My Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD

[Lazy-Ferret]

I picked up my Jeep to replace my trusty T2 on December the 24th...

First job, change the Tow bar from the weird Swan Neck (Never liked them) to a proper Flange tow bar, that I can fit my Dixon Bate Hitch onto it. Did a bunch of research over Christmas day, and Boxing day, and ordered the new one on Boxing day eve... Should be here on the 7th of Jan, give or take a few days.

Started reading the operating manual on Christmas day, it's only 342 pages!!!, got to page 88, as I had to keep running out to the the car to try things out.. Carried on on Boxing day, made it to 128.. Same issue.

Drove it down to my Mums on 27th, as it was her Birthday, and a great excuse to brag to my brothers. No manual reading today. Suz's is very pleased with the car, as it was showing 30.4MPG over a mixed 111 mile road journey through the centre of Canterbury, which was horrendous. That included playing with the sports mode!!

On the 28th, carried on reading the manual, in between researching things on the web. got to page 218 (I still have the Entertainment system manual and the Navigation System Manual to start!)..

looked into finding a set of Roof Bars, Side steps, and smaller set of wheels so I can put a set of AT's on. Currently she has 265/50 R20 tyres on, and the spare is a 245/65 R18 on a Steel Rim. When I took the spare out, it has a sticker on it, which says something along the lines of "Temporary Wheel, not to exceed 75MPH", which seems a bit weird. Firstly, the obvious, we can't exceed that legally anyway, and secondly, it has what looks like a standard road tyre on it, so what makes it a temporary wheel? Apart from being 20mm thinner than the ones on the car, it seems to be exactly the same diameter. It is brand new, still has the coloured bands round the tread.

Found the first job, the car has a built in rechargeable torch in the side panel of the boot, but this was not working. Easy fix, dirty contacts, so cleaned it all up, and with a bit of contact adjustment, all back and working.

Up until today, it's all been dreams of all the things I want to do to her, but yesterday, I ordered a pair of Aero roof bars, so I can put the Light Bar, Amber Beacon, and remote search light on the roof. Then today I picked up the wheels to put the AT's on.

I also ordered a new set of tyre pressure sensor valves for the wheels, and tomorrow, I will be ordering a set of 265/60r18 BFG KO2's to go on them. I think they should look nice, and hopefully all in time for the Snow.... (yeah right!)

Just got a Quote to get her Dinitrol'ed, so that is something for the end of the month as well...

In between all this, I have been taking a few bits off my T2, and transferring them over to Suz's T2, or in the case of First Aid kits, Fire Extinguishers, and other safety/response gear, getting them ready for "Clive's Friendly Giant"!! (that's the Registration).

 

[Wallace]

That's a later and I think better looking car than the one my mate had, how far are you planning to take it off road? All the electronics worry me with water ingress.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

That's a later and I think better looking car than the one my mate had, how far are you planning to take it off road? All the electronics worry me with water ingress.

Thanks, I do like the look of this model.

Not to a ridiculous amount...

In it's standard form, it can do 20" of water, but I have to say the air intake just above the front N/S head light does worry me, especially if you get the bow wave wrong, so it will be getting a snorkel. AS far as lifting goes, we will wait and see when I have got to know the car a bit better.

We are more interested in Green Lane style of off roading than the full on get where no car belongs style.

With SE4x4R, we are called out to assist evacuation in local flooding, but for our own safety, we don't go through anything to silly, as there is too much chance of the car being sweep away. The problem is, the Nissan's and the Jeeps are water tight, unlike the LR's that let the water in, so while they sink, the nice cars are more likely to float!!

Round here, there are a few places that can get cut off in the case of flooding, or "an incident", and the only way to get to some of the villages is to use some of the old dirt sea walls, or crossing the marshes on pre planed routes. We also help KSAR, and among many other things, we can be called upon to transport their boats places where they need to search, which might be a fairway from a normal road.

 

[Wallace]

That's a cool thing to do, good on you. :bow 2014 our area had flooding from the Thames, Ash and Colne declared a major incident and some people needed rescue but unlikely to be comparable with what you may have seen in your area. Some scrotes were robbing houses using inflatables posing as search and rescue.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

That's a cool thing to do, good on you. :bow 2014 our area had flooding from the Thames, Ash and Colne declared a major incident and some people needed rescue but unlikely to be comparable with what you may have seen in your area. Some scrotes were robbing houses using inflatables posing as search and rescue.

