About to buy a 2005 Liberty: Question

[Victorian]

Hey,
Just did a test drive in a well outfitted 2005 Liberty. 90000 miles. Doesn't look like it has ever seen any off road. But has some rust on the bottom edge of the doors. Is that common? Everything seems ok and feels alright but there is one thing I'm not sure.... Maybe you fine folks have an answer: Low range was very difficult to engage. Popped out the first couple of tries and the transmission made some funny grinding noises. It could well be that the low range has never ever been used in this car and therefore it could be a bit stiff. But maybe there is something else? Yes we put it in neutral first....

Thx!
Andreas

 

[tommudd]

Some if not washed/cleaned all the time have a small amount of rust under the door area
Also check around the upper brake light
Another item to check is the rear boot / CV on the front driveshaft ( easy / cheap repair)
If 4wheel drive hasn't been used much then it could be hard to get into low range

 

[Lostmanifesto]

Do yourself a favor and don't get a Liberty. Find a Wrangler or JK.

 

[skates04]

Do yourself a favor and don't get a Liberty. Find a Wrangler or JK.

Agree ^^^ I have owned two Liberty's one gas and the diesel version... they do some what well off road, but they have a very limited and expensive aftermarket and they are not all that reliable, especially the diesel. They are uncomfortable, the seats suck and the interior cloth get stained by even water. You would think they would be roomy, but they are not very roomy. Sounds like the one you are looking at could have t-case problems but more than likely the linkage to the shifter needs adjusting...

What do you mean by well outfitted? What are your plans for the vehicle? If you are planning on modifying it look up jeepinbyal and rock lizard they are they only ones who make decent parts for the Liberty.

 

[matthewp]

...

...

Umm, what if a Liberty is what he wanted after working out the math in his head? I find my Liberty is plenty roomy FOR WHAT I NEED! It's plenty comfortable FOR MY TASTES! I have 115,000 miles on mine with no issues that weren't self-imposed (and that was only one!), it does plenty well off road for WHAT I WANT IT TO DO, and have surprised MANY Wrangler/TJ/JK owners who didn't know better. I had the option of buying a JK and CHOSE to buy a Liberty, I have not regretted my decision.

If the guy asks a technical question about a vehicle, please don't divert the thread with your opinions of the vehicle as a whole unless the OP is asking why or why not to buy that vehicle.

 

[skates04]

I answered his technical question and gave him my real world opinion of owning 2 KJs. I also asked what his plan was with the Liberty to further discuss the topic... I also had a Liberty for two days a couple weeks ago as a loaner while recall work was done on my JK. I personally just think they ride rough compounded by poor seats, and they have sloppy steering which is disappointing considering it's IFS. My JK with a spacer lift and 35s rides much better and even handles better.... Again my opinion.

Does it make a good expo vehicle yes. The stiff suspension becomes more comfort off-road but I still hate the seats.




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[matthewp]

Victorian, the better place to ask specific technical questions about the Liberty would be on LOST Jeeps forum (Google search). that is a forum specifically dedicated to that specific vehicle and they have a wider audience with specific technical knowledge of the vehicle... Who won't just tell you it's a crap vehicle.

Skates04, you answered one of the two questions (and it was a more vague estimation of cause rather than an experience based one)... After three sentences specifically bashing the Liberty. Apparently I have a lemon. with the way you generalized their reliability (or lack thereof), I must have a rare Liberty. There are many rolling around up here in the Northeast, and owners seem satisfied.

After seconding Lostmanifestos blank, generalized statement; you grouped yourself with him (with it coming from a guy who also doesn't even have a Chrysler product on his avatar, you don't put yourself in good company!)! I'm sick of everyone who bashes Liberties without thinking of what they were designed for. I don't own a JK because I DIDN'T want one. Not everyone wants a super-dooper, go over everything off-road vehicle. I have no issue with the JKs either, they are a great vehicle, they are just not the end-all be-all vehicle for those who don't want all the off-road bias.

 

[Victorian]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. Coming from a VW jetta, I have to agree, the seats and the sounds system in the Liberty are horrible... Leather seats that are not heated. Although we have been doing several month of research in finding the vehicle that will fit the bill, I'm not a Jeep fan... They look and feel cheap... But it can do what we want it to do. And that is backroad exploring and camping as we are getting tired of campgrounds. Of course, we could buy something bigger and better... But we have a budged and have to stay within it. One concern is the fuel economy. I have owned everything in the past, from a Unimog down to a diesel Smart car. With fuel prices the way they are, it could screw up our monthly "car" budged. That's maybe something I can offset by riding my Vespa a bit more often

Anyhow, will get the Jeep checked out this week and depending on the outcome we will buy it.

 

[skates04]

The liberty does not get good fuel economy unless it's a diesel, and the diesels are the ones with most reliability issues... If you just need a good SUV to explore remote back roads the liberty will work great and probably get through anything you didn't bargain for with good tires

Another plus with Liberty is it Tows great I would say best in its class.

