1996 Grand Cherokee Laredo

[Daysrnew]

Hi everyone, hope I'm in the right thread by posting this here.

This weekend I bought a 1996 Grand Cherokee Laredo for a really good price. I was told by the seller that it had a blown head gasket and everything else was great. I went through the hassle of hauling it home only to tear into it and find out that there is a baseball size hole in the side of the block. The previous owner through a rod through the block. What I thought was a simple head gasket fix is now a destroyed engine. The rest of the jeep is in great shape. All it needs is a 4.0 engine replacement. What I don't have is a full shop to do this in. I'm on the fence as what to do now. I got ripped off completely, however I'm trying to make a good situation out of a bad one. I've pulled plenty of motors, however I've never pulled a motor in a vehicle that has a 4X4. Is this different? Is it a lot harder? The ****** also has 150,000 miles on it, so even if I put a new motor in it, do you think it would be worth it given the ****** has 150,000 miles on it? If the kid rode it hard enough to blow a rod through the small block, do you think the ****** has a chance? I'm trying not to lose my butt on this, not sure mechanically what would be best. It's a nice jeep. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
N

 

[_UnLiMiTeD_]

i dont think its much different from a 4x2 vehicle, just a transfer case in there also. If you have done motor swaps before im sure this wont be much harder. Have you contacted the seller about the baseball size whole in the motor?

 

[Daysrnew]

I did contact the seller. He was a total jerk about it. He claims he knew nothing of it and if it has a hole in the block, somehow I must of done it b/c his mechanic told him it has a blown head gasket. I'm not sure how he thinks I blew the hole in it when it won't even start!! That jeep never saw a shop, there is no way. No mechanic would of told him it was a blown head gasket when oil was running down the motor out of this hole. Unfortunately I didn't have the resources to tear into it until I got it back to my house. It was such a good price I figured short of the motor being completely shot it was a great deal. Well, the motor is completely shot. He won't do anything about it (make it right) so short of suing him (which I could) I just have to turn this situation around. I was under the impression that it would be harder to pull a motor out of a 4X4 than out of a car. I have a machine shop in town that I use faithfully and after tapping that resource, it looks like I could have a new motor in it for probably 1,200.00 (head resurfaced and all). I just worry about putting that additional into it when it needs a new drivers side door, a new hood, new passenger door lock and I worry about the transmission.