... begin with the end in mind so you wont buy parts that dont get you to your final goal.
mcpuck is correct here, everyone of us has purchased some part for our vehicles that we wished we could go back in time and not buy. It is going to happen, but you can do damage control to the bank account by not just pulling the trigger on something right out of the 4wd parts or Quadratec catalog based solely off looks and not off of research.
Remember, the EVO Lever (and more so the DTD version) is a serious step up in performance, and that comes at a premium price. To have a really capable rig do you need coilovers, by-pass shocks, ultra-high clearance EVO suspension brackets and the EVO Lever rear set up? Absolutely not. In fact there are many guys on this forum that have super capable rigs, that hit really tough trails and get used as daily drivers because they have been built with reliable parts. Two great examples of rigs that come to mind, JK Ray and MTG, both have jeeps at different stages of builds, but both adding quality parts in a measured approached to the areas of the jeep that need it first. The first time I met JK Ray, he was at Off Road Evolution with basically a bone stock JK and he was having EVO sliders installed. He will never need to upgrade or worry about those sliders, he chose to go top shelf with the best sliders made. Why? Because sliders are the one area you cannot afford to go cheap. He has since made a few more purchases since then and has a great, capable jeep. MTG's rig "Knuckles" is one of my favorite jeeps here. He and Sharkey have been building that thing into a true multipurpose rig that can basically handle any trail. In fact if I was not running my DTD at the front and rear, I would be running the suspension set that MTG currently runs. Check out their builds and follow all the others build's too. Yes, you will notice a metric-shit-ton of EVO stuff on many peoples jeeps on this forum, nothing wrong with that, EVO makes really good stuff. But like many people on here, I have run lots of other manufacturers' suspensions, EVO seems to be the final solution for me for many reasons. The only other upgrade is full on custom race build parts at this point for me. Good luck, start a build thread when you're ready and keep asking questions. There are no stupid questions.....unless you are asking "will 33" tires fit with no lift and flat fenders?" or "what's more capable, 2 door or 4 door jeeps?" or "will my interior dome light stay on if I run with no doors?" Then those are mostly kind of dumb questions.
