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Rock Star

A lifted Liberty that knows how to get down

Nobody would ever claim that turning a Jeep Liberty into a hard-edged rock crawler is a walk in the park. That's largely because unlike most trucks and many SUVs with a body-on-frame construction, the Liberty's unibody chassis is more car-like and requires some substantial reinforcement. And replacing the front suspension with a straight axle isn't exactly a weekend bolt-on project, either. Yet, just like a veteran off-roader facing some gnarly boulders, Scott Frary of Tractech viewed these mountains of modifications as mere molehills. He did realize, though, that the going might get a bit rough.

Rough Road

"When we first conceived the Tractech Jeep Liberty we knew that it would be a huge undertaking," Frary admits. "Our plan was to install a straight front axle and, to our knowledge, only one other Liberty had ever had this modification."

Frary's first call was to the folks at TrailReady, the builder of the straight-axle Jeep Liberty that he had seen. One problem, though — having gone down that path once before, they weren't going on it again. That didn't mean, however, that they weren't above supplying a few trail tips for the rough road ahead. "While they were very clear in that they never wanted to build another one," Frary recalls, "they were willing to share their knowledge on their construction and were very instrumental in helping us avoid the problems they encountered."

Fortunately, another company was willing to tackle this project, despite the big obstacles in the way. "S&N Fab has been doing modifications and service on TrailReady's Liberty and they were interested in helping us with ours," Frary says. He sat down with the owners of S&N Fab and discussed his goals for the Liberty. Already having first-hand knowledge of TrailReady's Liberty, they felt that the Rocker Liberty could be a competent off-road rig if done correctly. After going over needed parts and suppliers, S&N started taking needed measurements and building a concise parts list.

Liberty Lineup

Frary's job was to begin lining up the vendors. "My first call was to Currie Enterprises," he recalls. "We wanted to use their new Rock Jock aluminum center section Dana 60 axle assemblies." After working out the details he was sent complete axle assemblies, which included a front Detroit Electrac, a rear Detroit Locker, ring and pinions from Randy's, Wilwood disc brakes, Warn hubs, floater kit and axles. Currie also supplied Johnny Joints for the suspension links and an Anti-Rock sway bar system. Warn Industries not only provided many parts for the Currie Rock Jocks, but also supplied a 9500ti winch rated at a 9500-pound capacity, and some SDB 160 off-road lights.

In the meantime, S&N Fab had designed and built a link-style suspension that required coil-over shocks. Fortunately, Sway-A-Way had just the right sizes to fit into the new custom mounts.

With all this customizing, Frary knew he needed something stronger and lower-geared than the factory transfer case. Advance Adapters stepped up with a twin-stick 5-1 Atlas transfer case. To make the setup look right on the tunnel, S&N worked with a local upholstery shop to fabricate a custom leather boot for the dual shifters.

Axle Pose

Keeping this rig held together required some serious components. To tie the transfer case and axles together, Tom Wood's Drive Shafts provided a custom-built, double-cardan, CV-joint driveshafts with heavy-duty 1350 U-joints.

Yet another challenge in the project was the factory rack-and-pinion steering, which wouldn't work with the Liberty's new axle and suspension system. A completely new steering box was needed, along with pump modifications. So S&N sent the Liberty's power steering pump to AGR. The company rebuilt the unit to work with its steering box. A reverse Pitman box was used due to the only available mounting location, and S&N built mounts on the body to allow installation. For rolling stock, BFGoodrich provided Krawler KM tires (35x13.50x15), which were mounted on TrailReady aluminum beadlock wheels.

When S&N completed its portion of the Liberty, Frary drove it down to Offroad Tech in Portland, Oregon for bumpers. Offroad Tech specializes in custom tube bumpers, but had never made anything for a Jeep Liberty. In about a week the company fabricated some heavy-duty bumpers that also provided a spot for a very large spare tire and a custom mount for the Warn winch.

Ready to Crawl

As mentioned at the outset, the Jeep Liberty has a unibody design and, as such, it has no frame — just reinforced body panels to tie in all the steering and suspension components. Of course, that setup probably wouldn't survive any really serious rock crawling.

In order to make the required modifications in the suspension and drivetrain, S&N had to reinforce many different areas so that the off-road components could be properly attached. That meant designing and welding a custom internal roll cage, which was built inside the Liberty, disassembled, removed, powder coated, then re-installed. Perhaps the hardest part of this portion of the buildup was avoiding damage to the brand-new interior.

For additional protection, Kilby Enterprises built a skid plate to protect the gas tank from any trail damage. Like Offroad Tech, the company had never built products for a Liberty and this construction was a new endeavor, but the skid turned out okay, and ensures the off-road readiness of the Rocker.

Overall, the fabrication required to build the Rocker Liberty was far above what's needed for most off-road rigs. Without S&N Fab's skills and know-how, this vehicle might not have been built. After all, a rock star can be pretty demanding.