'03 Sport—Northern NM (Manhattan Project With No Secrets)

Currie 4" HD springs! Getting closer. Taking my time, with 4 boys and a wife that works at the hospital uninterrupted garage time does not come easy!
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I feel your pain man! I work from home and have 3 kids and a wife (who also stays at home). Alone time does not come easy these days, not by a long shot!
 
I feel your pain man! I work from home and have 3 kids and a wife (who also stays at home). Alone time does not come easy these days, not by a long shot!
Right?! It's a balancing act to not make others (family) resent "the Jeep!"
"Where's dad?" Ahh, GARAGE! 😐
 
Right?! It's a balancing act to not make others (family) resent "the Jeep!"
"Where's dad?" Ahh, GARAGE! 😐

Exactly. On my last TJ I was in the garage so much that my wife started to resent the Jeep. That's why I'm trying not to fall into that trap this time around. I'm going to get to stuff when I can, and pay someone to do the big stuff, so I don't have to listen to the family complain :LOL:
 
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Good progress today - front done, anti-rock in, rear CA's in. Nothing fine tuned yet. Realized I will have to cut off tail pipe behind muffler to get new track bar in. Jury is still out on whether or not PO's "custom" rear track bar bracket will give enough clearance. It looks strong but with not quite the forward angle of the Currie relocation bracket. Gonna try to make it work as it will be a s.o.b. to cut off. All in all so far so good.
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Looking like rear track bar is going to work. Still need to cycle suspension and have last couple feet of exhaust work done.
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I have a bunch of parts to get rid of now! ☺
-factory front sway bar
- jks sway bar disconnects, bushings shot.
-RE front and rear springs @3" lift?? 2.5??
-RE CAs some need bushings (single adjustable rear uppers. No front uppers)
- stock front and rear trac bars
- stock bumps and jounces
- stock motor mounts
- stock tie rod & drag link
 
Finally got some garage time today. Almost done with lift, steering, trac bars, shocks, antirock. Pinon angles set, front and rear. Just need to torque bolts and align before getting tailpipe work done to miss tracbar and rear shock. Excited to finally bolt up skid and drive!

Clearance between the tank skid and rear differential is very close. The rear drive shaft length looks ok but I had planned on replacing so probably will still call Tom Woods soon and order.
 
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Cycled the rear suspension today after setting pinon. It looks like everything clears. Barely

Rear diff. to tank skid. At full stuff.
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Track bar to tank
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Set rear bumps perfectly centered at full bump prior to adjusting upper ca's to set pinon. This is where they ended up. Hopeful someone more knowledge than I might see and give some feedback. Outside of moving the upper coil spring mounts back is there anything that should be done here? Rear LCA'S's are about as short as they can go.
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They still bump, lowers are understandably (I think 🤔) twisted rearward.
 
Old shocks clear the trimmed buckets. New Fox's flipped with cans up should have plenty of space.
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T-storm coming. Wanted to add a few gluttonous photos but hiding in its cave. Been getting cabin fever like the rest of us quarantined for lift, tuck, etc.
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I know that so far and probably for the near future my path will be the same as many in similar threads. In an effort to give some info (likely repetitive), here are a few details about this install with this setup-

- I had to cut of the tailpipe at the top of the bend behind muffler and have it altered a bit due to inference with rear track bar and rear shock, cost me $100
- clearances are very tight but doable as shown by some of my photos.
-cycling suspension everything clears but on the trail TBD
- I love the fit of the Savvy skid now that I finally installed after finishing the lift. The tolerances are tight, everything lined up and the clearance gains and look are awesome.
- with some help from some other members I got the caster set where it is going to stay. God bless double adjustable upper CAs. I set it at 0* and kept driving and adjusting until the steering felt right and have a pretty good return to center at 3* . I might try for 4 deg. But it feels pretty darn good. I got up to 65 mph yesterday for a spell with very minimal vibes that could have been from tire balance, KM2s not quite sure.
- fine tuning definitely took some time, centering axles, squaring axles all happen pretty easy after making sure bumps were centered at full stuff.
- I need a 2nd large floor jack!