Lift- Project Lady Liberty

Nathaniel Smith · May 17, 2020

Hey guys. This is the first forum I have ever joined, because I have an 03 Liberty Renegade with 280,000 miles (yes i know thats a lot). I want to make it my ride or die college car. I want to make it look nice, without sacrificing good daily driver capabilities, but would also love to go off-roading every once in a while. Its bone stock, except for the side step delete. Would like to just have a small lift that can fit 31 inch tires with a bit of stance. Never worked on a project like this, and i have no idea what im doing, but im ready to learn. I have basic know-how, so for right now i would just love to know what would look, and ride good. And if my request of 31 inch tires and a small lift would be reachable. Also, i mean i gotta stick with this car if i start changing stuff, so whenever the current engine craps, ill have to replace it. Would love some advice.

LibertyTC · May 17, 2020

Welcome to the forums.
The Jeep will ride great, better than new with a OME suspension lift.
I run OME 927 springs with OME shocks for the front and for the rear 948 OME springs and went from bilstien shocks to Monroe #58649 coil over's.
The KJ Lift FAQ is here: https://www.jeepkj.com/threads/lift-faq-read-before-asking-questions.47137/
I'm going to move this to the KJ lift section.
Tom our lift expert, will chime in when he gets some time to help you out.

Nathaniel Smith · May 17, 2020

LibertyTC said:
Welcome to the forums.
The Jeep will ride great, better than new with a OME suspension lift.
I run OME 927 springs with OME shocks for the front and for the rear 948 OME springs and went from bilstien shocks to Monroe #58649 coil over's.
The KJ Lift FAQ is here: https://www.jeepkj.com/threads/lift-faq-read-before-asking-questions.47137/
I'm going to move this to the KJ lift section.
Tom our lift expert, will chime in when he gets some time to help you out.

awesome, thanks!

tommudd · May 17, 2020

Nathaniel Smith said:
Hey guys. This is the first forum I have ever joined, because I have an 03 Liberty Renegade with 280,000 miles (yes i know thats a lot). I want to make it my ride or die college car. I want to make it look nice, without sacrificing good daily driver capabilities, but would also love to go off-roading every once in a while. Its bone stock, except for the side step delete. Would like to just have a small lift that can fit 31 inch tires with a bit of stance. Never worked on a project like this, and i have no idea what im doing, but im ready to learn. I have basic know-how, so for right now i would just love to know what would look, and ride good. And if my request of 31 inch tires and a small lift would be reachable. Also, i mean i gotta stick with this car if i start changing stuff, so whenever the current engine craps, ill have to replace it. Would love some advice.

FIRST THING, 31s is a pretty generic term
what size tires, width of wheels and backspacing are you using
makes a lot of difference in determining how much lift, how much bumpstops etc
I run 265-70-16s ( 31s) on one of mine with 8 inch wide wheels, 5 inches of backspacing and 4.10 gearing with JBA 2.5 inch lift

With the beforementioned OME 927/948 combo you will get 2.5 inches of lift over new stock height
with correct wheels etc it will do great
with bumpstops, springs, 4 shocks etc you will have about 850-900 in them but will ride and drive better than it did brand new

Nathaniel Smith · May 17, 2020

So, really all I know is that i would like something like 31X10.50R15s. I dont know what would give me the best 'daily driving' functionality but also give me the opportunity to a little bit of weekend offroading, and thats kind of why I am here because I just dont know what to put on my jeep.

tommudd · May 17, 2020

Nathaniel Smith said:
So, really all I know is that i would like something like 31X10.50R15s. I dont know what would give me the best 'daily driving' functionality but also give me the opportunity to a little bit of weekend offroading, and thats kind of why I am here because I just dont know what to put on my jeep.

Why 31X10.50X15s ? then you would need 15 inch wheels and a lot of 15 inch do not fit on front
why not stick to 16 inch ?
245-75-16s are the same height as the 265-70-16s and also same height as the 31x10.50x15s

I'd stick to the current 16 inch wheels you have, go for 245-75-16s

Nathaniel Smith · May 17, 2020

tommudd said:
Why 31X10.50X15s ? then you would need 15 inch wheels and a lot of 15 inch do not fit on front
why not stick to 16 inch ?
245-75-16s are the same height as the 265-70-16s and also same height as the 31x10.50x15s

I'd stick to the current 16 inch wheels you have, go for 245-75-16s

SOunds good. I guess I just forgot that 16inch was the stock size wheel. Another thing, I was looking at a 2.5 Skyjacker lift. Is there a reason why OME is so recommended for the Liberty?

lfhoward · May 18, 2020

Yes. An OME full spring lift improves the on-road and off-road handling of your Jeep and will last a long time. Spacer lifts like Skyjacker ride like crap and wear out your other suspension components prematurely. You will be replacing the suspension (springs, shocks, bushings, ball joints) and spending more money doing it, probably in a year. There are lots of people on this forum and on lostjeeps.com who went ahead with a spacer lift and had buyers remorse. There are a few who were satisfied, but only like 1 in 10 if I had to guess.

Nathaniel Smith · May 18, 2020

So, is there a specific place I should buy the OME lift? Also, are there any mods that need to be done to the trim, or the pinch welds with the OME lift, and the tires i am planning on putting on?

lfhoward · May 18, 2020

All J’s (http://www.boulderbars.com/) has them. So does Quadratec (http://www.quadratec.com). You can also find them on Amazon. Rocky Road Outfitters has them but some people with Liberties have not had good experiences with their customer service over the years.

lfhoward · May 18, 2020

Here was a good thread on pounding over the pinch welds to reduce rubbing with larger tires. Unfortunately it looks like the picture links are broken, but there is a lot of supporting text to go on.
https://www.jeepkj.com/threads/how-to-pound-pinch-welds-stop-fender-rubbing.34295/

It’s really important to pound them over, not cut them, because they give strength to the KJ’s unibody. But don’t try any of this until you have your tires in case it isn’t needed.

TorrentIV · May 18, 2020

Seconded on the OME lift, had it for a few years, still rides great. Also had to pound my welds out when I went to 235/70r16, not sure what'll happen with those tires. (Took a 5lb hammer and some juice, no sweat) sitting at 245-70 rn, no rubs at full lock.

Brendon Holt · May 18, 2020

Since all the great lift advice has already been given I wanna say, 280k miles??? That's awesome!

lfhoward · May 18, 2020

^^^ YES!! I am optimistic I'll get there someday too! (169K on mine)

Nathaniel Smith · May 18, 2020

Thanks guys! I am super happy it still runs after 280k. Just has an oil leak problem right now. So does Skyjacker have a 2.5 inch suspension lift? Or am i mistaken?

tommudd · May 18, 2020

Skyjacker does have a full spring lift
BUT
used to be really good then they started making the springs the same rate as stock ones and we know what happens to a 310 lb spring on a KJ, sags like a .....
ALSO, you can only use their front shocks, if you need to replace them, back to Skyhacker you go
That is just a couple of things to stay with OMEs

Lift- Project Lady Liberty

Nathaniel Smith

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LibertyTC

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Nathaniel Smith

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tommudd

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Nathaniel Smith

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tommudd

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Nathaniel Smith

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lfhoward

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Nathaniel Smith

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lfhoward

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lfhoward

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TorrentIV

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Brendon Holt

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lfhoward

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