Why are we still here? The legacy of the Jeep Liberty

[Johnny O]

Due to the pandemic, I discovered I couldn't afford to rent a vehicle for my annual Big Donkey But.t Field Excursion. Had been shopping for a Wrangler for years. Was having trouble getting parts to build a Subi-swap Baja platform for my 58 VW. Found a Liberty that hadn't run in two years. Knew nothing about Jeep Liberties (pun intended) Found this site. Was also very tired of the fourish block walk to and from work each day, particularly in winter.

Learned very quickly that I'd be an idiot if I didn't buy the much maligned (without valid reason) Liberty for the 500$ price tag and fix it myself.

I've always been a fan of underdog vehicles.

Spent more on new tires and wheels than I did repairs and two months later took it out on my excursion and beat the dookey out of it in the desert and mountains.

Fail Rated. Field Tested. Wifey Approved.

Liberties are a dime a dozen in my neck of the woods. Might be hated on by the gun rack and denim coverall gang, but the Cheap Jeep far exceeded my expectations. In my experience so far, really appears to be designed to fix.

I'm a firm believer that the Liberty is the modern version VW Type 1 of the Jeep Family: Cheap and Easy to get and operate.

 

[duderz7]

We wouldn't be hearing about rust if they were aluminum, maybe you're thinking Land Rover when you typed that?

 

[duderz7]

Due to the pandemic, I discovered I couldn't afford to rent a vehicle for my annual Big Donkey But.t Field Excursion. Had been shopping for a Wrangler for years. Was having trouble getting parts to build a Subi-swap Baja platform for my 58 VW. Found a Liberty that hadn't run in two years. Knew nothing about Jeep Liberties (pun intended) Found this site. Was also very tired of the fourish block walk to and from work each day, particularly in winter.

Learned very quickly that I'd be an idiot if I didn't buy the much maligned (without valid reason) Liberty for the 500$ price tag and fix it myself.

I've always been a fan of underdog vehicles.

Spent more on new tires and wheels than I did repairs and two months later took it out on my excursion and beat the dookey out of it in the desert and mountains.

Fail Rated. Field Tested. Wifey Approved.

Liberties are a dime a dozen in my neck of the woods. Might be hated on by the gun rack and denim coverall gang, but the Cheap Jeep far exceeded my expectations. In my experience so far, really appears to be designed to fix.

I'm a firm believer that the Liberty is the modern version VW Type 1 of the Jeep Family: Cheap and Easy to get and operate.

Everytime you mention the VW it makes me miss mine sooo much...thanks for bringing up painful memories.

 

[Johnny O]

Everytime you mention the VW it makes me miss mine sooo much...thanks for bringing up painful memories.

I almost got rid of mine....but instead buried it in the garage. Parts are proving difficult to get right now, but resurrections' is planned for the future.

 

[Johnny O]

We wouldn't be hearing about rust if they were aluminum, maybe you're thinking Land Rover when you typed that?

That was pre-coffee...have no clue what I was thinking or typing.

 

[duderz7]

Well since you sent me down memory lane, hopefully these pics I attached will come through.

 

[klc]

I'm a firm believer that the Liberty is the modern version VW Type 1 of the Jeep Family: Cheap and Easy to get and operate.

Cool. Perhaps my subconscious picked up on that somehow, lol. I drove past the car lot every morning on the way to work, and it just gave me those big puppy dog eyes. Being able to walk into a dealer and say “I want that one”, without getting laughed right back out the door again was a monumental achievement for me.

The car shows no signs of abuse or neglect, and I haven’t spent all that much on fixing things, so I can afford to get into suspension upgrades once the rainy season ends. Our 93 XJ was just a tank, and I’ve always missed it. This KJ is like a very nicely appointed, fun-sized version.

 

[Johnny O]

Cool. Perhaps my subconscious picked up on that somehow, lol. I drove past the car lot every morning on the way to work, and it just gave me those big puppy dog eyes. Being able to walk into a dealer and say “I want that one”, without getting laughed right back out the door again was a monumental achievement for me.

The car shows no signs of abuse or neglect, and I haven’t spent all that much on fixing things, so I can afford to get into suspension upgrades once the rainy season ends. Our 93 XJ was just a tank, and I’ve always missed it. This KJ is like a very nicely appointed, fun-sized version.

Agreed. The more I drive and work on my and the wife’s Libertys the more I appreciate them. The lifts made them even better.

 

[sota]

@LabRat you see any decent stick (05-07) Libertys, you hit me up, ok? especially if you find one with a 4cyl.

 

[Johnny O]

@LabRat you see any decent stick (05-07) Libertys, you hit me up, ok? especially if you find one with a 4cyl.

Yuh, will do. Been hot on the 4cyls...haven't found any that weren't already scavenged over. As for the manuals, they are unicorns in this part of the country.
Heck, I am on facebook now just to try and find Liberty parts.

