Jeep Liberty Build - Part 4 

🤣🤣🤣 Thank you!

Oh man, my wife said she can’t unhear it now 🤣 definitely if I was going to do another “light offroad Liberty” I’d do a 2” and 31’s and maybe a rear locker.

"I'm lookin for a tap an die an some WD40"

That cat loves to be out in the garage with me! Thank you! I appreciate it!

Such a good dog! WOOF!!

@@jhebro do I know you? 🤣 only a few people know I call him a good dog!

@@jhebro haha, never mind! I see I replied to your other comment and said “he’s such a good dog!”

Thank you!

One of the best cats I’ve ever had!

@@millwright15 WOOF!!

I am considering it if it gains enough interest. My buddy has a cnc plasma table and can easily cut all the parts for me to weld together and ship out or do a DIY kit.

Thank you so much, Max! That really means a lot!

So….should I make a blooper video on Sunny??

You and me both! Probably a trail ride video update next!

Soon! The weather is getting nice so I’ll be out and about in it racking up the miles!

Thank you! There’s definitely not a lot of aftermarket support for the KK platform as there are the other Jeeps!

Awesome! I’ve been trying to find another Liberty for another build but no luck so far. Well, for a decent price anyways. I’m still undecided which direction I want to take this one, I’m currently working on an update video!

I would say it’s whatever you’re more comfortable with doing. If you drop the cradle it will drop the motor and position of where the lower control arms are. I don’t know how much that would effect the suspension geometry. If I had to do it over again, I’d try a 1” steel spacer and see where that got it. I don’t think 1” would throw stuff off too bad really.

Wanted to give the rough country lift struts a try. Even after measuring them, I knew it was going to need another inch to make it set level. Was going to have to modify whatever route I went to make it set level and this was the easiest for me.

Thank you!

@@millwright15 08 kk

Me too! I’ve had them since the 1/2” M18 Fuel impact came out! I’ve got a pretty good lineup of Milwaukee stuff!

@@millwright15 in my opinion some of the best tools made!

Stay tuned! It will probably happen as I just drug home a front axle out of a 2013 JKU Sahara!

Well, currently and unfortunately it’s setting with a broke front end. The front end doesn’t like a locker. I didn’t get a whole lot of fun with it and worse yet, no video of any good offroad adventures. I am however getting all the parts together to start on the rubicon axle swap. So, stay tuned!

I thought about doing the same. I still have my stock panels. Not sure if I’m sold on this look with the fender flares even still yet.

I went back and torqued it but I wasn’t recording at the time. These said torque to 65 and that seemed light to me. I was giving it the beans with the ratchet because it didn’t look like it was tightening up. I definitely believe it would be easy to break the aluminum!

Thank you! I appreciate that. Also, never too late! I’ve taught people twice my age how to weld! I’m still learning new welding tricks every day! I picked up welding at about 10 years old with an old craftsman AC welder.

Thank you! I’m in the middle of another video now! I hope I don’t disappoint!

They are definitely top of the line!! Well worth the investment!

Thank you!! Sounds like you have the right stuff so far! I put an Aussie locker which I do not recommend. Get a selectable locker. The auto locker binds up and does all kinds of crazy stuff!

Good to hear! I’m going to keep the front locker for my WJ!

I believe they are different. Saving these ones for another Liberty build!

I still have the bilstein strut lift for the front, brand new in the box still. Probably throw it on the next Liberty I aquire.

Yes, the Dana 44 is next! I will be starting on some video editing soon. This time of year I am super busy at my real job. Things have been slow on my projects unfortunately!

They worked pretty good!

Unfortunately I didn’t do that. The front independent suspension will be removed shortly for a solid axle swap and 16” for coil overs. Work has been killing me and I haven’t had a lot of time to work on it unfortunately.

@@millwright15 sure wish I could have a solid axle! I will be tuning in for that video! Thank you for your response. My arms were ruined & broke as i mentioned and I felt underneath the arm where there was contact with the lip touching the arm when it articulated, on my vehicle a 2002 Liberty, those areas should have been shaved off, it damaged underneath the arm and then the UCA passenger side the arm broke near the ball joint next to the weld. Feeling above and especially below where those 2 arms are bolted with your fingers are the lips of death that bend and break your UCA's. I have to grind off the upper small ones and the lower larger ones beneath. I love your videos and we're absolutely having fun with the Liberty after having 3 Wranglers, I can never go back. The Jeep Liberty's are good at so many things, I'm 63 and can sleep in mine easily, they are great overlanders and off-roaders. We got rid of a 2016 JK that could only tow 2000lb. Our 2002 Jeep Liberty can tow 5,000 lb. There's more but I'll tell you, we love this ride. You have an awesome rig and we can't wait to see your solid axle swap which is the best thing you could ever do! Have a great day and thank you for the motivation. 🇺🇸👍 JBA has the best customer service that I have ever encountered. The arms broke soon after I purchased the vehicle, within the same hour that I called JBA the warranty was approved and New UCA's were shipped that same day. Thanks to Marlin and Charles. 🇺🇸

I will probably use a JK box. If I straight axle it I am going to try and use all the “off the shelf” parts I can. That way if someone else want to do the same they can follow the build.

