The Jeep “KJ” Liberty is derided by pretty much any diehard Jeep fan because it represented the start of the car-ification of Jeeps. It was the first Jeep to introduce independent front suspension in high volumes, and while that suspension offers plenty of on-road and some off-road benefits, by and large, it’s a major downgrade in the Jeep off-road world. The KJ Liberty’s soft looks, its completely forgettable 3.7-liter V6, and its relatively weak automatic transmission options ultimately doomed it in the pantheon of Jeep history, but a former Jeep development engineer thinks the vehicle deserves more love. And he has a couple of amazing photos to explain why.
Getting a job at Chrysler after college was the greatest thing to happen to me. I thank the lord regularly for that serendipity. The fact that, after emailing a bunch of professors asking how I could get a job at Chrysler, one professor told me about a man named Professor T.C. Scott, who had been a consultant for Chrysler since the 1960s, and whose office was right in my mechanical engineering building!
Anyway, T.C. helped me get in touch with the right people, and after an internship, I joined Chrysler in the summer of 2013: The exact, most perfect time I could possibly have joined. As soon as I arrived, the JL Wrangler program began, and I was put on the powertrain cooling team (technically called “AeroThermal”). Being at Chrysler between 2013 and 2015 was an unbelievable experience; Fiat had just saved the company and was pouring resources into it. The new Wrangler, the new Pacifica, the new Ram, and even Hellcats were all in development. And most importantly: Many of the old-timer Jeep guys were still there, just about to enter retirement.
To be able to work with the people who helped develop the Jeep Cherokee XJ and ZJ and TJ was such a privilege, and it’s why I’m even writing this article. I follow Keith Montone on Facebook because he was connected with the Jeep “old-timer” group that I sometimes hung out with — folks like Jim Repp (one of the two fathers of the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon), the late Phil Toney (who sold me a cylinder head once), the legendary Tony Carvallo (who’s on the younger end of the “old-timer” spectrum), Tom Habercamp, Brandon Girmus (who isn’t old at all, but has an old soul), and on and on. Montone, a former Jeep Vehicle Development engineer who worked at Chrysler between 1998 and 2018, recently posted these two amazing, never-before-seen photos of a prototype Jeep Liberty KJ getting some serious air:
“A long time ago at a company far far away. Yours truly driving,” reads the reminiscing caption. In the comments are some great stories from former Jeep engineers; stories like this one:
One year we were at Silver Lake with the KJs. I was riding shotgun with the laptop and an intern was driving up test hill. I told him not to stop short, make sure you’re in the throttle until you just crest the hill. He matted that thing and never let off. At one point all I saw was sky out the windshield and then only sand. Airbags didn’t go off but ripped the front fasia off and bent the rear axle. You could see the wheel speed sensors peg in the data when we went airborne!
I asked Montone what I was looking at in these flying-Liberty pictures. He broke it down:
The vehicle development team wanted to test the “Jeepness” of the new Liberty. We had access to Island Lakes Rec [in Brighton, MI] at the time so we decided to take some of our soon to crushed mules out and see how they would fair. We found a berm and began driving over it at increasing speeds to see how much it could take. We hit that berm over 50 times. On the last run, the battery tray broke and blew a fuse in the fule sending unit. We replaced the fuse and drove it back to Plymouth Road albeit worse for wear. A lot of people deride the Liberty for its looks, but it was one tough little sob.
He later went on to tell me “We beat the tar out of that vehicle every chance we could get and it held up.”
I asked about the Liberty and its less-than-positive reputation among Jeep fans. Montone understands it, but thinks the Liberty deserves more love. “I do consider it a real Jeep,” he told me. “I agree the looks are a bit soft for my taste, but it was engineered with the intent to off road. It has cast iron lower control arms.” On top of that, Montone pointed out better ride comfort and handling, and a sweet rear-mounted tire on a swinggate mechanism that pops the glass up automatically (he told me about the swinggate, which I also quite like: “I am biased, however, since I got it patented for Chrysler ha ha.”).
Montone went on to discuss some of the KJ’s shortcomings. “The biggest challenge was getting more ground clearance. Without solid axles, it’s obviously harder to lift.” With that said, Montone said the KJ could still get it done off-road, even without a lift. “We have development trips in Moab over some harder trails and it did the Rubicon trail so it my book it’s a ‘real’ Jeep.”
“I am a big XJ fan and have owned both XJ and Libertys. When I was Manager at Mopar Off Road Performance, my team took a XJ to EJS and SEMA with some after market parts,” Montone made clear, before saying that what killed the 3.7-liter V6 KJ’s reputation more than anything was the fact that it was billed as the replacement to the XJ, when it was really something entirely different. The true replacement for the XJ, Montone argues (and I agree), was the four-door Jeep Wrangler JK.
“I think the Liberty was not good as a replacement for the XJ. I think they could have been sold side by side. The XJ crowd waited for the 4 Door JK and bought it in droves,” he told me. “Nothing will get the love of the [XJ Cherokee’s] 4.0L. Solid as a rock.”
