Jeep Liberty 2004 Suspension

[man]

How tough is the suspension on a Jeep Liberty? I just ramped mine at about 40 mph and got like .5-1 second of airtime. The landing was a tad hard, and now I'm just wondering if anyone has some good info on the suspension's rating.

I know it's pretty good, I mean my shocks are like a foot long and it's built for off roading, but a more technical review would be nice.

 

[entropie]

From what I understood of the english terms the Liberty got an indipendant suspension on the front and a live axle on the rear. You want to find out, if the front one is Chapman or MacPherson struts. With them a strong hit will only affect the dampeners or the spring, which can be easily replaced if any damage was taken.

The rear with a live axle is more problematic. Although a live axle is bendable to some degree, it can only take so much. Normally, especially with Jeeps the live axle materials are choosen that way, so they can absorb shocks that are above 70% of the mass of the car on the ground. So if you take the formula F = m * g , with m being the mass of the car (in kilograms) and g being earth gravitation with aproximately 10 m/s^2 , and multiply the result with 1,7 you get the Force the axle is approximately supposed to take.

Then you can use the equation F = m * g * h and calculate the force applied in the jump. You have to approximate the height for that. If you compare the two forces then, you get an idea.

If you want to be 100% sure that no damage was taken, I'ld recommend to get your tires Camber angle and toe measured in a car garage.

 

[Xander]

Suggestion -
Don't go jumping in a two ton monster. Buy a buggy or something.
either that or buy a real off roader like a landrover defender

 

[93JC]

From what I understood of the english terms the Liberty got an indipendant suspension on the front and a live axle on the rear. You want to find out, if the front one is Chapman or MacPherson struts.

Double wishbones.


You're never really going to get a satisfactory answer, man. It's not as though there are maximum recommended jump ratings published for axles. If you screwed up the front you'd probably notice the steering is out of whack. In the back if you had done serious damage it probably wouldn't be drivable. Look for broken springs and dampers leaking hydraulic fluid, front and back.


Personally I wouldn't worry about it.