Storm TROOPER

[Token]

FINALLY found what we were looking for, for my Daughter.. Not a Jeep, but 4WD and I'm reasonably certain this sucker is locked in back.. Kinda low to the ground, need to remove the running boards and look for a CHEAP lift..

2001, 124,000 miles, leather, fully loaded, some COOL electric fold in mirrors for tight spots on the trail.. Prolly better outfitted than the H3 I drive.. Not to shabby for $3500..

 

[BKCowGod]

Nice - that's a good truck you got there.

 

[BIGdaddy]

yup. those troopers are very good trucks. do some baseline maintenence, remove the steps, do a cheap lift, and you're set.

 

[double moo]

Very capable rig there - minor mods and it'll go most anywhere.

Throw some Old Man Emu (OME) coils on the rear and crank up your torsion bars a couple of inches. You'll get 1.5" to 1.75" in an hour of work.

1" rear coil spacers and a ball joint flip and you'll be sitting at 2.5". (see my rig below) Throw on some longer shocks to account for the travel changes and you're set to off road that thing for minimal bucks. (I swapped out for heavy duty torsion bars also and got a way better ride on and off road!)

Check out planetisuzoo.com and do a few searches for suspension mods and tires.

 

[Token]

Will check it out.. Kinda clueless about the ball joint flip thing..

I did sorta crawl under it this afternoon and took a peak.. Man there ain't NOTHING in the way of armor under that thing.. If the bottom side of my H3 was that naked I'd have put rocks through every fluid holding metal part under the thing by now..


Any idea what the front diff is under there..?? Know the rear is a Dana44..

 

[Juntura]

I did a OME medium coil and shock lift on my '02. I only cranked the Tbars for about 1" of lift and flipped the ball joints. No other changes. The car handles better than stock (I have owned it since 17,000 miles and did the OME at 45,000, now at 120,000) and I have had no issues. I currently run 285/75/16 Yoko Geolanders and am very happy.

Read up here- http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/trooper/suspension_travel/Trooper_front_suspension.html

You have a great start there. Make sure the timing belt was replaced at 100k.

 

[double moo]

Any idea what the front diff is under there..?? Know the rear is a Dana44..

Not sure what the front diff relates to. the rear is an Isuzu 12 bolt - a little heftier than a Dana 44 but not quite a Dana 60. Lockers were not an option on these - so if the rear is locked it is an aftermarket - based on the rest of the vehicle not being modded for offroad I would guess there is no locker. Check on the manufacturers option plate (engine compartment firewall on the driverside) for the option code G80 -this is the code for limited slip rear diff... and as closed to locked as a stock Trooper gets.

These are good rigs - read up on ExpeditionsWest review of the one they used for several years -they rate it as one of their highest rated rigs. Don't expect it to be a rock crawler! But as an expo rig you are set.

 

[Token]

Not sure what the front diff relates to. the rear is an Isuzu 12 bolt - a little heftier than a Dana 44 but not quite a Dana 60.

Just curious about the front Diff was all.. Thought I'd seen several places, ARB and Randy's Ring and Pinion included, that refer to the rear diff as a Dana 44..

 

[Token]

Read up here- http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/trooper/suspension_travel/Trooper_front_suspension.html

That makes the ball joint flip seem like a MUCH easier job that I figured it would be.. Seems like it should be one of the cheapest 3" or so lifts for anything out there when you balance it out with rear OME coils..

I've actually got a set of 32's sitting in my garage right now with about 6000 miles on them that came off my H3 when I move up to 35's.. I'm even reasonably certain the H3 wheels they are still mounted on will bolt up.. 6 on 5.5..

Would work quite well for a temp solution until needing to move on to an MT tire..

 

[Bones]

The front diff is an Isuzu corporate 10 bolt.
Arb has a locker available (RD94), you can also get a Aussie auto locker.

The rear diff ('99-'02) is an Isuzu corporate "modified" 12 bolt. Isuzu only put the dana 44's in Rodeos.
I whipped out the 'ole ARB catalog, and it says that their rear locker is not available for the '00-on troopers. I did a little snooping around planetisuzoo.com, and found out that in late '99, isuzu went from having dana make their corporate axles to sourcing them to a company in Japan, thus the term "modified". I also read that ALL the troopers after '99 came standard with the rear lsd (G80) option code. Sooooooooo if you wanted to "lock" the rear, you'd have to switch to a '97-'99 rear end......which would take only a coupla' minutes!
This is probably more info than you wanted, but I thought I'd share.

 

[Bones]

reading further..............
Apparently you can swap in an earlier third member from a pre-'99 truck with an open diff, and use the ARB RD85 rear locker.......so no axle swap necessary.
(should've read the foot note!)

 

[nfpgasmask]

Yup, the 01's are nice. Just a word of warning though, keep a keen eye on your oil level. Some of the late model Zus with the 3.5L motor burn oil. Just check it every time you get gas. And if this Trooper is still running on conventional oil, I would NOT switch to synthetic. There is a school of thought that think switching to synthetic with these can cause the oil burning issue.

I lifted my 01 VehiCROSS (basically the same thing underneath, just SWB) with just the OME 912s and about 9-10 cranks of the T-bars. I did not do a ball joint flip or install diff drop brakets. Basically, a lift for $130. :victory:

I've heard the ball joint flip is done to make aligning easier??? I've had no issues with mine when I've taken it to get aligned and I've been running like this for 3 years. The only think you might want to do is put in taller bumpstops to keep the tires from jamming up in the wheel wells when flexed out.

I run 265s but you could probably squeeze 285s with this setup.

You should have an open 10 bolt diff up front and a modified LSD 12 bolt rear, if I am not mistaken. You should also have TOD.

Bart

 

[Token]

IMHO, there is no such thing as to much information..

The oil thing is kinda interesting.. Truck needs to go in for a full fluid service for sure.. I'd imgine the tranny, transfer case and diffs have never been changed.. The average owner just doesn't think about stuff like that.. Pulled the dipsstick after getting it home, just to make sure.. Nothing on the stick.. Add a quart.. Nothing on the stick.. Add another quart.. Nothing on the stick.. Half o a third quart and it's hitting the tip of the stick finally..

 

[Bones]

Dude.............:Wow1:
If you haven't bounced over to planetisuzoo.com, you might want to take a peek. Everybody's done everthing that can be done to a trooper over there (even really, really stupid stuff). There are many, many people on that site who have dealt with the oil consumption issue. I think there's even a sticky thread on it.

Jerry Lemond also comes to mind. He is the resident Isuzu wizard, and can locate (cheaply) anything Isuzu you are looking for. He even knows little mods you can do to the factory stuff that vastly improves its performance. Give him a shout with your questions if you register over there.

HTH

Tom

 

[Token]

Great, another web forum to keep up with.. Between the long standing Hummer and Jeep stuff, The one for the Challenger, ExPo and now the Isuzu place.. I ain't got time or money for the family now..