2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited KL Active Drive 1

Hi all,

Newby to off-roading here. I've recently purchased the above Jeep and would like some help & advice about going off-roading.

First of all, are there any 2014 Jeep Cherokees which aren't Trailhawk in this club? How capable would my Jeep be?

I know it's considered a soft-roader/crossover but most info I'm finding online is that it's a very capable off-roader & it's more about the driver than the vehicle.

The Limited only has Jeep Active Drive 1 so no low range gearing but it has Select Terrain of Snow, Sport, Sand/Mud. It drives 2WD on road & is 4WD on demand but when you use the Select Terrain it basically transfers torque around at various numbers depending on what you select.

It only has 185mm of ground clearance. No idea about approach & departure angles. So far I've taken it to Kurnell Boat Harbour on stock tires & after letting pressure down to 16psi it went well. Was stuck on a small hill on the obstacle course at one stage but it easily reversed out.

I am keen on purchasing some all-terrain tires - If I can go largest possible will this give me much lift regarding ground clearance? I'm also thinking of a lift-kit but there is nothing available for KL Cherokee as yet. I don't think I can find a skid plate either.

So, basically I want to get an idea of which terrain & trails I can learn on & which I need to avoid because of low clearance. Do I need to avoid steep descents/ascents?

I am looking at doing a 4WD training course at Mittagong with a guy who reckons this vehicle would be capable of quiet a bit.

Any info at all would be greatly appreciated especially if there are any KL owners here :)

Hi JCL,
You may be the first in line in the club with the new KL Cherokee................ All-terrain tyres will be better off road but will give you only a small lift if any and once deflated a little off road will make no difference except for the better all terrain tread pattern grip............. Lift kits will come out once more KL's are sold and the demand increases for it, every new model goes through this stage, but they will come..................... Do your driver course, you will not be disappointed with it's abilities (it's a Jeep after all ), the driver courses are really there to get you through and the folk's will not take you where you can not get through or do damage to your rig as best as they can ( remember, once you head off road, it becomes a motor sport and shyte can happen at any time) ............... Steep terrain, wait to you get there, have a look, think about it, then make up your mind then......... Welcome to the Jeep road, it never ends...............

Hi JCL,
Welcome to the SJC.
Before my current Wrangler I had a Nissan X-Trail which is not dissimilar in terms of capabilities to the new Cherokee. While you do need to be careful as it's not a robust as larger 4WD's you'll be amazed where it can take you by picking the right lines. One thing's for sure. You need to get used to only having 3 wheels on the ground as 4WD's with all independent suspension do have a tendency to lift wheels.
The ground clearance will likely be it's greatest downfall as 185mm isn't a lot (from memory my old X-Trail had around 215mm and that used to belly out regularly) so a lift kit will be must for any remotely rough off-road work. Speak to people like Stu Murchison (Murchison Products based in Brisbane) as he has made lift kits for previous versions of the Cherokee and the latest Grand Cherokee. I doubt he'll have one available yet but he's likely to be one of the first to develop one.
Probably the most important thing to get will be some bash plates. I'm not sure what the Cherokee comes with from the factory but you will need some. I had one fitted on my X-Trail and it saved me more times that I can count. People like Stu may develop them, or keep an eye out on some of the US websites as I've no doubt they will develop some. Really, with or without a lift kit, this is the very first thing I'd look at.
AT tyres will also be a great help, particularly if the track is even remotely wet as HT tyres and wet tracks really don't mix well. In terms of how big you can go, I doubt anyone on here will be able to help as you're the first member with one of these. You probably need to do some experimenting yourself and have a look. Drive one wheel up onto a large step so the wheel is as far up in the wheel well as it can go (preferably so the bump stops are bottoming out) and then see how much space is left above and beside the tyre. This will tell you how taller/wider you can fit, although by adding a lift you will also in theory be able to fit bigger tyres. Also don't forget to turn the steering lock to lock and check clearances at full lock as well. You'll need to check front and back tyres as they may have different clearances. There are other things to consider such as wheel width and wheel offset (if you're looking to change your wheels) and whether the new tyres stick out from under the wheel arches. Not really hard to work out but just requires a bit of experimenting. This sort of info will be come readily available as some of the 4WD shops get more active in developing parts for them.
I'd also have a look and see what you model of Cherokee has in the way of recovery points. If there's nothing on the back then fitting a tow bar will do but the front is often a little more difficult to sort out, unless Jeep/MOPAR have some hooks that will from the Trailhawk or something like that.
Lots to look at and some things are more important that others depending on where you expect to take it. Don't let that put you off though and make sure you get out and enjoy it.

Thanks a lot for the info guys it's very helpful.

Jeep now tell me they DO sell skid plates in Melbourne head office. There are 3 different types so may as well get all of them. There is also "Rock Rail" but that costs $2400 so I'm giving that one a miss. Rock Rails aren't mandatory are they? Probably won't do much rock climbing but if I did would just need to be very slow & careful obviously to not scrape my Jeep.

Recovery points - I will be getting a hitch towbar but the car comes with a short thick bracket with a hook that screws onto the front bumper for towing.. Will that be strong enough?

So no lift kit available yet but with skid plates & AT tires I will be good to go for some light to medium off-roading? Without a lift kit it would drop even lower with skid plates so I hope they work ok as I'm very likely to scrape them!

