KJ on the sand!!

ando · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:03 am

Took the KJ for its first holiday last week, performed faultlessly, averaged 29mpg, did well in deep sand dunes and very soft tidle estuary sand/mud

Roll on next years camping adventures around the UK :wink:

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 12:02 pm

Nice looking Jeep! Wish we could have the 6 speed option here in the States.

ando · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:55 pm

Cheers mate, 6th really is a godsend on the motorway, just seems to woft along with no effort and keeps the revs down

... I didnt realise you couldnt get it over there ??

The manual box certainly makes it a little easier to conserve fuel .. as I mentioned above I averaged around 29mpg, but that was loaded up, and driving the hills and valley's of Wales! :BANANA:

Pippobug · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 6:48 am

Hi Andy,

long time no see round here!! KJ looking very smart indead...(any chance of a roof rack being built for mine :lol:

)

How is the suspention working for you now? and have you got that horrible sound sorted out from the engine?

Fil.

dgeist · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:27 am

ando wrote:

Cheers mate, 6th really is a godsend on the motorway, just seems to woft along with no effort and keeps the revs down

... I didnt realise you couldnt get it over there ??

The manual box certainly makes it a little easier to conserve fuel .. as I mentioned above I averaged around 29mpg, but that was loaded up, and driving the hills and valley's of Wales! :BANANA:

Great photos! What kind/size size tyes are you using? They looks like BFG mud terrains, but 'tis hard to tell from the shots.That's imperial mpg BTW, right?

With the 545rfe automatic, I typically get about 28-31 on highway trips with the yakima cargo box on top. I never thought I'd like an automatic transmission, but this one handles the torque of the little CRD admirably (having been sourced from the Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 model lineups). I always wanted a manual until I couldn't get one, now I don't know if I'll go back (at least on jeeps).

My favorite part about the Euro-spec KJs is the side markers where we yankees have our ugly solid mast antenna. I'd much prefer the "in-glass" type that the "cherokees" get. Side markers just make sense and having driven audi sedans for years I always feel just slightly less safe not having a visible turn indicator on the side.

Dan

Pippobug · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:00 am

Dan

Andy has fitted Coopers STT 245/70 R 17 ( equivalent of 245/75R16) on a Bildstein / H&R coils lift.

I am sure you could move your antenna for the radio to the back window like us in Europe, I am sure Jeep has the wiring there already, it's a question of finding (maybe the glass) or the antenna wire that has been placed on the window.

If anyone know the part I could see if I can find it here in the UK & a price for it.

Fil.

ando · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:54 pm

Dan - Yeah what Fil said .. Cooper STT's, pretty noisy on road TBH, but demons in the soft stuff

Hey Fil, yeah not been on for a while, I lost my Dad recently .. so havent thought much about anything really for a few weeks, but last weeks break did us good, and helped me to move on a little.

Suspension - really pleased with it mate ta, I still think the front Bilsteins are a little under damped for the CRD, and will show up when I do a bit more adventurous froadin, but as I said before, the vehicle's main duties are carrying all the camping gear in comfort, with good mpg, and able to go anywhere I need it too, and so far it has excelled on all counts with the advantage of being a little more comfortable on long road trips (my old XJ's "Skyjacker" lift was pretty solid. and shook ya teeth out on our roads :lol:

)

As for my KJ nemesis ... the bloody ticking noise when hot :evil:

.. no!! ... still no closer to solving it :cry:

but its still driving me up the wall :furious:

... recently I was thinking along the lines of a water pump problem maybe ?? but as they are on back order here with no release date

and over £200 payable up front

I need to be 100% sure its the problem and I'm not unfortunately :roll:

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:33 pm

Known issue the OME front shocks hold up better in the long run than Bilsteins it seems
But then with those springs the shocks are working harder as well

ando · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:05 am

Yeah I would go OME all round tbh just for extra lift and durability if I could afford to, but at the time I put my lift on, the differance in price bearing in mind its intended use was just too much, with the other important things I needed to do to it

The under damping is only slight IMO, and I'm pretty happy with the set up as it is for now, I know its early days but have not had any settling sag etc, and it handled being heavily laden faultlessly ... so no complaints really

liquidxit2 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:52 am

ando wrote:

Cheers mate, 6th really is a godsend on the motorway, just seems to woft along with no effort and keeps the revs down

... I didnt realise you couldnt get it over there ??

The manual box certainly makes it a little easier to conserve fuel .. as I mentioned above I averaged around 29mpg, but that was loaded up, and driving the hills and valley's of Wales! :BANANA:

American automakers make a lot of the coolest stuff not available to Americans. Jeep makes a good amount of diesels that everyone wants and when they roll off the line here and turnkey they ship outside the US and never come back.

Anywho nice looking KJ!

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

surfRenegade · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:07 pm

Sorry to hear you lost your Dad recently.
I was about to get a set of the Cooper STT. How are they holding up? Are they wearing quickly?

ando · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:49 am

surfRenegade wrote:

Sorry to hear you lost your Dad recently.
I was about to get a set of the Cooper STT. How are they holding up? Are they wearing quickly?

Cheers bud :wink:

Tyres - They havent been on the Jeep that long TBH, obviously the fronts take the most hammer with steering/braking but seem to be wearing ok (for an agressive MT on tarmac :wink:

), the rears still look like new, so I think I will be rotating every few months but I dont mind that ... if you are in the market for this type of deep treaded MT, I would recommend them all day long for the money

, mine are the "LT" construction, which I think are a little stronger (?) .. a freind of mine has BFG MT's on his Land Rover, and the Coopers are every bit as good as them (even a little better in the wet, on road, we think!!) and they were almost £50 a corner cheaper!! on a set of five, thats a lot of dollars!!!

KJ on the sand!!

Who is online