# V6 Jeep Cherokee For plowing?



## snowhack (Sep 1, 2004)

Is a Jeep V6 Cherokee ample enough of a truck for plowing small parking lots or is it better for small work?
Are the plows for this model hard to find or more expensive?
In general is manual better for plowing or is automatic? 
I have many more questions, but I won't ask them all. Thanks for any assistance.


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## grotecguy (Feb 8, 2004)

Isn't a cherokee a unibody vehicle???
I wouldn't want to put too much of a plow on it. The frame rails may not handle the abuse of plowing.
Just my $.02
Mark K


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## Plow Meister (Oct 16, 2001)

Do a search on the Cherokee. You will find many reasons why Cherokees (unibody construction) is NOT a capable plow vehicle. Sure, it has the power. But the body construction does not warrant the installation of a plow.
http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=15528&highlight=Cherokee
http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=5497&highlight=Cherokee
These are just a few

How do you have a V6 in your Cherokee? Do you have a Grand?


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## RamesesSnow23 (Jan 4, 2004)

If he had a grand cherokee he would have said grand, The CHEROKEES plow fine its the GRAND CHEROKEES that have a unibody construction and should not be used for plowing. My brother just got a 98 Cherokee also a V6 and we plan on getting a 6'9" fisher for it. Another person i know used a 95 cherokee for plowing he says the thing was a bulldozer. 

Snowhack yes the cherokees can plow, they perform much better in small driveways and tight areas than they do in large lots. Since you will have a smaller plow it would take much longer to do a large lot than it would with an F-250 and an 8'5" plow. No lighter plows are not harder to find or more expensive than anyother plow you can get. Look around at different brands, some have links at the top of this page. All plow companies now accomidate smaller trucks so you will find a large selection of lighter plows to choose from. Auto trans much better for plowing in my opinion just more conveinent nothing mechanical. If the truck is manual thats fine too it should not stop you from plowing. Good Luck if its a Cherokee and not a Grand Cherokee your truck is NOT unibody as suggested and WILL plow.


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## Plow Meister (Oct 16, 2001)

ALL CHEROKEES have unibody construction. I own several of them from a 1987 to a 2000. None of which had an option of a V-6. There was a V-6 available a LONG TIMS AGO, like in the early 80's. It was a 2.8L. Only a 4 cylinder or either a 4.2L INLINE 6 and the newer 4.0L INLINE 6 has been used since 1987. The only V-6 available for quite some time is the new 3.XL V-6 found in the new Liberty. Sure, the engines are great and the drivetrain is quite capable but the body is simply not suited for commercial plowing. I have seen back windows explode due to abuse caused by snow plowing. 

cja 1987, don't be a smart a$$. I was just making sure he wasn't talking about a grand. You are right. My comment about the grands were inaccurate. They do not have a frame either. The only Jeeps since the 1980's that have frames are the CJ, TJ, YJ, Wagoneer, and the Liberty.


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## RamesesSnow23 (Jan 4, 2004)

Plow Meister,
your right no V-6 its an Inline 6 my fault i mis spoke. As far as the cherokee body issue i guess i took something i had always assumed and posted it as fact on this site never having climbed under a cherokee and looked at it. I just did this and you are right. So i guess i have a (friendly) question for you why do you see so many people with plows on cherokees would you recommend that everyone who has them stop using them. I was suprised to find out that it is a unibody since i know people who have done some plowing with them and had no problems. Fisher lists cherokees on thier plow selection page i think it goes from the late 80's models to 96 if iam not mistaking. Should i not put a 6'9" fisher on my brothers 98 cherokee? I really did not mean to be a jerk iam going to have to do some more research on the jeeps now and figure out what iam going to do as far as the plow goes. I still think i will find a plow for it. 

Again sorry i was confused on the matter and spoke too soon in my last post, my mouth engaged before my brain again.


