Isuzu Troopers - the "Wolfpack"

stevo-mt

Member
With a few major life changes I was going to be forced get a new daily driver. I had been using my M1010 truck that I have been building up for the last 3 years pretty much everytime I needed to drive anywhere. I worked in Alaska for 6 months on and 6 off so it worked great. Any time I needed to go anywhere I just made a trip out of it. Well after getting married and my wife starting grad school we were in need of a vehicle that could actually drive in the city. We had a few different options. Toyota 4runner, Isuzu Trooper, and Mitsubishi Montero were the different options. Last year I built my friend a pretty awesome 2002 4runner expo vehicle. The thing turned out fantastic, but he paid through the roof for a clean 4runner with 135k miles. Since we would be needing two vehicles 4runners were pretty much ruled out. There is no such thing as a good deal on a used 4runner. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/139088-Project-4FunR This is the one I worked on for my friend.

I ended up finding and buying 4 troopers total. I wasn't planning on doing that but it seems to working out so far. Plus I have plenty of room to store stuff. There are few quirks with these but overall they are a great rig. 4L30E tranny is a little less reliable, but if you check your ATF level you will much less likely have issues. Plus mine has a limited slip diff already installed. That makes a world of difference offroad. The axles on these are the size of a 1/2 ton truck. The bearings in the front are almost the same size as my 3/4 ton ford had!

The plan is to make my wife a great aggressive looking daily driver and to build myself the camping rig since the M1010 will be parked for most of the time the next two years while Jess goes to grad school. The third trooper will be a "spare" and the fourth is a parts rig. The since everything needed a little work the cost was very affordable. I'll have two very capable troopers setup for the same cost as one high mileage 4runner.

I found a 1998 trooper that needed an engine. It was super clean and had leather so my wife called dibbs. It is black, loaded and with 148k miles on it . One of the pins on the camshaft slipped so it lost compression on one side of the motor. Unfortunately the dealer I bought it from lost the camshaft so I was forced to do more serious surgery. We ended up finding a parts trooper that the person had ran the transmission low on ATF an also had some front end damage. But the engine ran great. So I picked that up. In december I swapped motors and got the black trooper up and running. It needed some of the basic maintenance like a cv boot and some more technical stuff. On the transfer case it needed two of the Torque on Demand sensors replaced to get the 4wd to work. The parts trooper was again to the rescue.

I put a Surco roof rack on Jess's rig and a set of 265/75/16 cooper AT3 load range E tires.
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The Troopy that will be my daily driver was an enigma. It is a 2001 with 72,000 miles. The thing is very clean and was sold not running. I bought it sight unseen. I first fixed the timing. Whoever had tried to set the timing had it wrong. But that didn't fix it. The computer that was in the car looked like it had come from a junkyard so I found one and got it programmed for the VIN and all that good stuff but that didn't fix the problem. The engine was a brand new rebuild. I didn't know that when I had bought it. I finally figured out the signal coming from the crankshaft position sensor was not what it should have been. I did some research into that and found out that the pulse ring on the crankshaft could be the incorrect one. 1997ish years had a 6 7/8" ring and the 1998 and up wer 7 1/4" I found out on a forum. I borrowed my dad's bore scope and verified that this was indeed the issue. The engine re-builder had messed up. This car had been through several mechanics and another owner that couldn't figure out the problem.

I ended pulling the motor last week and will be picking up a core block from a junkyard tomorrow. I will get the pulse ring off the core engine and hopefully the head is good to put on the motor I pulled out of Jess's trooper, giving me a 148K mile spare.

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The trooper as it sat in Boise, ID where I bought it.

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Since this is the best rig, lowest miles and will have the new rebuilt motor this will be the vehicle that I'm going to build in to a supplementary expo rig. My M1010 is the setup for really going into the wild but my wife and I will be in Saskatoon SK for the next two years in the city. I figured it would be easier to just park it in my shop and maybe take it out for a week or two when we can. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/93775-M1010-expo-build-The-Mountain-Turtle I would like to be able to take my wife camping and go have some fun on the weekends. This rig will get the standard expo equipment as time goes on. Winch, tires, lift, roof rack, storage system, etc. And of course a very simple but awesome electrical system. That has turned out to be my specialty :). A second battery and of course LED Lighting.

