My Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD

[Blocky10]

That's an impressive set of pictures the thought of drilling a hoe in the roof fill me with fear!

Last time I did that was when I fitted a swept back roof aerial on a Mini back in the 1960's you could not drill the hole where you wanted due to a reinforcing ridge it had to be a couple of inches further back.

Not as much fear than in the hoe you're drilling :lol:lol

 

[macabethiel]

Not as much fear than in the hoe you're drilling :lol:lol

hoe,hoe,hoe typo !!

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

hoe,hoe,hoe typo !!

He he... that's quite a Typo... :lol:lol

Every time I drill or cut a hole in the roof, I have a mild panic attack...

Talking of roof reinforcements, when I drilled the first hole, I checked, double checked, and even checked a few more times. I then had a cup of tea, and checked again, before taking a very deep breath, and putting the tip of the drill bit onto the roof. I drilled the pilot hole, and landed right in the middle of the reinforcer... There is a lot of windscreen that goes above the head lining, so when you measure, front to back, there is about 4" difference from the inside to the outside.

I actually hit so very lucky, as not only was it right in the middle, but was right over an access hole into the reinforcer.

I was not sure if I should have entered the lottery, or if I had just used up a weeks worth of good luck in one go...

 

[Blocky10]

He he... that's quite a Typo... :lol:lol

Every time I drill or cut a hole in the roof, I have a mild panic attack...

Talking of roof reinforcements, when I drilled the first hole, I checked, double checked, and even checked a few more times. I then had a cup of tea, and checked again, before taking a very deep breath, and putting the tip of the drill bit onto the roof. I drilled the pilot hole, and landed right in the middle of the reinforcer... There is a lot of windscreen that goes above the head lining, so when you measure, front to back, there is about 4" difference from the inside to the outside.

I actually hit so very lucky, as not only was it right in the middle, but was right over an access hole into the reinforcer.

I was not sure if I should have entered the lottery, or if I had just used up a weeks worth of good luck in one go...

You're a brave man:bow

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Had a chance to get a fair bit done on the car...

She is starting to look like my car at last.

Got the second battery fully installed under the passenger seat.

And after sorting out all the wires and fuses, I ran these two wires to the rear of the car, the top one is from the main Battery, which the Towbar Electrics are connected too, and the lower one, is from the second battery, which everything else is connected to.

As I had to remove the seats to get proper access to the batteries, and also remove the lower dash apron from under the steering wheel, all of which have airbag or such like installed, I disconnected the batteries, and left it for 20 mins. The problem with electric seats is then discovering that you can't get to the back mounts, so I then re-connected the batteries, and moved the seats forward after undoing the front mounts, then disconnect the batteries again, and go and have a cup of tea.

While the seats were out, I took a bit of time to tidy the brackets up that are under them, increasing the amount of space under the seats so I can store a few bits under there.

Passenger seat before.

Passenger seat after.

I also did the Drivers seat as well. I forgot to take a before, but this is the after, and the before was pretty much like the passenger seat.

One of the weird things about the Jeep are it's connectors... It's like every connector has a different way of disconnecting it, and some seem to be overly complicated.

This is the air bag connector from under the dash. You have to pop the orange bit up to get it to release.

I Used Carling switches, which I fitted in to the dash. On the Passenger side of the steering wheel, I had to heat the panel up with a heat gun, and mould it to create a flat bit for the switches.

There is a Switch to turn on and off the rear boot power Socket. One to turn on the Waeco DC40 battery charger for Battery 2, and then a Dual Volt meter, with the Main battery voltage displayed on the top, and the 2nd battery on the bottom.

The flash has made that crease look a lot harsher than it really is.

On the outside of the steering wheel, I fitted 4 switches, some of these are for future add ons.

The roof and front spots come on with Main beam, so the first 2 switches isolate these. The next switch is for the extra rear white lights to be fitted in the future, and the last switch is for the roof Amber beacons.

 

[FerdiNL]

That is some nice work!:thumb2

 

[jims-terrano]

That is some nice work!:thumb2

I’m very envious of Clive’s skills not to mention his truck.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Thank you.

I’m very envious of Clive’s skills not to mention his truck.

He he... which truck... lol

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[luke1987]

Those airbag connectors are great, they even melt to the airbag in an accident. Been in use since about 2001 first seen on the Peugeot 206.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Those airbag connectors are great, they even melt to the airbag in an accident. Been in use since about 2001 first seen on the Peugeot 206.

I must admit I have stayed away from airbags, the only one up to now I have removed was on My T2, when I had to re-centre the steering wheel, and I was paranoid.

Why do they melt to the airbag?

