How does TJ Cruise Control behave?

Hey Nick, I know that my experience is not with the Jeep you are talking about but on my F250 and on my Cobra it was the same. Both are manual transmissions and the vehicle would accelerate to keep up the speed set. Never had it bog down on either vehicle though I usually would hear it when it started to become an issue and I would take over and shift down. If you get into a situation where you would need to shift, you probabaly should be controlling the throttle yourself.

Kate

2O|||||||O5 Liberty

Cruise does not disengage automatically. It will disengage if you press the brake or clutch pedal. Paradoxically given that they don't supply cruise control for RHD Wranglers (although I fitted the LHD kit easily), it probably works much better for RHD vehicles in that I can thumb the cancel button with my right hand to disengage it a split second before I downshift with my left hand and then thumb resume with my right.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

The cruise control in my TJ does a real nice job of keeping the speed nailed within a mph of the setting both up and down hills - very much better than my other auto trans Sienna. I have a lot of 40 MPH hilly stuff here and I set it on 42 and just let it go, scouting out for deer.

If it does feel like it will bog (and I know this coming up as I read the terrain), I do like Dave M says and hit the cancel button, shift, regain speed shift back and hit resume. There is no automatic disconnect. Tomes

The Cruise drops out when you depress the clutch.

That's why they call it Cruise Control instead of Auto Pilot.

It seems to me that Deer Hunting at 40+ mph misses the spirit of the sport.

lol indeed Jeff, although it is illegal to 'spot' deer (with a bright light freezing them) from a moving vehicle here in NJ at least. I regularly have groups of about 15 in my yard at night, so we really need to watch out for them. The deer whistles help too (makes them look up and listen, thereby immobilizing them). Tomes

Not sure about the new ones, as I haven't checked them. It used to be that the system would automatically disengage if it sensed a loss of 10 mph or so.

Nah, it doesn't work under 35mph or so. I guess you could engage it and just bounce over the rocks...

Seriously, many pieces of farm equipment, especially diesels which have a built in governor, just use a throttle cable for this purpose. On a tracked vehicle, or a logging skidder, they work really well for rock crawling. One advantage, is that there is no hitting a bump and unintentionally mashing your foot on the accelerator pedal, because the equipment that I am thinking of, doesn't have one.

Earle

"Nick

You need a hand throttle for things like that....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

FrankW wrote:

There are lots of hand throttle kits, probably at your local auto parts store, but the governor is the tough part.

Earle

"Nick

If you have a TJ, you already have a 'governor'. The computer will keep the rpm as set and up the power as needed to keep it there.

I have watched and been a passenger in TJ's that 'walked' themselves up almost impossible to climb ravine and pit walls with no input on the throttle at all. As the engine started to bog, the computer added more power. The RPM stayed steady. I was impressed and surprised.

Hand throttle kits are available or you can use a manual choke cable like I did to get a hand throttle (and in my case a manual choke). I use it when winching. I set and hold the gas pedal to 1250 rpm, then pull on the choke, let off the gas and push off the choke. The fast idle cam will stay on the 1250 step until I tap the gas pedal. (I have the second step set to 1250 rpm)

Mike

FrankW wrote:

I think the TJ is the only vehicle I've ever owned that won't stall out if you let it slowly come to a stop in lower gears without depressing the clutch. It just hobbles along without complaining. Great for creeping along trails and even in bumper-to-bumper city traffic -- you just nudge the throttle every so often to keep it moving along!

Mike

Thanks for all the replies folks. Very helpful.