Tomb Raider Rubicon #51

[HardKnoxGarage]

I purchased a pretty much stock 2003 Jeep TJ Rubicon Tomb Raider Edition in 2020. Throughout the years that I've owned it, I've done a number of restorations, upgrades, and mods. There's been so much done, I could probably write a book . I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into building this Jeep into what it is today, 95% of which was done in our garage. I'm stubborn and usually try to do most myself, but for what I couldn't do or was made easier with 2 people, my husband was right there ready to help (when he's not working on our other Jeeps or '77 Corvette.

I've shared a lot over on my Instagram and YouTube but it's hard to follow that chronologically, so I figured a build thread would be a good place to start sharing what I did from the early days.

Here's the first day I laid eyes on my beauty 90k on the docket at that time
4.0L automatic - mostly stock with a small mismatched lift & 33's

And now..... how she currently sits!

BUILD LIST as of Aug. 2024
Suspension: MetalCloak 3.5" Long Travel Short Arm Lift
Shocks: RockSport Reds
Steering: Wide Open Design custom Aluminum links
Axle Shafts: East Coast Gear Supply - Chromoly
Fenders: MetalCloak Overline w/ 6" Flare
Wheels: 15" Pro Comp Vintage Series 69
Tires: 35" BFG KM3's
Steering Skid: MetalCloak
Oil Pan Skid: MetalCloak
Low Profile Transmission Skid: Undercover Fab
Gas Tank Skid: Warn Industries
Brakes: R1 Concepts Performance Inc.
Front Bumper: MetalCloak Frame Built w/ Stinger
Rear Bumper: MetalCloak Crawler
Winch: Warn Industries VR EVO 10S
Tire Carrier: MetalCloak Heavy Duty Tub Mount Carrier
Corner Guards: MetalCloak Full Length
Rocker Rails: MetalCloak
Air: MORRFlate 10Six PSI Pro
HeadLights: HW Star Official
Seat Covers: ExtremeTerrain

 

[HardKnoxGarage]

It had a lot of the Tomb Raider factory specs, like the red seat belts, diamond plate hood guard and Rubicon rock rails, the light bar and TR badging, and silver instrument bezel. It came with full doors, a hard top, and a soft. top. Sadly it did not come with the Alcoa wheels and instead of dark grey metallic flares, they were black.

Factory air lockers were in working order (and to this day are still kicking butt on the trail!).

 

[HardKnoxGarage]

First year of ownership I didn't change much besides small cosmetic things like some cheap amazon headlights (that remarkably lasted and to this day are still running on a different rig) and seat covers. I enjoyed taking it out in the snow winter 2020 to early 2021. I figured wait until it got a little warmer out before really starting to make changes on the ol' girl.

 

[HardKnoxGarage]

Fast forward to Spring 2021 and the first major "fix it" project begins. I hate having leaks on any vehicle (Yeah yeah i know it's a jeep blah blah blah) but i wanted to take on the project of replacing the rear main seal. It wasn't a terrible leak but enough to leave skid marks on the drive way. The task at hand wasn't necessarily hard and would have gone a lot smoother if the exhaust bolts didn't give us a terrible time.

We decided just speed things along and chop the exhaust (there was a slight leak there anyway too). I chose to upgrade with a cat-back exhaust from MBRP (similar to this one but mine is stainless and not coated black).

 

[FarFire70]

Good looking Jeep! I think you did right by making it your own.

The Jeep/Mopar-sold version never matched up with the (cooler) movie version. So I appreciate you keeping 'some' of the styling of the special edition and badging, but ultimately making it yours!