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.
I picked up a 2005 liberty from the auction for $900 and it was clean great running straight body woman (babied) owned and it’s only purpose for me was to beat the hell out of it every chance I got, I call it my $900 side by side cause I take it everywhere my friends take their $40000 SXS I’ve jumped it, I’ve buried it, I’ve submerged it and it’s got 289000 miles on it, finally starting to burn oil and smoke a lil but it had 213000 when I got it and the only thing I’ve had to do to keep it on the road as a daily is replace the water pump radiator and brakes and now the wheel bearings are needing to be replaced it was the best $900 I’ve ever spent on a toy
If I squint and hit myself over the head I can see the 4 door Wrangler as an XJ replacement, but I don’t buy it sober. The Wrangler doesn’t feel like the XJ at all. In regards to the Liberty, I hated the styling then, and I still hate it now. The more recent versions I think look decent, cause it looks more like an XJ!
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Liberty.
Back when I was around 9 or 10, my friend’s parents bought a 2003 Liberty CRD brand new (called a Cherokee here in the UK). It was the first Jeep I ever rode in, and the first 4wd vehicle I went in that wasn’t the usual Land Rover that all the farmers here drove.
I knew very little about Jeeps at that point because they weren’t all that common here, but I thought this thing was really cool. I remember being surprised, thinking “it’s a Jeep, but everything inside is round, not square”.
I loved going in that thing every chance I got, then a year or so later my Dad fell in love with a 1998 XJ Cherokee with the 4.0.
That was it for me – we loved that XJ so much and it’s what got me properly into Jeeps.
I still have the XJ – just crossed over 200,000 miles. In the family we now have 5 Jeeps in total, 4 with the 4.0.
So in the end it turns out that we much preferred the ’90s era XJ/ZJ/TJs, but I will always look back fondly on the KJ for being my first taste, even if I don’t actually want one!
Not being a member of the Church of Jeep, I think its looks were the main reason it didn’t sell well, not any lack of True Jeepness or less that impressive specs. There are a lot of good looking vehicles with meh specs that sell well, and many vehicles with great specs that sell poorly simply because they look weird.