Yes, I would have gone with a turbo.
Building a turbo kit for a TJ wouldn't be hard.
Just sparking some curiosity...
Coming from the turbo/fast-car scene myself.
I'm wondering how reliable a turbo system would actually handle on a mild-offroad scenario, or if anyone ACTUALLY wheels regularly on a reliable turbo setup.
Turbo systems are extremely finnicky & fragile in terms of being bashed around, despite what many people like to advertise.
It's not as solid of a system as a Supercharger. There's a lot of brackets, piping, fittings, etc. All of which are subjective to fail due to harsh driving scenario's (ie. offroading, bouncing around, shaking, jolting, etc)
There are a lot of parts that need to be planned properly to not only operate in conjunction with each other, but to do so reliably.
In stock applications, turbo systems are generally pretty good, but I have yet to see a truly 'reliable' aftermarket turbo system, on any vehicle.
There's a LOT of money that goes into chasing a reliable aftermarket system, especially on an engine that wasn't specifically designed for it.
(and majority of those claiming they have one also see more garage time than drive time)
Despite those opinions, there's also a few facts to take into account for the Turbo vs Supercharger debate.
Turbo's require higher consistent RPM's to maintain boost/manifold pressure.
There's not much power to be made below a certain RPM threshold, which doesn't line up well with off-road wheeling
(most of which is operating at a consistent low-ish RPM).
The cold truth is, Turbo systems SUCK unless you're pushing the RPM's required to build boost.
Obviously this can be negated by utilizing a smaller turbo housing, which would require lower exhaust pressure to operate efficiently, but then you're pushing back into the boat of spending $4-6k and still 'not making enough power'.
For rock bouncers, pegging off of red-line, I can see it working somewhat well.
For the general off-roader/crawler, the benefits of a turbo system seem nill to me, in comparison to the low-mid range power/reliability you can pull from a supercharger.
I feel as though a supercharger would possibly offer a bit less power, but do so more consistently.
Whereas a turbocharger would sound cool on paper, and might even dyno well, but rarely would you reap the benefits off-road, unless you're playing in that 3k rpm range.
Lastly, while i'm blabbering, I overall feel an engine swap in general would be more cost-worthy than either of the two options for a TJ, unless you fully build the 4.0. Even then, the 4.0 is not an efficient engine in terms of power output.
Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong or looking at this sideways.
Would love to see some opinions/facts surrounding the topic.