Hello all,
New to the forum and offroading but have had my Liberty since 2003. Have been on a couple of local boards here in Nebraska and everyone tells me to sell the Liberty and get something better. Why is there such a disdain of the Liberty.
Are we going to have issues?
We just want to do some light wheeling and would like to find some people to show us the ropes but it seems like we are just getting looked down upon. What am I missing?
Thanks for the help
Jeff

nobody wheels a girls jeep

Girls Jeep???? I am confused

Yeah, must be hanging with the Wrangler crowd.

Jeff, I went up against the same thing here. I was teased by the wheeling crowd for having a girl's jeep. All I had to do was follow the leader with his 40" tires and I got respect. The KJ is a pretty capable platform, sure it has it's limits but I can drive to the trailhead, wheel all day and then drive home. The bozos with the built rigs have trailers don't they?

Enjoy the KJ, wheel what you have. The fact that you're out there should be enough for the others to quit raggin' on you. Chin up buddy.

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Ian

2005 KJ Renegade, ARB'd, OME'd, Rancho'd, Warn'd, skid'd, JBA 4.5s, Cragar Soft 8s, GY MTs 31x10.5x15, and dirty, can't forget the dirty.

For some reason my earlier post didn't post so.

Where in NE are you? I'm in Omaha and I know i've seen about 5 different lifted liberties running around. No where to actually wheel around the city though

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Patriot Blue 04 KJ
OME HD lift w/ 1/8" Clevis lift
LT 245/75/16 Revo's
Husky liners
Aeroturbine 2525
Amsoil

We are in North Central Nebraska, near O'Neill. Heard that there are some places up this way or into the Black Hills. We want to find some beginner trails to get started. Give me a shout if you want to try and meet up somewhere.



Thanks for the words and we will give it a go.

If your wheeling (not crawling) with mostly bigger trucks with 33" plus tires, it could be an IFS vs. solid front axle thing in addition to a H.P./torque thing if you have lot's of mud around. Big tires are sometimes necessary. The first Liberty I ever saw "or noticed" was the one my mom got I think in 2003. She drove it until last year problem free not even window issues, A/C nothing. She's very light on the throttle and impeccable dealer maintenance helped. I didn't want one when I saw her's but now I have one that I'm very happy with along with a CJ for thrashing more. I drove off a curb before lifting and scraped the curb when I bought it. That's the real problem with the factory KJ. With a moderate lift and 30-31" tires it's great, I wish Jeep did that from the factory then It wouldn't be a "mom's Jeep" I Rode in a friends F250 once (who was Walker Evans crew chief) we hit a curb at about 65MPH and you really didn't feel it. The steering wheel didn't even move. I've sought ton's of advice and used PARTS I couldn’t afford from him over the years. You just can't realistically do that with a KJ. No I'm not a Ford fan except F series trucks.

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If it xly's, xucks, or xloats rent it.
1978 CJ5 304,T18,DANA20,MSD,EDELBROCK X3,MALLORY,D44,DETROIT LOCKER,LONG WAY TO GO
2006 LIBERTY Sport, Franky II PREM, moab's, 245/75/16 KM2's, All JL audio system, LIMO TINT.

We spent New Years off roading with a "Jeep" group. All had lifted Wrangers, TJ's, big tires, you know the drill. Got the "is that a 4 wheel drive" sneer, but they had to put up with me because my son is part of the club.

Well, we went where they went, did what they did. When all was said and done we were invited to attend any of their events and got the comments that "that thing does pretty good".

Know your limitations though, there was some pucker factor involved at times. Ours is lifted, lockered both ends and has rock sliders all if which were required and used.

