8 Winterization Tips For Your Jeep

 Jeeps  No Responses »
Nov 062011
 

Are your ready for this?

Winter is fast approaching and some areas have already seen snow. It is still warm enough that you may not have noticed any issues with your Jeep, but if you do not properly winterize your vehicle, you could be setting yourself up for a breakdown on a cold night. Here are eight essential winterization tips that all Jeep owners should heed, even if yours is brand new.

  • Consider switching to a winter tire if your area receives significant snow each year. Even if you have off-road tires, a winter specialized product can give your Jeep a better grip in snow and slush.
  • Look in your owner’s manual and change your tire pressure to maximize grip in the snow. A little spongier stance often helps traction.
  • The battery is the most common culprit when you get stranded in cold weather. Change yours if the power windows are moving slowly or your headlights seem dim. It is definitely time to buy a new battery if yours is more than three years old.
  • Have your brakes inspected.
  • Have your anti-freeze tested and/or replaced. If your Jeep is several years old, you may want to consider having the coolant system back-flushed.
  • Replace your wiper blades and top off the wiper fluid reservoir with a product that includes a de-icer.
  • Check all belts and hoses for wear. Look for cracking, bulges, or fraying. Replace any item that looks a bit dodgy.
  • Run your four wheel drive in all settings. You will want to make sure it operates smoothly and that you do not hear odd noises when it is engaged.

Driving in the wintery conditions is often a source of anxiety and frustration. The only thing that you can do to alleviate some of the stress is to insure that your Jeep is ready for what may come. A proper winterization regimen should keep you driving all winter without having to call for assistance at any point.

 Posted by Jerry at 8:04 am  Tagged with: ,

Winches, Suspension, And Superchips, Oh My!

 Jeeps  No Responses »
Oct 282011
 

When people talk about Jeep accessories, they want to cover a new top, or some pretty thing-a-ma-jig for the interior. Real Jeep enthusiasts want to talk about getting themselves or others out of sticky situations and improving their Jeep’s performance; hence the title, winches, suspension, and Superchips.

Should you be so bold as to take your Jeep off the asphalt, you may find yourself in a jam. Just driving in the winter, you could come across someone in a ditch. When that happens you are going to want a winch around to tackle the situation. Warn has been producing top of the line winch systems for over 50 years. You are going to want to buy a winch that is rated to pull in the 8,000 to 10,000 pound range to insure you have enough capacity for whatever comes your way.

Every Jeep comes with a decent amount of clearance. That doesn’t mean that it is enough for certain conditions or attitudes. In many off-road situations, the more clearance your Jeep offers the better your chances of not bottoming out. Then there is the added factor of just lifting a Jeep purely for the sake of lifting it. The average kit will offer you an additional 2.5 inches of clearance and you can put a 16 inch tire underneath it. Why stop there? Move up to the 4 inch kit. That will allow you to travel over some seriously rutted terrain and plenty of room to add 35×12.5 tires.

Now we come to performance enhancement. Superchips has been working on a product called the Flashpaq Programmer for years; tweaking this, changing that until the unit now works with a wide variety of Jeep models. Using a convenient hand held remote, you can change engine and drivetrain settings to enhance the way your Jeep performs in changing situations. Want better fuel efficiency, press a button. Want to shave a little time in the quarter, press another button. The unit offers such a wide spectrum of features that you may wonder how your Jeep ever performed without it.

If you want to talk about Jeep accessories, you have to start with performance enhancement first. Changing your top or adding seat covers is nice, when your Jeep is tuned correctly, but what good will they do you if you are stuck in mud or sand? Performance over pretty always makes sense.

 Posted by Jerry at 5:32 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Increase Your Jeep’s Horsepower And Fuel Efficiency With A Cold Air Intake

 Jeeps  No Responses »
Oct 202011
 

Cold Air Intake for Jeep

If you are like many Jeep owners, you are always on the look out for ways to to tune your ride. It is like a sickness with some owners. Not one that needs cured, but a sickness nonetheless. One way to add a few more ponies and squeeze an extra mile or two out of every gallon is a cold air intake system.

If you are not familiar with how or why a cold air intake works, it has everything to do with density. Cold air is more dense than warm, allowing it to potentially carry more oxygen molecules. The more oxygen that is available for combustion, the more forceful each piston firing can be, while using less gasoline to achieve combustion.

Now, for the nitty-gritty of the numbers. A cold air intake system can add between 8 and 25 horsepower to your Jeep’s top end. While adding the extra ponies, the system can add as much as 15% to your fuel efficiency. Depending on the model you are driving, that can mean as many as four extra miles(6.4 km) to the gallon.