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

you can put on those sport utility plows on westen makes for down sized trucks


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## Plow Meister (Oct 16, 2001)

cja1987 said:


> Plow Meister,
> your right no V-6 its an Inline 6 my fault i mis spoke. As far as the cherokee body issue i guess i took something i had always assumed and posted it as fact on this site never having climbed under a cherokee and looked at it. I just did this and you are right. So i guess i have a (friendly) question for you why do you see so many people with plows on cherokees would you recommend that everyone who has them stop using them. I was suprised to find out that it is a unibody since i know people who have done some plowing with them and had no problems. Fisher lists cherokees on thier plow selection page i think it goes from the late 80's models to 96 if iam not mistaking. Should i not put a 6'9" fisher on my brothers 98 cherokee? I really did not mean to be a jerk iam going to have to do some more research on the jeeps now and figure out what iam going to do as far as the plow goes. I still think i will find a plow for it.
> 
> Again sorry i was confused on the matter and spoke too soon in my last post, my mouth engaged before my brain again.


Well, we both had the same problem, open mouth... Insert foot.

First, as Jeeps go in general, the are bad ass when it cimes to traction and power. I don't know why but they are just so good at 4wd. That is why a lot of people put plows on them, Wranglers especially. As far as Cherokees go, most of the plows seen on them are for light duty. Sure, there is the occasional Cherokee that is regularly plowed commercially but I definitely wouldn't recommend it. I have seen back windows blown out from plowing and exreme wheeling. Especially the 2 door Cherokee. There is a lot more back glass to warp when a large pile of snow is hit or pushed.

As indicated in your screen name I see you have a CJ. I also assume since you have the CJ you probably wheel with it as well. A little background on me... I have been building Jeeps since 1988 and have been racing and competitive rock crawling since 1999. I know this may seem boastful but I have more or less appointed myself as the PlowSite Jeep Guru. When I have more time, and if you are interested, I can send you pics and stats of all my Jeeps. My current project is a frame-up creation of a Matkins level 3 frame with a coil over 4 link front & rear. D-70 rear with a one off Ox-Locker and D-60 kingpin front with an ARB air locker. The body will be a custom aluminum tub to shorten it 3" in the front and for engine clearance and 4" in the rear accomodate a built-in looking 1/4" steel rear bumper. The front end will be a custom aluminum CJ-7 front end (steel grill to make it a real Jeep). The engine is a Chevy Z-3 engine and a TH400 trans. The headers are custom built to accomodate the frame and steering. I am currently working on a 300HP nitrous system but I am not sure of the setup yet. May have to go with less fog so as not to get too hot. The transfer case is an Atlas twin stick. All the miscellaneous components like steering and electronics came from a CJ-7. This truck will be used hopefully in the 2005 Baha Classic race. Unitl then it will be a trailer queen to the local rock courses. If you are ever in Indiana I would love it if you could come by since you hopefully share the same love for Jeeps as I do.


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## RamesesSnow23 (Jan 4, 2004)

Well the letters in my screen name are my initials  but when i was little my father had a CJ which, as far as i can remember, we used to take for summer drives and tow a small boat with probley did some off roading but i don't remember too well. Sold that CJ in 1994 and he has driven a car since. My brother who is a year youger than me just got his liscense and we got a 1998 Jeep Cherokee sport 4 door with the 4.0 Liter I6 automatic. Its dark green with tinted windows and alloy wheels, its very nice looking. Best part is we got it for $6,500. I had never driven a jeep until a a few weeks ago and wow was I impresed with exactly what you said traction and power. On monday I took it to the beach and drove it on the dunes, also drove it on some overgrown muddy logging roads on my uncles property in NH. Thing is amazing off road. I now fully understand what you mean with the unibody yes you can plow but if you hit something or push large amounts of snow the force from that is distributed not just through a frame but the entire body ie windows and the likes. Makes perfect logical sense. I would keep it to a few driveways if i get the plow. Thanks for the offer if iam in the area id stop by. Good Luck with all your jeep projects. I should have listened to someone who knew in the first place :waving:


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## Big Nate's Plowing (Nov 26, 2000)

I myself have plowed with many vehicles in the last few years, everything from a fullsize bronco with a 425 hp 400 big block to a jeep with a v-6 that couldnt break them loose while powerbreaking in 2wd on wet pavement

it was a 86 cherokee drivetrain in a 92 body, they are a semi-unibody they do have subframes which take most of the abuse, my problem was that with a 2 meter meyer it was resting on the bumpstops, granted the 2.8 v-6 was tired it did ok in 1st gear/4low aslong as the rpm's didnt get below 2500 while pushing a full blade, being a lightweight vehicle it did horrable in the wet stuff even with new blizzaks


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## snowhack (Sep 1, 2004)

*Jeep for Plowing?*

Thanks for all your help. I was thinking of using a regular Cherokee, not Grand Cherokee to do small lots and some driveways. How about S10/GMC/Ranger/Nissan/Toyota 4x4. Do they do poorly on the wet stuff?
Limitations/Advantages/Plow Costs/ETC. Thanks again.


