Vehicle: Year, Make & Model
2000 Jeep Wrangler

Tell us about your upgrades and describe the parts installed.
I bought my Jeep completely stock in July of 2008. Since then it’s seen a complete overhaul of everything from axles, to armor, and suspension. She sits on 4 inches of suspension via. the Currie 4″ kit. I have the upper and lower adjustable control arms, from and rear trac bars, Currie Anti-Rock sway bars on both the LP Dana 30 and rear D44. The bone jarring ride of the Jeep is smoothed out with Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks, and the entirety of the Jeep is protected by Smittybilt full corners, and sliders, Metalcloak Arch Fenders, Savvy Offroad’s rear bumper, and the Poison Spyder Brawler stubby front bumper. Self recovery is provided through Warn’s M8000 winch, though since the laundry list of modifications (read: busted knuckles) I’ve yet to have an opportunity to use it for self recovery.

What were some challenges and successes?
Since I’ve done all the work myself, I found that re-centering the rear axle under the Jeep when doing the lift install was nearly impossible, at least for myself. I had never before taken on any sort of suspension lift or suspension modification on any vehicle, so it was certainly a learning experience. I’ve found though, that the combination of a short arm lift with the Rancho adjustable shocks have proven their weight in gold in the Colorado Rockies. Most of the terrain consists of protruding rocks and boulders, and needless to say, the investment has turned what used to be a workout, into a pleasure cruise.

What can your ride do now that it couldn’t do before?
When I first moved to Colorado, my Jeep was completely stock. I had lived there for all of two weeks when I decided to take a drive up Saxon Mountain Rd. In a nutshell, it’s a shelf road consisting of many switchbacks in Colorado’s front range. The terrain isn’t by any means technical, but it’s a very bumpy ride with a few large boulders and rocks scattered around. About 1/3 of the way up the road I found a boulder that I decided I could crawl over. Instead, it ate my factory sway bar link for breakfast which subsequently made reattaching the sway bar impossible.

Since making many of the current modifications, though, I’ve gone back. In short, I went from once being unable to even attempt crawling this particular rock, to idling my 35″ Goodyear MT/R Kevlar tires over it. Mission accomplished.

Vehicle: Year, Make & Model
2000 Jeep Wrangler

Tell us about your upgrades and describe the parts installed.
I bought my Jeep completely stock in July of 2008. Since then it’s seen a complete overhaul of everything from axles, to armor, and suspension. She sits on 4 inches of suspension via. the Currie 4″ kit. I have the upper and lower adjustable control arms, from and rear trac bars, Currie Anti-Rock sway bars on both the LP Dana 30 and rear D44. The bone jarring ride of the Jeep is smoothed out with Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks, and the entirety of the Jeep is protected by Smittybilt full corners, and sliders, Metalcloak Arch Fenders, Savvy Offroad’s rear bumper, and the Poison Spyder Brawler stubby front bumper. Self recovery is provided through Warn’s M8000 winch, though since the laundry list of modifications (read: busted knuckles) I’ve yet to have an opportunity to use it for self recovery.

What were some challenges and successes?
Since I’ve done all the work myself, I found that re-centering the rear axle under the Jeep when doing the lift install was nearly impossible, at least for myself. I had never before taken on any sort of suspension lift or suspension modification on any vehicle, so it was certainly a learning experience. I’ve found though, that the combination of a short arm lift with the Rancho adjustable shocks have proven their weight in gold in the Colorado Rockies. Most of the terrain consists of protruding rocks and boulders, and needless to say, the investment has turned what used to be a workout, into a pleasure cruise.

What can your ride do now that it couldn’t do before?
When I first moved to Colorado, my Jeep was completely stock. I had lived there for all of two weeks when I decided to take a drive up Saxon Mountain Rd. In a nutshell, it’s a shelf road consisting of many switchbacks in Colorado’s front range. The terrain isn’t by any means technical, but it’s a very bumpy ride with a few large boulders and rocks scattered around. About 1/3 of the way up the road I found a boulder that I decided I could crawl over. Instead, it ate my factory sway bar link for breakfast which subsequently made reattaching the sway bar impossible.

Since making many of the current modifications, though, I’ve gone back. In short, I went from once being unable to even attempt crawling this particular rock, to idling my 35″ Goodyear MT/R Kevlar tires over it. Mission accomplished.