I agree with Montone. The Liberty’s issue was that, when put side-by-side next to the venerable XJ, it just lacked some of the toughness and character of the old AMC rectangle. Nevermind the powertrain, which was middling; that could be forgiven, especially since the Liberty rode better, was quieter, looked decent, and could still perform off-road. It was a reasonably nice small SUV with some relatively impressive off-road chops, so long as by “relative” we’re comparing to the competition and not the predecessor.
I’ve always believed the Liberty was a cool little SUV with the unfortunate task of having to follow one of the greatest SUVs of all time. Maybe if I find a cheap stickshift I’ll try one out for myself.
In my humble opinion the issue wasn’t the 3.7, I’ve owned several XJs and I hate to say it the Liberty is a better daily in every way. The main issue with the KJ is the 42RE, it really isn’t suited to this use, it’s a minivan trans adapted back to longitudinal use. If you find a KJ with the 45RFE (tow package, you can identify by the u shaped trans X member) it is one million times better.
the KJ is a lot like 1st Gen Xterras. A little crude, and cheap but dang if you don’t still see people out there wheeling them.
It was a “real Jeep”… Unfortunately bundled with a lackluster Daimler-Chrysler engine and transmission, and a lot of other under-engineered D-C parts which condemned it to mediocrity at best.
The first time I ever saw a KJ was at the Chrysler proving grounds in Chelsea in 1999. They had some mule vehicles with KJ chassis under WJ bodies. The suspension, drivetrain and floorpan was all KJ. You could see inside the rear wheel wells that they had spliced the KJ inner to the WJ outer. I think that they were using them for chassis and/or powertrain testing. When sitting on the ground, they looked almost identical to a normal WJ.
My sister bought a KJ with the CRD, brand new. Her husband really wanted the diesel. Other than a failed rear 8 1/4″ axle out-of-warranty they were pretty happy with it. My sister-in-law also bought a KJ new. She worked as a kitchen and bath designer, so she often needed to drive on muddy construction sites. I recommended that she order hers with a Selec-Trac transfer case and a rear limited-slip diff – she never got stuck on job sites. Hers was an early 2003 model year build, so it had the “good” 45RFE transmission (like the Grand Cherokee) rather than the awful 42RLE that they started installing in mid-2003.
Wow, Chrysler 8.25s are normally A+ axles!
We have a 2010 Liberty in the driveway. It was my father-in-law’s, and when he died we traded our mother-in-law our old car for it (so she could drive something ordinary and reliable). It has a trailer hitch, so we keep it for occasional use.
It has proper 4×4, but we don’t have terribly aggressive tires on it so it isn’t as steady in the snow as our C-MAX on Blizzaks is.
The interior is cheap and uncomfortable, and we only manage 19 MPG if we can keep the RPM below 2,000 most of the time. The transmission hunts for the right gear sometimes and does not inspire any confidence at any time. The radio is a joke, but we just got a free replacement that might fix that; we will see. We did have the rear bearings replaced professionally (along with some other under-body work), and the unpleasantness of that experience made it our last trip to the local dealership.
It is fine for what we use it for, which isn’t much. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone ever buy one as a daily, or buy one for any serious amount of money for any reason. Ours is generally unpleasant to use, but we have uses for it.
It’s probably more ‘jeep’ than the stuff that they’re selling now… oh wait, they don’t actually have anything like this now do they?
The looks grew on me over time. It’d definitely have to be a manual trans, though, for me to consider buying one.
My Aunt was an engineer at Chrysler for many years. In the early 00’s she had a rotating cast of “test vehicles” that she would drive for a few months and report back all the problems. When she had the Liberty she took me on a impromptu “off road” course through a construction site. It had impressive capability and while the styling was a bit soft for my taste, it was more of a Jeep than most anything the company sells today.
We hit that berm over 50 times. On the last run, the battery tray broke and blew a fuse in the fule sending unit. …. INTERESTING SPELLING
My cousin sold a 92 cherokee and bought one of these. He regretted his decision almost immediately.
Had multiple friends that bought these turds new back in the day. Not a lot of positives to report on them, honestly. For all the press about the IFS, it didn’t handle great and had really numb steering. The 3.7L was a dog and got surprisingly bad fuel mileage. The interior wasn’t terrible, but I could never find a comfy driving position – the ergonomics were just…off. As soon as the things went out of warranty they seemed to just chew through parts – wheel speed sensors, fuel pumps, starters, etc., and since I was the handy one they always called me to ask for help fixing them. I enjoy working on cars for fun, and have wrenched on many of my own Jeeps over the decades (and still do), but I will weasel my way out anyway I can from ever working on a Liberty ever again.
I had a new one as a rental on a business trip. It was without a doubt An Car.
The Common Rail Diesel (CRD) was interesting but by the time I was ready to take a serious look they were gone.
I knew one person who had one. Until he bought a Prius, he always chose one of the least reliable vehicles on sale to buy and they always lived down to their reputations. The Jeep did not break his pattern of new or nearly new vehicles with continuous issues. I don’t know about off road prowess as he wasn’t an offroader, but it definitely couldn’t handle on road duty.
