5 Key Differences between 4.0 & 4.7 Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ

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2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
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[willem]

I own two 4.7 V8s, and a lot of my friends have 4.0s, I’ve driven a lot of them, obviously the 4.0s are bulletproof but nothing like the power of a V8!! Either way, you’ll be happy with both of them, a JEEP IS A JEEP!!

[ethanhawkins]

99 wj limited with the 4.7 power tech still going strong 141k and 03 wj overland with the 4.7 ho going strong 341k

[natewj]

Love both engines, never personally had experience with the 4.0 but it's just a fact that they are bullet proof and very reliable, and much simpler than the 4.7 (but I do love the V8)

[dan]

I think the 4.0 is a phenomenally reliable motor, but I went with the 4.7 and love it! The power is noticeably better. The 4.7 isn't perfect, but if you take care of it, it is also quite reliable.

[rcaive]

Very happy with my 4.0L 6. Very reliable, enough torque to reach 70-75 mph highway speed and pass with ease, and even the fuel economy isn't bad. If you want a dependable daily workhorse, the 4.0 does the job. If you want extra bragging rights, get the 4.7. Both are great engines.

[kassic]

The 4.0L in 4WD low has plenty of tq for off road use (on road too IMO). If this was still 2002 I'd definitely go with the V8 but on a 20 year old vehicle and time when 235-255hp is still not much I'm sacrificing power for reliability, affordability, accessibility and availability. I know if a 4L breaks or even blows the engine I can get it back on the road at reasonable cost. Not so sure with the V8.

[jeffreystine]

The V8 has two different transmissions. The transmission itself contains three planetary gears and is able to either be a four or a five speed with a simple Tcm swap. 99-some 01 models have the 45-rfe some 01-04 have the 545-rfe

If you have a 45 rfe swap a tcm from a junked 545 and you’ll get better gear ratio and an extra lockout gear. Gives you about 2-3 mpg better at highway speeds

[Klotz]

A lot of wrong info here. The Dana 44A came in the V8 and also the 4.0 WJ’s. Also you could get 3.55 or 3.73 gears in the 4.0 as well. The differentials and gearing depend on which 4wd system it has. Not which engine they have. ALL QUADRADRIVE WJ’s have the Dana 44A as well as 3.73 gears. Some one didn’t do their homework. Thumbs down.

[jojorages]

Found a 4.7 V8 and bought it for $4200 with 148kmiles on it. Already came with tinted windows, 2.5 inch lift, and double din, apple car play already installed. Now I’m going to install the rear view backup camera this weekend and I feel like I got a really good deal for my first car

[mattorton]

4.7 had either a 45rfe or a 545rfe transmission. Same transmission but they had a different transmission control. 45rfe was a 4 speed but you can swap the controller and it will turn it into a 5 speed.

[SB-bufq]

100% agreed. im staying with 4.7. love it.

[SAGwords]

The 4.0 is definitely easy to work on. I don't regret owning it for that one reason.

[rodom]

Let’s just say I used to be a 4.0 guy before a got my 4.7. I still love and daily my 4.0 tho.

[BadmunkyWRX]

The 4.7 is just as reliable or more so than the 4.0. is in the WJ. Ill die on this hill!!! LOL
The 4.0 in the WJ is a hot mess of problems!
Piston skirts that fail.
Cam failures.
Lifter problems.
Head gasket problems,
Coil pack problems.
Oil pump problems.
Timing chain problems.
And the list just goes on.
The 4.0 in a WJ is NOT the bullet proof engine you guys think it is. It shares very few parts with the older distributor 4.0 that was totally a bullet proof dead reliable engine. Even the block is not the same. A few valve train parts and the crank shaft are the only carry over parts. The rest are either all new, or new suppliers that made them from inferior materials such as the pistons, that look identical to the old 4.0 pistons, but have skirt failure problems.


The 4.7 has 2 problems.
If you over heat it, it will likely drop a valve seat and or blow the head gaskets. So don't over heat it!
And if you run it low on oil it will jump time as the timing tensioner is oil pressure driven and if it gets to low on oil the pressure can fall off and the timing chain will go slack and jump time. So keep it full of oil!

