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Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler or GC.
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Author:  kapalczynski [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler or GC.
Just wanted to let you all know my wife and I have been looking at wranglers, etc for something more off road capable (and more liftable) and listed our CRD Liberty on craigslist in our area. I got a call the first day it was listed, it was sold w/in the week. Very sad to let her go. It was an amazing vehicle, fantastic economy, very reliable (with the exception of a MAP sensor that had to be cleaned), and with the GDE tune it became an even more impressive beast. The MAP sensor after nearly a year on the GDE tune loooked pretty good when I pulled it this time, more oily and not a thick soot coating this time. I had great plans for this jeep, but our needs have changed. It's hard to be in Colorado and not want to drive the rocky trails here and I didn't want to beat the CRD up.

We're looking for a 97-06 body style (probably leaning towards 01 and up) wrangler w/hard top and hard doors. Not sure how the big lifts do on these on the highway, so we're just looking right now and test driving. If the wrangler thing doesn't work out, we may end up with a 99-04 grand cherokee solid axle and a big lift.

Thanks for all the support you all provide for the CRD's. I believe that the guy that got my jeep got a GREAT deal as it had the GDE tune, new timing belt (and waterpump, tensioner, idlers changed) a small 2.5" lift, and 192* thermostat unit. We definately had a great jeep. :)

I will still be manufacturing the thermostat units and STILL love the CRD for all its reasons. :JEEPIN:

I will still be available for help for any of you guys if you are in the area to do timing belt changes or other general CRD stuff so don't hesitate to PM and I'll give you a call. This has been the most positive forum experience I've ever had and I won't be leaving anytime soon.
:CAMPING:
YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!!!

- Mark
Author:  bugnout [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
oh man. :(

Glad your keeping your hand in it, we are very glad you found LOST. I got a suggestion, how about a 2.8 liter transplant into that Wrangler :D
Author:  stoutdog [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 5:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
Aww man... :(

Well, enjoy the Wrangler! Thanks for all the help!
Author:  flman [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
Sorry to see you go Kap, but will keep you in mind this winter in the case of a tstat.

Good luck with the Wrangler.
Author:  Squeeto [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
Really? :shock:

Now, how to get the European 2011 2.8-liter diesel Wrangler. :wink:
Author:  OldSkull [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
More easy to find after market part :-) Wish they bring back the pickup version..

PS:Mark I already send you money via Paypal for the OEM thermostat Squeeto got in stock, everything is find? Give me some uptdate about it wen you got a chance regards O S
Author:  racertracer [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
Mark,

I have owned my 97 Jeep TJ sahara from new, it's a great vehicle for off roading. The small body makes it easy to get inbetween tight wooded New England trails, for this reason I would not part with it. My Liberty on the other hand is a gem in everyway.

I would hate to part with either.

The best of both worlds would be a 2.8L CRD in the TJ, now when you figure out that swap let me know

Good luck to you and thanks for all the good work.
Author:  Squeeto [ Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
OldSkull wrote:
PS:Mark I already send you money via Paypal for the OEM thermostat Squeeto got in stock, everything is find? Give me some uptdate about it wen you got a chance regards O S


PM me your address and I will send it to you. It is still unopened in the box.
Author:  kapalczynski [ Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
OldSkull wrote:
More easy to find after market part :-) Wish they bring back the pickup version..

PS:Mark I already send you money via Paypal for the OEM thermostat Squeeto got in stock, everything is find? Give me some uptdate about it wen you got a chance regards O S


I got your money, squeeto will send you the unit ASAP. :)

Thanks Squeeto for the assist!

- Mark
Author:  kapalczynski [ Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
racertracer wrote:
Mark,

I have owned my 97 Jeep TJ sahara from new, it's a great vehicle for off roading. The small body makes it easy to get inbetween tight wooded New England trails, for this reason I would not part with it. My Liberty on the other hand is a gem in everyway.

I would hate to part with either.

The best of both worlds would be a 2.8L CRD in the TJ, now when you figure out that swap let me know

Good luck to you and thanks for all the good work.


Thanks for the info. is your TJ lifted at all? I drove a coupple lifted ones that didn't look all that well taken care of and they were scary.

We HAD the CRD liberty, 05 corolla xrs. Then we bought a 07 dodge charger awd hemi in plans to sell the corolla. The original plan was to sell the corolla and have the jeep and charger, but then we decided we wanted a more serious off roader (wrangler).

So I listed both the liberty and corolla and the liberty sold first so now we are shopping for a wrangler (or something like that).

