I am not new to wheeling but am new to Jeep. Its been about 10 years since I have had a trail truck and I cant wait to start setting this thing up! I picked up a 1992 Wrangler with a 4 cylinder from a friend for a $1000 (price was right).

 So, do I lift it 4" with a set of 33's  or  stick a set of 31's on it and drive it untill I find something with a 6 cyl.          Motor swap?

My primary concern is the 4 cylinder. I just don't know if this thing is going to be able to make enough power. I don't plan on doing any rock crawling. Mostly mud here in Chicago. Wheeling mostly in Wisconsin and Michigan. Sand, mud and fallen trees.

What do you all think?

It's really a motor that can turn your tires. It's going to be your gearing. You should do good with the right gear sets. I'm not sure the gear you need, maybe someone else can answer that for me.  

First of all head over to:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/4bangers/

It's a group of 4-cyl Jeep owners.  

You can go as big as you want.  JP magazine had a write-up on a Wrangler that swapped in Unimog Axles and I think 37-inch tires.  

It's not the tire size, it's the tire size AND gearing.

You (hopefully) have 4.10 gears at least now.  Anything over 31s and you are definitely in line for new gears.

The 4-banger makes plenty of power for anything you want to do with it properly geared and is a very torquey engine.

I WOULD RECOMEND AT LEAST 4.56'S  BUT IF YA REALLY WANNA PLAY DO THE 4.88'S

4.88's lol  

I've got a 82 CJ-7 w/ a 4 banger and 33s it does great off road, but doesn't have any business on the interstate. You can run 4.88s and it will do just fine as long as you don't hit a head wind.  

I got 31's on my 02 4 banger and have a hard time pulling 5th. God help me if I gotta go up a hill or hit a strong head wind. Bottom line re-gear it!  

I have a 02 wrangler with a 4banger i run 33's and  suggest  4.88's  to get your 5th gear back  

if you have the 151cid or iron duke as it is called,offy makes a aluminum intake for it to bolt a holley 4bbl the smallest 4bbl they make it has electric choke I forget the model number carb to it, and put a set odf headers on it clifford makes them I belive it will give it more power, we did this to my pops Jeep and it realy woke it up  

Welcome to Jeeping!  I have a 93 YJ with a 4 cyl. and 33x12.5's and have no problem intown.  On the highway though, it can be fun.  I am planning on regearing the pumpkins and putting lockers in. 

  Intown it is fine but on the highway I have a hard time getting past 60 in the wind or up a hill.  I hardly drive it on the highway but it can be annoying.  If you're looking at keeping the 4 sqirrels in the jeep I would look into regearing.  I lifted my Yj 4" with a Rough Country Suspension Kit.   Haven't rubbed the tub yet.  Bottoming out isn't easy to acompolish either.

Regearing is definitely a good idea, just remember that by installing lower (numerically higher) gears you are increasing the amount of torque multiplication that occurs at the diff. This is why you get more apparent power to your wheels. The downside is that you are subjecting your axle shafts to more stress. When you add a locker, you add even more stress. To give you an example, my buddy installed ARB lockers and 4.88 gears into his 4 banger TJ with Dana 30/35 axles, 33x12.5 BFG tires. Things were fine for a while, his Jeep was much more steetable, he had fifth gear again, and some more power to get up and over stuff. However, on one wheeling trip he attempted a pretty steep hill climb, and the combo of low gears, locker, and right foot was too much for his rear axle shaft and it broke right behind the splines. He actually damaged the ARB too. Due to the handy c-clip design the axleshaft walked its way out of the housing and without a good diff the Jeep was stranded, there was really nothing we could do. So if you go with gears and a locker you may want to consider sticking with 4.56 and higher (or so) and be easy on the throttle, or seriously consider an axle upgrade, or at least some heavy duty shafts.  

Yeah like molasses unless you put at least 5.13 gears in it