I started formulating a plan to repair the Liberty in a big way. The price from Mopar for a new differential housing was incredibly steap, no way I was going that route. No, I was going to do something different.

I began to draw out a plan for a four link / straight axle front suspension system. But after exhausting an entire pad of engineering graph paper, I decided a four link just wasn't going to fit in the real esate I had, not one with the travel I desired anyway.

A revised plan went with a radius arm / track bar combo, one with the pinion locator actually only on one side of the system rather than on both like every other radius arm system. I had been thinking on the idea for a while, and when I saw that the boys at S&N Fab in Washington had built a TJ with that type of system, I decided to talk to them about it.

Turns out that the TJ I was impressed with had actually put about thirty thousand miles on it's system without a moment's trouble. I was sold and began the final drafts of my design.

The new design would require a complete rework of the suspension on the Liberty. All of the IFS components would have to either be unbolted or torched off. And the unibody would have to be drastically enhanced to handle the new items such as the lower suspension arms, the front coil spring perches and the steering gearbox that would be doing the duties that were previously handled by a rack and pinion system.

I mentioned my plans to my wife who, in great sportmanship, agreed to without batting an eye. This would come back to haunt me as I was to later realize that she'd really had no idea what I was talking about doing to the poor little KJ.