New to KJ and info on the lift I’m installing

[Jeepcowboy1977]

Hi I’m J.R. I just bought a 2005 Jeep liberty KJ that came with a lift just before Christmas they said it was a 3” old rough country spacer lift I’m not sure but 3 days before Christmas I drove it to work and on the way home ( 48 miles each way ) I turned a corner and had a lower ball joint failure while driving no body damage but enough for me a have to rebuild the whole front end remember it’s Christmas and my mother in law just passed away so had a lot of cost going out so I was able to get my jeep home and I was able to borrow some money from my wife’s little brother who lives with us I was able to buy parts to get my jeep back on the road and I’m about to start putting her back together soon but I can’t keep the old lift it’s sagging and wore out so I picked up a 2.5” supreme suspension leveling kit or what some call a spacer lift I’ve installed a lot of these on trucks in the past but I’m getting a lot of negative comments on my Facebook Jeep liberty groups I know there’s better ways but without the money I had to do what I had to so I can get her on the road without putting her back to stock and I know about spacer lifts some good and some bad but I’ve talked to some with what I picked up and their happy but I’m looking for any advice and pictures of your lifted liberty’s

Pictures are from when I bought her to the failure then the parts I got to put her back together 3.7 4x4

 

[LibertyTC]

Welcome to the forums.
I personally would only recommend Old Man Emu spring lifts.
Jeepin by Al control arms etc. Please see our Lift Section

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Kj lift Kit section link below.
https://www.jeepkj.com/forums/lift-kit-discussion.203/

 

[KJowner]

H&R springs may be a cheaper option, they are in Europe but as you have seen elsewhere spaces are bad news on the independent front end.

 

[duderz7]

You probably don't need all of those front end parts, just the lower ball joint. If one ball joint popped the other side is likely in need of replacement too. From what you've pictured it doesn't appear that the lower ball joint is included. If I was in your situation I'd replace just the lower ball joints and run the current lift while saving for some OME springs and new shocks. Also call terraflex and get those bump stops pictured by TC.

 

[lfhoward]

^^^ Good advice above.

 

[Jeepcowboy1977]

H&R springs may be a cheaper option, they are in Europe but as you have seen elsewhere spaces are bad news on the independent front end.

I understand all that because of certain situations out of my hands death in the family and 2 cars braking down plus the jeep already had a 3” lift spacer that went on the bottom of the strut I wasn’t going to put it back to stock but because of what I had to do I’m not going to take it off road but plan on saving the money for the rough country lift that’s it’s a lift strut and springs 2.5 to 3” because with having to rebuild the whole front end and I borrowed what I could so I ordered best I could find and I know spacer lift isn’t for everybody and some think there terrible and I know a strut lift is a best way to go for someone with $2000 plus for the best but for temporary this will be good as long I’m not taking off road

 

[duderz7]

You of course are welcome to throw your money away any way you like. Many people outside the kj community think we're all crazy for the time and money we put into these things. But bottom line my friend is you are still gonna need lower ball joints even after you buy all of those things you pictured that you do not need. It matters not where you put the spacer in the shock assembly. The spacer on top is no better than the spacer on bottom it's still making the shock capable of becoming taller than the rest of the vehicle is capable of. Oh yeah, you still need those bump stops too.

 

[turblediesel]

Sorry for your loss; good luck getting back on the road.

 

[slowcrawlerZJ]

First off sorry for loss and the issues you’re having with vehicles. Things always seem to have a snowball effect in our lives when things tend to go south then another and another but I think sometimes in the valley is where we learn the most. Secondly I agree with what “duderz7” said in an earlier post. Make sure all your ball joints are good to go and run what you got until you can save up. I just rebuilt the whole front end on my 2006 KJ with an IronMan 4x4 lift kit. They run specials on their stuff many times throughout the year not just holiday timeframes. I bought their set up and JBA arms all for under $1k. OME is a good set up but I was not going to spend that much plus IronMan is just as good. None the less I hope all works out.

 

[duderz7]

First off sorry for loss and the issues you’re having with vehicles. Things always seem to have a snowball effect in our lives when things tend to go south then another and another but I think sometimes in the valley is where we learn the most. Secondly I agree with what “duderz7” said in an earlier post. Make sure all your ball joints are good to go and run what you got until you can save up. I just rebuilt the whole front end on my 2006 KJ with an IronMan 4x4 lift kit. They run specials on their stuff many times throughout the year not just holiday timeframes. I bought their set up and JBA arms all for under $1k. OME is a good set up but I was not going to spend that much plus IronMan is just as good. None the less I hope all works out.

Good looking jeep! I like the way those wheels look on there. Did you have to use adapters for the bolt pattern?

 

[slowcrawlerZJ]

Good looking jeep! I like the way those wheels look on there. Did you have to use adapters for the bolt pattern?

