South Carolina Chapter Roundtable

[GCroyle]

TDR and Geno's

A big thanks to Brandon Parks for coming over and representing Geno's and TDR. We appreciate the time you guys took on a saturday to drive over and help us kick off a new chapter. Sorry several of us missed those neat high HP TDR front plates, oh maybe next time.

 

[jglasgow]

Thanks for having us, we had a great time. Sorry I left a big old set of smoking black marks in your parking lot!! Looking forward to next year. -John

 

[acook]

Gary,



Had a great time and enjoyed the event. Thanks for all the work you put into it. Thanks to Perfection Clutch for hosting the event.



Nice to meet new faces, looks like you have a good starting group, just keep adding to the numbers.



Spent 25 hours driving from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, but it was worth it.



Also good to meet Dave, super nice guy.





Anthony



Mid-Tenn TDR

 

[MOates]

Both myself and Bob Rizzo had a great time. Being the first time we attended such an event, we really didn't know what to expect and were a little apprehensive, not knowing how these two "orphan" Jeep diesels (DC quit selling them in the US after only 18 months) would be received amongst a crowd of large diesel trucks. I suppose both of us were a little paranoid after our experiences over the past two years on some of the Jeep forums, where company marketing reps seemed to lurk around every corner, ready to pounce and discredit any that uttered anything remotely critical of DC engineering, and blast anyone that suggested any type of mod, the unspoken mantra seemed to be "thou shalt not change what DC has built".



Both of us were relieved to find the exact opposite - it seemed we were welcomed with open arms and made to feel right at home. Open discussion of what the OEM's did and didn't get right and mods to improve the breed flowed freely. Just a bunch of good people together to have a good time and share their common interest in their vehicles and diesels.



Another dyno day in the area on 10/22? Hmmm, might be enough time to get an Inmotion tune, put that high flow banjo fitting on the CP3, double the lift pump pressure up to 8 psi, and take a shot at Bob's 185 mark.

 

[GCroyle]

Oops I forgot!

I should have made notes before I started typing yesterday.



We started the day off with a pair of hot Jeep Liberty's. MOates at 152 RWHP and Robert Rizzo at 185. 5 RWHP, wait till you see these fire off on the video, get er done!



As far as I can tell our long distance driver was Anthony Cook. Anthony drove from near Nashville TN all the way to Myrtle Beach, dropped off the family, sprinted back to the Dyno, sprinted back the Myrtle, slept, then long hauled back to Mid-TN.



JGlasgow, do you have your event on TDR? Looks like the Liberty's might make a road trip, it's on 10/20 right? got directions?



JGlasgow, it's about 90' of twin stripes, then you lifted or you would have run out of runway!



Like Anthony said, just keep adding to the membership. I have the SCTDR log book, 12 guys signed the book, that's a great start. I have lots of travel for the next two months, but I would appreciate your suggestions for our next get together, maybe a local resturant, share your ideas.



Thanks to all for the kind words about out first Dyno.

 

[MOates]

Gary, I was looking over the group photo at the end of the event, and something in the extreme RH background caught my eye. When I realized what it was, I busted up laughing. Somehow, I'd parked my Liberty in just the right spot earlier in the day to get caught in the group photo. It was just too much like the Jeep commercials they've been running recently, showing clips of historical events with a lone Jeep running along in the background. Honest, no way in a million years I could have planned that!

 

[GCroyle]

Secret is out?

MOates is really an old Willys employee secretly going around the South drumming up sales for the new Jeep's! Next he's gonna start talking about fuel mileage, passing power, towing Airstreams and beating Mustang's!



Make your check payable to _________

 

[GCroyle]

Yes, that's me.

OK MOates, you like Jeeps, how about this one. 1952 M38, 24V electrics, 9. 00 X 16 military tires, canvas seats, jump seat, top. Sure wish I still had it and the hair circa 1975(?).

 

[MOates]

MOates is really an old Willys employee secretly going around the South drumming up sales for the new Jeep's! Next he's gonna start talking about fuel mileage, passing power, towing Airstreams and beating Mustang's!



Make your check payable to _________

:-laf:-laf:-laf ROTFLMAO



If you go over to the Jeep forums, you'll get a different story! I'm pretty well "persona non grata" (Latin for $%^#&) with the company reps and die-hard Jeep fans for having the temerity to point out where DC dropped the ball and cut corners on this oil burner. What really galls them is I WORK for a Daimler company - the Freightliner plant in Cleveland NC, started out bolting engines together on the engine assembly line, and now I'm a QC inspector on the same line, been there 10 years since I retired from the Navy. And before anyone asks, sorry, don't know any way I can get you a five-finger discount on a Cummins ISM.



My biggest gripe - NO MANUAL transmission!!! Everywhere else in the world they sell these, it comes standard with a six speed. But here in the US, only transmission available was the 545RFE auto with a weak-kneed torque converter to boot. How weak? DC issued the so-called "Customer Satisfaction Notice" F37, warning people to bring in their Liberty CRD's because the TC was prone to failure, so they could replace it with another stock TC and then reprogram the engine to reduce HP and torque by 5 to 10 percent to "promote torque converter reliability". No bull, that's what they actually stated in the CSN.



