A V8 is much different from the tried and true 4.0 I6. That is the best engine there is for wheelin; hands down. It has got plenty of power for crawling, great of fuel, and Lightweight. Jeep messed up with the JK's by sticking that 3.8 V6 in them. No balls compared to the 4.0. I have never owned either, but I have quite a bit of experience in all 3 engines. By Buddy had the 4cyl in his wrangler, NO POWER. My buddy Rick back in Texas (now in germany) has an 88 cherokee with the 4.0. Beast of an engine. Even with over 250K on the clock, it still ran strong, and never had any issues in reliability, or lack of power. He still has it, but also has an 08 JK. No power at all. Stock, it wouldn't break the tires loose. Then he lifted it and stuck 35's on it. It could not make it up the hills through Centex without dropping a couple gears. After the re-gearing, it was a whole new ball game, but still didn't have the same power compared to the Cherokee. I can't really say much for it, after all it is the same powerplant the Caravan has.
Anyways, Danny, don't do it man. Test drive the thing first. On the highway, and on the trail. Get that sucker into 6th gear. Do you have an inclinometer? Get it on a 50 degree incline, and see if it crawls up without killing it. 50 degrees is reasonable. Its not pushing it too far back, but it will stress the drivetrain enough to see if it will take it. That is the usual angle for climbing through the fun stuff.
