Building for the Wife...

[HoosierJeeper]

OK - sounds good. Better to have it and not need it than need it and overheat in the middle of nowhere right? I'll add that to my list - and start keeping an eye out for JY finds.

on a side note - I just assumed that this liberty had towing capabilities - but after reading some educating threads, looks like I just have the hitch to prevent a 'pinto-like' experience in a rear collision recall install. I should have looked for the wires as well, but just stopped when I saw the hitch. Perhaps I'll get the wiring harness at some point, but with my XJ being fully outfitted for towing, its clearly not a priority.




at night you can... but when you turn the lights on, it dims the accessory lights down to like 60% brightness, and then the dimmer will adjust from 60% down to 10% (I'm not sure on the brightness levels - just using those numbers for illustrative purposes). When the lights are off, the brightness is at 100%, but there is a gap between the daytime no-lights-on brightness, and lights on with dimmer-turned-on-full brightness. Its not as apparent in the radio, but its VERY apparent in the EVIC. Turn the lights on, with the dimmer brightness up all the way, and its quite hard to see the EVIC in bright sunshine.




You'd think it would be regional - but as stated by Dave - its all trim level dependent. Us poor people up north can't afford the Limited trims so we scour the JY or ebay for upgrades!:happy175: At least its not as bad as with the XJ - there were 3 or 4 trim levels, but that didn't really matter as you could have added basically all the limited stuff to a sport. One of the few regional things I believe the XJ had, and not sure about the KJ or KK, is a electric engine block warmer. My XJ was originally from Alaska and it was installed as part of the "Alaska Delivery Group" package as per my build sheet. Don't know if such options were available for the KJ or KK though.

If you get the extra fan and the wiring, you just added a tow package.

^^There might have been an option on the KJ for a block heater.......not sure. If so, they were probably ordered by dealers in Alaska or Canada probably. I am in Upstate NY not far from Canada and it gets good and cold here and we can get plenty of snow. Never saw one here but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Dave

I've never seen another KJ here with one, I had mine added.

 

[djtimyd]

If you get the extra fan and the wiring, you just added a tow package.

... for a heckova lot cheaper too I'd imagine

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Yep! KJs make a good tow vehicle. I've never towed with my XJ (I imagine the pep of the 4.0 works well for towing), but the KJ can easily tow what an XJ can, so at least now you'll have a backup vehicle, which with Jeeps is kind of required.

 

[GeorgeBruce]

Where you able to get the TPMS working?

 

[djtimyd]

sort of?... so, the tires on the JY rims are kinda crap. So I need to have the tires on the steel rims removed and mounted on the nicer alloy rims that have the TPMS. Good news is that the sensors started sending info to the EVIC on the way home. Bad news is that someone had already taken the retraining magnet from the JY liberty. Hopefully I can get the tires swapped for a good price and the shop has the magnet to retrain. I'm very encouraged by the fact that they started communicating with the EVIC just sitting in the back of the liberty. Looks like they go to sleep when not rolling so I may have some good battery left.

I like the idea of the TPMS... my issue is the sensors themselves. Why are the batteries not user serviceable? This is a big waste of resources by making the TPMS mandatory (after 2007 I believe) and making them not user serviceable. I'm not some kind of tree hugging hippy, but I see two problems: 1) its wasteful & 2) its more expensive in the long run. I'm all about saving green - on the trail and in my wallet.

 

[GeorgeBruce]

The TPMS sensors have to be completely sealed, so that moisture can not damage the sensor, thus making them not serviceable in terms of battery replacement. And it makes more money for the industry lol. It'd be difficult to make a serviceable sensor, since it has to be low profile in order to stay out of the way, when mounting and dismounting tires. If your sensors are working and you have a Sam's Club nearby, they can usually reset the system for you. Usually costs about $20

 

[djtimyd]

The TPMS sensors have to be completely sealed, so that moisture can not damage the sensor, thus making them not serviceable in terms of battery replacement. And it makes more money for the industry lol. It'd be difficult to make a serviceable sensor, since it has to be low profile in order to stay out of the way, when mounting and dismounting tires. If your sensors are working and you have a Sam's Club nearby, they can usually reset the system for you. Usually costs about $20

Sam's Club - at least mine - won't touch the tires if you didn't buy the tires from them. Walmart will however, along with Discount Tire.

My problem is that I need to swap tires on rims - have 8 tires and 8 rims and need to swap the tires on the rims. Its not gonna be cheap to do all 8.

I can buy the magnet for $20 on Amazon and then not have to pay anyone for a reset ever again. I get the economics of it all - more money in the long run for everyone... Its just frustrating knowing that they could make it (even if it was more expensive because its more difficult to manufacture) not a disposable throw-away part. I am also the kind of guy who will fix a TV or microwave or cheapo wall clock because I enjoy working on stuff, and I hate to throw something away that is easily repaired, modified or upgraded. I guess that is why I also own an XJ! :dancingpoop:

 

[GeorgeBruce]

Know what you mean. I usually try to fix whatever I can, before getting rid of it. Unfortunately greed drives the auto industry :gr_grin: I think Walmart will switch out used tries for 10 each, but I haven't done that in a while, so not 100% sure

 

[Dave]

Sam's Club - at least mine - won't touch the tires if you didn't buy the tires from them. Walmart will however, along with Discount Tire.

My problem is that I need to swap tires on rims - have 8 tires and 8 rims and need to swap the tires on the rims. Its not gonna be cheap to do all 8.