There are dozens of brands of cold air intake systems for your Jeep. Your best bet is to trust a kit from a well known company: K&N, AEM, and Edge. There are a variety of kits from each manufacturer. Do a little research so that you balance potential horsepower increases with fuel efficiency bonuses. These kits are all easy to install even for the first time do-it-yourselfer, so there is no reason to put this project off.

As a word of caution, a cold air intake can have a few potential detracting factors. The main one being that it can potentially void any warranty that you have on your Jeep. Also, there is no sound reducing material in these systems, so you will have an increased amount of noise from the intake. That shouldn’t matter to a tuner, but it is nice to know ahead of time. Good luck with your project.

 Posted by Jerry at 10:46 am  Tagged with: ,

Jeep Pickup Conversions Kits Compared

 Jeeps, TJ  1 Response »
Oct 162011
 

Assembled AEV Brute Conversion

1992 spelled the end of production for the Jeep Comanche and ended Jeep as a production pickup, much to the chagrin of many Jeep fanatics. There have been an abundance of rumors of a new production pickup from the off-road titan, but none have come to fruition. That leaves Jeep owners sort of on their own if they want to combine a pickup with their favorite ride. The only option is to purchase a conversion kit. There are several companies offering them, but they are not necessarily the same. Here are two popular Jeep conversion kits compared side by side.

AEV Brute

The AEV Brute Jeep conversion kit is designed for the Jeep TJ Wrangler SWB, LWB, right or left hand drive. The kit includes mid-frame extensions, an assembled cab closeout, rear frame extension with a winch mount, the bed assembly includes a tailgate and all parts are 14 gauge steel, a hard top, brake and fuel lines, body mounts, and the all important instructions. The shock of the $8,995 price tag should wear off after the conversion is complete.

MOPAR Conversion Kit

MOPAR conversion kit

The MOPAR designed and manufactured JK-8 conversion kit will fit all of the same types of vehicle as the Brute. The kits contents are a little bit different, though. The kit includes a 50-inch cargo box floor, half a hardtop, a lower bulkhead, inner and outer rear body panels, several brackets and two bedrail extensions. Body, rollbar and floor modifications are going to be needed, then there is quite a bit of welding to be done. The sticker price of the kit is a little easier to swallow than the Brute’s. At $5,500, it a little more affordable.

With either Jeep conversion kit, you will void your Jeep’s warranty by installing the kit yourself. You will have to order the kit from a dealership or take it to one to be installed. This is a whole lot more project than most do-it-yourselfers can take on.

 Posted by Jerry at 5:39 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Choosing the Right Top for your Jeep

 Jeeps  2 Responses »
Aug 072011
 

When you bought your Jeep it certainly came with a top of some kind – very much likely with a hardtop, but possibly you got it with a soft top. Usually, one doesn’t really get into this discussion of tops unless they want some variety. If you live in the area, where the winters are cold, a hardtop is a must have for the cold months. On the other side, quite a few Jeep owners purchase a soft top of some kind, to turn their Wrangler or Sahara into a stylish ride, where you could enjoy the sun and the air.

Jeep tops come in a variety of styles, ranging from fully covered hardtops to semi open tops, known as bikini tops. It is very common to have different tops for different seasons. Hardtops are known to provide the best protection from wind and rain; however you would need a hoist to take a hardtop off, if you do it by yourself, and also a place to store it. Soft tops, on the other hand, are very easy to store or to remove, but they’re not as secure as hardtops. Bikini tops represent a nice variation, allowing one to drive, basically, with the top down, while not being scorched by the sun.

If one is looking to replace an already existing soft top, it is a good idea to see the make of the top, in the first place. Some soft tops were designed to fit over the original hardware, while other will come with their own hardware that you would need to install. When opting for a top, and the tops are not that cheap, if you haven’t already noticed that, it is very important to go with trusted names that had been in a business for a long time, those that earned their reputation for consistent production of quality products.

One of the companies that have long been supplying Jeep Corporation with high quality tops is the Bestop. This company works hand in hand with Jeep and understands very well Jeep specs. The other ones that are also known for their craftsmanship are Rugged Ridge, Pavement Ends and Mopar.

And once you defined the brand that you wanna go with, it is very important to choose the right model. There is quite a lot of variation in the tops, for instance you have the standard soft top, the flip-top, the bikini top and the additional accessories, such as the windbreaker and the duster, which are aimed to give your Jeep different appearance and looks, while keeping away the wind, the dust and the debris.

 Posted by Leonard at 3:27 pm  Tagged with: , , ,
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