My first experience behind the wheel of a rock-crawling Jeep TJ came in the winter of ‘99 with John Currie and a day trip to the rock playground known as Johnson Valley, CA. I was along for the ride as John and his father Frank took an exploratory venture into the Hammers to test their products and practice their driving skills.

There have been several stories in other media about this easily recognized Jeep. I do not wish to duplicate those articles here. Rather, this is a simple photo-textbook look at the rig, how it was built and why it works so well.

We begin with a stock ’98 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 Automatic, affectionately known among four wheelers as the TJ. You can ask your local Daimler Chrysler salesman to show you a TJ,