I bought my first Jeep in the Summer of 2007. With the help of my dad, I privately bought a 1995 Wrangler with a 4 cylinder engine and an automatic transmission. I had no idea what I was doing, so I waxed it.

 

The first lesson I learned after the purchase of my jeep: Never wheel solo. No matter how tame the trail may be.

Mods: Radio Shack CB equipment, sticker, Hi-Lift Jack, Alpine head unit and Pioneer dash speakers.

 

Learning experience #2: If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time. My first venture into suspension lifts were a set of extended shackles that allowed me to stuff 31″ tires under my Jeep. The lift shackles ultimately weakened my suspension, expediting the death of my stock suspension.

The spice soft top that had come with the Jeep had seen better days, so I replaced it with a black Bestop Sailcloth Replace-a-top with tinted windows.

Mods: Black Bestop Sailcloth Replace-a-top with tinted windows, 1.25″ Daystar Lift Shackles, 31″ BFGoodrich Mud Terrains, more stickers.

 

For some reason I felt that a set of flush mount tail lights was just what the rear end of my Jeep needed. I ditched the extended YJ flares that the previous owner had installed.

Mods: flush mounted LED tail lights.

 

A couple of months later the Jeep bug really started to set in and I felt it was time to drop some serious coin into the YJ. Quadratec here I come.

Mods: 2″ BDS lift, Bilstein 5100 shocks, M.O.R.E. Boomerang 5/8″ lift shackles, 34″ Interco LTB’s, 15×8 Cragar Soft 8′s, Detroit Dana 30 locker, TJ fender flares, Fabtech front bumper, Garvin Wilderness roof rack, 3 sets of KC Daylighter, Firestick CB antena, Cobra CB radio, and a PA speaker.

 

I loved the setup of this Jeep. Aesthetically this was how I dreamed my Jeep would look. Eventually I ditched the Fabtech front bumper and ordered front and rear bumpers from WARN, as well as, a M8000 winch for recovery and a set of KC SlimLites.

Mods: Warn front bumper with winch plate and grille hoop, Warn rear bumper and tire carrier, Warn M8000 winch, KC SlimLites

 

My 1995 Wrangler finally bit the bullet after one too many creek crossings. Apparently there’s a breather on the Torque Flight automatic transmission that sits fairly low allowing water to get into the transmission. Well it began to slip and eventually refused to shift at all even after a rebuild. I had also never replaced the outer axle seals on the Dana 30. Water got into the differential and grenaded the Detroit locker.

The Jeep currently sits in storage waiting for an entire running gear transplant. Dana 44′s and a V-8? Yes please!