jeep liberty/trailer project

[ncs]

The first year of the Liberty, maybe the second year too, is actually an inch taller than the newer models. Jeep ended up lowering the Liberty an inch because buyers were complaining it was too tall to get in the front seats easily. You might be able to find a newer, shorted set of springs to get a cheap one inch drop.

[morpheous71]

Hey Thanks guys for all thatinput, my head is spinning with ideas. I love the bottom and front of the truck "bam" it's all the other stuff out back that I'm not into, painting black does help though.
Update;
Got my scanguage today so I had to go out and burn some gas, not sure if she's calibrated properly yet but its giving me an 19.4mpg average,city/highway, hopefully thats correct, because I was calculating in the 12's, sure is a great device, this will be fun. I also installed a 40 watt oil heater last night, cost $5, ripped apart an old backheater and glued it on, it actually covers the whole oil pan from front to back, it's not very high wattage but for $5 bucks it's better than what I had before, I need to get some more glue in there to finished her up and also get a insulated heatsheild so I don't lose any heat. I'm going to try to use old heaters for all my heating needs, I don't want to spend the cash since it feels like I am defeating my purpose. I also got a new flowtech raptor performance muffler $39.95, price was right so I'll be hopefully getting it on tomorrow and getting some pic's and spec's from the mod's up on the board over the next week.
Peace out.

[morpheous71]

Rebuilds were going for $3000-$4000, from the dealer $5000 and from the scrap yards $2000. I luck out sorta by finding a local guy who sold me one for $450. Most of the engines had tom come up form the states, there were only a few in Canada, so a diesel would have been outta my price range, not to mention everybody was telling me how the engines from different years would not work in my 2002 because of computer compatability. The whole thing was a mess and I did get screwed in the end, luckily I have an honest mechanic now not like before the engine blew.

[BamZipPow]

Originally Posted by morpheous71

I love the bottom and front of the truck "bam" it's all the other stuff out back that I'm not into, painting black does help though.

Well...the extended diffuser is just fer testing at the moment. I have to git ideas and data from somewhere. I'm trying to find out if it will keep the road muck off the rear window. I will probably only extend it when I need to go on long wet trips...if this pans out.

Again...most of this is just to git data on how well it works with my truck...as different mods will give you different results on different trucks. As it proves out...I'll paint/finish the mods as I go along. I've only really been doing this fer about a year now.

Start a fuel log on yer truck and document the mods you do. Don't settle on a permanent solution until yer really satisfied with the results. Hate to see you dump money into something that doesn't pay back or make it even worse.

The key is planning and drawing it out before you start putting materials and things together. Post up about yer ideas and git them brain cells working. I've gone through many various versions in my head/paper before I started on fabrication. Some were down right expensive until I found a more cost effective/cheaper method...

The one thing that really worked out was the cross-beams that separated the bottom of the truck into 3 sections. Cost fer that originally was gonna be in the 100's. Current version...$15.

[slowmover]

Everything proceeds from records. It costs nothing but 2-minutes after each fillup.

And weigh the trailer and truck separately, then together. Trailer loading can lighten the front end (making for poor steering/braking) and cause it catch more air. Same for trailer brakes: make sure they are working well, and that you have the best controller.

[Joenavy85]

not sure how much it would help in this situation due to the relatively equal height, but a small wing on the back of your jeep could help get the airflow over the front edge of the trailer, my dad tows a 18' Tandem axle trailer behind his van (an '02 Ford super duty IIRC) and put a wing on the rear of the van due to the trailer being about 8 inches taller, he actually modified a Sprint Car front wing to use, and picked up 1-2 MPG while towing the trailer. the brackets he uses for it allow him to remove it so it doesn't look ridiculous without the trailer behind him. i'll try to get him to email pictures of it to post