My question about steep descents is not so much about the car itself, it was how hard is it to drive over a steep hill then downhill without lo-gear? Would my best bet be to place it in 1st gear in the sequential auto-shift & go as slow as possible? And I would be hard on the brakes going downhill too but without low gear nothing else I can do?

My Jeep doesn't have diff-lock, will that also limit me in anyway?

Here is a short explanation of Active Drive 1 from Jeep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr0XQCBI1xs

The skid plates will pay for themselves 100 times over if you're going to take it off road. Yes they will reduce the ground clearance even further but at least they provide a smooth surface to slide over that shouldn't be damaged by doing so.

The rock rails are arguably less necessary but without them you'll still need to be careful. A combination of low ground clearance and the all independent suspension's tendency to lift wheels and therefore put you on steeper angles will mean your door sills will be vulnerable. I don't think I'd be paying $2400 for them though. Better to be careful for a while and then look at what the after market brings out.

For the front recovery point, just be careful that it is a recovery hook and not a tow hook. I've seen screw in hooks that are recovery hooks but many are just designed as tow hooks to pull the car onto a trailer for transport or to tie down from. If that's the case then it might not be secure enough to recover from.

I think with AT tyres and skid plate you'll be good to get out there and have a lot of fun. Your ramp over angle isn't going to be great so you'll need to be aware of that when cresting hills or drainage humps but that's the case with many 4WD's. Just a case of trial and error, and with the bash plates you can afford to give it a little more to push yourself over.

Not having diff locks isn't really going to be too much of an issue. Jeeps BLD system works well and will be more than sufficient for the sort of driving you'll do with KL. You've just got to learn how to make the best of it. If you lift a wheel and it starts spinning, don't back off. Apply a little bit of throttle to develop some torque and give the BDL a second to two to do it's thing. It should then brake the spinning wheel and which will apply torque to the opposite wheel on that axle, and the traction control should then also send power to the other axle as well.

For steep decents I'd be dropping into 1st gear manually and then feathering the brakes. Having said that, the KL might have hill decent control in which case give that a go.
If it doesn't have HDC, one thing that works well for short hills is driving through the brakes. Apply the brakes so the car is held in position but only just. Then press the accelerator slightly keeping the brake where it is. You then apply power to make the car move against the brakes. If you move too fast back off on the accelerator. By doing this you're forcing the wheels to turn, as opposed to trying to stop them from turning, and that will help prevent them from locking up. I'd only use this for short hills though. If you've driving long hills then you might start to heat the brakes up a lot.

Rock Rail/Sliders are very important. Stock vehicles are fairly low to begin with as they are not really built for off road, (Wranglers are), firetrails maybe and only marketed as such.

Most, myself included damage the truck/suv/car first then put Rock Rails on. The smart thing is to have them on in the first place.:D I had only planned to do the tamer trails initially but the trails got funner and funner..

Great replies, thanks for the info guys :encouragement: Learned a lot already.

Once I get set up for 4WDriving with skid plates, AT tires etc I might just come along to the next Sydney Jeep Club tour.

Cheers,

JCL

Hi guys,

It looks like the 265/60/R18 tyres are too big for the KL Jeep.

Stock tyres I have on are 225/55/R18. I can get Yokohama AT tyre of the exact same size & width but I'm worried that's not thick enough & I'll damage my rims. There's not so much choice of AT 18's.

Only option is to go down to 17's & get a thicker tyre but that would mean double the cost as I would have to buy rims.

What do you guys think of 225/55/18 AT tyre for off-roading? Also, the manual for Jeep says not to change tyre size or width as it would effect the electronics etc suspension, abs, steering, speedo etc so I'm a bit hesitant of trying to find bigger tyres.

Speaking of suspension, the Trailhawk is marketed as off-road suspensions so obviously my Limited has standard - If I take it off-roading can I expect suspension problems a few months later? I spoke to ARB & the guy tells me they will probably never make a lift kit for the KL Cherokee as they only do lift kits for 4WD's & KL is considered soft-roader.

Hi m8,

Welcome to the Jeep family and the club. U r currently running 225 55 18 that is 27.75 inch tyres..... if u go 235 60 18, u will be running 29.1 inch OD..... I think that will be well within the Jeeps range without messing around without messing with the suspension.... ARB are useless.... Your best hope for a suspension lift will come from The US of A..... Get on some US forums and see whats happening there....

Hope to see you soon on the tracks.....

Cheers
Mani

Hi JCL,
Can you lock in first gear at all?? For hill descents you will want to keep well away from the accelerator..... Use the engine braking capacity of the KL and light feathering of the brakes if needed to descend a slope.............. Gravity will take you down the hill so you do not want or need to accelerate except maybe to firstly slowly move.....................You will gain speed quicker by providing power to the motor and it will taker longer to stop and also heat your brakes up very quickly which you do not need later at the bottom of the slope/hill........... Any steep/ish roads in your local area that you can drive on when quiet??......... Start at the top in the lowest gear you can select to get a feel of the engine braking slowing the Jeep down.... Not the same as off-road , but a very easy way to practice it before you head out off-road anyway..... Training tip -- When you get to the bottom of the slope, stop, have a yahoo having come down it in the first place, draw breath, look back at what you just came down, access then drive back up the same slope, do it again (more & bigger yahoo's), look back again then drive back up again in reverse, say what!!.... You need that skill if the time comes and it will.......... Remember, if you do not feel safe doing any slope/hill/climb etc, simply "do not do it"..............