I’m weird and have always liked the KJ Libertys… especially the CRD Diesel ones. A manual V6 wouldn’t be too bad of an all-rounder for the price they can be found at.
My sister maintains her 1st Gen Liberty is her favorite vehicle she ever owned. The Liberty replaced a 3rd gen Eclipse. She replaced it with a 2nd Gen Liberty, which she had to lemon law. Really just impeccable taste in vehicles.
I’d take a CRD Liberty with a manual, not many of those left.
By the way why are the KJ rear axles are so odd? I’ve never seen that top mount on the diff housing on any other vehicle.
https://imgur.com/a/HtSa1bo
They didn’t sell the CRD Liberty’s in the US with a manual.
Ah, too bad. Maybe I’m confusing it with the EU spec KJ Cherokees, those were definitely available with the 6-speed.
The WJ Grand Cherokee had a similar “triangular” link on top of the rear axle. It was mounted to a ball joint and supposedly provided better axle articulation than it would have had with a 4-link and panhard bar.
I had one of these for a year or so as my wife’s daily. It ate wheel speed sensors, but was otherwise trouble free. It got lousy mileage, but the thing I really disliked was how ponderous it felt. It always seemed like there was 1000 lbs of gravy sloshing around in the headliner; way different from my old XJs.
Having spent decades in product development, I have sympathy for this engineer. I also do not care a bit about “truckness” or “Jeepness”. The issue with Liberty, whether from the standpoint of design or production quality, is that they were hot garbage.
The intent of the designer is never what matters.
I just couldn’t get past the name. It felt like they were cashing in on patriotism in post-9/11 America, and that didn’t feel right. … and then came the (checks notes)… Jeep Patriot. 🙁
Oh, they definitely were. Don’t forget the Jeep Commander.
“Why the Titanic Design Didn’t Deserve the Hate”
-By A Retired White Star Line Engineer
I had a sinking feeling someone would mention this.
Put that prediction on ice!
What, the hull thing?
“A riveting encounter!”
–Iceberg
Part of the problem is that a lot of early adopters got a chilly reception.
Well at that point it’s sunk cost and so Chrysler was all “full steam ahead”.
The people I know who have had them I’ve really liked them. I remember reading something about the front suspension being nearly half ton in durability. I waited for the four-door wrangler and I bought a 2012. I think if the liberty would’ve been a little less cute in the front end and had Jeep really provided a lifted off road version right from the start, or push the aftermarket for lifts and armor, etc, it might’ve done OK.
Didn’t they also offer these in America with a Mercedes diesel for a short bit?
VM Motori diesel in them.
That would be the mid-00’s (wk?) Grand Cherokee with the Merc Diesel
We had a Liberty with one of the CRD diesels, motor by VM Motori as noted below. Was actually quite good… lots of bottom end torque, and more solid in mud than my ’94 4×4 I-4 manual Toyota Pickup (last one before the Tacoma launched). I was building a house for a client and there was this one off-camber U-turn at the bottom of the job-site we had to do nearly everyday to get the tool trailer turned the right way… When it was muddy, I crossed my fingers that the Toyota, in 4WD, would make it all the way around with the trailer, sometimes just barely… The Liberty handled it with ease in 4×4, and once, I forgot to shift it into 4WD and it still made it, if a bit more sluggishly, even with more “street” tires than the Toyota more off-road tires. And it got pretty decent mileage… about 26-28 highway. Problem was the transmission… Auto-only, no manual available, for the diesel. Another commenter here mentioned it might have had a converted “minivan” transmission. That sounds about right… we had three of the transmissions replaced (all under warranty, thankfully) in less than 3 years, not even ‘wheeling it, and the trailer wasn’t very heavy. I think the transmission really couldn’t hold up to the torque of the diesel. Finally got it fixed one last time, and traded it in to a California used car dealer who was hungry for used diesels from out-of-state… got a good amount for it towards a car we really wanted. If it had had a 6-spd manual, might still have that thing. Now I have a HJ60 Land Cruiser with a 12H-T turbo diesel and a 5-spd manual, and haven’t even thought to look back… 🙂
I’m not a big Jeep guy but we briefly owned a 2door XJ for a while (4cyl boo!!!) and when the Liberty came out I was among those authoritatively telling anyone who would listen that this wasn’t a “real Jeep”. This article changes my mind somewhat.
I still somewhat believe the Liberty isn’t a real Jeep relative to what had come before. But relative to the crap in their current lineup, it’s a real Jeep.
This is very true.
I had a friend that put about 180k miles on one of these, and while it was kind of a dog to drive, it was pretty durable. If it sold tacos, I’d buy a couple
We need to score everything now by the taco truck test.
Yeah this is absolute gold.
That’s why I said it’s my new metric to judge things, it’s perfect
I’ve personally witnessed a Liberty take multiple jumps similar to the ones pictured in the article and end up only slightly worse for wear. I’d definitely take one over, say, a Dodge Nitro.
https://imgur.com/a/Rt3XZww
That’s not saying much.
I’ve done jumps like that in a Honda Accord with four passengers and it handled every jump.
I love that this has become a part of Autopian canon. Nitros, timing belts, and shower spaghetti!