my daughters 96 jeep grand cherokee v8 automatic has recently been experiencing a loss of power while climbing a steep highway grade during a long trip 4 plus hours. vehicle looses power momentarily and then recovers but not for very long. Cycle repeats (very jerky feeling) for several cycles until engiine is shutdown. After restart vehicle feels absolutley normal. Almost feels like a bad gulp of fuel, vapor lock?

It might be the fuel pump. They are another notorious Grand Cherokee weak link.
ByronP

It does sound like a fuel flow problem. Try changing the filter first, then the pump.

Replace the ignition coil. Do it, do it now. This happened on my 93 5.2 and it drove me bonkers, after talking to dale on these foums i replaced the crank sensor...wrong answer. Replace the ignition coil its cheap and easy to access. avilable at:checker, autozone and cheif.

Good Luck

You may want to try that first. The fuel pump is sort of a pain to change.
ByronP

I didnt get a chance to elaborate earlier, if the car acts like it is sluggish or bogging even back firing then it could be the fuel system, but if it acts like it is turning off and then cycles faster and faster shutt downs until it quits, like you have turned the ignition off and back on, then replace the coil. the problem is heat related and that is why the car will restart after some time, usually about 10 min.

again good luck