I can buy the magnet for $20 on Amazon and then not have to pay anyone for a reset ever again. I get the economics of it all - more money in the long run for everyone... Its just frustrating knowing that they could make it (even if it was more expensive because its more difficult to manufacture) not a disposable throw-away part. I am also the kind of guy who will fix a TV or microwave or cheapo wall clock because I enjoy working on stuff, and I hate to throw something away that is easily repaired, modified or upgraded. I guess that is why I also own an XJ! :dancingpoop:

I have an 05 KJ (and I thought you said yours was an 05) and the TPM's relearn positions automaticaly when I do a tire rotation. So I think 02-04 you needed the magnet tool but in 05 they changed. It could be that the 05 TPM's are different as I don't need a tool with mine.

Dave

 

[djtimyd]

I have an 05 KJ (and I thought you said yours was an 05) and the TPM's relearn positions automatically when I do a tire rotation. So I think 02-04 you needed the magnet tool but in 05 they changed. It could be that the 05 TPM's are different as I don't need a tool with mine.

Dave

So I do have a 2005... but the EVIC and TPMS sensors are from an 04. Electrically compatible - but the TPMS isn't self calibrating :icon_mad: I searched in four junk yards and looked online at four other salvage yards to find an 05-07 that I could get an EVIC from and there just wasn't any. I only found one 05+ EVIC on eBay and they wanted nearly $200... HA!:happy175: so for $210 I got 5 alloy rims with TPMS and an EVIC from the '04. I just have to get the stupid magnet now - or destroy a speaker.

 

[Dave]

So I do have a 2005... but the EVIC and TPMS sensors are from an 04. Electrically compatible - but the TPMS isn't self calibrating :icon_mad: I searched in four junk yards and looked online at four other salvage yards to find an 05-07 that I could get an EVIC from and there just wasn't any. I only found one 05+ EVIC on eBay and they wanted nearly $200... HA!:happy175: so for $210 I got 5 alloy rims with TPMS and an EVIC from the '04. I just have to get the stupid magnet now - or destroy a speaker.

Sounds like you got a good deal on the rims/TPM's. I broke the stem on one and had to replace it. They are delicate/aluminum. This was a while ago so if I remember right it was just around $50. for an OEM one.

Dave

 

[djtimyd]

Hopefully I wont have to worry about broken ones - and I'll be taking mine to discount, so if they break it, its on them to replace it!

 

[djtimyd]

So I have become slightly frustrated with this Liberty - but I really shouldn't be, because I ran into this issue with my XJ... compatibility between years of KJ, specifically crossing the 04/05 barrier.

I bought two things recently at the JY: Drivers Side Tail Light and Chrome Cruise Control Switches. We didn't look prior to purchase to notice that the 05+ has clear where there 02-04 have amber in the tail light. OOPS! And the switches fit exactly into my steering wheel - but the plug for the 04 only has 2 wires, where the 05 has three wires. I should have known that there would be issues because I ran into the same thing on my XJ with 97-98 vs 99 vs 00-01 button issues. So now I have an 02-04 tail light and cruise switches (with harness for steering wheel radio control!) that I don't need. Once I get to 25 posts, I'll put them up for sale here - but its just frustrating those minor differences that sometimes you can easily avoid by paying better attention - and other times you just have to take stuff apart to find out about.

 

[djtimyd]

On eBay, I ordered the RB1 radio for the KJ. I had done extensive research on this unit because I was interested in retrofitting it into my XJ. I found someone who had a unit for sale and I talked him down to $110 (shipping included). I got the radio in the mail yesterday, installed the unit and it works like a champ. I had scrounged a GPS antenna from the JY previously so I took the dash cover that is over the instrument cluster off and placed the antenna on top of the instrument cluster (that is the factory location as near as I can tell) with the same 3M tape I used for the EVIC bracket. I have the last nav update disc coming in the mail this week (version AL 3013).

I know that the unit is slightly outdated, but I really like the look of this unit. Call me easily impressed - but I love that the radio displays the Jeep logo when you first start it up. Short of hacking a tablet into that space, I don't think that I could get that "ohhhh!" factor from anything else. And when I went to Car Toys to look at units - I think my wallet fainted from the prices. Even getting name brand units on Amazon we're talking $300+ for navigation.

Yes I could just use a Garmin or TomTom... but again, this is an OEM factory solution that looks like it belongs. I am OCD about some things, and making upgrades and mods look like they belonged from the beginning is definitely an area that I am OCD in.

I'll try to post some pictures later when the boss gets back! hump.gif

 

[djtimyd]

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here are the rims that I got from the 2004 Canadian Liberty with the TPM sensors installed.

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this is the RB1 Navigation radio installed with the chrome dash bezel replaced as well

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and here is the EVIC installed. Following the directions in the 40 page thread I was able to install this in about 2 hours - with an hour of that being the slow cutting of the headliner.

 

[boboborino]

Nice work!

:High 5:

Bert

 

[Dave]

Really nice work djtimrd.


Dave

 

[djtimyd]

Thank you all... I appreciate the remarks. I'm glad I became a member here, because the EVIC install thread helped me immensely and I hope that I can contribute positively back to the community as well. NAXJA has helped me a lot with my XJ and I have contributed a couple of write-ups there on stuff that I did (A/C override switch, Rock Rail install) and when I run into stuff for this KJ that there is no write-up for, I'll do my best to make an easy-to-follow-with-picture guide.

thanks again...

now to replace the hood struts tonight!

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Lookin' good!

The last straw for my hood struts is when the hood fell on my head. Lol.

 

[djtimyd]

Lookin' good!

The last straw for my hood struts is when the hood fell on my head. Lol.

:mad3:yeah - that would chap my hide. I got tired of using a 2x4. I think I might mod my XJ with hood struts because... well... because I can