I found a sweet grill guard at the scrap yard that is almost an exact fit too!
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The fourth trooper I bought, or the "spare" was another craigslist find. A dealer had it in Billings and was asking $1700 for it. It was at the lot for 6 months and no one would buy it it at $4k so he had it priced to sell. I offered $1500 cash and drove home. It needs brakes and rotors on the front, cv boots on both sides, and a few body trim peices. New fluids all around too. For the price I paid for the rig I can have it sit at my shop and if Jess or I have issues with our troopers we can just take a trip home and get it.
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I'll get a bit better write up going. All the fun details about the rig. :)
 
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(none)

Adventurer
I like it. I love the 90s/early 2000s Japanese suvs. Kinda hard to go wrong. I had a '96 LC80 locked and slightly modified. 280k miles, sold it to a friend who continues to beat on it. After the GF and I moved to Georgia last year, I started looking for another cheap SUV for beach runs and dog hauling. As you noted, 4runners are way too expensive. Land Cruisers have also become way too expensive. Ended up finding a nice late model Trooper for cheap. Needs axles and some fluid changes, but that's about it.
These things are a bargain. Runs great, goes anywhere, and cheap to keep on the road, plus I love the way they look.
 

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
The Troopy that will be my daily driver was an enigma. It is a 2001 with 72,000 miles. The thing is very clean and was sold not running. I bought it sight unseen. I first fixed the timing. Whoever had tried to set the timing had it wrong. But that didn't fix it. The computer that was in the car looked like it had come from a junkyard so I found one and got it programmed for the VIN and all that good stuff but that didn't fix the problem. The engine was a brand new rebuild. I didn't know that when I had bought it. I finally figured out the signal coming from the crankshaft position sensor was not what it should have been. I did some research into that and found out that the pulse ring on the crankshaft could be the incorrect one. 1997ish years had a 6 7/8" ring and the 1998 and up wer 7 1/4" I found out on a forum. I borrowed my dad's bore scope and verified that this was indeed the issue. The engine re-builder had messed up. This car had been through several mechanics and another owner that couldn't figure out the problem.
That's some quality diagnosis work there, great job!

BTW you can call it whatever you want, but be aware that a "Troopy" is also a common name for a Toyota 70 series LC troop carrier.
 

stevo-mt

Member
I came back to montana for a couple weeks to finish my trooper. I'm still waiting for a work visa. Then the fun begins for finding a job and all that good stuff. :) I wish I had a shop up there. My wife's fellow grad student had his timing belt break on his Mitsubishi. He took it to a mechanic and they didn't even look at it since they don't work on them ever. (Not that I blame them) there is never a shortage of work, only a shortage of people willing to pay for it!


I'll have to get an isuzu planet going to. Every mod and fix are there.!
 

justcuz

Explorer
I think the Isuzu Planet has the info for the 4L30E repairs and swap to the Aisin-Warner transmission. The Isuzu V6 uses the GM V6 60 degree bell housing bolt pattern.
I see a couple of these on my trips to Arizona and am tempted to stop and check on them since the have been setting in the same spot for a couple of years.
 

stevo-mt

Member
I did get that engine running for my trooper the other day! It runs like a top now. 20160130_115650.jpg It's a good thing that I replaced the crank and bearings. The engine re-builder must not have cleaned the engine as well as they should have. Plus having the engine out makes it easy to put a coolant heater in the block of the engine.

I like the thought of doing the aisin tranny swap, but I think the 4l30E will make it several years if treated decent. If I found a diesel for it... Maybe that would be great thing to try. I could just as well put a manual in the rig a bit easier. But since my M1010 is my main camping rig I'll just try and get by.

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I added a jerry can holder on the back. It was one that I had left over from my truck project. I think I will build one out of aluminum to replace it. I also have a high lift jack hard case to mount too. jackguard1.jpg

As far as the other mods I'm planning for the isuzu will be mostly simple practical ones. By the end of the summer I should have most of these finished up.