In Yalding, we had some people doing that to the Mobile Homes beside the river. It makes things so much more difficult for everyone, as not only the obvious lost items, but also it then means the residents don't want to leave their homes (Which do float). That causes problems, like one year, through the stress, one guy had a heart attack, but the water at his caravan was about 10ft deep, so not a hope of getting there for us, or any of the emergency services... Luckily, with our contacts with KSAR, one of our guys was given a police escort to where the boats are kept, and back, while KSAR came straight to the launch point. They got emergency services out and saved him... it was very impressive. Now the RNLI bring one of their inshore boats down.

The mobile homes there have polystyrene blocks under them, and are attached to a pole on each corner so they can lift with the water, which actually works very well, until someone puts a 6" fish tank at one end, or a Water Bed in the Bedroom!!!! :doh

One of our jobs is to drive round, often with some one in authority, to keep an eye out for people doing stupid things... You would not believe how many BMW's and Audi's move the "road Closed" signs and drive into the floods. When they drown the car, we have to tow them out the way to keep the roads passable for the larger emergency vehicles. Often, we take the occupants back to the dry, where the Police are waiting to talk to them.

Best one we had was sitting with 2 police guys, and a senior emergency planner in the car, just over a bridge, on the non-flooded side, when what I would describe as the typical Traveller open back transit came over the bridge, and the driver got out the move the signs... on the back were a load of bikes, and garden tools.. They had nowhere to go, as my car was across the road, and by chance, there was another one of our cars coming up behind them.. Caught red handed...:lol

 

[Wallace]

They were just removing them to make the road safe for other people , honest guvnor. :augie

Polystyene sounds like a simple solution marred by simple stupidity. When the Ash started to flood in 2014 a friend of ours had it creeping up his garden towards his garage so he moved stuff out and up high then built a small flood wall from bricks and mortar that just about kept it at bay. Other friends had their newly moved into house flooded and the insurance covered the repairs to their Parquet flooring that they didn't know they had under the carpet! It was devastating damage and disruption but thankfully relatively slow in most places not flash flooding.

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

A Jeep?? Traitor

 

[macabethiel]

Jeep Creep / Mission Creep

A Jeep?? Traitor

He's not the only one here! lol

Could be a lot worse like a L**d R***r I can't even type the words!

 

[Banshee]

He's not the only one here! lol

Could be a lot worse like a L**d R***r I can't even type the words!

Poor Land Rover will be getting some stick today

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

Poor Land Rover will be getting some stick today

Yep, they are traitors too

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I finally have my set of KO2's on the Jeep... I will get some pictures once I have had a chance to clean the car a bit, as it is filthy at the moment from all the motorway dirt. I have to say, they do make her look a bit mean...

The wheels were a real epic journey of discovery as even a simple thing like the wheel nuts was not a simple as I first thought it would be, but I persevered, and now have a set of "Ford Transit Custom" wheel nuts holding the new wheels on...:doh

I stripped the rear bumper off and started fitting the new tow bar, as I needed to change the Swan neck one that was already fitted, to a Flange one so I can fit my usual Dixon Bate hitch. While doing this, I am also rewiring the towing electrics from the 7pin to a 13pin, so have stripped out the rear inner panels to sort the cables out. I will also need to move the socket as the standard position is up behind the bumper, so you have to get on your hands and knees to plug it, or on the flange, but we all know what off roading does to any electrics mounted on the "plough"

I also made up an insert for the dish of the spare wheel, which turns it into quite a large storage bin. While doing all this, I found a void behind the rear seats, which is the full width of the car, and about 6" square. This os where the air storage tank on the Overland Model sits for the air suspension adjustment, so I am fitting an access hatch, so I can use it to store things like the Jack, and a few other bits you hopefully do not need that often.

Still a fair bit of work for the wiring, as not only am I doing the tow bar wiring, and the cabling for the caravan rear view camera, but I am trying to future proof it, by adding a few spares for things I will be adding as time goes on.

I also purchased some high power LED bulbs so now my DRL's and parking lights are the same "white" as the HID headlights. I also got a set for the reversing lights, which will hopefully make them a lot brighter as well.

I just wish the weather was a bit warmer, as I got cold right through doing the tow bar today.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Been doing odds and sods on the car..

