Liberty KJ thread

[2500Adventures]

true that it is.....amazingly enough though, the guy created it without even knowing about scott's though....located in canada....great group though, we're heading to Moab this summer for an extreme heat ride..we'll be letting yall know what happens once plans get finalized

 

[calamaridog]

I need to bump this thread to the top folks.

Trying to sell the Land Cruiser so the Liberty will become the new default exploration vehicle. I need some motivation, so any cool pics of your Liberty in action will be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[bmonday]

I traded in my BMW 528i for a Liberty after 9/11. I wanted something American made, and with a bit more capability than the Bimmer.

In those early days, everyone was figuring out what would work and what wouldn't. Due to the IFS, about 1" was all we could go lift-wise without causing CV problems, and with the unibody design there is no such thing as a body lift on a KJ. Some people were squeezing 32" tires under their KJ in those days, but only if they didn't mind rubbing or cutting.

Here I am with a group from LostKJs in Moab:

This is me on Rock Chucker, also Moab. (no, I didn't make it up. Even though I had ARB lockers at both ends, my ARB bull bar prevented me from getting a good grip on the wall):

Some other Moab shots:

When the LJ came out, I was first in line to trade my capable, but limited (pardon the pun) Liberty in for a real Jeep that still had the KJ's cargo capacity, but pretty much worked with the bulk of the Wrangler after market products.

It looks a bit like this now, some 4 years later:

 

[Zeero]

Wow, I got on this thread a little late....thans JPFreek for the pump...umm two years ago....yikes.

True that it is....we created KJ Expeditionary Group without even knowing at all the Expeditions West existed....great minds think alike.

We did Moab last year, we had two Liberty's in our possesion at the time...both Renegade packages, and both were lifted etc etc.....out of a shortage of sponsors we only ended up taking one, and meeting another one down there.

We've since changed our name to "Overland Expeditions" and are now running the 4 door Unlimited Rubicons.....we have two and they are coming together with a few sponsors slowly.

Anyway, heres pictures of our "Moab Liberty":

This what we are running now:

Alot of people "complain" about the IFS in the Liberty, I think you'll find that these are the people who are usually into the rock crawling and single trail runs.

We did a TON of research on how to make the Liberty's a capable and competitive expedition vehicle.....and we found that having the IFS was infact a big bonus.

Through our reseacrh we determined that lifiting it 2.5" inches was perfect....any less and you botton out all the time, anymore and you mess the CV angles pretty bad.

If you will be on expo with this machine, go with the OME 2" HEAVY DUTY spring lift....we experienced load issues on this Liberty, not to bad, but we could have used those springs....almost 1000 LBS over stock in load weight.

The Libertys we ran proved to be surprising and very capable trucks, and would recommend in an instant to anyone looking at one.

There is more information than I can type here from the research we did, however if you have any questions feel free to ask....

If you check out our site...its still www.kjexpgroup.com we still have alot of useful info on there....

Another group I recommend you vist to is www.lostkjs.com very large and active Liberty owners group and forum.

 

[calamaridog]

Thanks for the feedback guys (and the pics). I've been registered at LOST for a while and spent some time reading today.

I know there are some more LOST folks here, so I'm sure more will chime in.

 

[scottg]

Thanks for the feedback guys (and the pics). I've been registered at LOST for a while and spent some time reading today.

I know there are some more LOST folks here, so I'm sure more will chime in.

Yeah, im on their too, more of a lurker on both sites


ScottG

 

[tommudd]

I am on LOST and here as well, mines been great over 104,000 miles and not one problem never been in a shop . I replaced my own lower ball joints with moogs. still have priginal brakes/calipers etc, just regular oil/ fluid changes through out and spark plug changes . I have the OME Lift with ranchos struts/shock (on for over 65,000 miles) and still rides great Oh did the clevis etc and its sitting just an inch lower than JeepinBy Als 4 inch lift.
Had Cherokees before but like the KJ better wish it had the SFA but it gets the job done!

Tom

 

[Zeero]

Dont underestimate the IFS.....it improves on road driving imensely, and for expedition use its exactly what you need.

If you're looking for more flex, remove the front bar completely....and presto, you can flex that front end until you feel like stopping.

 

[wookiee12]

hey mate whats the other kj had done to it looks sick man

 

[tommudd]

Man an old thread came back to life,
mines completely different now than what it was then, with adjustable coilover 4 inch lift, 194,000 miles etc