So I have a 2002 Jeep Liberty and want to get a lift kit so I can get bigger tires on my Jeep. I don’t really know much about lift kits and I don’t want to go spend a bunch of money if I don’t really have to so if I could get some assistance and advice it would be appreciated. All advice and help is needed
New Help and Advice
- Thread starter Casey0
- Start date
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First I would check out all suspension (ball joints, bushings, etc) to see what is worn out, than proceeded from there. None of it's really cheap. To me just getting back to factory height is my goal. Now running around 18" from outer fender lip to center of hub. I hear that is around 1.5" low.
Whats your budget
Only a few ways to go
Full OME 2.5 inch kit
or
OME springs and Bilstein Shocks
or JBA adjustable coilover kits
starting at 750-775 for everything you need for 2.5 inches
Higher you go, more it costs
Bigger tires you run, regear is needed
I just priced out two different setups for a customer today, new prices if you are serious
Before April 12, 2002 measured 19.75 middle of the wheel to bottom of the flare
After that date 19 inches
by now unless springs and shocks were replaced most are 17.5 to 18 on the average
Yeah.... that's not how it goes on a KJ. This is not a Wrangler or a TJ/YJ... you gotta pay the man his money to get lifted properly.
Sure, some slap a $300 spacer lift on there and are "technically" lifted.. enough to run bigger tires for a while, til the old sad springs sag even more and you're back where you started and your now too large tires are rubbing all over the under-carriage.
If you go too big on tires, you'll think you were driving a 4000lb Jeep with a 4 cyl towing a tractor trailer up hill... thus the re-gearing that Tom mentioned.
It's best to budget and spend once to do it right- and it'll be glorious; cheap out and it'll be OK for about 6 months to a year, then you'll be rightly pissed off about the whole thing, complain that Jeep Liberty's suck and then sell the whole darn thing for a loss and go buy a used Wrangler or TJ that is overpriced by a factor of 4 (I know, because I just looked yesterday!).
IMO, lifting 2-3" and running larger tires on stock wheels can be done rather affordably. There's myriad of ways to get there... some more popular than others.
The caveat with an auto trans is it will struggle to shift at the right speeds with larger tires. That's why re-gearing axles usually enters the equation. With a manual trans, you control the shifting, so its less of a concern.
The caveat with an auto trans is it will struggle to shift at the right speeds with larger tires. That's why re-gearing axles usually enters the equation. With a manual trans, you control the shifting, so its less of a concern.
