I purchased my Jeep while living in Florida, it now has 169,000 + miles on it. I purchased the BestTop 2 piece hard top off Craig's list for $100.00 and the Dave's Safari rack for $200.00. I have installed a Rough Country 4" Suspension lift and Bushwacker 4 3/4" flares(the flares last week) in the last couple of months. The exhaust was opened up a little with a Walker Cat-back exhaust system. I found 4 Heila lights at a local 4x4 shop that were "traded" in for some KC Daylighters, they were sold to me for $100.00. See a pattern here,,I'm building my Jeep on a serious budget, but trying to build it like I want it.
I've driven this Jeep all over Florida, made a move to WV with it and took my latest road trip from West Virginia to Kansas (western KS) in it. It isn't the most comfortable long distance ride, but it keeps plugging along, stubborn thing, hence the nickname, Lil' Mule!!
The 4.0 engine and Automatic transmission remain completely stock at this time, those will be my next Big project, but for now I am thinking "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!!!!!

OK, I finally saved the cash and purchased the new wheels, 16" Granite Alloys and tires, 285/75/16 Firestone Destination M/Ts. I took the hard top off for the summer and removed the Safari rack. I may leave the Safari rack off as I think I like the looks of the Jeep better without it.

Well, the next upgrade has been completed, I found a set of rearends out of an 05 Wrangler on Craig's List in Tulsa, OK. Dana 44 rear and 35 front with 3.73 gears. I would have liked to go lower with the gears, but with a 3 speed automatic I knew it would make highway driving slow. The 3.73s are great though!! I drove it from Tulsa to WV in the middle of the January ice storm towing a 8'x4' utility trailer and it was like a whole new Jeep, no more slowing down for slight upgrades, or the mountains either.

I also sold the Safari Rack for what I paid for it 4 years ago.

My Step-Dad painted my Jeep for me as a birthday present. He's a retired auto body instructor with more than 40 years of experience, so needless to say the paint job turned out flawless. I decided on 09 Challenger red,,,and I'm very happy with the end results.