I have changed some of the bulbs out for LED ones. The Jeep has HID LED Head lights, but for some reason they then fit standard tungsten bulbs for the DRL's, which then look really yellow. As one was blown, I took the chance to swap them for High intensity LED's.. You can really see the difference in this picture.

I fitted the new towbar and have been over engineering the towing electrics with high current cable, relays and fuses.

From previous experience, I didn't want the Electrics hanging down from the towbar, as we all know what happens to them when off roading, so after fitting Suz's T2 electrics in a cup behind her number plate, it gave me the idea to mount the socket in a Stainless steel cup in the bottom of the bumper.

I made up an aluminium ring to give me something to fix them too, and strengthen the fixing into the bumper.

Excuse the state of the car, I need to wash her, but been too busy "making her mine".

I also found a void behind the spare wheel well, on the Overland it is used for an air tank, but wasted space on mine, so I fitted an access hatch, added a bit of strengthening, and now the tools and jack fit in there, freeing up the centre of the spare wheel.

I found a washing bowl that fits in the centre of the spare wheel, added a wooden base to make it sit flat, and now the Jack etc are not taking up space in there, it makes a great storage bin.

 

[johnb5177]

Very nice and well made mods Clive........:thumb2

 

[Blocky10]

Yes they are. Very tidy :thumbs

 

[macabethiel]

Spare Wheel Storage !

That's interesting looking at your spare wheel. Our WJ has a similar layout but our WK1 has the spare wheel underneath the vehicle and you winch it down. The corrosion on the spare wheel was terrible. Looks like they have gone back to internal storage with your WK2 much better except of course you have to empty the boot if you get a puncture whilst carrying a boot full.

 

[jims-terrano]

I love the idea of recessing the towbar sockets. Those LED bulbs for the DRLs seem to make a big difference too. It’s a nice looking truck.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

That's interesting looking at your spare wheel. Our WJ has a similar layout but our WK1 has the spare wheel underneath the vehicle and you winch it down. The corrosion on the spare wheel was terrible. Looks like they have gone back to internal storage with your WK2 much better except of course you have to empty the boot if you get a puncture whilst carrying a boot full.

It's strange, as there is still a big void under the WK2, and it looks like you could still sling a wheel under there, but one of the guys on a Jeep forum tried, and found it was 1.5" in diameter too small... They could have made the well deeper, and then you could have had a full size spare... strange bit of design failure there.. My first cars were Land Crabs, and they had the spare wheel in a metal tray under the car, but like you say, it rusted, and the tray filled with sludge, so you got filthy just taking the wheel out... I think I can live with having to empty the boot... Well until the first time I actually have to do it.. :lol

I love the idea of recessing the towbar sockets. Those LED bulbs for the DRLs seem to make a big difference too. It’s a nice looking truck.

I am pleased with the way they have gone... I was lucky, as I found the shallower cup holders, the normal ones are much deeper, and on Suz's I had to make up a spacer to bring the socket up to the lip of the holder.

I am very impressed with the LED's, I just hope they stand the test of time.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Managed to do a bit more on the Jeep..

I wanted a USB outlet up in the roof console, to power the dash cam.

On my T2, the spare wheel was raised up, and basically blocked off the rear window. So instead of a rear-view mirror, I had a Weako monitor, in place of it, and on top of the spare wheel, there was a double camera, which gave a rear view when going forward, and opened a cover to a downwards looking camera when reversing. I then fitted another Weako camera to the back of the caravan, so when towing I could use the same monitor and see behind the caravan. I wanted to still use the caravan camera when towing on the Jeep, but it looks like without spending about £200 on the "ALLGIG-XG HS" accessory for the factory fit radio, there is no way to get the jeep system to display the camera when driving.

Both Suz and I have to wear glasses all the time, and they are photochromic, so we have no need for the sunglasses holder on the jeep, so I made a panel up, and have fitted a 4.5" LCD monitor into the sunglasses holder in the roof console. I have also fitted the repeater trailer indicator warning light up there as well. Basically, when I have the caravan on the back, I can drop the monitor down, and the fact it blocks the rear view mirror is not a problem, then when I take the caravan off, I just pop it back up out the way.

Lastly, a quick picture of what she looks like with the new wheels and tyres on, until I get some better pictures.

 

[jims-terrano]

Love that reuse of the sun glasses holder:thumbs

 

[johnb5177]

+1.......:thumb2