2006 CRD 2 week old Comments

D.James · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:39 am

I have had the CRD for 2 Weeks here are some of my observations. I traded in a F-150 supercrew 5.4l gas drinking beast.

Pros
1.Diesel engine noise.
2.fun to drive
3.easy to park
4.Good Acceleration in traffic, when she gets wound up.
5.Roomy for a small SUV
6. select trac
7. Pulling power.

Cons
1.Seats Suck, I have sit on softer park benches.
2.Brakes seem to be under designed for the Suv.
3.Rear suspension bottoms to easy. Not Truck like
4.Suv does not like the 45-60 range seems to be inneficient or somthing, have experienced hard shifts and the dreaded Liberty Shudder I guess in time the under designed TC will leave me on the side of the road.

In all I love this car thats why I bought it.
Mods to come.
upgrade the brakes.
upgrade the suspension.
Tires
Performance exhust.
Roof rack
Navigation

Any suggestions or comments on the Brakes or suspension.

dalefranzen · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:51 am

Not saying anything bad about the dealer that sold you the CRD but my service rep told me that he will flash the computer for the transmission on the first oil change. The "Liberty Shudder" as you call it is a known issue and can be corrected by the flash, especially at the speeds you indicated.

Hope this helps.

PS
I have had mine about a week and I think it is the greatest thing since apple pie!! :lol:

alljeep · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:53 am

dalefranzen wrote:

The "Liberty Shudder" as you call it is a known issue and can be corrected by the flash, especially at the speeds you indicated.

I disagree. I have had the latest reflash of the TCM and ECM released just a few weeks ago, and I still have the shudder. The reflash does not fix it.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:56 am

I love these brakes compared to my 2002 KJ (rear drums). I did notice that the brakes on mine seemed to work better after I put a few miles on it...2500 or so. Maybe it cooked out the gasses in the pads that can sometimes form a barrier between the rotor and pad. When I raced for Mazda, we used to place the new pads in an oven and cook them first. It made them seat faster and evacuate the gasses. You can get the PowerSlot front rotors and Hawk Ceramic Pads for the KJ and that should really make a difference. When my stock pads/rotors go...I will probably go that route.

dalefranzen · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:56 am

That was fast. Thanks for the info and I will pass that along to my service rep and see what else can be done.

Dale

jinstall · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:03 am

Seats get better

Brakes are not good? Mine work fine for a heavy SUV when hauling down from 100-110 mph stops.

Tires? No issues as of yet and they held me in last time I hit an on ramp at 100mph, tires screaming. butt puckering fun time.

My only issue is the dent in the door panel when my elbow rests.

D.James · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:09 am

I am comparing the brakes to the f-150 seems like you have to step on them harder. I think my comment should have been not as responsive as I like.
Thanks for the comments.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:15 am

I concur with your brake gripe.

bugnout · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:25 am

Haven't heard of anyone doing a brake mod. I've seen a couple of threads, but don't think anyone has done anything on this.

Suspension lifts for CRD's are only partial solutions at this point, but it seems like a lot of people are working on it. So far none of the suspension lifts offer replacement springs beefy enough for the CRD. Most are limited to a max of 2.5 inches, thats limited by the IFS geometry.

Here's a thread about having custom springs made, http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=9867.
There's a lot of fans of the Frankenlift, seems like its the most popular right now. Rusty's is also a popular one, but I don't know of anyone that have used it on the CRD.

JeepinAl offers a set of upper A arms that put the upper ball joint at a better angle and include the moog greasable ball joint. http://www.jeepinbyal.com/files/index.php

I've been watching pretty closely the developments, but right now there is no complete solution for the CRD. I couldn't wait any longer, so I opted to go with a spacer lift until the CRD lifts mature. Another option is to do the suspension lift in the back and spacers in the front.

Reggie · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:15 pm

alljeep wrote:

dalefranzen wrote:

The "Liberty Shudder" as you call it is a known issue and can be corrected by the flash, especially at the speeds you indicated.