@@millwright15 I like the way you think

That would definitely make things easier for a lot of people!

He’s a good dog!

@@millwright15 WOOF!!

He built it. Check out his other videos. Several of us are hoping he markets some of the stuff he’s done.

@@berlmanwjenx correct, it’s one I built. I may market a front bumper eventually. ATH used to build a front bumper for these. If I can get someone to cut out plates to my specs for a “weld together” kit, I may do a few. There was a lot of modifications to make this bumper fit kit I wanted.

Bumper please. Ship international as well please.

@@abdulrhamgoatcrammer I’m sure international shipping would be outrageous on the pieces of steel it would take to build this. If I do a “build it yourself” kit, would you be interested in paying shipping?

I want to do this bumper so bad on my 09 KK

No particular reason really. I thought about doing a cradle drop but that puts the rear ujoint at worse angle since it drops the motor down and the rear of the trans “up”. Just another way of showing how to do it if someone is thinking about recreating that build. Of course, it doesn’t matter now as all of that garbage is long gone. Getting the straight axle dialed in a little at a time!

@@millwright15 If the trans crossmember is also dropped the rear pinion angle is fine. The main issue with a subframe/cradle drop is the front arm geometry is altered.

Actually rides pretty good. Unfortunately, it has sagged/settled in the front quite a bit. If I knew at the start of this project what I know now, I would have went a whole different direction with this project. I will try to get an updated video out soon on it.

It’s taken me a long time to get where I am! I would check all the ground wires and connections. Also, if you find a bad ground and that doesn’t fix your stuck defrost, your blend door motor is either bad or broke. That’s a common thing on these Liberty’s. Not too bad of a fix. If I remember correctly you can look under the dash from the passenger side and see it towards the middle of the dash changing when you switch the control knob.

@@millwright15 thank you

You’re welcome buddy!

Not me but man, I’ve been asked that a lot! Also, I get asked if I’m Joe Burrow a lot.

Made it out of some 1” billet aluminum. There’s a video on it in my “shorts” section. Probably have to dig for it a little bit if you decide to watch it.

I wouldn’t go bigger than a 29-30 inch tall tire. I would say any more than that and it’ll rub.

@@millwright15 thank pal. much appreciate!

@@therealjerrychapman not a problem!!

My lift in total ended up being about 4” up front. I still only have the 2.5” in the rear. I did the extra in the front so it will set level. I didn’t have to change the driveshafts but I did have to make brackets and drop the front differential so the front axles weren’t in such a bind. Also, I had to drop the steering rack. I don’t think you’ll have to change the drive shafts but if you do the 3” lift make sure it’s not putting your front axles at too bad of an angle.

Don’t be afraid to ask any more questions if you have them!

@@millwright15 Thanks for sharing that info. I opted for the JBA "A" arms that are suppose to keep me from getting the tilted tired and allows for a 3inch lift w/o changing out the axles. I'm looking at replacing the TIRED old man EMU system with Rough Country's lift.

@@tc1uscg65 you have all the right parts and you are on the right track!

@@millwright15 I guess my question is, though I put a 1.5inch lift, it gave me 3 inches of lift. Does the RC 3 inch lift give you 3 inches or is it more? Thats why I got the "A" arms from OME. It's to allow the lift w/o having to swap out the shafts. I'm REALLY trying not to change out anything that would "void" my lifetime warranty. Not a HEAVY of roader but I do put it through it's paces now and then (battle scares to prove it LOL). I was looking at the RC 3 inch lift system and had to wonder how much clearance you get from the front skid place to the ground. I have just a hair under 10 in the front. 9 on the rear dif. Am I really gonna gain anything with the RC 3 inch lift. I put the lift/heavy duty system from JBA's lift because I put a customer front steel bumper from At-The-Helm, full skids, sliders from JCR Off-road (with side rails). Thinking I added about 800lbs of extra armor so that new suspension gets a work out. Stick on that front 12k lb badlands winch (slides into the bumpers receiver), it gets heavy in the front. Appreciate your dedication in y our liberty. Very good vehicle. I almost got limited slips added but my Jeep dealer said it would void the lifetime warranty. Torn!

