Again, late to the party, snowing hard here.
Regarding 90's Jeeps, what you have to watch out for is the transfer case. The 249 has a viscous coupler that needs work at around 125K miles. It's full time 4WD and only selectable between 4H - N - 4L. One way to check for the coupler problem is to turn all the way to the left or right, and go in a circle while checking for wheel hop. Other than that part and the rear drum brakes, the Jeeps are solid.
I lined up against a Lightning once, at Englishtown. I slept at the light, but he was still faster nonetheless. He had a supercharger and was tubbed on some monster slicks. Video is very grainy and shaky, was uploaded from my friend's iPhone.
[video=youtube;DInSa4TJlsw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DInSa4TJlsw&feature=youtu.be[/video]