bwcastle

New to the forum, and jeeps for that matter, and i'm not sure if this has been covered yet, but the other day i saw a jeep cherokee with 3.0 diesel badges, and was wondering if anyone has done a motor swap for this option, or if there is anything in the rumor mill about offering a diesel for the wranglers? It seems to me like a diesel wrangler would be a huge hit among consumers. I wonder what the swap cost would be like compared to a hemi swap? anyways, just throwing it out there. Here's a link to jeeps article on the diesel and flex fuel 4.7 for the suv's http://www.jeep.com/jeep_life/news/jeep/diesel.html

spartan99

No it's not an option unfortunately. Half the people on this board would have the diesel if it were.

bwcastle

i figured it wasn't available for the wranglers yet, although i do believe its an option outside the US. I'm just wondering if anyone has personally done a motor swap for the diesel. i cant imagine the drivetrain is too entirely different on a cherokee that the swap would be too difficult, respectively. But like I said, I'm new to the jeep world, been a chevy guy up till now, so its a whole new ball game for me.

Littlejon

It has been done, and is an option if you can afford it. Burnsville Offroad did this, but they took it out of a brand new Grand Cherokee since there aren't many if any in the junkyards to use, so there is about $35,000 just to get the engine. Then the oil pan had clearance issues so they had to hand fab a new one, and redo all the wiring. Once you get to the total price you could probably have done 3 5.7 Hemi swaps. So it is an option, just not a very feasable, or smart one at the moment.

spartan99

Or you could just deck the heads to increase compression and start using diesel fuel, 1979 GM style!!

bwcastle

that makes sense, i suppose along the same lines my next question would be inquiring about the logistics of swapping a dodge cummins 5.9L diesel into a jeep. Those motors are certainly are in abundance. The reason i ask is because i can tell that i'm going to want to make some kind of swap in the future, I'm just not happy with the power of the stock JK, and I don't really like the idea of swapping in a gas guzzler (hemi), so I'm just feeling out my options.

bwcastle

Yeah, I can imagine the dealers faces when i show up for a service call when i roll up with a homemade 3.8L diesel asking for new glow plugs and injectors

Littlejon

This was also done, but the JK frame is not strong enough to handle the weight and torque of the engine so I guess technically the JK body was installed on a heavy duty Dodge, more then the Cummins being installed into the JK.

RedneckJeep

This dead horse is gonna get up if we keep beatin it.

RevyJKU08

I would love to see a 5.9L Cummins....best Diesel motor on the market!

However, if you thought the front rake was bad enough on the JK with the 3.8L V6....adding a +1100lb Cummins 5.9L....would sag that front end down to the road surface

If you need more power look at a supercharger add-on to the 3.8L V6.....or if you want to swap out a motor get the 5.7L Hemi with MDS (Multi Displacement System) and install an cylinder deactivation indicator light to get the best mileage!