Yeah, it's a VM Motori built engine. Interesting tidbit, that engine is now the 2.8 Duramax that's offered in the Chevy Colorado. It's been upgraded a bit in the last 15 years but it's the same platform.
My thinking is that if I wanted to use the Liberty CRD, it's best if I grab the whole powertrain. It's a highly integrated setup. It uses the ABS sensors at all 4 corners to do a lot of control of the transmission. The rear axle is easy. Just cut off the brackets for the Liberty suspension on the Chrysler 8.25 and weld on some spring perches and shock mounts. The front is a whole different animal. It's IFS and probably a very complicated swap. I half expect that the best route would be a fully custom set of brackets to accept the liberty control arms and such. Maybe even swapping over a whole chunk of the subframe and then figuring out how to mount the body panels of the Eagle to it.
But even if I kept the Eagle mostly stock with a 4.2 and just grabbed the diff from a Liberty, I wonder if that would work. I know that the stub shafts have a spring loaded clip on the shaft that holds it in. All you have to do is push it in until it clicks. And since the retaining ring is in the housing, it uses stock D30 differentials. That means any locker/limited slip is a bolt in. But I imagine the brackets on the housing are very different. So there would be some fabrication there.
Interesting to speculate about the possibilities at least.
Topic: Crazy weird question. Jeep Liberty differential under the Eagle? (Read 3204 times)