Since I haven't quite caught this build thread up to current time, here's a quick recap of the nearly 3 years since my bachelor party.
I got married on May 19, 2012. The Jeep acted as our get away vehicle and Amy insisted on having the top and doors off
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In June of 2012, I managed to swap in the PSC steering box. A buddy helped me with that (read that as he did most of the work) and it definitely helped my steering problems. The swap made me feel safe driving with one hand again and it's still going strong 2 years later.
For Christmas of 2012, I got Nalin's speaker brackets and Polk speakers for the front, a new head unit, and a Rokmen steering box skid. Unfortunately, my experience with Rokmen wasn't the best. My mother in law ordered it and it took until sometime during the summer to finally show up. I finally installed it in November of this year before a wheeling trip. I absolutely love the speakers. I installed them shortly after I got them. I still have the stock speakers in the sound bar and the stock sub in the center console, but music sounds better than ever and I have no problem hearing it on the highway with the top down.
Spring of 2013, I also got around to installing the centric rotors and black magic pads. This, I was really proud of since it was the biggest maintenance project I had ever attempted by myself. Took about an hour per corner and then I did the break in. These brakes are amazing, though I think I should probably do the break in again. I guess I don't use them all that hard.
I went about 2 and half years without wheeling so really the only other Jeep related stuff had been trying to track down a rough idle. Then this spring, while driving to the airport, the Jeep bucked while driving and the engine dropped to about 2000 rpm. It stayed there while the Jeep decelerated, regardless of what I did with the gas pedal. I turned on my flashers and pulled in to a left turn lane. While stopping, I pushed in the clutch and the engine immediately dropped off and smoothly stalled. Check engine light came on and I pulled the codes. It restarted and drove fine all the way to the airport. I was not so fortunate driving home though. Had to pull over four or five times because of the same conditions that I had driving to work. It showed one code, P2074-MANIFOLD PRESSURE/THROTTLE POSITION CORRELATION- HIGH FLOW/VACUUM LEAK, so I picked up a new TPS sensor and installed it. That did the trick and I haven't had any trouble with it since. Though the idle still isn't perfect, it is improved and I'm not too concerned.
On the personal front, my wife and I decided last spring that it was time to move out of my condo so we went looking for a house. We found one that we fell in love with and moved in on July 5. Now I have a garage of my own. It is so nice not having to worry about the weather at night and I can now work on the Jeep without going to my parent's house. My hard top still gets stored over there though since it is up and out of the way.
We got a puppy in October. Wife talked me in to going to the SPCA on her birthday and a few days later we brought home a 14 week old lab mix puppy. He was a handful over the winter, but has been unbelievably good as the year has moved along. I still can't believe how lucky we have been with him.
The biggest change is that I got a new job in the spring. I had been working a job for the last two and half years that I wasn't really all that happy with. My pay was below average for my position and the schedule was terrible (actually illegal, but the company gets away with it). The schedule was actually the biggest thing keeping me from wheeling since I had to stay within an hour of the airport at all time. Well, in April I was approached about a new position and decided to take it. I started May 29 and my quality of life has been dramatically improved. It also came with a pretty significant raise, hence the upcoming suspension overhaul.
