I bought a ZJ that had been sort-of built as a crawler, but had some problems. It had the one major upgrade that I wanted, and that was a long arm suspension kit with sway bar disconnects. It had an OX locker in the front (just found out it is bad) and needed a rear diff (kinda think these issues might be related.) It was not driving when I bought it, but it started right up and runs fantastic. The rest of the jeep is in perfect condition, so I figure that it will make a good project to get the family into the outdoors and off road.
My goal is to have a safe reliable Jeep that I can drive from my house at hwy speeds and get into some fun trails with friends. Not planning on running crazy crawling adventures, but I want it to be rugged and reliable enough to get out of a sticky situation if needed. I think that the ZJ with the 5.2 is a good platform for both on and off road stability, and it has the power to get through some tough stuff if needed.
Last fall: Replaced the shot Dana 44A with a Ford 8.8. The bearing blew up and the carrier shifted over ahd ground away the side of the aluminum journal, so probably not a great idea to rebuild it. I had the axle built by SFF customs, but I am probably going to open it up after reading some reviews and noticing that it is already noisy. Here are some install pics.