To begin, here’s a little context since this is my first post on this forum 
. I bought my first Jeep in March of last year, a black 97 TJ, and had a great time learning and wheeling last summer. Last owner had it set up as a mudding rig on 37” cut Boggers. It has trussed Dana 44s from a Rubicon with functional air lockers . I chose to downsize to 33” Duratrac and I’ll eventually lower it drastically to fit the smaller tires better. I have plans to replace the 3in BL with a 1in Prothane BL and put on the H&R 52107 lift springs along with Bilstein 5100s. I figure that will give me the lower stance I’m looking forward to.
During a particularly gnarly 2AM trail ride I managed to fold in my door on a tree (breaking my rolled down window inside said door) and shortly after to completely rest the front end of the Jeep on the oil pan (oops). I was very lucky to not gash the pan open and it amazingly didn’t even spring a leak. The engine miraculously seemed unhurt so got out of the trail and made my way back home. I managed to wheel the whole summer without any engine issue, or so I thought…
Last October, going down a particularly steep hill I started to hear my engine knocking and I looked down to my oil gauge to see it pegged to 0… My heart dropped as I realised my engine was seriously damaged. I again managed to limp my injured engine home below 2000RPM. Any more RPM would begin to feel like the engine was shaking in a very unhealthy way. Following a friends advice I decided to hunt down a cheap 4.0 long block to swap into my TJ as opposed to trying to do an in frame rebuild tracing down the havocs of oil starvation. Based on this compatibility chart I picked up an XJ 4.0 for 200$ this winter.
Fast forward to now, many months later with the long block still on the engine stand in the garage and the TJ still down… The summer is passing at an alarming rate and my Jeep is still out of commission. I have more time on my hands now to take care of the matter and I want to do it right. So here’s my question, when swapping in an unknown mileage 4.0 what are the must do?
I’m already planning on ordering a full seal kit to take care of the many leaks that have caked the “new” block. Changing out the clutch is also planned, as well as throwing in a new water pump. I’ll be buying new motor mounts since the previous owner seems to have completely ditched the transfer case mount to allow for more angle out of the tranny drop... I don’t want to fall victim to the ever growing “while you’re at it” list of mods/maintenance. I simply want to refresh the engine without rebuilding it. I will try to order everything off of RockAuto as it’s the easiest site for me to get a big parcel sent up to Canada from. I’ll most likely rebuild the engine I broke to have it ready on a stand. Right now I just want to get going again and hit the trails!
Any help would be appreciated, thank you
. I bought my first Jeep in March of last year, a black 97 TJ, and had a great time learning and wheeling last summer. Last owner had it set up as a mudding rig on 37” cut Boggers. It has trussed Dana 44s from a Rubicon with functional air lockers . I chose to downsize to 33” Duratrac and I’ll eventually lower it drastically to fit the smaller tires better. I have plans to replace the 3in BL with a 1in Prothane BL and put on the H&R 52107 lift springs along with Bilstein 5100s. I figure that will give me the lower stance I’m looking forward to.During a particularly gnarly 2AM trail ride I managed to fold in my door on a tree (breaking my rolled down window inside said door) and shortly after to completely rest the front end of the Jeep on the oil pan (oops). I was very lucky to not gash the pan open and it amazingly didn’t even spring a leak. The engine miraculously seemed unhurt so got out of the trail and made my way back home. I managed to wheel the whole summer without any engine issue, or so I thought…
Last October, going down a particularly steep hill I started to hear my engine knocking and I looked down to my oil gauge to see it pegged to 0… My heart dropped as I realised my engine was seriously damaged. I again managed to limp my injured engine home below 2000RPM. Any more RPM would begin to feel like the engine was shaking in a very unhealthy way. Following a friends advice I decided to hunt down a cheap 4.0 long block to swap into my TJ as opposed to trying to do an in frame rebuild tracing down the havocs of oil starvation. Based on this compatibility chart I picked up an XJ 4.0 for 200$ this winter.
Fast forward to now, many months later with the long block still on the engine stand in the garage and the TJ still down… The summer is passing at an alarming rate and my Jeep is still out of commission. I have more time on my hands now to take care of the matter and I want to do it right. So here’s my question, when swapping in an unknown mileage 4.0 what are the must do?
I’m already planning on ordering a full seal kit to take care of the many leaks that have caked the “new” block. Changing out the clutch is also planned, as well as throwing in a new water pump. I’ll be buying new motor mounts since the previous owner seems to have completely ditched the transfer case mount to allow for more angle out of the tranny drop... I don’t want to fall victim to the ever growing “while you’re at it” list of mods/maintenance. I simply want to refresh the engine without rebuilding it. I will try to order everything off of RockAuto as it’s the easiest site for me to get a big parcel sent up to Canada from. I’ll most likely rebuild the engine I broke to have it ready on a stand. Right now I just want to get going again and hit the trails!
Any help would be appreciated, thank you