The kit comes complete with one pair ofassembled front struts. The front struts consistof Old Man Emu (OME) coils, Rancho struts,and Daystar top plates and spacers. The rearcomponents include OME coil springs, Daystarpoly bumpstops, and Rancho RSX shocks. Thisimage shows one of the front strut assembliesdisassembled for reference.

TECH BY JORDAN MAYPHOTOGRAPHY: JORDAN MAY

On ce thought of as Jeep ’s answer to the ult i m ate groceryc a r t, t he Jeep Lib erty has fin a lly become a sight foundon trails from Calif o r nia to the East Coa st. T he KJ has

b e come a very ver sat ile vehi cle for many people who are lookin gfor som e t hing dif f er ent from the traditional line up of Jeepv ehi cle s . I t ’s ava il a b le with a 2.4L four - c y lind er en g ine , a 3.7 Lp ow er tech V- 6 , a nd a 2.8L four - c y lind er com m o n - r a il die s el (CRD)en g ine . You can also choose between the Com m a nd -T r ac pa r t -time four - w heel-drive system and the Sele c t -T r ac full - t i m ef o ur - w heel-drive system for co nf id ent capa b ility on the trail .A f t er seeing quite a few Lib er t ys tack ling the trails in Moa b , w ed e cid ed it was time to show our readers some of the productsc ur r en t ly offer ed to modify their KJ for the week end ahe a d .

The FrankenliftThe New Kid Gets a Lift

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Side by side, you can see the how the newparts could benefit your rig. The new coilassembly will provide your Jeep Liberty with2.5 inches of front suspension lift. Thiscombination of components has been testedduring several miles in the dirt and has beenproven to work properly. The reason this kitwas named Frankenlift is because some of thecomponents used are also offered with otheraftermarket KJ kits. This kit combines the bestof what’s available for your KJ.

With everything disassembled, go ahead andremove the entire assembly from the vehicle.

To make things easier removing the clevisassembly, use a crowbar to pry open theflanges of the clevis and slide it off the strut.

Unscrew the ball joint holding the uppercontrol arm to the spindle and gently tap theside of the spindle as shown with a hammer tobreak the ball joint loose. Do not use a picklefork or ball joint puller to do this. If you tearthe boot on the ball joint, you will need toreplace the entire upper control armassembly, which is costly.

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Remove the upper and lower clevis bolts and remove the clevis from the front suspension completely.

Remove the lower antisway bar bolt andbracket from the lower A-arm. This will allowmore clearance and also allow the suspensionto flex downward.

On the passenger side of the vehicle you willneed to remove the stock airbox system. Likethe driver side, this is done to gain access tothe upper strut bolt. You will also need tomove your cruise control system aside thatwill become visible after the airbox has beenremoved. You do not need to remove thecruise control unit entirely; just remove thebolts holding it in place and move it to the sideso you can remove the strut bolt.

The installation processbegins under the hoodremoving the battery andbattery tray. This will allowaccess to the upper strutbolt located above thefenderwell. This bolt cannotbe accessed through thewheelwell of the vehicle;you must remove the en-gine bay components. Thebattery is easily removedas well as the tray with justa few small bolts.

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The new rear suspension will provide 2 inchesof lift, keeping your Liberty at a nice, levelstance. The new Rancho shock will make a big difference soaking-up trail terrain. Thebumpstop not only acts as a suspension stop,but also helps to make sure the spring doesnot slide out of its place during the morechallenging obstacles on the trail where yoursuspension is under full articulation.

A Daystar bumpstop has been supplied withyour kit and must be installed to the lowerspring plate. This can either be threaded inplace using a thread tap or drilled through andbolted in place. You will need to use a 3/8-inchdrill bit to fit the bumpstop.

S O U R C EA L L J P P R O D U C T S

( 9 0 9 ) 3 7 0 - 4 8 0 0i n f o @ b o u l d e r b a r s . c o m

Now that the clevis has been installed, go aheadand attach the upper control arm to the spindle.You will notice at full droop with your antisway bardisengaged the spindle head comes very close tocontacting your new coil assembly. All JPProducts supplies you with a small red polybushing to secure over the bottom Daystarbushing with a supplied hose clamp as ap r e c a u t i o n a ry measure. All JP is working withDaystar to produce a new lower coil bushing withthis side bumpstop manufactured in place.

Slide in your new assembly and tighten itdown using the supplied bolts. Attach theclevis under the strut and tighten in place.Getting the clevis in place can be rather time-consuming, so we suggest using a crowbar tohelp pry the clevis into position. This kit canbe installed by one person, but you may findhaving a second set of hands around isn’t abad idea. We also wanted to make note thatalthough we used a lift to perform our install,there is no reason this kit can’t be installed inyour driveway with the use of a good floor jackand some jackstands.

It is very important to make sure you tightenall bolts back down to factory torquespecifications. Here is a small breakdown ofall suspension bolts and their correspondingtorque settings.

FRONT SUSPENSIONFour upper shock mounting nuts: 80 lb-ftClevis bracket bolt at bottom of shock: 65 lb-ftLower ball joint nut: 60 lb-ftClevis bracket at lower control arm: 110 lb-ftLower stabilizer link at lower control arm: 100lb-ftAxle nut: 100 lb-ftRotor bracket bolts:100 lb-ftBearing hub bolts: 96 lb-ftTie-rod ends nuts: 80 lb-ft

REAR SUSPENSIONShocks (upper): 80 lb-ftShocks (lower): 85 lb-ftRear stabilizer bolts at lower suspension arm:73 lb-ftUpper control arm: 90 lb-ftLower control arm: 125 lb-ftPinch bolt on top of differential: 70 lb-ft

TORQUE SETTINGS

For the rear suspension, a replacement 2-inchspring is supplied with a Rancho RSX shock.After removing the factory shock, use a smallbottle jack as shown above to help keep therear suspension flexed. This will make theinstall of the new spring much easier.

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