New to Offroading

I bought my KJ under a year ago and I have not gone off roading. From reading the threads here and looking at the many picture I'm sort of itching to go. Since I am new to this, what would you recommend that I purchase for my KJ? The only thing that comes to my mine is only skids plates covering the transmission, transfer case and the gas tank.

Current specs of my KJ, 2007 Limited. No mod, I just have a trailer hitch installed. Pretty much stock.

BTW, I believe I have to remove something to get my KJ to flex, is it what is known as the stablilizer bar? If so, can someone point this out to me? I am not a mechanic so please forgive my ignorance. Thanks!

i would not worry about it unless your done some heavy offroading but since your stock i would just leave it on. I too am fairly new so i will let someone else give you some good tips. Though airing down the tires and installing tow hooks is a good idea. Also bring another vehicle along if you can. Incase you do get stuck

rchung813 said:

I bought my KJ under a year ago and I have not gone off roading. From reading the threads here and looking at the many picture I'm sort of itching to go. Since I am new to this, what would you recommend that I purchase for my KJ? The only thing that comes to my mine is only skids plates covering the transmission, transfer case and the gas tank.

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Skids and recovery points (tow hooks or hitch receivers) are always a good invesment if you are planning to offroad. As far as the skids go, here are the mopar units front to back:

Engine


Transmission


T-case


Gas tank


There are several companies that make after-market skids for the Libertys, in particular Skid Row, All Js and Rustys. I run the Mopar units but I'm thinking of upgrading my trans skid to an All Js unit.

rchung813 said:

Current specs of my KJ, 2007 Limited. No mod, I just have a trailer hitch installed. Pretty much stock.

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OK, if you have a rear hitch then you would need the front tow hooks, seeing as the front hitches for KJs are rarer than an honest politician

rchung813 said:

BTW, I believe I have to remove something to get my KJ to flex, is it what is known as the stablilizer bar? If so, can someone point this out to me? I am not a mechanic so please forgive my ignorance. Thanks!

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Yeah, removing the front sway bar/stabilizer bar will let the front end flex more. I've tried it with and without and not noticed enough difference to do it when I offroad. If you want to try it for yourself, you'll need to remove six bolts, if I remember correctly they are all 18mm. There are two bolts on the bottoms of the sway bar/stabilizer bar links (colored green in the diagram):

Then there are two each on the frame mounts, you'll find those by tracing the sway bar (orange in the diagram) up and around toward the front. Make sure your KJ is on flat, level ground so that there isn't any torsion applied to the sway bar links. And remember to go slow with the sway bar removed, sudden maneuvers can be a bad thing when your running disconnected.

Disco'ing the front sway bars makes a HUGE difference offroad. Ive been offroad many times with both kj's that had it connected and some that had it disco'ed and there is infact a big difference.

I personally leave mine connected at all times. I have a rear locker so it doesnt really matter if I do lift a tire but if youre open front and rear it can help.

Tow points and all 4 skids are a must before going offroad in anything serious.

If you start getting into stair steps or serious rocks, then rocker rails become a must also.

A lift isnt a MUST but it makes a world of difference with the kj since it sits so low after they lowered them after 02.

Thanks for the Jeep how-to website, answered of a few of my newbie questions

Thank you all for your great feedback. I especially like the picture diagram!

If I get all mopar skid plates, will it make changing the oil any difficult?

Time to visit the jeep site for more info too!

Also, for someone with not lots of experience, how hard would it be to install skid plates. The pictures make it look really really easy.

rchung813 said:

Thank you all for your great feedback. I especially like the picture diagram!

If I get all mopar skid plates, will it make changing the oil any difficult?

Time to visit the jeep site for more info too!

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Well, I was a draftsman in a former life and I know the value of a good diagram As for changing the oil, I've only changed mine once on my own and my front skid was off at the time so I couldn't say how hard it would be.

BillyBones said:

Also, for someone with not lots of experience, how hard would it be to install skid plates. The pictures make it look really really easy.

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Yeah, but there's bit more to it than the pictures I posted show. You can check out my post on installation instructions for more on installing them, they're grouped toward the bottom of the list. The front suspension skid (engine skid) is the only one that has threaded holes already in the frame, for all the others you have to install threaded inserts (nut-serts) before you can mount the skids. If you have all the tools and can get someone to help hold the skids in place I'd say it'll take a couple hours to get them all installed - the engine skid will be the easiest and the gas tank skid will be the most fun (especially if you have a rear hitch installed).

Putting the skid plates up isnt to bad. It depends on if the nuts welded in your frame have rusted or not. Some people have a time getting the bolts started if that has taken place.

The gas tank skid is the hardest to put up, more so if you have a hitch. An extra set of hands is almost needed for that.

The engineers at Mopar left a fist size hole in the skid plate for getting the drain bolt in and out. The filter is a pain to get to but after 2 oil changes I am getting neater at it. First time was a absolute mess! make sure you have something to catch all the oil you are going to spill. hehe. Unless you are off road 90% of the time, leave your swaybars hooked up for safety sake on the pavement. With out them working, pitching the liberty at 60 mph would be a scary proposition.