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Bonsai has such a conspicuous place in my life and collecting is such a grand part of that, it only made sense to have a good tool to get me where I needed to go. The Jeep is a 2001 TJ Wrangler. After a short 500-mile break-in period the transformation started taking place.

I removed the suspension, axles and skid plate and replaced the transfer case with an Atlas 4.3 to 1. Then the body was lifted 1" to accommodate that new transfer case which also involved relocating the radiator. All suspension mounts on the frame were then ground off in preparation for installation of the long arm suspension kit from Rubicon Express, long arms, coil springs, pitman steering arm, skid plate and longer shocks. A little welding to reinforce a few places on the axel housings, man I'm tired, and now it was time for the guts of the axles to be set up.

I get a little rest now because the jeep was sent to San Jose Four Wheel Parts for the new 456 gears, ARB lockers, larger axles, hub and brake retrofit to make the rear axles full floater and upgrade all the hubs to 1/2 ton capacity. This shop also installed the dedicated air compressor for the locking axles. Next to the last they installed CV joints and the custom drive shafts. Before leaving the shop it needed to roll, the bigger tires and rims were put on as the stock tires and rims would no longer fit.

Now the jeep was back in my garage a little higher in the air, and it was time to make the final changes. No need to remodel the garage door opening, it just fit, the soft top only rubbed if the passenger wasn’t in the seat.

The fabrication for the front and rear bumpers was started, the Warren winch was fitted and installed, two sets of Pia driving lights to make the night time day, CB radio, and the second on board air compressor was put under the hood (the front bumper being the air storage tank) along with a high frequency welder for those trail fixes. (The welder also has 110-volt capacity just in case you need to fire up a hair dryer or blender.)

It doesn't stop there, the full size doors were replaced with half doors and a four hundred watt stereo was let loose inside the driving compartment. The only things left to do are install an extra battery and the heat exchange so one can take a hot shower after a dusty day of trail riding and collecting.

The Jeep made its maiden voyage to Moab Utah in April of 2001, and has been seen since, on numerous occasions with juniper payloads. Rock crawling is a ton of fun, but bringing home a nice juniper masterpiece doesn't suck either. Happy trails....

dp

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