Giving the 4xe conversion some serious thought

[DAVECS1]

But why does the range extender need to be electric. If designed and cooled correctly it can be diesel or gas ICE, say like a 2.0 turbo. On a 4xe the electric never quites, it goes from primary to power adder for the rest of the time. That torque is noticeable as a 4xe with 35s and no tuning can hole 8th on a mountain grade.

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[CrazyCooter]

Lol, oh electric drive is not that complicated. I had a powered eraser in grade school, I made out of a salvaged stomper.

Stomper? Showing your age right there!

 

[j.o.y.ride]

I mean... your pocketbook. You're going to spend WAY WAY WAY more on this than you will ever get back in savings. And the headaches will no doubt be endless. And you may need to put your existing stuff back, and it may not work as well being reinstalled.

But it's your Jeep you do you.

 

[@californiajeeping]

If you liked the 4XE try a diesel. Another level of awesome.

The 4xe is a turd comparatively.

A better solution would be to try to retrofit a chevy volt style hybrid system. Use a 2.0L jeep engine then throw 2 motors on the crank for boosting? Then you can lock/unlock them as needed.

 

[woffman5]

If you liked the 4XE try a diesel. Another level of awesome.

The 4xe is a turd comparatively.

A better solution would be to try to retrofit a chevy volt style hybrid system. Use a 2.0L jeep engine then throw 2 motors on the crank for boosting? Then you can lock/unlock them as needed.

Having both in the driveway (well the 4xe is, the diesel JT on the other hand...), I disagree with your "turd" comment. They both have their ups and downs. The instant torque from the electric motors when your crawling a waterfall is fantastic. No need to "pin it to win it", unless you really want to. It does require some finesse as there is a point when the 2.0L kicks in and the power jumps. When you're not ready for it in a technical section, it'll really f*** s*** up and jack an entire line. I just try to keep the gas motor running with an occasional stab of the throttle. The 4xe hasn't stranded me on the trail yet, can't say the same for the EcoDiesel. For in-town driving, 23(ish) miles on the battery is great. It gets the wife to and most of the way home from work five days a week.

 

[hjdca]

Having both in the driveway (well the 4xe is, the diesel JT on the other hand...), I disagree with your "turd" comment. They both have their ups and downs. The instant torque from the electric motors when your crawling a waterfall is fantastic. No need to "pin it to win it", unless you really want to. It does require some finesse as there is a point when the 2.0L kicks in and the power jumps. When you're not ready for it in a technical section, it'll really f*** s*** up and jack an entire line. I just try to keep the gas motor running with an occasional stab of the throttle. The 4xe hasn't stranded me on the trail yet, can't say the same for the EcoDiesel. For in-town driving, 23(ish) miles on the battery is great. It gets the wife to and most of the way home from work five days a week.

yeah, I saw in the latest lite brite video that one 4XE guy had an issue modulating the power to the wheels when he want to crawl and inch forward, pressing for traction... He kept getting too much torque and spinning the tires at the wrong time.

 

[DAVECS1]

yeah, I saw in the latest lite brite video that one 4XE guy had an issue modulating the power to the wheels when he want to crawl and inch forward, pressing for traction... He kept getting too much torque and spinning the tires at the wrong time.

In those situations it is always best to, "two foot it" in my experience

 

[woffman5]

In those situations it is always best to, "two foot it" in my experience

Yep. I learned to drive on manual transmissions, so to me two foot driving is a noner. The biggest complaint I have really is our fault. We bought a 4xe Sahara, lifted it, and put 35s on it. Note that I didn't say anything about gearing. The 3.46s are great for around town and short drives, but get that thing up to highway speed, and it lives in 6th gear. I have zero complaints with the gearing off-road in low range, just that tricky spot where both the electric and gasoline powered propulsion systems both hit. It tends to lurch pretty hard when the 2.0L starts with the t-case in low range. The tiny gas tank is awful. We pretty much keep 15 gallons of gas strapped to it in gas cans anytime we go out because that stupid 14.9 gallon tank (or whatever dumba** size it is) gets you -100% range!

 

[IAGLADI8R]

I'm thinking of trading my 18' f-150 for a 4xe and becoming a 2 Jeep family. My wife can drive either the JT or 4xe to work, she loves Jeeps more than I do so she is excited about it

 

[bleda2002]

The tiny gas tank is awful. We pretty much keep 15 gallons of gas strapped to it in gas cans anytime we go out because that stupid 14.9 gallon tank (or whatever dumba** size it is) gets you -100% range!

That gas tank pisses me off in ours as well, it's just so pathetically small. I actually think it's 17 gallons, but they sure do seem to go quick on the highway compared to the gladiator.

 

[woffman5]

That gas tank pisses me off in ours as well, it's just so pathetically small. I actually think it's 17 gallons, but they sure do seem to go quick on the highway compared to the gladiator.

I think you're right on the size. At 75 mph on 35s, that thing burns through a tank in like 225 miles. We did a San Diego to North Central Colorado trip for Thanksgiving in it (3 dogs and 2 kids don't fit in the backseat of the JT very well), and stopping every three hours for gas was awful. Throw in that there are some remote stretches of highway between here and there, and it really took planning to make sure we didn't run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.

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