I sure as heck didn't buy a diesel just so they could turn the power DOWN to make a crappy gas engine TC hold together. The head of the US division of VM Motori even stated publicly that they'd told DC that TC wouldn't hold up behind their engine.



In my case, DC got a two word (and one finger) reply concerning their CSN, and Ron Wolverton of Suncoast stepped up and designed a TC specifically for our vehicle from scratch. A gent from TS Performance in KY actually loaned his CRD to Ron for over a month as a test vehicle to get the design fine-tuned. As far as the results - well, both I and Bob Rizzo have Suncoast TC's installed, and you saw what happened on David's "truth detector".

 

[MOates]

Request from Ron Wolverton at Suncoast

A couple of days ago I sent Ron Wolverton at Suncoast Diesel Transmissions an e-mail, telling him how well his Jeep CRD TC had performed in mine and Robert Rizzo's Liberty CRD. Along with the numbers, I let him know that it was David Dunbar who ran our vehicles on the dyno so there would be no question about our BS'ing on the results, and that for the 340 mile round trip plus the dyno runs both of us still managed better than 30 mpg average for the day.



Needless to say , Ron was quite pleased to hear that all the work he'd put into developing this TC had delivered some excellent results.



In my book, Ron does deserve kudos for even providing this TC. At the time he started work on it earlier this year, as a favor to a friend in KY, the LIberty CRD was already a dead duck as far as Detroit was concerned - back in May '06 DC made the decision to drop this diesel after only 18 months and 15,000 built, even though they'd sold twice as many as planned.



Several companies that had initially said they were developing aftermarket goodies for this vehicle quietly dropped their efforts after DC pulled the plug. Probably didn't make for a business plan that any bank would have endorsed - offering an aftermarket TC for a limited run vehicle that had already been out of production for nearly a year.



If what I've seen on some of the Jeep forums is any indication, more and more CRD owners are starting to purchase one of his TC's as word of mouth spreads. Good thing, Ron certainly deserves some payback for his efforts in providing an excellent piece of hardware.



To the main point of this post - Ron said he'd like to set up a page on his website for Liberty CRD's, people that have installed one of his TC's and been happy with the results. Basically, a blurb detailing the results you've had with his Jeep CRD TC and a pic of your vehicle. So, if you own a Liberty CRD or know someone that does, that has one of Ron's TC's installed and have been happy with the results (so far I haven't heard of anyone that wasn't), drop Ron an e-mail at -- email address removed -- with your story and a pic of your vehicle. I'd imagine that comments from owners of other diesel vehicles that have made use of Ron's products would be welcome as well.

 

[GCroyle]

Mitchell,



I think a lot of us haven't heard of the frustrations that the Liberty owners have dealt with, sorry I didn't get a chance to take a spin in yours just for grins. Why don't you post again on the "OTHER VEHICLES" forum and see what happens.



I'm disappointed, nobody took a shot yet at my picture of me with my Ol Ugly, Military M-38!

 

[GCroyle]

Our New Project

Hey SCTDR gang, this is what kept us busy this weekend. If you have any words of been there done that wisdom, give me a shout.



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...-1994-1998/190604-jacobs-1997-kdp-repair.html

 

[Moose Truck]

Slightly off topic... Any one in the Manning SC Area? My sons and I come down to see the In-laws in Manning one or two times a year, and I wouldn't mine talking CTD with a Southern Accent. Moose

 

[GCroyle]

Teamwork

We have several weekends ahead of us before it rattles again. The picture is showing the pin on the gear and the point of contact to the broken case segment.

 

[GCroyle]

Moose00,



I'm are about 60 miles north in Hartsville. Send me a message with your plans if you want to stop by.

 

[480RUGER]

What's new @ SCTDR? How is the A/V team doing with the DVDs? LOL How are you doing with the KDP?



Keep us posted Gary.

 

[GCroyle]

What A/V Team?

I need to have some time to edit the raw footage a bit and dress it up, never done it before.



The 12V is ready to have the cam yanked out, but I'm having a challange with finding the right combination of dowel rod shape to lock onto the tappets. More expirementing required. Check the 12V forum for the latest pictures. This is quite the learning experience for both of us. If anybody has the cam pulling merit badge and would be able to guide us at the house with this delicate (tappet drop is not a pleasant sound) operation, let me know.

 

[acook]

Gary,



Parts shipped this afternoon.



Anthony

 

[acook]

Gary,



How is the truck coming?

 

[GCroyle]

Might start this weekend.

Anthony,



I have been keeping up with it on the 12V forum. Front case is on, sealed, pump timed, timing pin installed (man am I glad I didn't turn the crank at all after setting it to TDC) valves adjusted, intake installed, we are making progress. Front seal is a bit "unusual" as far as install dry, set with tool etc.



I am in St. Louis and yesterday I met a shop owner (he owns a 2003 5. 9L) that turned the same repair down because he didn't have the "special tappet tools" I showed him my pictures from the computer, he kicked himself, DOWEL RODS! He said it would have billed at about 30 hours on this truck, it was some kind of medium duty.



I was hoping to get to go to John Glasgow's dyno event this saturday, but the schedule is getting tight and it's Linda's birthday that weekend, just don't think I can make it.



Did you get me an invoice for the parts mailed or faxed?