i will be driving to colorado in late december, for a week, gunnison-montrose area but will be driving around the area as well.
anything i should know in advance in regards to the colder weather effect on my jeep? any setup, coolant, tires, ect, i need to change or alter? i Ihave a 2014 jeep chreokee trailhawk.
thanks, this will be the coldest my jeep as ever seen.
thanks for any advise

 

I moved here from Virginia after I got out of the military a couple years ago and I didnt do anything to my vehicles. When the rest of my family moved here in '97 from Houston, they didnt do anything to their vehicles... none of us had any issues.

 

Change your washer fluid to a -20F freezing point (or similar), and realize that 85 octane gas up here is the same as 87 down there. It makes no difference, put 85 in there. That's about it.

You can buy the washer fluid in any gas station as you drive further north. I drove through a snow storm a week after moving from Houston, and my washer fluid was completely frozen. It wasn't fun as the fluid tank was full....couldn't even mix in the new stuff to get it to melt.

 

Ha I remember one time back in about late 1998 when I was living here for a short time before the military I was driving one morning and it was about 10°F out and I hit the washer fluid in the old ZJ we had and the stuff instantly froze and I couldnt see squat through the windshield. Luckily I was on a smaller back road up near Niwot, so I could pull over really fast and sit there until the defrost worked its magic hahaha

 

thanks for the advice, i would have not thought about the ww fluid, haha

 

Its funny because I haven't had washer fluid issues since I moved here in '17. Maybe the washer fluid was low and my step dad had filled it with a little water or something hahahahahaha.
Make sure you're heat is up to the task as well. The heat in my XJ is a little lacking, but it works well enough that I dont need to dig into it right this second. I dont get nice and toasty in the jeep until I've been driving for about 15 minutes. My first step is going to be a reverse flush though. Maybe I'm a little clogged in the heater core, but my coolant looks great.
Have a good tire psi gauge as well. If we have a warm week in late fall, say in the 70's and then overnight it decides to drop into the 20's or teens, and lay 4" of snow, the cold air will definitely lower the tire pressure by a few psi.
Read up on oil weights and coolant mix. I run 50/50 year round, but can't tell you off the top of my head what oil weight I'm using, but the old jugs are still in my garage filled with the old oil, so I can look this evening. If anything it may be 1 weight class lower than you've been running in TX, so its not so thick on those super cold mornings. I use T-5 motor oil. If you're not familiar with the benefits of running HD diesel oil in the 4.0, read up on that. Its not for cold climates, just better for the motor with all the additives in it. That's just some FYI incase you decide to change the oil before you get up here. Heck it may be better for cold climates because of the additives for better friction savings.
I have Goodyear Wranglers A/T on right now and have ZERO issues in the snow/sludge. Obviously driving style plays a part in that also, like being ahead of the game and stopping way before you would if it was dry pavement and all that. There are block heaters for our XJs also, but I haven't read too much about them. They go into a freeze plug hole IIRC.... I wanna say it only raises the coolant temps into the 40s though. So your only saving about 5 minutes of warm up time. Might as well just start driving and let it warm naturally. If I think of anything else I'll put it in here.

 

Expect less power. Yeah, you may know that in your head, but you will be surprised at how if feels in real life.

Any good washer fluid will do, as long as you are not mixing it with water.

 

Oh and we have 85, 87, and 91 octane gas. Not 87, 91, and 93. That's because of the elevation and thinner air. Dont need as much octane to avoid pre detonation..