Incommando

I am sorry I read this without being signed in so I saw that drivel ^^^^ First off the overseas models at the time were mostly the 2.5 and they had differences. Derp. In case you have not figured it out we are not overseas. :rotf: Many of the mods needed for the 2.8 HERE consisted of using the Euro spec parts including the freaking torque converter. The converter, for example, was a multi-thousand dollar operation if you had to pay to have it done if ChryCo told you to pound salt. This change was needed due to a major torque converter shudder issue caused by a different converter being used HERE. A difficult to maintain ECM/TCM re-flash was also required with this mod. Dead battery? Back for a re-flash! Other things like the EHM ( elephant hose mod) were cooked up by owners trying to make these things reliable enough to drive daily. The dealer returns for problems on the CRD KJ were unbelievably high for a vehicle that only sold about 10,000 units in 3 model years HERE. Did you notice that it never made it into another model HERE? Although they did offer a package to put a 2.8 in custom apps I understand it sold about as well as ice cream cones at the North Pole. The CRD 2.8 had to be a complete pile of crap for "owner neglect" to require repairs and mods on vehicles within the first 12 months of ownership. So how much time did you spend with Liberty people and websites from '05-'12? How many miles did you put on your lifted & locked KJ including KJ meets and wheeling opportunities to get FIRST HAND info directly from the sources including a friend who bought one of these things against advice? You need to keep to what you know which is roughly 1/3 of what you think you know. :thumbsup:

Avoid Rough Country. Rocky Road is also less then scrupulous as well. Zone is looking decent. Honestly I would look at an SOA for 33's especially if you want to keep your factory sheet metal and do some 'wheeling. More expensive, true, but worth it in the end IMHO. There is a popular version on here if you want a street truck and some for the off-road oriented enthusiast... :)

The 2.8 VM Motori as used in the Liberty was very problematic. The tons of money and time that owners spent to come up with a list of the minimum mods to give them daily reliability and driveability should never be required. Fiat's worldwide reputation for being crap is well-earned. A deep enough search would show that I have long championed American cars and panned Toyota in particular for being unscrupulous and over-rated. But Fiat and its products are not American. As with the Dart/200/Cherokee future products are much more likely to be re-bodied Fiats or imported Fiats like the Jeep Panda...er, Renegade. I don't recall ever hearing "damn those eyetalians make some reliable cars." :)

(a transaxle is the combination of a transmission and differential most commonly found on front wheel drive cars)

I used C.R. as the starting point not as gospel. If Ford in particular fixed all of the nav/audio/info glitches they would jump quite a bit. An issue with C.R. is that an audio screen that is two touchy counts as much as a bad tranny. But C.R. isn't the only ones that are rating the Fiat products as the worst though.

80's cars ( Well early 70's- later 80's) are considered some of the worst vehicles ever...bad performance, mileage, and reliability for the most part. To be clear the worst new cars are probably light years ahead of nearly anything made 30 years ago. The Fiats may come close. If those vehicles were held to the same quality & safety/recall standards of today there would maybe be 3 models to choose from. I love my old cars and have owned dozens but as far as reliable transportation goes there were 20-25 really crappy years beginning around '71or so. Performance? A new 4dr Accord V6 auto is faster in the quarter mile at 14.6 seconds than the 1/4 times of an '89 Mustang GT = auto 15.2 & stick 14.8, 1982 Corvette = 16.2, or 1985 Monte Carlo SS = 15.9. The Bandit would have been better of pushing than driving that 17.7 second quarter mile bird turd he drove. He would even lose to the 1977 Mustang 302 which ran an astounding 17.5 in the quarter... yes 17.5 with a 5.0L V8 stuffed in a re-bodied Pinto sub-compact econo car. Whew. Blistering speeds. Throw in braking & handling which was almost non-existent.... For every mid-80's XJ driver there are 5 Citation's & 15 Escorts that were scrapped and turned into green bean cans 20 years ago. 100,000 miles used to be a major milestone in car reliability now failing to reach that is a bitter disappointment. That being said being better than a 1975 car but still being worse than any other 2014 Make still equates to being crap. And Fiat Chrysler is shoveling it by the ton.

