Liberty By Liberty

[RATX5]

Something I should have added: Make sure you give it a few quick light sprays from all angles with each coat. I think my edges turned out better because the Plasti Dip was under the letters, not just around them.

Most definitely, I did the same and it really helped.

 

[RATX5]

So, recently I decided to do Angry eyes on my Jeep. I was originally going to do them with plastidip, but since I didn't have any black plastidip laying around I ended up using electrical tape. The day after I finished that I went on a mini-road trip with 3 friends to celebrate one of their birthdays.

Angry Eyes!

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Used bug-spray to remove the fog on all of the lenses. Comparison photo: Left is with bug-spray and right is without.

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Went on an adventure with some friends.

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Picked up some Plasti-Dip

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Was told the obvious in a Wendy's restroom.

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And made a friend when I got back home.

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[RATX5]

Okay, update time! While wheeling with some buddies at the beginning of august I got stuck due to me being a bit more aggressive than I should have been, because I thought I knew the terrain. Unfortunately I was unaware of the fact that we had had a massive rain the day before that I had apparently slept through. My friend who was behind me yelled up at me, confused as to why I had stopped. When I shouted back "I'm a bit stuck here" He heard "Emma's a bit stuck here." Therefore: My jeep has now been lovingly dubbed Emma. ANYWAYS....Now down to the fun stuff: mods! I recently purchased a set of clear turn signals (Thanks to TwoBobsKJ) and changed the oil and oil filter. Also, I unfortunately realized how bad I need a lift while wheeling last week. I bottomed out and as a result left a large dent in my driver side rocker panel right below the driver door. The aforementioned dent also made me realize that my rocker panel rust was far worse than I thought it was. Pics below!

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Came out of school to find that my jeep was in good company.

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Had a friend insist that I hook the tow chain to her rear bumper...:gr_grin:

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Cancer spots :icon_frown:

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[Jbergun]

Battle scars happen thats life on the trail. I dont know what to do about that rust ots a big patch. Maybe do like a JK and diamond plate .

 

[mx3_ryder]

The proper way would be to cut the old rockers out and weld in new panels.

 

[nullptr]

When I was up in the UP of Michigan this September, I made sure to pay close attention to all the Libertys I saw up there to see how they handled rust. One thing I noticed? There are quite a few up there! Second thing? All the ones that had rust had rocker rust. The ones that had the 'fake' rock-slider black piece over the rockers didn't have visible rust.

Interesting food for thought.

 

[Jbergun]

Key word visible. My jeep is rust free wash every week even in winter if its not too cold. Wax twice a year everywhere like open the doors and get the door and the body. I cant say if any of that helps or the 2002 doesnt rust as easy i dont know. Here in chicago i see alot of rusty jeeps cars anything and everything rusts here. If you dont protect it.

 

[mx3_ryder]

Nothing different from an 02 to 03 as far as rusty rocker panels go. My 02 has some cancer in same spot.

 

[RATX5]

Battle scars happen thats life on the trail. I dont know what to do about that rust ots a big patch. Maybe do like a JK and diamond plate .

Yeah, was just considering getting something like that (assuming you're talking about the stick on thermo-plastic stuff). Either that or possibly just cutting the whole rocker panel out and welding some actual diamond plate in at a 45 degree angle.

 

[Jbergun]

I was talking about welding in real diamond plate thats what i see alot of wrangler guys do. They will take a hit alot better too. I have a stick and tig welder with the 5 foot tank just filled her up. The stick is my pops in law but the tig is mine. I have gotten pretty good i suck with the stick though.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

Looks good, RATX5 - especially the clear turn signals

I'm probably gonna cut out my rocker panels and weld in new ones. I thought I was ahead of the rust on those panels but I have to wave the white flag. The last two winters have been tough... :emotions34:

Replacements are available from a couple of sources online - not expensive either. The challenge is finding a good welder and prepping the panels so they don't get the rust cancer like the ones they're replacing.

