Hi all, I recently purchased a new 4 door X. It's damn near everything I hoped it would be. Right out of the box we took a road trip with the whole family. So far my only complaints are the lack of lumbar support on long trips and the complete lack of balls. It's not CryCo's fault that I have a wonky back so I'll get a grandma pillow and call it a day, but the lack of balls is definately their bad. I've had 3 YJs, 2 XJs, 2 MJs, a WJ, a CJ-7, 2 Grand Wags, and a J4000. This JK sucks compared to any of them in the balls department. Seriously, I stall it at traffic lights. I got to playing around on some sand the other day (ESP off), hit a soft spot, dropped the hammer, and rather than breaking loose to throw some sand it frigging stalled. Are you SERIOUS!?!? IT STALLED!!! IN SAND!!! IN FRONT OF PEOPLE I KNOW!!! IT CAN'T STALL IN SAND, IT'S A JEEP!!!

I do understand the torque band differences in the V6 this has as opposed to the I6s and V8s I'm used to, but this is rediculous. It feels like the flywheel must weigh 200 lbs or something. I've read many accounts of these rigs "waking up" after several thousand miles. Is this a computer thing? Is it done learning and now it'll let you live your life? I understand that after several thousand miles all of the moving parts will be broken in, but that doesn't account for the sudden "waking up" described by several on this board. She'll see her fair share of trails, logging roads, camping trips, dogs in the back...hell she's already been used for a nasty dump run. That said, she's primarily the wife's DD. We do lots of highway time. I won't regear, don't care to chip it, don't believe in gimmicks (CAI, TBS, etc...). I just want this thing to WAKE THE HELL UP!

And, nice to meet all of you.

 

Ha ha, I KNEW that was going to be the first reply. One summer I got bored and decided to merge a '98 XJ with an MJ. Engine, dash, computers, wiring...everything was swapped over to the MJ. We called it FrankenJeep. The wife warned me not to even accidently think a little bit about doing anything remotely FrankenJeepish to her JK.

 

That's helpful, but I said already that I won't regear. You are lifted and climb steep ledges. None of this applies to me. It does too much highway time with stock tires for a regear to make sense. We got the model we wanted with the gears we wanted for the work the Jeep will be doing. If I want a low end monster I'll get a Rubicon or another rig and gear it how I want. My question is what, if anything, other than simply being broken in properly causes them to "wake up" after several thousand miles.

 

gears or hemi swap is the only thing that will "wake up" a JK. don't fall for the superchip etc hype

 

Agreed! These calibrations no matter what they tell you can and usually do, void your warranty as well. I work on alot of Duramax's and so many of them are chipped and have problems because of it

 

Your whole paragraph indicates you picked what you wanted.
A lot has been said regarding what causes the engine to "wake up" after several thousand miles.
One theory was the computer limits the performance for a while so one can't abuse it too bad at first. That was dispelled by a member here who said he asked an R&D engineer at Jeep who said there is no such program in the computer.
Another theory was the engine simply breaks in and has less friction after a while. This is probably closer to true.
But, mine showed improvement at around 3K miles too rapidly to be just because it was breaking in. That's why I bought into the computer program theory (until it was dispelled).
Bottom line: no one really knows why it shows such a marked improvement all at once.
If yours doesn't "wake up" to what you think it should be, regearing is your best option. It allows the engine to make more of its horsepower for a given wheel speed.

 

these engines do NOT "wake up"..... you get used to them. I have 13k miles and it is just as much a dog as the day I drove it off the lot. Here is my take.... why the fawk would anyone buy a jeep with out 1.... test driving and seeing it is a POS engine and 2.... buying a Jeep with the thought that anything short of gears and a Hemi would give is a ballsack. it's a Jeep thing

 

Thanks, this is on topic, unlike the posts about regearing (which I said I don't want), Hemis (which I said the wife doesn't want), and chips (which I said I dont want). There really is no particular way I think it "should be", I was just looking to see if there were any facts about the big sevral thousand mile improvement many people have spoken about on this forum. Thank you again, Ron, for some facts. I suppose I'll just be patient with it, but the bottom line is I don't really care how it performs. I do pay attention to it, and it seems like a dog, but it doesn't bother me. It's the wife's and she loves it. It'll still take the family camping, feel great with the top down, and get 22 MPG on road trips.

1: I'm stationed overseas and a test drive was not available to me. Dick.
2: A Jeep with no balls is not a Jeep thing. Drive a WJ with the 4.7, drive a Grand Wag or an old Jeep pickup with a tuned 360. My MJ back home with a Renix 4.0 will roast the rear tires. If I'm not mistaken the '98 ZJ 5.9 Limited was the fastest production SUV on the planet in '98. A Jeep with no balls seems to be a JK thing.

 

Hmmmmm.. and yet we still call people names on an internet forum....

 

Yes we do!