I disagree. I have had the latest reflash of the TCM and ECM released just a few weeks ago, and I still have the shudder. The reflash does not fix it.

Ditto

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:08 pm

Some of the braking problem is probably DUE to the TIRES...they are OEM rubbers that are middle fo the line. Some better tires should also help braking.

kingofl337 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:25 pm

I think the breaks are descent. THey aren't awesome but they are better the my Cherokee by far.
You could get some EBC greenstuff pads and that will help you put on the binders.

D.James · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:57 pm

Would adding some different shocks only, help with the back end and for that matter the front. I am not really into lifting the jeep too much, its not out of the question but looking to improve the handling.

Not being a motor head , I guess the lift increases the vertical travel of the car body to the wheel base on the ground as well as ground clearance. So bugnout probably has the best solution.

kingofl337 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:42 pm

shocks will help slow compression and rebound.

If you want a stiffer rearend get some helper springs....

http://store.towshop.com/store/more_inf ... ory_ID=106

according to this store for you this is the holy grail!

D.James · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:47 pm

I appreciate the feed back. Helper springs look good to me I order some and let you know.

Bovie · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 4:17 pm

Back the brakes thing. Having only owned Mercedes-Benz cars in the past, I expect a lot from the bakes. Anytime I drive my moms Civic I think I am going to die (Those are bad brakes).

When I first started driving the Liberty I thought the brakes were to soft and did not like them. In a panic situation (Deer in road) when I had to slam on them they became very firm and they impressed me. Anyway I like them now not as much as the Mercedes but far better than most other cars I have drivin.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

alljeep wrote:

dalefranzen wrote:

The "Liberty Shudder" as you call it is a known issue and can be corrected by the flash, especially at the speeds you indicated.

I disagree. I have had the latest reflash of the TCM and ECM released just a few weeks ago, and I still have the shudder. The reflash does not fix it.

Same here. Paperwork says flashed with latest PCM flash. If that's correct, it didn't fix the shudder. What I am noticing is engine detuning. Turbo lag is higher than before the flash. Engine power is smooth, but comes on much slower. Definitely less low end grunt.

Did you notice any engine power loss when yours was flashed?

BCool · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:27 pm

Less low end grunt? That gets me thinking, if they are worried about high torque wear on tranny and torque converter, why wouldn't they cut power down? I wonder if that is what their plan is just to cut its balls off.

Hair_MD · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:15 am

jinstall wrote:

My only issue is the dent in the door panel when my elbow rests.

I was just noticing this today....im trying so hard to break the habbit :evil:

RFCRD · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:31 am

Bovie wrote:

Back the brakes thing. Having only owned Mercedes-Benz cars in the past, I expect a lot from the bakes. Anytime I drive my moms Civic I think I am going to die (Those are bad brakes).

When I first started driving the Liberty I thought the brakes were to soft and did not like them. In a panic situation (Deer in road) when I had to slam on them they became very firm and they impressed me. Anyway I like them now not as much as the Mercedes but far better than most other cars I have drivin.

One of the reasons I chose the Liberty is the 4 wheel disc brakes. Have been through the "fear of God brakes" experience with a Camry. Many of the Aisan autos still use disc front/drum rear combos. Once the rear drums get hot and expand, they loose leverage efficiency and fade. Front brakes then have to pick-up the slack which overheats and warps their tiny rotors. On the Camry, the rear drum brakes do not have automatic adjusters which compounds the problem. Had to maunally adjust the rear brakes every tire rotation and still went through 3 sets of front rotors in 100K miles. Won't own another set-up like that again. Traded that Camry for an Impala which has big discs on all 4 wheels. I drive that car much harder and not a bit of brake problems @ 55K miles. The Liberty also has much better brakes than the other small SUV's that I looked at.

2006 CRD 2 week old Comments

Who is online