Bob

 

[RATX5]

Well the past few months have been interesting to say the least. Crashed the libby on Black Friday morning heading to work. XJ slid into my lane on ice, I swerved to avoid the chick driving it and slid into a Silverado parked on the side of the road. I damaged the fender, fender flare, bumper cover, grille, and totally smashed my brand new turn signalicon_frown. Unfortunately the chick in the XJ decided to run leaving me to pay for both vehicles. Thankfully, the fellow I hit was an amazing sport and laid down in the snowy street to help me get the KJ driveable so I could limp it to work. After taking my fender off I discovered that the chassis was rubbing on the tire at about half way to full lock when turning right, so hopefully I can get that sorted out. Rust on my rocker panels has become nearly three times as worse just through winter so far, so that is the priority after fixing the damage on the front. I received some black Mopar tail-light guards today as a birthday gift, and I'm going to order a set of IPCW Bermuda Black Taillights using a few gift cards later tonight. After I fix my KJ up in the front end install the tail lights and tail light guards I plan to look for wheels and lug-nuts next. Since I've been gone I added blue chrome stem valve caps, removed the hood insulation, and plastidipped my stereo bezel and shifter cover Blaze Blue. Aside from the mods most of my time to work on the jeep has been spent Jerry-rigging it to drive until I can fix it. I should be getting around to fixing it some time in February seeing as right now I'm focused on getting the guy I hit sorted away. Phone is dead for now, but I'll update this post later tonight with more pics. For now, here is the pic that I took when I got to work right after the wreck.

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Zip tied the bumper up!

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Put in my factory turn signal for the driver's side.

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Got her all washed up!

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Pic from after I hit black ice doing 70 and spun into a massive (thankfully) soft snowbank. Had to have a massive Tractor pull me out, because the snow was up to the doors, but no damage was done to the Jeep, thankfully.

 

[RATX5]

Well, the IPCW Taillights, IPCW 3rd brake light, and Taillight Guards are installed! I had some wiring troubles with the driver side tail-light, so I had to use duct tape and zip ties to affix the wires into certain positions to where they would function. I bought all of the stuff to go back in and wire it properly, I just haven't had the chance yet.

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They're easily twice as bright as the OEM taillights.

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With gas prices at $1.50 a gallon who cares?!

 

[RATX5]

Good things are on the horizon! Thankfully, 3 months shy of it being a year since I found another reason to hate Icy and Snowy winters I am finally in a position to fix my KJ! About 4 months ago I tried to bang out the dent on my driver's side fender. I was only able to bang it out about half of the way because the front mounting bracket was in the way, so I was going to bondo until I realized that the panel was warped. At this point, I decided to just throw the panel back on anyways, just for the sake of gas mileage and looks. Currently getting appraisals from a couple different shops in my area to fix the inner fender, rocker panels, and to paint all of the new parts. I really would have preferred to do the rocker panels myself, but I've proven to my self time and time again that I neither have the patience or attention span to paint parts, and due to the simple fact that I don't want to go drop money on a welder when I could use that money for other jeep parts. Since I've last posted I've added blue valve stem caps, blue lug nuts, and I've plastic dipped my center caps Blaze Blue. While I was attempting to peel off the old plastidip on the jeep badge on my hood in order to lay new plastidip, I managed to snap the J into three pieces, so I opted to turn it into a smiley face with the help of some double sided tape. Today I changed the Oil and oil filter at 172,2xx miles(1,200 over when i had planned on changing it :shakehead:.) Finally, I kept having an issue with the little plastic covers on the top of the rear bumper sliding half way off due to me trying to remove them improperly while doing a full clean of the jeep. In order to remedy this, I put two rolls worth of double sided tape under those puppies, and they've been sticking like **** addicts on copper wire! Now time for pics!

Edit: I also made a custom grille insert, which I will probably rework or redo and write up a post/how to in the process of doing so.

Edit #2: I also forgot that I added a tinted license plate cover to replace the dealer one, protect the tags from the elements a bit.

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The picture below is probably the best out of the whole lot.

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I know this was highly stupid and ridiculously dangerous, but our local train station had the tracks blocked both ways, so I figured I was almost safe-ish.

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Getting her looking all nice and pretty.

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Custom Grille Insert

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New License Plate Cover

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Smiley Face Badge

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I know they're not Jeep pictures, but some of the views I see while out on adventures in the KJ are just breathtaking.

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[JasonJ]

Looks good bud.. glad you're proud of your Jeep. She's a good truck.

But dear Lord, 9.1MPG?! You must drive it over some rough terrain, or drive it like an alcohol fueled dragster! lol.

 

[RATX5]

Looks good bud.. glad you're proud of your Jeep. She's a good truck.

But dear Lord, 9.1MPG?! You must drive it over some rough terrain, or drive it like an alcohol fueled dragster! lol.

Eh, a bit of both. :icon_razz: I was just playing around at that time, I had reset the mpg calculator, and I was hauling ass to the house of an elderly lady that I do IT work for. She lives pretty far out in the middle of nowhere, so I also got some wheeling in on the way there.