Longtime lurker, infrequent poster here.
I bought my Liberty CRD Sport new in July 2006:
I have slowly built it into what it is today:
What you can see is a 2.5" lift, Firestone Destination A/T (LT 245/75/16), Detours USA winch mount with an XRC8 winch. What you don't see is a set of Rocky Road Outfitters Upper Control Arms, Air Lift 1000 helper springs, Hayden 678 transmission cooler, Magnaflow 2.5" exhaust, and a DIY custom tune. The little tractor that could, well, did.
I have a large family - 3 children and a stepson to be exact. I also have a camper that can fit all of us - a 2005 Jayco Jay Feather 29Y bunkhouse. It is an ultra-lightweight (4950 dry and scales at 55-5800 fully loaded). Some of you can see where this is headed.
This past week, my family and I decided to take a trip to Myrtle Beach to enjoy a long weekend in the sun. Knowing that the family would hate 8+ hours in our Tahoe doing 60-65 the entire way, I decided (perhaps against good judgement
) to use the CRD to haul our camper to the beach. My wife, the wonderful person she is, took all the children with her in our Honda Odyssey and followed a couple hours after I left.
We live in Tennessee; east Tennessee to be exact... the part known for its hills and mountains. I knew it would be a challenge, to say the least. To prepare for the trip, I changed out pads and rotors for a set of new PowerStop ceramic pads and extreme duty rotors. Coupled with the Tekonsha Voyager brake controller I have wired up, I had no qualms about stopping the combination.
Now, the length of the trailer is what causes most people pause. Yes, I know that I am a couple hundred pounds over the factory towing capacity. But, if you use the factory GCWR (10,100), I am within the rated specs. Curiously, the factory rates the GCWR as 10,100 with a curb weight of 4300 lbs, give or take, for the CRD. That would actually place the rated towing capacity at 5800 lbs... hmm.... Also, as we all know, Europe got the same CRD, re-badged as the Cherokee, and got a 7400 lb tow rating. Double hmm....
I set up my spring bars, adjusted the sway control, added 15 lbs to the air lift springs and set out on the road. Within a couple miles, it was clear: This combination towed way better than I expected. To the lady in the Suburban who helped me perform an emergency braking test: Thanks, but get your head checked. Remember the braking I described above? It works.
Once out on I-26 and in the open, I set my sights on 62 mph and let the truck eat. The Jeep had no problem maintaining speed, loping along at a lazy 1900 rpms and 62-63 mph in 4th (O/D). Most hills weren't a problem, and O/D would hold down to 52 mph. By that point, I crested most of the smaller hills, and I simply downshifted from O/D to direct (3rd) lockup to climb the larger hills. I had to be careful to keep speed below 65, or the transmission would shift into 5th (double O/D). It would still maintain speed, but I would get some bad converter shudder while climbing even the slightest hill.
The torture test came in the form of Sam's Gap and Buckner Gap. As I climbed east coming from Unicoi County, TN, the winding portion of I-26 climbs a 6-7% grade up to 3,370 ft over about 4-5 miles. Fortunately, I was blessed with cool temperatures (60's) and light traffic. I set the Jeep at 70 at the base of the mountain and climbed in 3rd (direct) lockup for most of the way. At the 3/4 mark, I was dropping to 50 mph, and the temperature gauge was climbing. Although it hit the 3/4 mark on the gauge, I never got a warning light, and the fuel curve was never pulled back. That indicated to me that coolant temperature never hit the 230 mark. To be on the safe side, I turned the heater on high, dropped the windows and downshifted to second. Transmission temperatures stayed below 210-215, thanks to the large Hayden cooler. I'm sure the large obstruction in the form of a winch, solenoid box and two driving lights didn't help with radiator air flow. Since getting home, I have thought about rigging a manual switch in parallel for the pusher electric fan so that I can turn it on separate of the A/C.
At the crest of the hill, all was well, and I was on to Myrtle Beach! The gauge never rose again, and there were no signs that any damage had occurred as a result of the rising coolant temperatures. In fact, while descending the other side of the grade, I cut the A/C on high to try to get heat back into the cooling stack, as the temperature gauge rapidly plummeted! When I reached the bottom of the grade, coasting in O/D had caused the engine temperature gauge to drop to the 3/8 position!
The rest of the trip was remarkably uneventful. The Jeep pulled smooth and steady the entire trip, and the combination was limited by tire speed (ST 205's on the trailer speed limited to 65 mph), although I doubt I would want to travel much faster than about 65.
This is what it's all about (my girls chose the awning LED colors this night):
Did I mention the combination averaged a hand-calculated 15.3 MPG?
That's better than my Tahoe usually does unloaded! And that was with the A/C running for most of the way (save cresting the gap).
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One day......silly Americans my very well wake up to the reality of diesel engines! Try that with a liberty with a 3.7!!!! That would have sucked.