion but I want the grunt of the 258 with the efficiency of the 4.0.

Thanks for the info....:thumbsup:

[MistWolf]

For some reason I was thinking the NP208 had .208 gearing. Oops!