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## Plow Meister (Oct 16, 2001)

In all honesty, any 4 wheel drive vehicle can perform well give the right conditions. You can't put an 8 foot blade on an S10 with a 4 cylinder. You CAN plow with your Cherokee but I wouldn't recommend it. You could put a 6 1/2 foot medium duty plow on an S10 or a Ranger if it has a 6 cylinder and adequate balast and tires. Don't expect it to make 10 foot piles or push a full blade of 12" deep snow. An S10 or Ranger would be great for driveways and such. Just don't get a HEAVY plow. Try a Homesteader by Western or an equivelant plow from another manufacturer. The costs will be a bit lower than a pro model but in the end you get what you pay for. Since weight is a concern your plow will bemade of lighter guage steel and will probably have lighter duty mounts. All in the name of reduced weight.

Also, if you plan on offering a salt service you should think about a pick-up truck v/s a suv. Residual salt is a ***** to get out of carpet and can eat right through the floorboards. SUV's do not have the same rustproofing inside the cabin as there is in the bed of a truck.


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## szorno (Jan 3, 2002)

I am going to offer a little different analysis and invite you to do a search here on Cherokee. it has been covered in times past. Here is the analysis. If you have light work like residential, or very light commercial, and you have your Cherokee set up right with either Timbren springs or Airlift airbags, AND a proper 6.5 ft plow from a major vendor, and 200 lbs of ballast, it is a GREAT rig. I ran the pickup version called a Comanche for 4 years. I had airlift bags in the front and a Western 6.5 ft plow with a Meyer E47 pump. (yeah, a dishonor to the plow...) The combo plowed a bank and a smaller office building for 4 years. Yes I did have to have the tranny rebuilt. But that was it. The truck had marginal power at our altitude but really worked amazingly well. It even handled a few 20 inch storms with dignity. Not like my Dodge2500 Cummins, but not bad at all. 
Bottom line- for tight quarters and modest work loads, it is a great choice.


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## Plow Meister (Oct 16, 2001)

I did say that a Cherokee COULD plow snow. A Comanche is a different truck than a Cherokee. It has the sub frame front with a frame type construction in the rear. They were prone to buckling in the middle when extremely overloaded which is why they were discontinued. A Cherokee is based on an SUV platform. It uses the whole body to act as a frame. If you ever took a Cherokee off road and placed it in an off-camber situation you will hear the door jambs squeak because the body is twisting. It is designed to do this slightly. If it is too far off camber it will shatter the back glass, screw up the door jamb alignment, steering alignment, etc. The same principles can be applied to plowing snow. If you have a large mound of snow that you are trying to pile up and you get that truck in an off camber situation the same thing COULD happen. Another thing that COULD happen is the front horns that the plow would be mounted on could bend / buckle from the extreme weight that the plow placed on it, especially while in travel with the blade up. That horn is only about 4" tall. That is about 2" shorter than that of a 1/2 ton truck and even those aren't RECOMMENDED for plowing. Plus, the length of the horn is about 15" which is extremely short. Yesterday I went under the Cherokee I currently go wheeling with as well as my wife's Cherokee. After comparing the two and studdying the characteristics of the front end and roughly calculating the installation points I came to the conclusion that YES, it could be done (It wasn't up to me to come to that conclusion since there are mfr's out there that make a plow for a Cherokee) but I wouldn't do it unless I was only going to plow my own driveway and I wasn't going to travel down the road at any average speed to plow out any commercial lots. 

Sorry for the long posts. I don't expect you to take my words for that of the Bible. I just feel very strongly about small SUV's and their plowing capabilities. I also know a ton about 4wd and even more about the Jeep lineup. Again, please don't just take my word, listen to others. Make your own decision.


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## Big Nate's Plowing (Nov 26, 2000)

I am not trying to sway you either way but I am enclosing a few pics of the 86 with a meyer 2 meter ( lightest steel 6' plow put there) it sagged so bad that it was a PITA to keep the ass end in a strait line, there is 10 / 50# bags of rock salt in the back end for this pic and it didnt help, there are timbrens installed on there too (fully compressed because they are rated @ 300# of support max)


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## Big Nate's Plowing (Nov 26, 2000)

here is the jeep without timbrens and 500# of salt


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## dmontgomery (Oct 3, 2003)

I do light plowing with a 96 Toyota 4Runner....and a 6'8" Snoway plow........works great.....I don't salt.