After driving a couple lifted wranglers, I was concerned about the driveability on the highway of a wrangler once lifted higher than a few inches. I know one of the wranglers was missing a rear swaybar bracked and the other had the rear completely removed. Also they tires may have had low pressure, etc, so I am not ruling it out yet.

I've even considered dropping a few grand on an old lifted K5 blazer. Another concearn with the wrangler is convenience of the back seat in that we may end up with kids in the future. The 07 unlimiteds are nice in that feature, but then you end up with a huge wheelbase again. enough lift would compensate for that, but the price is more than I want to pay (20k used). I was also considering the overland grand cherokee with a good loft on it.

For now we are just going to keep the corolla and charger and take our time shopping for the off road beast.

- Mark
Author:  racertracer [ Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
Mark,

mine is not lifted; I prefer a highway ride and stable cornering, I've been in dangerous situations before and I've learned to lean toward safety now adays.

There are horror stories of enthusiastic Wrangler owners who lifted their vehicles creating a nice looking unsafe ride that never sees off road use.

Disconnecting the front and rear sway bars is good for off road but not for highway cornering.

I use my Sahara mostly on the weekends, for both on and off road and the OEM design is a perfect set up for both uses.

i don't like the latest Wrangler design coming out of Chrysler becasue they are too big for the tight forest woods of New England. If I ever decide that I want a 4wd that big, I'll look for a used H1 diesel instead.

I am looking into a possible engine swap for my TJ, maybe a cummins 4bt or the 2.8L CRD. I prefer the 2.8LCRD and donor vehicles are showing up everywhere, what is holding me back is that the exisitng engine in the TJ is still going strong and not in need of replacement, plus the CRD requires an ECU to manage the engine and a TCU for the transmission.


I think that a great project would be a repairable TJ with a blown motor replaced with a 2.8L CRD and 1" body lift. I would just love to spend my time putting that one together.
Author:  Squeeto [ Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
kapalczynski wrote:
OldSkull wrote:
More easy to find after market part :-) Wish they bring back the pickup version..

PS:Mark I already send you money via Paypal for the OEM thermostat Squeeto got in stock, everything is find? Give me some uptdate about it wen you got a chance regards O S


I got your money, squeeto will send you the unit ASAP. :)

Thanks Squeeto for the assist!

- Mark


Thermostat shipped. 3 days guaranteed by Canada Post.
Author:  kapalczynski [ Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
racertracer wrote:
Mark,

mine is not lifted; I prefer a highway ride and stable cornering, I've been in dangerous situations before and I've learned to lean toward safety now adays.

There are horror stories of enthusiastic Wrangler owners who lifted their vehicles creating a nice looking unsafe ride that never sees off road use.

Disconnecting the front and rear sway bars is good for off road but not for highway cornering.

I use my Sahara mostly on the weekends, for both on and off road and the OEM design is a perfect set up for both uses.

i don't like the latest Wrangler design coming out of Chrysler becasue they are too big for the tight forest woods of New England. If I ever decide that I want a 4wd that big, I'll look for a used H1 diesel instead.

I am looking into a possible engine swap for my TJ, maybe a cummins 4bt or the 2.8L CRD. I prefer the 2.8LCRD and donor vehicles are showing up everywhere, what is holding me back is that the exisitng engine in the TJ is still going strong and not in need of replacement, plus the CRD requires an ECU to manage the engine and a TCU for the transmission.


I think that a great project would be a repairable TJ with a blown motor replaced with a 2.8L CRD and 1" body lift. I would just love to spend my time putting that one together.


I agree, stability and safty are number 1. I have however driven lifted vehicles that DO handle good though. I had a 2.5" lift on my cherokee back in the day and It cornered on rails with 31 x 10.5 on 15" rims. It could run around corners and would slide every time before feeling tippy at all. I did modify the swaybar bushings with custom urethane ones I hand made though and that tightened it up ALOT. Also, the front tires somehow had camber that seemed to help grip also. I'm to this day not entirely sure how that is possible on a solid axle jeep cherokee ('86 model year). Maybe the axle was bent or something. ha ha. It was an old and well used jeep with nearly 200k miles on it.

I am going to go drive a lifted grand cherokee overland tuesday morning and see what I think of it. It has bilstein (spelling?) shocks and a high quality 6" lift kit with swaybars front and rear so hopefully it will be MUCH better than the wrangler. If I don't like it I think I will end up keeping the corolla and buying a seperate NON daily driver for offroading that only gets driven to and from the trails or used to tow the trailer with drywall or rock or something like that.