 

[Shaggy]

I was having a conversation this afternoon with my fiancee about how I went from viewing the Jeep Liberty with derision just a few months ago to feeling a genuine fondness for the little KJ. Which got me thinking about a thread topic here.

This forum is old, but there are still a lot of old-timers and even new members (like me!) that still use this forum because of an enduring fondness for the Jeep Liberty. So I think it would be an interesting thread topic for those of us here to reflect on the Jeep Liberty platform and talk about the things and which keep us driving and talking about these somewhat antiquated and often unfairly maligned Jeeps.

I'll start since I brought it up:

If you'd asked me a few months ago what I thought of the Jeep Liberty I would have laughed and told you that I'd never own one. If it didn't at least have solid axles and a 4.0 I6 I wasn't interested. But then I moved to Montana and could not for the life of me find a replacement for my WJ. After deciding I couldn't own a Subaru without feeling like I settled I began to do some research on the Jeep Liberty. There were a lot of them for sale here and, hey, at least it was still a Jeep. That's actually when I found this website and slowly began sucking up as much information as I could. The more I read the more it seemed like a solid, but mostly misunderstood or prematurely dismissed platform. The praise that is often felt for the Libby on this forum must have seeped into me because before long I'd gone out and found a nice sample and bought a 2002 Sport 4x4. The loads of pictures of how cool they can look with a lift helped too, I imagine

Having owned my Liberty for about three months now I've come to really appreciate what a capable platform it is. Even in stock form it seems tougher off-road than most people are willing to give it credit for and mods only make it more capable. Sure it's not a rock crawler but for a utilitarian vehicle that can do most sensible things you could ask of it on and off road, it's great. It has proven itself to be damn near dead reliable so far (knock on wood!). I enjoy that unlike the hordes of modded Wranglers, a modded Liberty is not something you see all the time. In general I think I've just been impressed all around by how the Liberty has consistently surprised me across the board in terms of being such a solid all around vehicle. It's nothing like I thought it was before I learned more about it and now having had one for a while I can easily see why so many people on here love them.

I'd be super interested to hear what some of the long-time members have to say if they're willing to pitch in. So share your stories about what keeps you attached to your Libertys!

What an awesome post! I see you haven't been on since Aug 2020 and I hope me quoting your posts(its sends out an email stating someone quoted your post) gets you to come back. I'm curious if you still own your Liberty and still have great fondness for it, a year and half later.

 

[Shaggy]

You may like them at stock height but yours is below new stock height now from the looks of it

@tommudd I still love the look of your KJ in your avatar. Such a cool shot of it!

 

[tommudd]

@tommudd I still love the look of your KJ in your avatar. Such a cool shot of it!

Thanks Shaggy

 

[sota]

@tommudd I still love the look of your KJ in your avatar. Such a cool shot of it!

Don't encourage him. His ego is already big enough to fill a stadium.

 

[69BahamaYellow]

Had a 1995 Cherokee for years and loved it. Replaced it with a Liberty in 2002. It’s a better car in every way. My son had a head on crash in it and walked away without a scratch. Got a 2005 Liberty next. It can run the full River Road in Big Bend NP at 50+MPH, fully loaded and completely stock, except for All Terrain tires in stock size.

 

[tommudd]

Had a 1995 Cherokee for years and loved it. Replaced it with a Liberty in 2002. It’s a better car in every way. My son had a head on crash in it and walked away without a scratch. Got a 2005 Liberty next. It can run the full River Road in Big Bend NP at 50+MPH, fully loaded and completely stock, except for All Terrain tires in stock size.

My 04 when I bought it brand new would not run a smooth stretch of interstate without bottoming out . OME springs etc is the best thing you can do to a KJ .
I had 3 Cherokees bought all of them new and ran them into the 275-300,000 mile range before I got the bug to start modding another one LOL

 

[Gyro]

Coming up on 10 years of ownership of my 2 Liberty's.
07 in March,06 in August.
Would not trade them for the world.

Gyro

 

[Billwill]

My 2002 Export CRD will be 20 years old come mid May!

 

[lfhoward]

My 08 is 15 this year! (07 build date)

Again, love it and will keep it going for as long as I can.

 

[Rasfetch]

I got my Liberty in August 2020, and its been good to me. It's an 06 with the 3.7L. I love having a paid off car that can take me to the awesome outdoor areas in AZ. It's taken me to awesome camping areas that I wouldn't be able to reach in my old sedan. It's also old enough and low enough in value that I wouldn't feel bad if I broke it while out on the trails.

I've sunk quite a bit of money and time into maintenance and repairing the suspension (shocks, springs, ball joints, controls arms), but I've learned so much on how to take care of the maintenance myself and each part of the car operates. That information is priceless in my eyes, and its built my confidence for helping my friends with their vehicles. Also, my girlfriend said that it's hot that work on my own car.

Honestly, if my Liberty stops working within 2 years, I'd buy another one and spend a weekend doing all the fluids and suspension work myself.