3 Years of Dreaming

[croat]

Yea I guess it would be dealer cost, however do the Jeep cash back incentives also apply to such deals (right now $1500 back)? So basically its MSRP plus the friends and family discount - can you still apply that cash back incentive to it?

[Kenny-g]

Probably not unless your buddy can get them to do that for you. Some dealerships are really awesome like that and help customers out. others would give you the base price but wont budge on anything else you know?

[croat]

As I said, the employee discount is through a family member. His best friend owns the dealership. This is why he has been getting a new fully loaded Jeep Cherokee every 2 years for the past 20 or so years.

[The_Jeep_Life]

So Thursday night we installed my Curt Class III Hitch with 2" receiver.

Everything was very simple except when it came to the tow hook.

Had to drill out the old holes in the tow to to ~ 5/8th of an inch (21/32 was the only drill bit we could find).

After drilling out the tow hook holes the tow hook wasn't fitting right so we got it into the press and applied 8 tonnes of pressure to bend it a little bit.

After that it went excellently. Just unclasped the bottom of the plastic bumper so pull it away some, cut out an opening for the hitch in the fascia and maneuvered the hitch around the exhaust into place.

Overall I feel happy with the result. Enjoy some pictures.

[The_Jeep_Life]

While we had my Patriot up on the hoist I got a nice look underneath and checked out the drivetrain, suspension, exhaust etc. With warranty not going to last forever I wanted to make sure everything checks out.

Also got to understand how the 4 wheel drive business works and checked out the suspension to decide on tires and lift.

I see the benefit of Stu's coils and I would agree that it would be the better lift if bigger struts came with it. My dad was telling me that the bigger coils seem useless without larger struts to go with it. As far as I can tell from this forum Stu's coils are just that, coils. So I am hesitant to go with them and will probably get the RRO or Masterlift 1 depending on price.

Overall I enjoyed seeing how my Patriot ticks and also saw that my front skid plate is bend up from when I hit a rock. Some scratches on the skid plate are my proof. Thank goodness for skid plates though .

[MrJeepR44]

Originally Posted by The_Jeep_Life

Last night I installed my hitch!

Nice, congrats! What did you end up doing for wiring, or have you yet? Just curious, what are you going to be towing?

Originally Posted by The_Jeep_Life

...I see the benefit of Stu's coils and I would agree that it would be the better lift if bigger struts came with it. My dad was telling me that the bigger coils seem useless without larger struts to go with it. As far as I can tell from this forum Stu's coils are just that, coils. So I am hesitant to go with them and will probably get the RRO or Masterlift 1 depending on price...

I did the coil swap, and gotta say... definitely not useless. The biggest disadvantage to the Stu's without a longer coil though is the wheel travel. The wheels don't have nearly as far to go away from the vehicle because they are limited by the struts, so they tend to bottom out faster. On the flip side, this provides more travel for the wheel going towards the Jeep before bottoming out.

So in a nutshell, going over a bump really fast can cause the wheels to extend all the way and make a loud CLUNK, but the landings are much smoother, and going over a nasty dip in the road is cake.

RRO is nice because the ride should stay the exact same... the struts and springs are the same, they are just being placed farther away... this should mean no change in the ride, just more height.

For me, I went with STU's for these reasons:

1. I have done a coil lift in the past, and was very happy with the results
2. I was tired of the Patriot's rear looking a little droopy (That was more of a placebo I think because the back is level with the front). Plus when passengers sat in the back of my Jeep, the rear would droop enough that my low beams were pointed right into oncoming drivers eyes
3. I planned on towing more, and the beefier rear suspension would be better for pulling a trailer, and it has!
4. The FDII is already an inch taller than the 4x2 and original Patriot, and going a full 2 inches on top of that seemed a bit much. Doing the STU swap, I ended up about an inch taller over all... .5" in the front, and 1.5" in the rear

I know this information wasn't exactly requested, and by no means am I suggesting you go one way or the other. There are benefits to both, and drawbacks to both. I just wanted to point out the STU's aren't useless

It's not much (camera phones), but this is the best clearance shot I have:


Stock:

[The_Jeep_Life]

Originally Posted by MrJeepR44

Nice, congrats! What did you end up doing for wiring, or have you yet? Just curious, what are you going to be towing?

I will probably have to buy the wiring unless the dealer is going to be a bro or something.

Towing options will be snowmobile trailer could handle 2 snowmobiles, small trailer for trips to the dump/ misc., or motorcycles. I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.


Yeah I will have to do more thinking about which lift to get.

[MrJeepR44]

Originally Posted by The_Jeep_Life

...I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it...

Yeah I hear ya. I actually just moved into a house, and the guys we bought it from seemed to have left quite a bit of stuff... long boards in the yard, and old rotted out bench, some really crappy shelving in a closet, and some cabinets in the garage that are a bit useless. I'll be making a trip to the dump very soon

[The_Jeep_Life]

I was getting razzed by my buddy who just bought a Tacoma because I was putting a hitch on my Jeep and he demanded a reason why I would do that. Honestly it seems like a no brainer and if you go else where in the world, New Zealand for example, EVERYTHING has a hitch.
'Oh sweet you have a 4 door family sport saloon, put a hitch on that!'

Sigh, just can't escape the ridicule.

[MrJeepR44]

That's a bit strange.. When is adding a receiver hitch ever a bad idea?? He's got to drive around with an empty pickup bed all the time.... but you can just rent a trailer whenever you need to haul stuff

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AutoGuide App

[Kenny-g]

Originally Posted by MrJeepR44

He's got to drive around with an empty pickup bed all the time.... but you can just rent a trailer whenever you need to haul stuff

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AutoGuide App

Exactly why I hate small pick-ups now (specially after I owned one...)

In my opinion you should never need a pick-up unless you work in a career field that you'll need it (construction, farming, moving heavy equipment, carpet laying, etc).

However, now that I said that...I'd give both my balls for a Ram Runner

[BondiBlue]

That hitch install is nice and clean, looks good!

[The_Jeep_Life]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

That hitch install is nice and clean, looks good!

Thanks, the instructions were pretty easy to follow when cutting and i believe e-trailer.com has a video of an installation on a Patriot without a tow hook.

Yes I personally believe there are too many pick up trucks on the road, my favorite is seeing Ford Raptors commuting on the highway or seeing them being driven to people's place of work in the city. What a splendid use of that potential.

[MrJeepR44]

Originally Posted by Kenny-g

However, now that I said that...I'd give both my balls for a Ram Runner

Lol... Holy crap that was funny, especially reading in context

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AutoGuide App

[The_Jeep_Life]

So I put a lot of thought into buying my Patriot. It was a toss up between an older Cherokee (XJ) or a Liberty (KJ).

Just yesterday I had my first regret. I was browsing RRO's website and stumbled upon the Liberty page. These pictures made me think I made the wrong choice and maybe I should have bought a Liberty.





Since the people on here are so opinionated and knowledgeable I was wondering if anyone could talk me into it/ out of it.