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Propane Powered?

xjrrrdx

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Denver
Last week we went wheeling, and one of the guys who drives a ZJ posted for a new trip. He is going to be bringing his 70 something CJ, now he says soon its going to be propane powered. Now I did a search and all I found is that it has higher oxygen content than gas. Does this actually power the jeep, or is there a mixture of gas/propane. So what advantages does propane give you, I am not 100% sure, but I thought propane prices are shooting through the roof too.
 
xjrrrdx said:
Last week we went wheeling, and one of the guys who drives a ZJ posted for a new trip. He is going to be bringing his 70 something CJ, now he says soon its going to be propane powered. Now I did a search and all I found is that it has higher oxygen content than gas. Does this actually power the jeep, or is there a mixture of gas/propane. So what advantages does propane give you, I am not 100% sure, but I thought propane prices are shooting through the roof too.

Propane is much cleaner than gasoline, and yes conversion kits are out there, my brother inlaw runs 100% of equiptment on his farm with propane... I can buy it here for 1.69 a gallon

conversion kits
 
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IMO propane is a waste of time for a vehicle that already has an injected motor like our 4.0s. It is a great choice for something with a carb because it is a cheaper conversion and allows you to run at any angle. Either way it is most likely not a good idea for a daily driver since propane is usually more of a hassle to find when you're in an area you don't know.
 
Yeah, this is for a 1970 something CJ that is just a trail rig. Ive seen first hand how carbs dont like steep angles when trying to start. Ahh what ive learned on the trail
 
BrettM said:
IMO propane is a waste of time for a vehicle that already has an injected motor like our 4.0s. It is a great choice for something with a carb because it is a cheaper conversion and allows you to run at any angle. Either way it is most likely not a good idea for a daily driver since propane is usually more of a hassle to find when you're in an area you don't know.

I know that propane conversions are pretty popular in some European countries as the propane there is often less expensive then the fuel. Here on the other hand, as you say it is rather impractical and there are no significant benefits for an injected motor.
 
I just put a propane kit on a CJ-5. We used a forklift tank almost everyone does. One tank equalls about 10 gallons of gas.
There are some benifits of swaping to propane even if you are fuel injected, you dont need any sensors, in other words no sensors to go bad, and propane will make more power if you have a high compression motor, because its equall to about 106 octane, but you will lose about 10% on a regular motor.
 
So from what i read on his old CJ thats going to be straight trail rig its got its benifits. Seems like a good idea if you have a dedicated rig.
 
xjrrrdx said:
So from what i read on his old CJ thats going to be straight trail rig its got its benifits. Seems like a good idea if you have a dedicated rig.

Arizona gives you a 15% clean air tax break for running our DD on propane
 
My CJ is Propane only power'd, and I love it on the rocks. My conversion was done with used forklift parts so it didn't cost me too much. This made it a very easy conversion.
Now for the pros and cons;
Pro - 110 octane and $1.75 gallon here in Portland(gas is $2.50+)
Con - unless the motor is specially made for propane, mpg suffers
Pro - Clean burning and cool running
Con - Run out and no one else has a spare tank for you
Pro - will run at any angle
Con - what good is that if the motor doesn't lube( I plan on installing Morosso 3 qt oil accumulator soon, dry sump would be better)
 
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