I got this Jeep one year ago today.
More than a decade ago, I swapped in built axles from an ‘03 Rubicon into my 2001 Sport. I was young and naive on 35s, 3" springs and a body lift. I never once had issues with track bar clearance, never set bumpstops, never had driveline issues, never had vibes. Everything just fit and worked. I was caught up in wanting to look like spyder6’s TJR from over on JF.
What I’ve come to realize over the past year having this TJR is that 1) those ‘03 Rubicon axles were more modified than I was able to appreciate at the time, 2) just about everything I thought I knew from that 2001 Sport was wrong and 3) yes, I swapped axles in a car port at 23 (and thought I was a badass for it) but all I did was bolt on new parts. I never really “modified” anything or even progressed to understanding why you would want or need to.
Getting things working and working well is hard - a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be. Its also much more fun knowing the why behind what we do to get these Jeeps right. I’m finding pride now in the things not as easily seen.