It's all about torque, with a jeep. With a little modification to the 2.8 l, it can reliably make over 200 horsepower at about 400 ft. pounds of torque, at lower rpm.
The engine is not listed on the questionnaire of the engine I would like to have.... The Cummins 2.8 liter turbo diesel would be ideal in the Wrangler. The Cummins diesel has so much product support and aftermarket add ons.
I did not see anything in this post mentioned about an alignment being done after replacing the lower control arms.... A proper alignment check would show everything that needs to be adjusted or replaced.
You can see that he is hanging off of the obstacle. It is a good thing he did not fall off it. Driver error. I still say to make it completely off -road worthy, you need a lift and much larger tires. Anything over 37" tires would require one ton axles.