This has been a long and slow journey for me. Deciding which direction to go. How big of a lift, which lift. After hanging out with
@AndyG since returning from my last deployment and being able to drive his two Rubicon’s. All the reading here on the forum. I decided on the Old Man Emu (OME) 2.5” lift. Back order due to the pandemic. D’oh! When the OME lift kit got here. Wow. Good quality products. Beefy stuff. New springs, new shocks, new steering stabilizer, new pan hard relocate / move it higher bracket for the rear track bar. After tearing into it the first time, we noticed the dry rotted bump stops. Also, the stock sway bar links will not work. They are now too short and angle the sway bar down. No worries
@AndyG said. We talked about different ones.
@AndyG spoke highly of the JKS quick disconnect / adjustable sway bar links. I remember reading good things about JKS. I ordered those and front & rear adjustable track bars. Again, really nice products. OME & JKS have beefy stuff. Back order. D’oh! Finally get the JKS stuff in. Schedules happen. No time in May. June works out well for the front. Took about 5hrs and all of sweat
. Installed the front springs, front shocks, sway bar quick disconnect links the steering stabilizer, bump stops & the front adjustable track bar. July rolls around and we get back on schedule. Five hours later and we now have the rear springs, rear shocks, rear pan hard relocation bracket, rear adjustable track bar, & bump stops installed. Everyone needs 2-3 really good floor jacks. We only had one floor jack and a lot of can do attitude. I also inttalled two factory tow hooks that I powder coated pure orange on the front bumper. Still need to install the rear tow hook also powder coated pure orange. I wanted something different than red tow hooks. I am sure glad I have a great fiend in
@AndyG to help me build this Jeep. More too come after my next deployment which is soon. Oh and the side steps are super beefy. Those were awkward to install. The last pictures are for comparison to before and after. Again,
@AndyG saved me serious money with his experience and help. Plus I got a good friend and memories in the process. Never Jeep alone.
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