Thank you. Yes I used one inch hub-centric adapter spacers with wrangler rubicon wheels. Some folks don’t like using any kind os spacers or adapter spacers etc but I’ve used them on many vehicles and taken them all Offroad and beat the crap out them with zero issues. As long as you purchase a good set, use red loctite on the spacer lugs and torque them correctly…no issues

 

[derekj]

First off sorry for loss and the issues you’re having with vehicles. Things always seem to have a snowball effect in our lives when things tend to go south then another and another but I think sometimes in the valley is where we learn the most. Secondly I agree with what “duderz7” said in an earlier post. Make sure all your ball joints are good to go and run what you got until you can save up. I just rebuilt the whole front end on my 2006 KJ with an IronMan 4x4 lift kit. They run specials on their stuff many times throughout the year not just holiday timeframes. I bought their set up and JBA arms all for under $1k. OME is a good set up but I was not going to spend that much plus IronMan is just as good. None the less I hope all works out.

Wow - they do have good prices! $1200cdn shipped to my door for the complete kit - right now a full OME/Bilstein setup here is pretty close to $1800

 

[slowcrawlerZJ]

Yup…I went with the diesel front coils because of my winch so it would not sag. In total using their set up you will net 2.25 inches of lift all the way around. I wanted a little more lift so added a 5/16 spacer plates on top of front coil plates when installing the strut. Then installed Jeep Liberty KK strut forks from a 2011 model for close to another inch of lift. So now my front is 3.75 inches of lift. The rear I used IronMan Coils and set of 2 inch spacers from eBay and it came out to be 4.25 in the back but I carry a lot of over landing items and spare parts in the back so it settled to 4 inches. The only thing I didn’t use from Ironman was their rear shocks because of my height. So I turned to Rough Country for rear shocks. They make a set for Jeep Liberty’s to cover 3-5 inches of lift. I’m extremely pleased with the IronMan components. They ride great on roads and operate great Offroad.

 

[slowcrawlerZJ]

Rough Country shocks link.

N3 Rear Shocks | 2.5-5" | Jeep Liberty 2WD/4WD (2002-2012)

N3 Rear Shocks | 2.5-5" | Jeep Liberty 2WD/4WD (2002-2012)

www.roughcountry.com

 

[derekj]

Hmm - makes it really tempting doesn't it

 

[Jeepcowboy1977]

You probably don't need all of those front end parts, just the lower ball joint. If one ball joint popped the other side is likely in need of replacement too. From what you've pictured it doesn't appear that the lower ball joint is included. If I was in your situation I'd replace just the lower ball joints and run the current lift while saving for some OME springs and new shocks. Also call terraflex and get those bump stops pictured by TC.

When finding out it was a northern vehicle and with the rust yes I’m replacing everything If I’m putting my family in it, I want it to be 100% safe rust free

 

[Jeepcowboy1977]

You of course are welcome to throw your money away any way you like. Many people outside the kj community think we're all crazy for the time and money we put into these things. But bottom line my friend is you are still gonna need lower ball joints even after you buy all of those things you pictured that you do not need. It matters not where you put the spacer in the shock assembly. The spacer on top is no better than the spacer on bottom it's still making the shock capable of becoming taller than the rest of the vehicle is capable of. Oh yeah, you still need those bump stops too.

First off sorry for loss and the issues you’re having with vehicles. Things always seem to have a snowball effect in our lives when things tend to go south then another and another but I think sometimes in the valley is where we learn the most. Secondly I agree with what “duderz7” said in an earlier post. Make sure all your ball joints are good to go and run what you got until you can save up. I just rebuilt the whole front end on my 2006 KJ with an IronMan 4x4 lift kit. They run specials on their stuff many times throughout the year not just holiday timeframes. I bought their set up and JBA arms all for under $1k. OME is a good set up but I was not going to spend that much plus IronMan is just as good. None the less I hope all works out.

I understand I talked to a custom shop and for just a vehicle to get back to work no or light off road would be ok but right now the only plans is get on the road so I can get back and forth to work and home the shop I’m talking to is going to install a daystar 2.5” with the struts I have once I get that lift but that will be 6 to 8 months and daystar has very good reviews and good off road but what really ***** is the lack of lifts for us and other off road rigs

 

[KJowner]

When finding out it was a northern vehicle and with the rust yes I’m replacing everything If I’m putting my family in it, I want it to be 100% safe rust free

Better have a good look at the sills / rockers if it's seen a lot of salt.

 

[Jeepcowboy1977]

Better have a good look at the sills / rockers if it's seen a lot of salt.

I’ve check the whole jeep out and other then the front end the rest is pretty rust free but while I’m working on the jeep I’m going to clean and put a rust preventative on and do a under coating

 

[u2slow]

Also take the plastic rocker covers off and check... they can hide a lot of rust.