My neighbor really likes our corolla and just submitted a loan application, so that may speed things up a bit on the new vehicle aquisition.

Life's getting really crazy with all this vehicle swapping going on. I can't wait to just be settled with what we want again.

Here's the link to the grand cherokee. Not sure If I wanna go that high, but we'll see how it drives.

http://modules.dealercarsearch.com/usercontrols/largephotos.aspx?id=660411

A quick Pic:
Image

- Mark
Author:  racertracer [ Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
I have daystar bushings everywhere and 31 x 10.5 x 15 on my TJ now without a lift and they fit without a problem.

The Cherokee looks cool ...... Off road set up for sure, and I can see a diesel in it.

Keep posting.

Raff
Author:  kapalczynski [ Wed Oct 13, 2010 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
racertracer wrote:
I have daystar bushings everywhere and 31 x 10.5 x 15 on my TJ now without a lift and they fit without a problem.

The Cherokee looks cool ...... Off road set up for sure, and I can see a diesel in it.

Keep posting.

Raff


Its a Grand Cherokee Overland w/ a 4.7L high output Gas V8 (265hp/325tq). Regular 4.7L is only 235hp/295tq. It's blue book value is at $15k with its mileage, options, and Overland package.

I drove it and it drove wonderfully, just a bit of slow steering reaction, but that is expected with the larger tires it always takes a second for them to turn w/the wheels. The allignment was good and I took a coupple decently fast corners with virtually no body roll. Very impressed with the handling. There was a little bit of rattling from somewhere under the jeep. Either there are a coupple parts that need to be retorqued down or it is the exhaust hitting on hard bumps. Only happens occasionally over large bumps.

All that, and the dealership was asking $11,999. The dealership didn't know what kind of parts were on it. When I test drove it and talked to him he said it probably had about $800 lift, $500 in tires and a $400 bumper, but he was way off. It has a 6.5" long arm lift ($2750.00+shipping), ARB brand bumper ($900.00+shipping), and 285/70-17" BFG mud terrains ($1,300.00 installed price). I priced everything myself according to exact brands. So If I were to buy one and put everything on my self at book value it would be roughly a $19,950 vehicle(even w/o shipping costs on parts or installation). This Jeep is a DEAL. I had to try and grab it. :D

I just took out a loan for $10k and am paying the other $2k out of pocket from the money I had left over from the Liberty CRD sale.

So I am getting the nearly $20k jeep for $200 a month if this all works out. :) Hopefully I am picking the vehicle up tomorrow. Wish me luck. :)

- Mark
Author:  JeepBumm68 [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
I was going to chime in and say be very careful about buying a lifted vehicle. Make sure everything on it is good. I bought my Wrangler with a lift on it , and within a month had to replace the rear driveshaft and the control arms. They PO had jacked all the angles up good, and even though it rode very nicely on the road, the very first time I took it off road it failed on me. I learned the hard way. So double check everything aftermarket on it first.
Author:  LibertyCRD [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
That's a SWEET WJ. The 4.7 HO is somewhat rare, and the Overland package is awesome and comfortable. Those Jeeps will go anywhere too. I love 'em. The only thing I don't like is that the Overland and 4.7 HO combo ONLY was offered with the full-time t-case. Bummer. Otherwise, you got the perfect vehicle there IMO.
Author:  kapalczynski [ Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
The lift is good quality, some small things. Had a coupple rattles that are fixed now. the shock eyes were hitting on a mount bolt due to the adapters for the long travel front shocks. I fixed that clearance issue by removing a lock nut that was on the head of the bolt that should have been on the nut side. The rear drivers side control arm jam nut was loose and causing a rattle also, tightened that up, no rattles at all now. It has a 4" drop pitman arm that WAS NOT PART OF THE LIFT KIT. Now I either need a 4" drop track bar bracket or need a stock pitman arm now...one or the other because the 2 bars are not parallel and that is a very big no no for lifted vehicles. Causes big instability at higher speeds when going over dips, etc on highway - quite scary. Anything under 60 is great. Even up to 80 is fine, but not cool when you hit a dip in road. Hopefully will have it fixed soon, bracket is on the way. The 285/70-17's are a tad big for it. I think they should have gone 265/70-17 instead and had better clearance for flexing in the fender wells. Tires have only 1/32" of wear on them (still have 18/32" tread left) and are brand new looking so I will get some use out of them for awhile and just be careful flexing.

