Diesel Jeep Liberty DD build

JD3020 · Sep 2, 2015

Got some new tires on it, a little bit bigger than stock. Wish i could fit my 285/75's on it. LOL

Izzybird · Oct 10, 2015

Should get you another one, would be a short drive for you too.
https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/5249627401.html

JD3020 · Oct 11, 2015

I'm in Ohio, it'd be 1200 miles. LOL If i had the time i'd go get it though. These engines are sleeved so it might not be too hateful to fix, and being a Texas rig it'd be rust free.

Made a few more changes to the Jeep recently. Got my new tires mounted up, and ******d the cat and muffler. Then i got bored and decide to change it to a rear exit exhaust with a 3.5" tip coming out of the bumper. May make a few more changes.

Oh, and i manged to wreck the damn thing the other night at the farm. This thing had virtually no dents or scratches, and the paint was in excellent condition. Not now. :slap: think i'll just paint the bottom of the rockers black, get it tinted pretty dark, and call it a day.

WILD_PHIL · Oct 11, 2015

Rhino line?

E99 F350/zf6/guages/arp/comp/stellite/ billet wheel/ bellowed... Need more fuel and more air.

JD3020 · Oct 11, 2015

IDK yet. I've never been a fan of the textured look of bedliner, thinking of just using flat or semi-gloss black tractor paint. Also going to paint all the fender flares with the same paint so it matches.

First though i'm gonna try to get a quote to have it fixed and painted, but i'm sure it'll be $$$$. Wish i could find anther Liberty this color being parted out so i could just swap doors.

smcox1 · Oct 12, 2015

Color matched rhino liner

WILD_PHIL · Dec 21, 2015

Any updates on this? I'm thinking about buying one.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

JD3020 · Dec 21, 2015

Not really, changed the oil in it the other night but thats been about it. Also put a Thrush Turbo muffler on it as it being straight piped with the rear exit tip was stupid loud, both inside and out. The Thrush quieted it down a lot, sounds about stock now. Thought about getting a more aggressive sounding muffler but IDK if i'll mess with it for a while. If work ever slows down it'll be getting tore down for new glow plugs, timing belt, and a full EGR delet e. Have a huge box of parts for it, just gotta get the time since it'll most likely be a 2 day job to do everything. Once thats all done it'll be getting a hotter tune, and see how the trans handles it.

A while back i did have a small issue, blew out the damn intercooler hose. $260 for new Mishimoto hoses and it was back on the road.

Averaging 20-21 MPG's, all city driving. But i have a horrible commute, its 5 miles from my house to our shop. Usually idles 10 minutes in the morning and 10 in the afternoon, then does 60mph for 5 miles with 3 stop signs. Doubt any vehicle would get good fuel economy driving this route. This tank has been a lot more highway driving, and put 70 miles on it one night cruising around with friends looking at Christmas lights so i hope it'll be a little better.

JD3020 · Dec 21, 2015

I do plan on tint maybe some rims or something but once i have all this maintenance work done i'll probably leave it alone. Ready to either build my s468 7.3 OBS, or sell all my 7.3 stuff and get a sporty car. Want something fun to drive since i spend all my time in a F-450 and the Jeep. LOL

WILD_PHIL · Dec 21, 2015

Well I've been impressed with your results. I'm thinking about picking one up to drive back and forth to work and to use at the deer lease. My commute is 35 miles at 70mph with only 2 stops. I think one of these would be perfect for what I need.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

WILD_PHIL · Dec 21, 2015

These things have a lot of potential.

Are you going to put a hemi torque converter in it when the stock let's go?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

JD3020 · Dec 21, 2015

They aren't bad vehicles, but keep in mind its a 10 year old Chrysler vehicle with an Italian engine, so unless its already had a bunch of work done, it'll most likely need a lot of maintenance stuff. Timing belt and water pump is $400 in parts every 100k, seems like head gaskets can fail anytime over 100k due to the factory TTY bolts like the 6.0h, studs are $350ish. Rocker arms are known to fail as well and require pulling the cams and everything off, i think they run like $200 for all 16. Then you still have the rest of the vehicle which will probably have some issues. Luckily i got mine pretty cheap so i was expecting it to need some work, and even with everything i've done including new tires, all the mods, timing belt, etc... i still have less than $4500 in it total.

But they are kinda fun to drive, get decent MPG's, have a manual t-case, and they get some attention because of how it sounds. I was sitting in-line at a Wendy's one day in a local ag town when an older man and his wife came out. He started walking in front of the Jeep but i noticed he immediately heard something off, saw my turbodiesel badge and had to do a double take. LOL

I'm not sure yet what i'd do for a converter, lot of good and bad reviews on both the "euro" spec converter and the hemi converters. Seems like the only really good ones are the Suncoast converters, but no way in hell would i spend $700 on a converter that will never see more than 250hp/450-500lb-ft.

BTW don't price lifts unless you want a heart attack, to properly lift a CRD with good parts you'll have $850 in new springs and shocks. And thats just to get 2.5" over stock.

JD3020 · Jan 9, 2016

Finally got some free time yesterday so i tore into the Jeep to do the timing belt, glow plugs, and EGR * *****. All were waaaayyyy overdue, and dangerous running the timing belt and glow plugs since they are both known to fail with some age. Bit of a bitch to do since theres so much junk on these engines, and not much room. Luckily i've done another timing belt several years ago so i had a bit of an idea of how to do it, just a very long job. Especially when you add in the EGR and glow plugs which takes a lot more work.

My custom cam holding tool. LOL

Capped off the exhaust EGR port

Taking out the rest of the EGR crap, did leave the valve/cooler since i didn't have time to mess with pulling them. At this point they do nothing, other than have some coolant passing through it and into the block.

All back together.

This is one of the better glow plugs. One had the tip completely broken off. VERY common issue on the factory glow plugs as the tips are ceramic and snap off. No noticeable issues from the engine so i think i lucked out and it went out the valve without an issue.

Think i had about $700 in parts in everything, but should be good for another 100k miles.