 

[solarman216]

I am guessing that it is because they get that hot when they go off, I have set a few off and felt the heat, Rick

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I have been doing odd jobs on the CFG the last little while, most things are not worthy of pictures but I will note them, mainly for my own future reference.

I have added RivNuts into the rear seat backs, so I could add some decent fixing eyes that are available with the seats in the up right position, in the boot area. There are the child ISO seat restraints on the back of the seats, but when the seats are in the up right position, they end up behind the trim that covers the gap, when the seats are folded down, so not much use to me. I was very surprised to see just how flimsily fixed down the supplied luggage restraints in the boot are, and would not like the idea of our standard response equipment, that is stored in the boot, relying on those in the event of an accident to keep things in place. The rear of the seats have a thin MDF cover, but under that, there is metal, so I recessed the rivnuts through the MDF into the metal. Now the kit boxes are held tightly against the back of the seats.

Another job was to fit a luggage net across the front of the rear seats, so I can store the First Aid kit under there, and it does not slide out every time I brake.

I added a removable net across the rear of the boot, so when I open it, and things are piled high, it does not all fall out, and at the same time, various webbing bridges in strategic places to allow me to strap things down.

I have again changed the boot reversing camera, for one with a wider field of view, and it also had a small amount of adjustment, which now means I have it angled down more than the fixed one I previously fitted, and can now see the edge of the towbar... Much better.

I have repeatedly tried to stick a little storage pocket to the A pillar, to keep a small remote control in. I have tried about 4 different kinds of trim tape, plus the 3M stuff that originally came with the pocket, but I am finding nothing seems to stick for more than 2 days to the Jeep's plastic trim. I have cleaned it with Meths, and even Thinners, but nothing stays stuck. On my T2 I used the hook half of Velcro to attach the remote to the roof lining, but again, the Jeep has foiled me, as Velcro does not seem to stick to anything in there, carpets included, so my rubbish bin has had to be re-worked as well

As you all know, I have pet ferrets. I have had them for 19 years, and ours are house pets, currently with 12 living free reign, as most people would have a cat or dog. In 19 years, my hands have never looked as bad as my first 2 months of owning a Jeep... I know you can tell a person who is a L***R**** enthusiast by the amount of oil and grease on them, but I now also know you can recognise a fellow jeep enthusiast, but the number of cuts, scrapes and scratches on their hands.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Been busy on the Cute Friendly Giant again, fitted an Anderson connector to the front bumper, so I can plug in my Jump leads, and I also use it to connect the car to the caravan, to double up the battery capacity, and it also means the caravan solar panels keep the car charged.

You may also notice the LED light bar hidden in the bottom grill, and some extra marker lights in the top grill.

I also fitted the Side Steps.

 

[macabethiel]

Have you tried Tigerseal ?

"I have repeatedly tried to stick a little storage pocket to the A pillar, to keep a small remote control in. I have tried about 4 different kinds of trim tape, plus the 3M stuff that originally came with the pocket, but I am finding nothing seems to stick for more than 2 days to the Jeep's plastic trim. I have cleaned it with Meths, and even Thinners, but nothing stays stuck. On my T2 I used the hook half of Velcro to attach the remote to the roof lining, but again, the Jeep has foiled me, as Velcro does not seem to stick to anything in there, carpets included, so my rubbish bin has had to be re-worked as well."

A few years ago when we had the Mercedes W124 4-Matic Estate Car the exterior rear boot trim that also forms the boot handle needed replacing as it was cracked. I bought a new trim (at great expense), it came with new fitting clips that I managed to break when fitting. The clips were no longer supplied separately so spoke to a friend of mine who worked in a bodyshop. He gave me a part used tube of "Tigerseal" - they use it to glue on the front wings of some Audi / VW models.

Some front wings are made of a type of plastic and they are bonded on production to the inner wing panels. This stuff really works only thing I had to do was support it as it set, I just used some duct tape to hold the trim/handle in place leaving the tailgate open overnight.

Despite being used to lift the tailgate it held firm for the years I owned the vehicle. It was a self closing tailgate mechanism with no slamming required. I also used it to re-attach bump stops etc on the r3mR. I also used it to stick plastic handles on my aquarium cover glass. Also used it at a hotel to stick rubber door blocks to concrete.

Downside is that once the tube is opened its solid in around a week. Small tubes of Tigerseal cost around the £10 mark so its not cheap.

P.S. Only seen it in black.

