cobra_4's 2011 Liberty KK Build/Trip Log Thread

[cobra_4]

Well its not officially mine until I sign the paperwork tomorrow but no better time to start a thread than the present! Finally getting back into a Jeep after an almost two year absence from my Wrangler Unlimited. Its a 2011 Liberty, got just over 50k miles on it, all stock.





This thread will be part build thread, part photo thread, kind of a diary of sorts for it. I love the overland concept and the whole idea, although living in the south there aren't as many chances and roads to explore for days at a time like there are out west so most of my trips will be day long, although I do have her maiden voyage camping trip planned in late October.

This will be my dd too so I don't plan on getting too crazy, I'm not interested in rock climbing or anything like that so a big lift won't be needed, but I would like to do a 2'' to get some bigger tires under it. All the usual mod's are in the plans, lights, roof rack, etc. etc.

Here are a few more photos, these are the ones I took of the dealership website.









First on the to-do list is a good detailing, its got some scratches down the side I'd like to get out, although I'm sure more will follow.
I wanna get a good coat of wax on it to help protect the paint.
The headlights are in major need of cleaning, can't stand a fogged over light.
Speaking of headlights, an upgraded bulb will be coming shortly.
The side trim is a little faded, gotta get that blackened back up.
The first major mod will be a hitch, I gotta be able to pull my side by side up to me deer hunting property.

I'll post up updates as I go along, trip logs as I take them. Hopefully this will turn out to be a pretty cool thread in the end!

 

[DougFam]

Welcome, I'm glad to see another Liberty. I have a 2003 KJ and love it. I love it so much I tried to talk my wife into a KK, but she really wanted a mini van. My only gripe is the MPG.

 

[matthewp]

Damn those Liberty owners!:sombrero: Welcome!:smiley_drive:

 

[Hilldweller]

Congrats; you're right up the road from us. I'll wave.

Not too much you can do for the Libby's headlights. You can try cleaning them but you'll do better by replacing the lens with a new one.
As for upgraded bulbs, the best for that model are these from Philips.
And these will do for the foglights. Don't be a victim of the colored bulb phenomenon; there aren't any yellow bulbs in that size that are better than white. Optilux (the Chinese made Hellas) does make a yellow that's pleasing to look at but is dimmer.
I'd add some supplemental driving and/or offroading lights.

 

[AutoXSS]

Nice! We own a 03'Limited now....and yes, the mpg is what it is

 

[cobra_4]

Thanks for the welcome guys!!


Time for some upgrades!!!

Its supposed to flood later today and I quickly found out over the weekend that my wipers SUCK. It was on my normal upgrade list, but it has to happen sooner now than later!

Old sucky blades.


New Bosch Icon's! Had great success with these before, I usually run them on about everything.



I got REALLY lucky, when I pulled the passenger side up to change it, the blade fell off in my hand, the clip had broke at some point! Close call!!!


Also just ordered be a set of Rugged Ridge floor mats for it, for some reason, the previous owner decided to keep all the mats!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

We impatiently await the upcoming upgrades, so git er dun!!

 

[kayadog]

Not sure if you plan to lift it, but if not I'm very happy with my 235/75r16 Hankook ATM's which fit nicely with the stock suspension. If you plan on lifting do some research-- consensus seems to be that spacer lifts cause problems long term. Full suspension lifts are pricey. If you haven't been there already Lostjeeps.com has some good info.

 

[cobra_4]

Not sure if you plan to lift it, but if not I'm very happy with my 235/75r16 Hankook ATM's which fit nicely with the stock suspension. If you plan on lifting do some research-- consensus seems to be that spacer lifts cause problems long term. Full suspension lifts are pricey. If you haven't been there already Lostjeeps.com has some good info.

I'd like to lift it later on, but my first set of tires(hope to have them before the gun portion of deer season starts here around Thanksgiving) will probably be under the stock suspension. I've been doing that research and I think I need to be ready so sink a thousand dollars into a lift and do it right when I do it.