Matthew I never compared off-road abilities of the Liberty and Wrangler kind of apples to oranges, I just made a statement that I think my JK is more comfortable and rides better even with a solid front axle.

I have owned a TJ, XJ, 2 Liberty's and now a JK. I gave the Libery TWO chances, just was' nt for me no offense, not trying to bash, just gave my personal unbiased experience. Giving my pro/cons






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[matthewp]

The liberty does not get good fuel economy unless it's a diesel, and the diesels are the ones with most reliability issues... If you just need a good SUV to explore remote back roads the liberty will work great and probably get through anything you didn't bargain for with good tires

Another plus with Liberty is it Tows great I would say best in its class.

Victorian, Skate is dead on right about the fuel mileage. When stock, I was lucky to get 20mpg. Since I lifted it, 17 at the best.

To elaborate on Skate's recommendation, the diesel was a one-time, limited run of 10,000 vehicles (originally intended to be 5,000) in the 2006 model year. It was not a "tried and tested" run of vehicles. For the same way, I would advise you stay away from the first couple years (2002 - 2004), They were known to have issues.

By the sounds of it, you're still not sure what you want. I highly recommend you start a new thread with, what you're looking for in the vehicle, budget, wants vs. needs, etc. (Maybe in Fireside Chat or General Vehicle Mods sections). There's a lot of experience with a wide range of vehicles on this forum, you may find what you need is not what you think you want.

 

[tommudd]

The liberty does not get good fuel economy unless it's a diesel, and the diesels are the ones with most reliability issues... If you just need a good SUV to explore remote back roads the liberty will work great and probably get through anything you didn't bargain for with good tires

Another plus with Liberty is it Tows great I would say best in its class.

Matthew I never compared off-road abilities of the Liberty and Wrangler kind of apples to oranges, I just made a statement that I think my JK is more comfortable and rides better even with a solid front axle.

I have owned a TJ, XJ, 2 Liberty's and now a JK. I gave the Libery TWO chances, just was' nt for me no offense, not trying to bash, just gave my personal unbiased experience. Giving my pro/cons






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I have owned CJs/ XJs /YJs etc over the past 45 years and now a Liberty bought new
BEST out of all of them 20.5-21 on the highway 16-17 in town, rides way better , 195,000 miles and no issues other than regular maintenance, been lifted for 175,000 miles Ride is great, does and goes anywhere the XJ could and did
So there are my opinions, have a buddy with 226,000 and same thing as mine, no problems
I do lifts and regular maintenance on several of the folks on LOST and JEEPKJ so know the history of over 35 of them first hand , so while you may have had issues there are a lot more with none

 

[4D55 Performance]

I have owned many rigs over the years including a 2005 CRD Liberty which I bought new from the dealer. My experience was somewhat of a love hate relationship. It returned good MPG's at about 24-28mpg but it was plagued with suspension and egr problems. Eventually I replaced it with a 2009 Jetta Sportwagen TDI and I could not be happier. My issues with the Liberty had more to do with Chrysler's build quality than the Liberty itself. So getting a JK is not going to solve the issue. If you want a KJ than go ahead and get one. I know many members from LOST that have had a lot of good luck with their Liberty's and they are very capable offroad. I highly doubt you would ever need to use all of it's capability. Typically Wranglers are overkill and most owners never test their full capability.

 

[ihatemybike]

Actually the 2002 and early 2003 seem to be the best years for the KJs. Seems the bean counters started getting in the way more after that time.

 

[JDaPP]

I have a KJ CRD and a JK. I have not had any more problems with the KJ than I have with any other other vehicle. I personally prefer the KJ and if I could figure out how to make a Ecamper/J30 type of vehicle out of it the JK would be gone. JK is a great vehicle, it is just more than I need and the gas mileage makes me sad :-(

 

[skates04]

I have a KJ CRD and a JK. I have not had any more problems with the KJ than I have with any other other vehicle. I personally prefer the KJ and if I could figure out how to make a Ecamper/J30 type of vehicle out of it the JK would be gone. JK is a great vehicle, it is just more than I need and the gas mileage makes me sad :-(

Give me a Liberty with SFA, and a the 2.8L diesel with out the corners cut by Chrysler and there would be a Liberty in my drive way

I agree with all of you Liberty owners that the Liberty is highly under rated... I remember sitting at the bottom of elephant hill in Moab watching a bunch of highly modified FJ80s coming down, and many seemed to have trouble going DOWN and were getting hung up , they all gave me a funny look at the bottom where they all parked to air up their tires, like I was really going to drive up it. Needless to say the Liberty went UP elephant hill about twice as fast as they could get down never once even losing traction.

I went from a TJ to a Liberty so I think my expectations were just a little bit off and it was not right for me.

My old Liberty, 2.8L Diesel, OME 2.5 inch lift, Jeepinbyal Upper Control Arms, and my rock sliders I built (copied Rock Lizards design) 265/75 or 275/65 tires with wheel spacers.