Before and after pictures

May 01
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Today
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Man, every time I see your build thread, I see the post count and realise I'll never read through the entire thing!🤣 How long has it been since your Jeep has been on jack stands? What's the timeline you are shooting for to have it back together and running?
IT's a long story but I'll try to give you the abridged version.
I bought the Jeep in Sept 2002 so it was 5 years old at the time. Then I got deployed to Iraq so I drove it for the last time in Dec 2003. Went to Iraq in 2004 and then was wounded. When I came home it became my theraphy project but I had 6 months of no weight bearing on my right leg. But it didn't stop me from working on it.

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I started the engine & drivetrain swap in the spring of 2006 and had it running by June 2006. Drove it for the next 5 years but the last two years I was chasing a overheating issue. So in 2011 it was parked and around this time my health had gone to shit and I couldn't hardly walk/stand for more than 5 minutes. I pulled it into the garage around 2014 and hoping to work on it but it just sat. Had my leg amputated in May 2018 and by May 2019 I was back being active and able to do most things I did prior to my amputation.
Been working on it now for 18 months but I took 3 months off last year cause I'd gotten burnt out. My goal is to have it running by Memorial Day but I don't think I'll make that. But it should be NLT June I think. I'm getting close at this point.
 
IT's a long story but I'll try to give you the abridged version.
I bought the Jeep in Sept 2002 so it was 5 years old at the time. Then I got deployed to Iraq so I drove it for the last time in Dec 2003. Went to Iraq in 2004 and then was wounded. When I came home it became my theraphy project but I had 6 months of no weight bearing on my right leg. But it didn't stop me from working on it.

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I started the engine & drivetrain swap in the spring of 2006 and had it running by June 2006. Drove it for the next 5 years but the last two years I was chasing a overheating issue. So in 2011 it was parked and around this time my health had gone to shit and I couldn't hardly walk/stand for more than 5 minutes. I pulled it into the garage around 2014 and hoping to work on it but it just sat. Had my leg amputated in May 2018 and by May 2019 I was back being active and able to do most things I did prior to my amputation.
Been working on it now for 18 months but I took 3 months off last year cause I'd gotten burnt out. My goal is to have it running by Memorial Day but I don't think I'll make that. But it should be NLT June I think. I'm getting close at this point.
Nice, man! I get the therapy aspect. I come from a family of motorheads and mechanics, and was never really into it myself. I just saw vehicles as a way to get from point A to point B. Moved out to New Mexico from Louisiana a few years ago, and got a bug to go see "what's over that next hill" so got a Jeep. I don't know what it is about Jeeps, but it's a sickness for sure!😆 Had 3 at one point but now down to 2, my TJ and an XJ. Somewhere along the way I realised what (relatively) simple machines they are and realised how fun it is to tinker on em. I think I get as much enjoyment working on my Jeeps as I do driving them on trails. Kinda let's me unwind in the carport and de-stress from the work week.

Thanks for the synopsis of your build! Now I can hop in at the later pages and follow the forward progress!
 
Before Sept 2002

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Thought it was pretty much done... May 2010

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Round two on the build.. April 2022


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Did you shave down the inside of your flares to go lever your rockers or mount them over top? They look pretty flush from what I can tell
 
Nice, man! I get the therapy aspect. I come from a family of motorheads and mechanics, and was never really into it myself. I just saw vehicles as a way to get from point A to point B. Moved out to New Mexico from Louisiana a few years ago, and got a bug to go see "what's over that next hill" so got a Jeep. I don't know what it is about Jeeps, but it's a sickness for sure!😆 Had 3 at one point but now down to 2, my TJ and an XJ. Somewhere along the way I realised what (relatively) simple machines they are and realised how fun it is to tinker on em. I think I get as much enjoyment working on my Jeeps as I do driving them on trails. Kinda let's me unwind in the carport and de-stress from the work week.

