Rock Star - Custom Jeep Liberty

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.