We had a blast, you will also! Don't be afraid to hang out with the "big boys"

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2004 KJ Limited
Eaton "e" locker front
Detroit Locker rear
Frankenlift II
245 75 16 Goodyear MTR's
Moabs
Al's UCA's
Boulderbars
Backbone with Warn XD9000i, Viking synthetic line
Rubicon Big Brother

Just like what the others have said...you need to know your limitations. I love my KJ, wife calls it obsessed. I seem to work on it a lot more than any of my other vehicles that I have owned but I wheel this one so you do have ot pay to play...within reason. Mine is a 2002 Limited with roughly 125k miles on it. Issues to day...1-window reg, 1-transmission valve body(factory defect) and 1 jacked up air bag sensor clip (my fault, but seriously WHO PUTS THE SENSOR AT THAT ANGLE?) LOL.
I take mine when I go wheeling, hiking, geocaching, hunting or target shooting. It has gone places that I never thought would be possible without a much larger/more modified vehicle. All in all it is a great Jeep, IMHO. Do I beat the hell out of it, my co-workers would say yes but they get a new car every year or two max (Seriously). I have no problem plasma cutting, welding, moving and or changing nearly anything on it.
If you have owned Jeeps in the past then you know you have to do a bit more maintenance on them then other vehicles. But you can do a lot more with them.
Best advise, Join L.O.S.T. KJ forums chances are if something acts up on it, one of us has either located a repair for it or has fabricated something to upgrade it.
Welcome aboard and don't worry.

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My Rig:
2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU
OME HD lift
35" tires (thus far)
plus a ton of other things. J.E.E.P.

A perfect example of Why the bad wrap.
I ran into an English buddy who has a really "cute" respectable young wife from Columbia. He said they saw my KJ for the first time and his wife said it was "cute". After the lift I saw them again and I confronted her on the cute comment. We were looking at it from about 100ft and she hesitatingly said well I guess if you don't wash it it could be alright. I still like it but I refer to girls as cute. Not my Jeep.

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If it xly's, xucks, or xloats rent it.
1978 CJ5 304,T18,DANA20,MSD,EDELBROCK X3,MALLORY,D44,DETROIT LOCKER,LONG WAY TO GO
2006 LIBERTY Sport, Franky II PREM, moab's, 245/75/16 KM2's, All JL audio system, LIMO TINT.

Lat year we had a fairly good snow around here and some winds that tended to create some deeper than average drifts. Wife heads out to work in the early (4:30AM) morning and gets her 2000 sunfire completely stuck about 3 mi. from home and the tow trucks and AAA ain't runnin'. To top it all off, the battery in the pontiac dies from the cold (she turned it off to call me).

The Liberty in 4HI has zero problems making the run to go pick her up, blasting thru 3ft. deep snow drifts like a rehearsed TV commercial................. she traded the sunfire for a '99 TJ. The Liberty is more than capable.

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'02 Sport 4x4, 3.7L, 245/70R16 Bigfoot A/T tires, Tow Hooks, Rear Hitch

I think all of us that wheel have run into the negative comments. I let the Liberty speak for itself.

Terry

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2011 Ford F-150 XLT 4X4

Show of hands who's KJ is/was the wife's daily driver?

(Nothing wrong with cute - chicks dig it. )



Any 4x4 - if it does what you bought it or built it for - to hell about what anyone says.

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Huntbuggy
02 KJ Sport Silver - 2.5" OME/Bilstein lift, ARB bumper, JBA 4.5s, full factory skids, RS diff cover, rear SuperBumper on Reese 2", 245/75R16 on Cragars

My Kj is My wifes DD and I still get to take it offroad. The closest place to wheel at a ORV park is Tuttle creek. It is around 40 miles or so south of the Nebraska border.(north of Manhattan) It is a 2 1/2 hour drive for me but we go a few times a year. Come down and join us sometime. We get strange looks when we go but alway's get positive response at the end of the day.

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2003 KJ Renegade, 5 speed, frankenlifted,Al's a Arms 4.5,Moabs 245/75/16 BFG KM2's, custom rock rails, full Mopar skids, Hella ff220 lights,Hd cooling,Front DTT,Riddler diff cover,Rola safari rack,Cobra 29 peaked & tuned.

Pastafari Alum, Pink shovel recipient

hi everyone last dec. 23 i bought a new 2010 liberty sport, my first thought was to be nice to it, dont take it off road, my first new vehical it has to last. lol, now i have over $5,000 in mods i'd like to do to it. i never thought it was a wimp even though i was going to try to buy a new wrangler 4dr. but that didnt work out so i got the libby. while i'm saving for the mods i thank you guys for confirming that the libby will hold up ok even though its not a wrangler. i'm proud to be back in a jeep again.