Derek


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## LADDER286 (Feb 20, 2003)

I have a 92 cherokee 148,xxx miles This truck plows great. Im not plowing 8 shoping centers ans 4 movie theatres I plow driveways and one tine parking lot that has a few apartments. This jeep has never let me down in fack ive tugged out a few f-250 and dodge ram 2500. As far as windows popping out its never happends to ,e i guess thats because the rear defogger is kepping the windows clean listening to my 6 disk cd changer. maybe ive been lucky not sure but im looking get a 2001 cherokee last year and a meyer plow and keep up my jeep legacy..my truck has paid me back about 25 times no kidding how long would it take for a $35,000 ford or chevy to do that???????


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## waveridr33 (Oct 1, 2005)

Do you have any upgrades to the front end suspension--what type of plow are you using--I have a 93 Cherokee and thinking about putting a 6.5 fisher spincast electric plow on it and need imput--thanks.


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## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

You can plow with whatever you want to plow with, but in your case I would stick with lite duty plowing...Just my thoughts.


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## Oshkosh (Sep 11, 2005)

*What V6 is in it?*



snowhack said:


> Is a Jeep V6 Cherokee ample enough of a truck for plowing small parking lots or is it better for small work?
> Are the plows for this model hard to find or more expensive?
> In general is manual better for plowing or is automatic?
> I have many more questions, but I won't ask them all. Thanks for any assistance.


 If it is an older model with the GM 2.8 v6 get rid of it.I have owned and heard of many dropping the crankshafts out of them at 75,000 to 100,000 miles.


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## gmp110789 (Feb 23, 2007)

I have a 1994 Jeep cherokee sport with 120,000 miles on it. I only paid 1500 for it and want to make a couple extra bucks. I think if i get a used plow that works i really dont have anything to lose. 


any suggestions???


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## dmontgomery (Oct 3, 2003)

Snoway.........MT


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## Sno4U (Dec 30, 2003)

Yes this question has come up alot before, I too have a '98 Jeep that we plow with. It has the 4.0L motor. Great motor. 155K and runs great. My wife plows w/ it. We have a 6.5ft Meyers poly plow w/ a E60 lift unit. (from another plow). The jeep is great for small stuff. She does mostly driveways and small commercial(very small). It usually has about 200# of ballast. Handles the plow very well. BUT, it is true the vehicles has quickly aged since we put the plow on it. IT IS a unibody. When this question came up last year I said the vehicle had a full frame _ i was wrong-another case of open mouth, insert foot. My apologies.
It hasn't popped out any glass., and she plows pretty hard w/ it! But, the drive train is getting noisier-fast, and rust is getting to it under the seal of the front window. But it runs strong. I got the vehicle cheap enough and it was no diamond when we bought it so, I could really care less if it dies at the end of this season.
You can plow w/ it but keep in mind they make plows for ATV's to!


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## bdhunter (Dec 7, 2005)

Old thread, but... my 92's (not Super) owner's manual says 'plow ok - don't exceed 300 lbs'. So, if the owner's manual doesn't say 'unibody, don't plow with it', and you don't treat it like a D-5 Cat, and you keep your pushing speed sane - what's the worry? 

Yep, is a unibody, but... has nice heavyduty uni-boxes that look a lot like a frame. In fact, they were even had factory holes that my front 2" Hidden Hitch rcvr bolted right up to. 

So far so good, Just take it easy and don't see how high you can ram a pile!

My $.02 worth...


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## gmp110789 (Feb 23, 2007)

trying to find used plow and a frame/lift for a 94 cherokee does anyone have one they are willing to let go for cheap.


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## jonzer12 (Sep 19, 2006)

Depending on how far you want to pursue this with the XJ, you can buy subframe connectors for XJ's. I have experience with ones from TNTcustoms. They basically just tie the front and rear subframes together under the rockers and you can also tie them into the unibody. They make a significant difference.

Are XJ's the perfect plow vehicle?, no, however they have been known to plow fairly well, they are millions of them around and they are worth very little.


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