Durability/Longevity of a stroked 4.0

[Jim K in PA]

My first thread about using an aluminum head on a stroker didn't get much response. I now have a more general question about durability.

Stock 4.0 engines seem to be 200k-300k mile engines, given proper care and feeding. Given that the whole intent of stroking a 4.0 is to increase power, what affect does this have on the long term durability of the engine? Will a properly built stoker, maintained and not "abused", give as long a service life as a stock engine? I am talking about a "typical" 4.6/4.7 street stroker, not a radically cam'd monster motor.

I have not come across any 200k mile stroker owner stories, so please feel free to point me towards them.

Thanks.

[herbiehind]

this question is raised often. from the responses i've read from those way more knowledgeable than myself, i can safely say , if it's built well and to spec , with quality parts, you should see same durability . you may even get better mileage .

[amcinstaller]

i think that one of the reasons that you dont see many 200k stroker stories is that no one drives it long enough to have put 200k on it yet alot of these builds are new, or newish (in the last few years)

[Missourian]

I have a 2000 Jeep Wrangler and the 4.0L only lasted for ~150k miles and it took 11 years to get there. I will report back when I get that mileage on my 4.6L STROKER being installed this week. It is my daily driver and I will be putting that mileage and more on it. I have already replaced the suspension, rebuilt & regeared the axles and it's got an NV3550 manual 5 receiving a new clutch disc, pressure plate and bearings.

[Cheromaniac]

i think that one of the reasons that you dont see many 200k stroker stories is that no one drives it long enough to have put 200k on it yet alot of these builds are new, or newish (in the last few years)

Actually I don't think there are many strokers that have even passed 100k miles yet, let alone 200. Many of the Jeeps that are home to strokers aren't daily drivers so they don't rack up high mileages very quickly.
I've done 67k miles on mine since I first fired it up in July 2004. When the Jeep was my only vehicle I drove it a lot and racked up 37k miles on the stroker in the first 2-1/2 years. Since I bought my Mustang 5 years ago I've only added 30k miles on the stroker and if I continue at that rate, it'll take me at least another 5 years to reach 100k.

[Jim K in PA]

Fair enough. I am probably atypical in that I use my Jeep a lot. It racks up at least 80 miles/day. Last Friday I put over 350 on it.

I see no particular reason that a stroked 4.0 put together with good parts, good machining, and good assembly practices, should not last at least as long as a stock 4.0.

I have a friend that has run several 4.0s in different Jeeps up to 250-280k each. Most failures I hear about in high mileage 4.0s is piston skirt fracture. A decent set of pistons in a properly machined/sized bore should not have that problem. I am less than impressed with Chrysler's QC and machining tolerances in the last couple of years of 4.0 production.

My '05 has 120k+ on it now, and just after startup it rattles and knocks something fierce. Some of it is piston slap, and some is lifter noise. I hope to get to 150-160k on this engine before tearing it down and building a stroker out of it.

Thanks for the input.

[Cheromaniac]

I see no particular reason that a stroked 4.0 put together with good parts, good machining, and good assembly practices, should not last at least as long as a stock 4.0.

If you pay scrupulous attention to detail your stroker should last longer than the original 4.0 that it was based upon.