Thanks for the synopsis of your build! Now I can hop in at the later pages and follow the forward progress!
I can relate. After my doggy (like a daughter to me) died next to me in bed at the age of four and then getting covid really bad a few days later, I bought my first Jeep because I needed something to tinker on again to help me deal with the pain and sadness.

My rig has become sort of a personal tribute to Nova, and working on it has helped me cope with losing my favorite thing to ever exist. I’m the old guy back in school so in a vacuum I shouldn't be doing this with my time, but I’m glad I’ve taken this path. Got a new pup and we are making it work with lots of Jeep trips to the park and the occasional offroad adventure.

I’ve always enjoyed maintaining and modding more than actually driving machines I’ve owned. There’s something satisfying to solving puzzles and taking risks when changing things up along with keeping things running in tip-top shape.
 
I tried to shave them down a little but it really didn't look right to me.

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I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet, running flare-less for now.

Some dude from a now-defunct business said he’d send my buddy and me their custom narrow flares and refused to take any money for them. I tried to pay him three times for both sets and he’d just say “thank you but it’s ok, I’ll send them.”

Sadly, it’s been 2 months and he never sent parts even though he wrote a few weeks ago to say that he hasn’t forgotten about sending them. 😐 My buddy wrote me to say that he received them and followed it up with “April Fools!!!” 😄
 
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I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet, running flare-less for now.

Some dude from a now-defunct business said he’d send my buddy and me their custom narrow flares and refused to take any money for them. I tried to pay him three times for both sets and he’d just say “thank you but it’s ok, I’ll send them.”

Sadly, it’s been 2 months and he never sent parts even though he wrote a few weeks ago to say that he hasn’t forgotten about sending them. 😐 My buddy wrote me to say that he received them and followed it up with “April Fools!!!” 😄

Washington & Oregon have some pretty strict tire coverage laws and with all the rain we get it's understandable. They don't seem to be enforcing things as much now as they did 10 years ago. But I'd rather try to not be noticed or give them a reason to pull me over. And even with those BestTop 7" flares I still got pulled over once. State Trooper going the other direction on I-82 and he flipped a bitch and came after me.
I was on my way to a buddies shop in Vancouver to have him weld in the Poison Spyder trail cage and I installed the Poison Spyder tube fenders. Plus he added the radiator hoop to my front bumper. It was a good week.

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How much lift is on that thing? I'm a sucker for a nice XJ. When I wrap up my current build on my TJ, I'm planning on installing a modest lift on my XJ, doing a ZJ steering setup on it, and swapping in the low miles 31 inch BFG KM3's I currently have on my TJ.
It was supposed to be a 2" lift for small tires. People on the XJ forum are really misinformed. They told be 4" lift springs for a TJ would only give me 2" on an XJ. WRONG. My 4" TJ springs lifted the front of my XJ 4". Go figure. In the end, it was 5.5" of lift and 33s. I wouldn't have ever sold that Jeep, but I had the opportunity to buy my Rubicon back after 2 years. Pic #1 with 30" tires. which were replaced asap with 33s. XJs are my 2nd favorite Jeep and I'm looking for another one and an auto TJ right now. That 99' with 120,000 miles cost me $3,000 and zero rust. The guy bought it from the original owner and didn't like the desert sand color. That's why I bought it.

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It was supposed to be a 2" lift for small tires. People on the XJ forum are really misinformed. They told be 4" lift springs for a TJ would only give me 2" on an XJ. WRONG. My 4" TJ springs lifted the front of my XJ 4". Go figure. In the end, it was 5.5" of lift and 33s. I wouldn't have ever sold that Jeep, but I had the opportunity to buy my Rubicon back after 2 years. Pic #1 with 30" tires. which were replaced asap with 33s. XJs are my 2nd favorite Jeep and I'm looking for another one and an auto TJ right now. That 99' with 120,000 miles cost me $3,000 and zero rust. The guy bought it from the original owner and didn't like the desert sand color. That's why I bought it.

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Stop showing off!!