New towing vehicle

[Rokraider]

Having decided that my lovely Jeep Cherokee was probably a bit marginal on towing weights for the Pacific, I have reluctantly sold it and bought a Grand Cherokee WJ Overland HO, that has the 4.7 220 BHP V8 and is fitted with LPG. The towing weight is 3500 KG, so should be ok on that.
Wont know for sure until I get it weighed. The standard Pacific 22 with the 4 cyl diesel and stern drive apparently weighs in around 2000KG. Mine with the 6 cylinder Sabre and Hamilton jet weighs substantially more. My 1 Tonne engine hoist struggles to lift the block, with crank, cam and pistons and nothing else!
The general consensus is that running it on LPG will bring the running costs down to around the same cost as the 2.7 diesel option. Whilst it will drink more LPG than petrol doing the same task, the price saving will compensate and some. General thoughts seem to be that running on LPG costs about 30% less overall and the high price of diesel now brings the costs of driving a diesel up. So it will be interesting to check it out. If this is the case, it will be a good option, the silky smooth power and performance and affordable running. We will see. i will post my results once I have put some miles on it.

[Razorbill RIBs]

I love them.... have two LPG 4.0 and a CRD..... The LPGs are slightly cheaper to run I reckon....Just slightly nore of a PITA with distances between fills /lack of LPG stations in rural Wales. They all pull my big Pac easily enough. The suspension on the CRD is slightly higher and seems firmer /better for towing. Not sure, but think that some of the 4.7 HOs had slightly lower suspension again????

As somone said in response to a previous Landrover versus type thread.... at least with three Jeeps I can always make sure one is on the road at any one time

Have fun

[Rokraider]

The CRD has heavier suspension than the 4.0 and 4.7, so should sit slightly higher and probably tows better. The 4.7 Overland I have, has the up country suspension as standard and the clever diffs. I am upgrading the suspension to an Old Man Emu kit and will fit a set of BFG AT tyres. Old Man Emu do some heavier rear springs, so that will help support the weight of the additional 90 litre LPG tank in the spare wheel well. I like this LPG conversion, utilising the wheel well means it retains the full size petrol tank, so I have a good range with them both. Only headache is where to put the spare wheel?

[mister p]

You can get swing mounts to fit the spare behind the tailgate if I remember correctly.

[Rokraider]

Originally Posted by mister p

You can get swing mounts to fit the spare behind the tailgate if I remember correctly.

Might be a bit tight on space with the Pac on tow, will have to do some measuring.

[mister p]

If it's always got a trailer on it, put the spare onto the trailer.

[mister p]

Grand Cherokees are very cool cars, apart from the LED bits in the cabin that is. I've had two 4 litre ones and a 4 litre normal Cherokee. Huge spec and absolutely cracking off road with no mods. My early Cherokee had rear diff issues with the diff clutch needing replacing four times under warranty...........it would skip after a fast motorway run then a stop. Hugely sophisticated AWD system once the diff clutch issue was sorted, QuadraDrive and QuadraTrac.......drove a standard Grand Cherokee across the Sahara without a single issue, had a Wrangler as back-up which wasn't needed.
Interestingly on another shoot in the Sahara with the "new" Rangey, it was a Defender that dragged it out of the dunes, on standard tyres, which are usually the kiss of death on sand as they dig themselves into the sand, you want almost slicks on dry sand.

[camelgas]

I used to run a defender 110 V8 on LPG and recon that the running cost was about the same as the diesel variant, lovely tow motors and much nicer to drive than diesels.
Hope the jeep works out well for you.

[Rokraider]

Originally Posted by mister p

Grand Cherokees are very cool cars, apart from the LED bits in the cabin that is. I've had two 4 litre ones and a 4 litre normal Cherokee. Huge spec and absolutely cracking off road with no mods. My early Cherokee had rear diff issues with the diff clutch needing replacing four times under warranty...........it would skip after a fast motorway run then a stop. Hugely sophisticated AWD system once the diff clutch issue was sorted, QuadraDrive and QuadraTrac.......drove a standard Grand Cherokee across the Sahara without a single issue, had a Wrangler as back-up which wasn't needed.
Interestingly on another shoot in the Sahara with the "new" Rangey, it was a Defender that dragged it out of the dunes, on standard tyres, which are usually the kiss of death on sand as they dig themselves into the sand, you want almost slicks on dry sand.

All the 90's Cherokees (XJs) Dana 35 back axles had problems with the LSD. Usually caused by having the wrong oil in the diff. The additive that you were supposed to mix in with the oil was a bit hit and miss. We use a full race spec LSD specific oil in our customers vehicles, which has a proper additive blended in. The plates still wear out eventually, but last a lot longer.

There is a trick to driving on sand dunes and part of it is all to do with wind direction. You always try to drive with or against the wind. If you try to cross it at 90 degrees to the wind flow, you will bog down far easier. It is all to do with sand grains being oblong, like a roller, rather than round like a ball bearing. They will line up head into the wind. So when you drive with the wind direction they give you the best chance of retaining grip. If you cross them at 90 degrees, they literally become a mass of rollers that will make it difficult to stay on the surface.
It also pays to drop the tyre pressures to increase your tyre footprint to give better flotation.
Radial tyres when deflated deform into a boat shaped footprint with the bow and stern in line with the direction you are travelling. Crossplys deform into a shape resembling a boat trying to go sideways, so not as good.

Brave taking a modern Range Rover into the desert! Most of them struggle to do the school run these days.

The only real potential fly in the ointment with the LPG is that the 4.7's valves and seats will not survive on LPG normally. This one has been fitted with a Flashlube kit that is supposed to help with this, so fingers crossed.

[Rokraider]

Originally Posted by Razorbill RIBs

I love them.... have two LPG 4.0 and a CRD..... The LPGs are slightly cheaper to run I reckon....Just slightly nore of a PITA with distances between fills /lack of LPG stations in rural Wales. They all pull my big Pac easily enough. The suspension on the CRD is slightly higher and seems firmer /better for towing. Not sure, but think that some of the 4.7 HOs had slightly lower suspension again????

As somone said in response to a previous Landrover versus type thread.... at least with three Jeeps I can always make sure one is on the road at any one time

Have fun

I have done a few miles over xmas and have now used a complete tank of LPG. I got 200 miles from 77 ltrs of LPG @.77p per litre. So it equates to £59.40 inc VAT for 200 miles. I also have a valve saver device (Flashlube) that drips some fluid into the mix to lubricate the valve seats and it has used a small amount of that. Plus of course it starts on petrol and does a mile or so on petrol before switching to LPG. I think it would be fair to say it probably costs £65 to cover 200 miles. The performance is a lot crisper on petrol,but it still goes well enough on LPG to blow a jag away from a standing start the other night.
The usage has been a mixture of country backroads and motorway cruising around 85 mph.

i am interested to hear what the CRD costs to cover 200 miles as a comparison.

I need to have a word with BP as the garage claimed that I couldn't put the LPG on my BP fuel card, which seems rather strange? Has any one else heard of this?