 

[cobra_4]

Well I had to do some unexpected maintenance today. Yesterday morning when I went out to go to work the battery was dead. I wasn't sure if I'd left anything on, but I didn't have time to mess with it. So last night I jumped it off, cranked right up, drove it for a half an hour, shut it off, fired right back up, good to go? Nope, dead again this morning. Jumped it off and got it to work and put a test on it which confirmed it was bad. It looked like the stock battery and from the looks of car fax the Jeep has spent the last year bouncing from a dealer to an auction to the dealer I got it from so who knows how many times its went dead and got jumped off between now and then.

The old battery.


I had planned on an upgrade anyway, I knew the 600 cca stocker wasn't gonna be sufficient for accessories during camping, etc. I really want to go with a nice on board monitoring system one day, but for now that's not in the budget. I'm an Interstate Batteries dealer so of course that's the direction I wanted to go in. I thought about one of their new AGM batteries, but in the end for the money I decided to go with an MTP78DT. I like the dual terminal because it gives me extra room to hook up accessories later, and the MTP has 1000 cranking amps, so it should provide plenty of juice.



Even though its not the stock replacement, they call for a 34, the 78 has the exact same case size, the terminals are just a little of, so I had to slightly bend my terminals, but other than that it went right in.


I'm glad I changed the battery, I found out I'm missing my battery hold down, defiantly a must for the trails so I got one ordered off of ebay.

Did find a nasty scratch under the hood I hadn't noticed, time to order some touch up paint.


On another side note, did find a nice feature on the jeep, the dash tray is perfect for an open carry fire arm!

 

[tommudd]

I see you have been on LOST etc so you have the right place to look up what works and what doesn't as far as well built lifts and ones that will last thousands of miles instead of a few months. ( think it was LOST moderator on there and JeepKJ so one of them LOL ) Keep reading but you are on the right track from the sounds of it. Do it once and be done, ........well unless you are like me and keep swapping lifts around

 

[cobra_4]

Finally got my mats in, had them for a day or two just couldn't find the time to get to the car wash to vacuum it out.

I had Rugged Ridge mats in my Wrangler and loved them, I expect the same with these. I could tell they had been in the box for a while though, they are a little deformed but they should straighten out find in a week or so. I guess KK mats aren't flying of the shelf now a days like they were a few years ago.







Also got my new battery hold down in and got that taken care of.

The go pro and nikon batteries are charging, unless its just a total down pour in the am, me and the wife have a couple of hour ride mapped out, photos and video to come! The leaves are really popping, this week and next are gonna be the peak looks like.

 

[Shlaytim]

Your headlights being foggy is a easy fix and cheap too! get a can of OFF Deep woods bug spray with deet 30 or higher, a old sock or soft rag, spray the lens with the OFF and buff out with the sock/rag. A buddy of mine had heard this from a guy at Autozone, who is a retired science teacher, and we tried it out on his headlights(pontiac grand am) it works:Wow1:, and I mean like showroom new and still looks brand new after 7 months in the Arizona sun! I will never buy another "headlight restoration kit" ever again after trying this out. hope this helps.

 

[cobra_4]

Your headlights being foggy is a easy fix and cheap too! get a can of OFF Deep woods bug spray with deet 30 or higher, a old sock or soft rag, spray the lens with the OFF and buff out with the sock/rag. A buddy of mine had heard this from a guy at Autozone, who is a retired science teacher, and we tried it out on his headlights(pontiac grand am) it works:Wow1:, and I mean like showroom new and still looks brand new after 7 months in the Arizona sun! I will never buy another "headlight restoration kit" ever again after trying this out. hope this helps.

Nice! I've heard people talk about these miracle fixes before, but never a "real life" success story, I think I'll give it a try!

 

[cobra_4]

First off road adventure today!

Link to the thread below!!

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/132723-Fall-Leaf-Looking-Ride-Deer-Camp-Trip-Cartoogechaye-Community-North-Carolina?p=1685172#post1685172