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

well was liking the look of a late wk2, so got me looking at late wk an early wk2.

my understanding is the wk has ifs and rear live but the wk2 is ifs and irs.

what version of quadra-xxx 4wd does yours have?

the mrs has said not bothered if our next truck is 7 seater so looking more at
these jeeps, seem good bet with proper 4x4 heritage and ability so lacking
in alternatives.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

well was liking the look of a late wk2, so got me looking at late wk an early wk2.

my understanding is the wk has ifs and rear live but the wk2 is ifs and irs.

what version of quadra-xxx 4wd does yours have?

the mrs has said not bothered if our next truck is 7 seater so looking more at
these jeeps, seem good bet with proper 4x4 heritage and ability so lacking
in alternatives.

I spent 2 mins trying to work out what IFS stood for... I said out loud, "I wonder what IFS stands for"...

My normally quiet and demure wife just came out with.....

"I F**K Slowly!"

Not sure where that came from!

Anyway, (still in shock) my WK2 is both IFS and IRS.

Mine is an early (first year) WK2, and from what I have been reading, Jeep have been doing the same as Nissan, and cutting corners/quality each time they do a revision on the WK2. A lot of it, is the silly things, like the Chrome Plating of internal trim parts comes off, but I have read a few other bits on the Jeep forums as well. If you go for one, go for the best spec you can, as adding a lot of things after is not always an option, and often ridiculously expensive.

I have the "Limited", which I think is the second to top spec, with the Overland being the top, and the main difference is the liftable suspension on the Overland, and I didn't want that on an older car, too much to go wrong.

Mine has the Quadra-Trac II gearbox, which from most reviews I have read is considered the best for off road driving. It is all electronic, so instead of a transfer shift lever, it is all done by a rotary switch, which allows you to select driving modes like Sports, Snow, Mud, Rock, and the 2 other switches allowing 4low, and hill descent.

I do have to say, even after 6 months, I still smile every time I get in the drivers seat.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

"I have repeatedly tried to stick a little storage pocket to the A pillar, to keep a small remote control in. I have tried about 4 different kinds of trim tape, plus the 3M stuff that originally came with the pocket, but I am finding nothing seems to stick for more than 2 days to the Jeep's plastic trim. I have cleaned it with Meths, and even Thinners, but nothing stays stuck. On my T2 I used the hook half of Velcro to attach the remote to the roof lining, but again, the Jeep has foiled me, as Velcro does not seem to stick to anything in there, carpets included, so my rubbish bin has had to be re-worked as well."

A few years ago when we had the Mercedes W124 4-Matic Estate Car the exterior rear boot trim that also forms the boot handle needed replacing as it was cracked. I bought a new trim (at great expense), it came with new fitting clips that I managed to break when fitting. The clips were no longer supplied separately so spoke to a friend of mine who worked in a bodyshop. He gave me a part used tube of "Tigerseal" - they use it to glue on the front wings of some Audi / VW models.

Some front wings are made of a type of plastic and they are bonded on production to the inner wing panels. This stuff really works only thing I had to do was support it as it set, I just used some duct tape to hold the trim/handle in place leaving the tailgate open overnight.

Despite being used to lift the tailgate it held firm for the years I owned the vehicle. It was a self closing tailgate mechanism with no slamming required. I also used it to re-attach bump stops etc on the r3mR. I also used it to stick plastic handles on my aquarium cover glass. Also used it at a hotel to stick rubber door blocks to concrete.

Downside is that once the tube is opened its solid in around a week. Small tubes of Tigerseal cost around the £10 mark so its not cheap.

P.S. Only seen it in black.

Sorry I missed this reply.

I have used Tiger seal a few times now, the first time was to reattach the front passenger side lower door trim to the T2. Since then, I have used it for all sorts, including attaching the Solar Panels to the top of the caravan. Oh and by the way, you can get it in white, as that was what I used for the caravan roof.

I might give it a try, but I am not sure I want to yet, as the idea of tape was a temporary fix until I was sure they were in the right place, and what I wanted. I just wanted a temporary fix that lasted longer than 2 days!! :nenau

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Just thought I would show the Jeep in "hazard" mode.

We were patrolling Danson Park, in the Live firework area, so I got a chance to take a video.

The only lights not on, were the revolving beacons which are also in with the roof leds.

https://youtu.be/WsyHsuN1PZU

Hard to miss!

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[jims-terrano]

Sorry mate, you’re wrong. I saw another light out, one of your rear number plate lights was out :lol:lol:lol:lol

Do any of those beacons cause any radio interference?

Looks impressive just the same.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Funny you should mention the light, I spotted when taking the video and it was changed the next morning. She has her MOT on Thursday, and I had already done a check over last week, to make sure everything was ok, so I was a bit miffed to spot that. Will have to do one final check Thursday morning.

No interference from the leds, but most are professional hide away lights, the sort used by emergency services. The others are current limited by resistors, not buck modules, so no high frequencies to cause interference.

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