This all started from the release of Consumer Reports yearly ratings. I am no Consumer Reports take it as gospel fan but it led me to googling & eaves dropping other forums. The diesel has numerous driveabilty complaints considering a fairly slow/low sales roll out. Fiat is famous for crappy cars and it just stands to reason that the more Fiat the other offerings become the worse they will be.

If by RINO's you mean that they so not let mythology rule their life I disagree. If you mean people who are not fiscally conservtive I agree. Rabid theocrats are killing the party with new voters.

So no surprise here. Fiat has always been crap and that was one of the main reasons they left this market decades ago. Unlike Ford and Caddy whose ratings were brought down by niggling infotainment system issues these Fiat nameplates have serious mechanical issues. The new 9speed auto in the 200/Dart/Cherokee triplets appears to be junk. The truck v6 diesel, just like the same fiat owned VM motori diesel they tried in the liberty, is just as much junk as that I4 was. The 500 brings back levels of crappiness not seen here in decades. The car talk brothers said Fiats are the only cars they recommend buying an extended warranty for as they are that bad. MOPAR it was nice knowing you. You will be missed

The 4.0 makes more HP than many years of the sometimes anemic 318. Sure you could probably do it but that doesn't mean you should. Your money...your time...your decision but the fact that this swap is basically unheard of means there is probably a reason for it

American politics has been uncivilized, bloody, & violent far longer than the brief period referred to as civilized. For a fairly realistic example watch "Lincoln" with Daniel Day Lewis. Once again the "good old days" are whitewashed fabricated history. Just ask a Southern black or a female prior to 1920.

This. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck I don't care if it calls itself a pigeon it is a duck. Yes, a recognized third party is what I am looking for: Libertarian, Green, Socialist, Constitution...something like that. Still not having much luck.

What did you night blind people do during the incandescent bulb era? If you cannot see with just halogen sealed beams it may be time to hang up driving after dark. Just sayin'

But that doesn't address the 8.25 ->8.75 issue that his Duster would have

Another election cycle has passed and I cannot find one shred of evidence for a third party candidate winning any post of more than local significance. I have googled extensively. As this is a national forum if someone could point me to a race where a 3rd party candidate won a race of any importance would you please do so & I can then research it? I am not looking for an argument pro or con but just the places to look. Thanks

Fulls sized Dodge axle? Possible but stupid. As stated above: get an 8.25 XJ axle. Weld on spring pads. Re-use shick perches. Bam. A much better rear axle for $150 or so. A Comanche is not as small as the first gen S10 or Ranger but about like a first gen Dakota. No, it is not a full-sized truck. It is based on the downsized 84-2001 Xj Cherokee

Late 95-1999 XJ for the 297 joints & high pinion. 2000-2001 were low pinion and measurably weaker. As these thing are all getting pretty old I would measure the u-joint caps before buying an axle. Someone could have done some swapping.

Just enough to turn the grass white here so far.

I mounted my battery in the trunk of my Camaro many years ago and used the same cable as he did........never a problem. And this is common practice among hot rodders. OP- since you went to all that trouble.........I'd have gone to a large deep cycle battery. And did you then run a winch off of the front of your Camarrow? :) It is used in drag racing for better weight distribution and may help add a little weight to the too-light rear of the MJ. I don't think I would do it that way in the terrain that I wheel in but we do not all live in the same climates. At minimum I would have to use a battery box as mentioned above to protect against exposure to mud and other hazards around here like snow,ice, and road salt. But I, too, would wonder about the effects on a winch.

You can get the little white factory breather caps for about $2 each if someone wants options.

X2 on getting the word out about that company

You sometimes have to pick up on or push down on the body to get it lined up well. It can change based on the forces on the suspension at the time you are trying to connect or disconnet it. Trying to be on as flat a surface as possible when doing it helps. If you find yourself always moving the suspension one way especially on the same side you may need to fine tune the length of the disconnect.

troof

Do they still play baseball? I thought MLB and the NBA were discontinued years ago... :banana:

Here ya go: Image Not Found Four REAR junkyard TJ flares. $50 or so not $400+