Been thinking about selling a weld together kit. Currently looking for another KK to build a bumper off of to market.

If you do, sell me one you can reach me at Acarmonal@aol.com

Mine has not been an issue yet, but some guys do have problems with them hitting and making noise. I’m not sure about a different sway bar but I have seen guys make longer links to put the sway bar back close to factory geometry. I’ll be ditching this setup soon for other reasons anyways! Stay tuned!!

@@PUERKAEBRIA thank you!

No buddy, you will not have to!

@@millwright15 that’s good. I can’t fabricate like you can so I would be screwed

That’s got to be rough! If I do any big fab jobs the work get done in the garage and the fitment gets done outside! Trying to build a new garage but can’t get a price locked in due to market.

The rims are from a Jeep wrangler rubicon. They are 17x7.5 diameter and width. The bolt circle is 5x5 (5x127mm). You will need adapters to bolt these wheel on this Liberty. These are probably my favorite Jeep wheel.

Made it myself out of 1” billet aluminum

Okay thanks. I was in the process of building one for myself

True, but necessary for the axle geometry as stated in a previous video. Regardless, the axles ended up being the weak point and broke one anyway. I think the rubicon Dana 44 will be a significant upgrade for this thing.

Thank you!

I had all stock components on a 2.5” lift so you should be just fine buddy!

Thank you for you help

@@ricksweet33 you’re quite welcome! Don’t be afraid to ask any other questions!

What did you use for rear shocks I have skyjacker 2.5 to 3 in spring ?

@@ricksweet33 I have rough county shocks in the rear. They came with the rough country lift kit I bought for it. They do great and have a good amount of travel!

I got them from Amazon. Steel fenders flares for an 07-18 JKU wrangler. Had to modify them to work slightly

33’s with a lot of work

Southern Ohio! How did you figure?

@@millwright15 the accent, you sound like all my neighbors. I moved here from northern Ohio, I’m in Meigs county.

@@donrainesoh about an hour from you then!

I know this is a shunned Jeep platform but also, I didn’t want to just build a JK or JL and follow the crowd. The new GC does look like a Range Rover and the new JL’s remind me of a Mercedes G class

@@millwright15 IKR? i mean low profile tire and low to the ground Jeeps are mostly a joke because of off-road capability

Cut them out of a piece of billet! 6061 if I remember correctly. It’s been a while!

ru-vid.comaMxLomrG_os?feature=share

I was starting to panic! Haha! You had me checking everything! I sent a link to my buddy and checked like 4 different devices!

Loud and clear on my end :)

Turn up the volume!

Loud n clear on my end

plug in yo headset

Take it off mute. That was my problem 🤦‍♂️

Just fine on my end

I appreciate it! I’m currently looking for another Liberty but I’m not having much luck! I want to put all the lift parts off of this one on to another. This one is currently in a pile of parts!

Don’t be embarrassed to ask anything! It has a total of 4 inches of lift in the front as of now, some of it being custom built. What parts I did buy are the Rough County lift struts and the JBA upper control arms. What I made are the 1” aluminum spacers and the drop pieces for the differential. The steering rack was a cut, drop and reweld. The rear is a 2.5” lift. It finally sets nice and level now. The wheels are stock rubicon 17” wheels and I’m running adapters to make them fit 5x4.5 to 5x5 bolt pattern. The tires I snagged from eBay. Thunderer trac grip MT’s in 33x12.50r17. I built the front bumper and grabbed the winch from Rural King, it seems to be a good one! The front fender flares are for a JKU that I massaged to fit. The front and rear lockers are Spartan brand. Don’t be afraid to ask any more questions!! Thanks!!

@@millwright15 thank you so much I. Definitely subscribe and I'm definitely looking foward to seeing what else you have in store and your informative too I love it...keep it up

@@chrismartin1412 im glad i found this channel too. so mich help and info in his vids!

@@aquaincher27.7 thank you!

What lift kit are you ordering and how much are you lifting it? May need upper control arms depending on how much you lift it. It’s quite awesome you’re thinking ahead and asking questions to make sure you take everything to the shop and do everything you need!

@@millwright15 OME 1.5 inch lift. I have read that you may need to replace the control arms with JBA's. Although the shop installing the lift wont do the arms so ill have to get that done somewhere else at a later date plus i can only get them from overseas so there will be a bit of a wait. Will it be fine without the new arms for a while? Do you also recommend wheel spacers? as i want to go for bigger tyres

@@FingerLickinGoood you should be fine with stock uppers on a 1.5” lift. You could run a larger tire for now and got with a 1” spacer later if you feel you need to.

They’re JK/JKU fender flares that I modified to make work. Some cut, bend, weld and redrill.