Apparently Jeep saw a market for these in the four door. Probably cashing in on the people who want the cool looks of the Wrangler, but don't have any intention of going off-road, or need four wheel drive to get the kids to soccer practice. There is one dealer in my area that stocks these, but most carry the 4x4 exclusively due to the use for 4x4 in the harsh winters here.

 

If you're just going for 2wd and don't need to worry about 4x4 ever, then wouldn't it be cheaper for Jeep and more advantageous to use the D30 up front and create a (GASP) front wheel drive Wrangler?

 

I'm guessing you're getting into a much more complicated engineering project to change to FWD (motor position, etc) instead on simply eliminating the transfer case and the front driveshaft and staying RWD. I guess they could swap in the FWD setup from the Caravan, but not sure it would be any cheaper. I would think it's cheaper to just eliminate stuff from the current setup than change to a bunch of different stuff.

 

This was very apparent to a couple we met some years ago in CA. Coming from the midwest we saw no reason for anything but 4x4 so didnt think to check for 4x4 when test driving a jeep. They did the same thing, didnt check for 4x4, found what they thought was a steal in a Grand Cherokee I believe, bought it, drove it off the lot, discovered **OMG** there's no 4x4, and turned around and came back to the dealership. We just happened to be there when this happened. So moral of the story be sure to check if a 4x4 is what you want then be sure it has the transfer case. Some salesmen dont even know what a transfer case is, so dont depend on them to have the answer. When they went to find mine bc I wanted a bare bones model, one of the first questions my hubby asked was: it does have 4x4 doesnt it? He actually asked this more than once bc we didnt see it before it came down to us from Lincoln NE. They had to go 161 miles to find a bare bones X for me in the right color, but I'm happy now!!!!!!!

 

Fortunately all of the two-door JKs are 4x4, so you were covered

 

Well, there you go, bc we asked and the sales manager said they do sell 2 door 2wd's. Go figure he's all wet, but he does seem more knowledgeable than some, all I cared about was that I got one. Cant move around here very well w/o 4x4. I know some go with AWD or front wheel drive but I feel soooo much better with 4x4. Last winter was so long and with lots of snow, almost got stuck in my work's parking lot bc it wasnt scooped and my last vehicle before the JK was only AWD. It was really struggling. Wont do it this year, but will probably have a lite winter, darn want to go play in the snow! Might have to make a run to CO.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'.

 

Not exactly the case -- there are actually authorized dealers who use export parts to do the RHD conversion and even offer Chrysler financing to the contract mail carriers.

A month or so ago, I browsed one of these dealers web sites who also offered a line of external "trunk" extenders for additional storage and easy access. I believe they used the towing package for attachment and to extend the lighting.

Because of the fleet nature of these vehicles, the lifetime warranty may not apply.

Edit - the dealer I mentioned is postalpete.com

 

Something similar happened to me in 1976. I was the fleet sales manager at a Dodge/Toyota dealership in New Mexico. My parents were in the market for a new pickup and special ordered a fully loaded Club Cab Power-Wagon (it had every option offered in 1976 except sun-roof) from the dealership. The orders were placed by our sales manager who had a little drinking problem. He forgot to check the one little box on the order form that distinguished a 2WD D series Dodge pickup from the 4WD W series. When the truck was unloaded from the transporter, it seemed a little low to the ground. When we discovered what happened and that we were likely stuck with a highly optioned half ton pickup, everyone went out and got drunk.

As it turned out, my folks wre OK with it, drove it for about 100,000 miles and gave it to me. I still have it. A few years ago, I saw another on eBay that was a 4WD Club Cab Power Wagon in good condition and the same color (not as well optioned) and bought it. Now I have a complete set including a 76 Warlock and SWB (both 2WD).

 

2 wheel drive SUV's run rampant here in south Texas. Being from Canada, I never even considered that a Ford Explorer or a Chevy Tahoe would be built in a 2wd model. I would say that most of the SUV's in Houston are 2wd.