It has a leaky rear wheel/axle seal (gear oil on ebrake pads...yuck! Also low gear oil causes limited slip diff to not work), a small/slow oil pan leak (one drip so far on garage), drivers power window switch sometimes works, sometimes not, heated seats don't work, a power seat motor on drivers and passengers seats is out (1 out of the 3 per seat is bad), had a dead headlight bulb, broken seatbelt (clip side). I think thats it, not horrible for 120k miles I guess, still have alot to do tho. At least I already got the rattles fixed, got the rear axles out, need to getthe bearings pressed off adn new ones on and reinstall w/new seals. After that the bracket adn then the rest can wait and do little at a time.
Author:  kapalczynski [ Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler no
LibertyCRD wrote:
That's a SWEET WJ. The 4.7 HO is somewhat rare, and the Overland package is awesome and comfortable. Those Jeeps will go anywhere too. I love 'em. The only thing I don't like is that the Overland and 4.7 HO combo ONLY was offered with the full-time t-case. Bummer. Otherwise, you got the perfect vehicle there IMO.


Thanks! I really think I got a good deal, some work needed, but mostly minor stuff. Really enjoying the vehicle though. I like the full time 4wd...kinda nice pulling out in traffic and having all wheels grab. You just grip and go. Its a tough system and comes with limited slip axles that are amazing. Way better than open diffs the liberty had (my liberty didn't get the limited slip option).
Author:  kapalczynski [ Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sold the CRD...gonna miss her, Looking for a Wrangler or
So the quality of the Grand Cherokee hasn't impressed me at all. I've found alot of things broken already. My CRD liberty had very few issues and a nice fit and finish. The Grand cherokee is an 04, the liberty is an 05 model year with similar miles 120k vs 100k.


The GC issues I've had so far:

On the Grand cherokee the heat/AC doesn't go to floor (just stays on vent) and when on defrost half of the air vents out the vent and half the defrost. People tell me this is a common issue on the GC and the stop pins and hinges break. I had an airbag light that would come on, and go away on its own. I traced that down to a connector by the main Airbag computer in the center console. The connector was still clipped on, but there is a bit of play even when clipped in. After unplugging and plugging in the light went away and hasn't returned. Leaking thermostat housing (probably need a gasket, but that is probably normal with the higher mileage. (On the liberty I also replaced the thermostat around 100k miles). The oil pressure gauge would pulse past 1/2 (normal), then go to 1/8 and back. probably due to bad wire or sending unit i suppose. electric window don't work with the drivers door open...again probably a bad/broken wire. as I close the door, when it is nearly closed, they work again. Rear wheel seals were gone, had gear oil in the rear e-brake housing part of the rotor. Consequently, the vari lock axles were not working (limited slip). This was resolved when i did new seals, bearings and fluids. Heated seats, both drivers and passengers back and seat do not work. This may be a heated seat module that has gone out, still troubleshooting. Rear seat belt recepticle was broken. This may not have been a quality issue, but how do you accidentally break one of these if it is not cheap crappy plastic? Due to broken seatbelt housing, the rear folding seat had a rip where the metal seatbelt piece cut into the seat when folded. The rear seat motor on BOTH passenger and drivers seats is bad. Jeep only sells the whole seat track ($600). So I will have to get used ones which may fail again.

So thats it, all of this at around 6 years old. My liberty at 5 years old only needed a sensor cleanedand a thermostat. I decided to do scheduled maintenance of timing belt, waterpump, etc just because it was due, not because anything broke. No heated seat issues, no seat motor issues, no dash heat issues, no sensor/gauge issues, no seal issues, no airbag lights, no power window issues, no broken seatbelts.

So all in all, I think the liberty has far fewer quality issues. Granted it is a newer design and I think Jeeps quality has gone up lately. So be glad you have a liberty in the small stuff that counts. :) I am still glad I purchased the Grand Cherokee, I will fix whatever comes up and hopefully there won't be much more to add to the list. Most of this I have already fixed or found the fix for it and just need to do it. Off road it out preforms the liberty by a long shot. The 4.7L V8 is nice and powerful. I do miss that low down endless torque of the turbo diesel, but for me the solid axle GC is still the best option.

Our Toyota Corolla XRS should be sold by friday and then all my time will go into the GC untill its ready for winter and everything fixed. After the corolla is sold and the GC it is good to go and up to my standards I will get back to working on the CRD thermostat project for you guys.

- Mark
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