Odyssey PC1700 Battery
Cooper AT3 265/75/16 Tires
Independent4x 1.5" budget lift kit
A sleeping platform that folds over the rear seats (Steel and plywood)
A custom roof rack or surco roof rack
a winch hidden in the front bumper (most likely a smitty build x20 wireless 10,000 lb)
A secondary battery
Espar Air Heater (If I can find one for a decent price )
Some LED interior lighting
LED external lighting
I think I am going to commit to an ARB awning with the attached details.
1200w inverter
Viair 88p air compressor ( just bought, but maybe get something bigger on board)
Towing lighting (i found a towbar and need to set up the lighting and build brackets to mount the tow bar to on the trooper)

I have most of the materials to do many of these mods... If I can find an espar heater as a junkyard it would make it a great northern camping rig. The ARB awning and tent would be nice for setting up for a changing area and a place to stretch. This is more or less a rig that will fill in the gap of not having my M1010 in Saskatoon, at least for now.
 

stevo-mt

Member
Not sure where I'm going to mount the jack guard. It's decent weatherproof and I believe they could go about anywhere you want. I originally bought it for my truck but found a good secret hiding place for the jack and I wised up and bought the 60" highlift for it so the case needed a home. There is room left of the spare tire on the rear door but I don't know how well that will work using the jack guard as far as access to the jack if it is mounted vertically. It looks like it would be best mounted horizontal. I was thinking on the roof rack on the inside to keep it secure. It makes me wonder how much extra attention I'll receive at the border since it looks like a rifle case. Even though I've seen more rifle cases mounted on the outside of bush planes than any other vehicle.

I was thinking since I now have 3 running troopers in my family I should just make a pattern and then build some brackets to mount hi lift jacks. There was a pretty sweet setup a person had on the rear door left of the spare tire. I don't see a very good place to anchor it a little more on the left side of the door though. I was also thinking about using the four mounting bolts that the stock spare tire mount bolts to and build a custom holder that would hold the spare, hi lift jack, and maybe hide some other goodies. Nothing too crazy heavy though since it would be using the stock door hinges. I would also like to sneak a few lights or something on it too. Some people have even made them retractable which would be nice since the trooper is so short compared to my truck. It could double as back up lights as well.

As far as a roof rack goes I don't think there is a lot to building something. I was going to just buy a set of mounting brackets that surco makes and build a light steel rack that bolts to those. The surco rack I bought for my wifes trooper wasn't very complicated and was very expensive. It does look nice though. It would be a fun project at the least.
 

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
I keep my hi-lift inside, nice and clean


It does impinge a bit on the rear door entry, but other than watching out for it when entering/exiting it is not in the way.
 

justcuz

Explorer
Did the engine rebuild accommodate the newer style pistons to eliminate the oil consumption issue? Seems like that is the only thing that is ever mentioned about these engines. I have never heard of any other reliability issues with the Isuzu V6.
 

stevo-mt

Member
With the engine I should have thought about the additional holes they put in the new pistons. I remember reading about that before I tore the engine apart. I didn't do any of the work on the engine other than swapping in the correct crank and putting in new bearings. I looked at the cylinders leaving the pistons in and they still had all their cross hatching. I probably should have taken it apart further, but then where do you stop?

With the engine I put in my wife's trooper it had 134k miles on it. I did an oil change and ran some marvel mystery oil and dumped that out. We drove it to Ohio over Christmas and it was using about 1 quart per 1500 miles. I added some lucas oil stabilizer to it and now it has uses very little oil and the engine sounds quite a bit quieter. I imagine that changing the engine oil fairly often and running some stabilizers or cleaners every once in a while will extend the life of these.

I was doing some design work on building a hi lift jack mount on the rear door next to the spare tire. I've come up with few things that should be available for these isuzu's but aren't quite how I like them.

A high lift jack mount
a led light/cb antennae rear mount or rear step to access roof rack
a 5 gallon gas can mount for rear door (i'm going to change and fix the other one since the cheap smittybuilt only hold metal gas cans)
a heavy duty set of roof cross bars (these exist but for some simple aluminum they should not cost what they cost from certain sources) Plus I will need to be able to haul a canoe this summer
a simple full length roof rack
a winch mount that is hidden in the bumper

I've got the high lift jack mount pretty much completed. I will build a prototype next week when I'm back at my shop and have my metal cutting saw and welder. The jack would be mounted vertically left of the spare tire and would use the spare tire's bottom mounting bolts to secure it. Then it would attach between the drivers tail light and door with a bracket I'll machine to give it some more rigidity. These will offset the spare tire mount by 3/16" so I figured I would figure out a antennae/led light mount or a step to access your roof rack. All this will allow you to keep the plastic cover on or if you have a bit bigger tire for a spare.

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