I will agree the 4.0 has more room to work on it, and that's good because your going to be working on it a lot more often!
My 4.7ho powered 2002 Limited is almost 22 years old now and it still runs better than just about every 4.0 I have ever owned.
Its been one of the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned, and is in my top 5 favorite vehicles I have owned out of more than 30 at this point in my life.

Hands down I would go after a 4.7 over a 4.0 any day. Yes there are not as many on the road as there are 4.0s but that's mostly because they sold like 20-30 4.0s for every 4.7 WJ.

And you failed to mention fuel economy. The 4.7 gets better MPG than the 4.0 does!
My old 2003 4.0 powered WJ 100% could manage about 16mpg highway. This was after a tune up and going threw the thing to make sure everything was in good condition.
My 2002 4.7ho powered WJ will do 20-21mpg highway no problem.
I average around 15-16mpg with it. And I do mostly city driving as I live in the city and work in the city now.

The 4.7 also tows WAY better if you ever want to tow something with your WJ.
I pulled a 5k enclosed trailer with my 03 4.0 WJ one time and let me tell you it SUCKED! I got like 8mpg highway, and the thing was straight up gutless with 4 people and some gear in it at the same time.
I have also towed that same trailer with my 02 .47ho WJ again with it loaded to about 5.5k with 2 people and some gear in the WJ and the 4.7 just did not care that trailer was back there at all.
I could do 100mph if I wanted to towing that trailer. And I got 14mpg towing it.

So the 4.7 wins for towing as well as fuel economy.

[Mattmazz]

The reason the 4.0 is slower is because of the gearing difference. The 4.0 is more likely to have more torque depending on model. The thing better in the 4.0 is the fact that it's 4wd. The 4.7 is awd at least all of the models that I have seen. So it really depends on what you want. Off road honestly I am going to go 4.0 hands down. People automatically think 8 cylinders are better than 6 cylinders. The 4.0 is an inline 6 cubic inch it's really comparable to a small v8. But it runs smoother. 4.0 hands down better reliability so yeah you'll probably see a lot of higher mileage compared to the 4.7 but it's really not a big deal. I'll take a 4.0 with 125k on it compared to a 4.7 with 75k on it. But it's really personal preference. I'm not a fan of awd on a suv unless you want to do a swap later on but then it still won't matter which one you choose bc you can always change things to your liking. What do you plan on doing, what does your skill set and or wallet look like...lol.

[abrahampshat]

I have complete brand new Rough Country 4” lift kit for 1998 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee let me know if you interested.

[codered]

I can't speak on the attributes of the 4.7 because I've not owned one nor would I likely buy one. My 95 ZJ has the 4.0 w/factory 3:73 gears and some really unique components factory installed (former Chrysler test vehicle) and it's no slouch from a stoplight, with 250k miles it's still quicker than it should be (I've speed trapped it and am pretty intrigued by the numbers) with zero reliability issues thus far I'd not hesitate to drive it to California right now if I had to. I'm glad there are still a few people doing videos on these great jeeps.

[VMAFIA]

4.0 is bulletproof but comes with a weaker trans. With the American v8 dieing out I'm happy to live or die wit my 4.7. Great content as usual big dogg!

[teddyrascal]

Another great video. We went with the 4.7. We searched northern california for a nice wj for about 6 months. We settled on a laredo with the 4.7 because it was the best sounding motor out of all the jeeps we looked at. Bought it with 140, 000 and its still going strong at 189, 000. I was worried about the reliability but i have taken good care of it and it has treated us well. Did a trip with a 16ft trailer all the way down the west coast with zero problems. Did a tranny flush after, and she still purrs 50, 000 miles later. Luv the vids, keep em coming, ive learned a few things here and there!

[dgonzalez]

Simple if you want a 4.0 get an XJ it just belongs there and you will have a super capable and mostly reliable XJ if taken care of, but on a Grand Cherokee 4.7 is the go to, that V8 has more power for the additional weight