Why I miss my trooper...Stemmed from the trooper shot thread

[Frank]

I decided to make another thread rather than fill the trooper pic thread with my ramblings.

A little background story, I had a '94 Trooper. It was a stock S model with the exception of good Firestone Destination tires and KYB shocks. It took my wife, our dogs and I any place we wanted it to go, with ease. It was in damn near every climate the US has to offer. Its been in the mountains, snow, mud, woods, sand, tank trails on a (certain) Marine Corps base and the grocery parking lot. It became old and I was faced to decide to put money into her or sell it. We sold it to a man in need of a vehicle (he wanted to ditch his moped before the snow hit) for $500.

The replacement, a nicely built, well maintained Jeep Cherokee. A nice Cherokee was on my list of vehicles I must own before I die, so it was a great time to dive into that vehicle.

This past weekend, my family went into Michigan for our Christmas tree. If you are watching national news at all, we went right into the affected lake effect snow area. Near white out conditions and heavy snow pretty much describes the day of driving we had. No big deal, I have a Jeep. Yeah...those thoughts quickly went out the window as soon as I hit a little snow on the road. The jeep performed horribly. In the jeeps defense, it has a wide, 275 tire on it. These tires are brand new BFG AT tires. Regardless of the tires though, I was disappointed.

So onto my reply from the trooper shot thread:

man I never understand why folks seem to have so much trouble w/ XJ's ... I have had 3 of them and absolutely no probs. They have gone everywhere I pointed them and they last forever 250K to 300K is just normal.Built up they go anywhere and stock almost anywhere. I have never strengthened a uni-body except the steering box area and never had a crack or warp. Every time I read stuff about how bad they are I'm just mystified!!!! Tons of room, fairly comfy and a huge market support plus cheap parts. Whats not to like?:coffeedrink:

Well, here is a :coffeedrink: <- but beer filled thought.

1. My jeep has no room compared to my trooper. I am 6'3" and my knees are almost in the dash. With someone riding shot gun, we are almost shoulder to shoulder. The rear cargo area...I don't think I could carry half of the stuff my trooper could. Hell, my full size spare tire takes up the entire trunk area of my jeep. My 2yo daughter in the back seat/in her car seat is almost to the roof and she can not stretch her legs out. Put my 5'6" brother in the back seat, and those front seats have to be moved forward, a lot.

2. The jeep probably could go anywhere. The problem is, it NEEDS 4wd to get there. My trooper...4wd was an absolute last resort. I always ran 2wd and never had problems. On another forum I'm on, someone said ...yeah, its a jeep and it has 4wd, use it. My reply, that's sad.

3. I too am surprised at my findings. You can go onto about any forum and find rave reviews about the Jeep. Maybe I am going about this all the wrong way? Maybe this IS a jeep and coming from a very different, very capable 4x4, I expected more? I don't know. Looking back, my trooper was amazing to say the least.

My bottom line, I will be ordering new, dedicated snow tires soon. If this Jeep continues to not meet my demands, I will be looking for another Isuzu Trooper.

 

[ntxtrooper]

Trooper

I feel for you. I miss my 1998 Trooper also..

 

[Squatchout]

I love threads like this. Bought my 1st trooper new in 1988. It was the best vehicle I have ever owned. Also the best snow vehicle I have ever owned. After 300k miles and lot's of mods I traded UP to a Dodge Durango. Total lemon and POS. Nothing but problems. 10 months later I traded that title for title for a new 2000 s Trooper 5spd. It was great until the 3.5 engine started burning oil like crazy at 65k miles. My old pick up was dead so I replaced that Trooper and the old pick up with a new Nissan Titan king cab. I had planned to put a FWC in that one. A year and a 1/2 later it was bought back under lemon law because of the constant brake problems. I needed something so I picked up an '88 Trooper off CL for $1500 with 86k miles on it. I knew it would need a little cleaning up but I found a rust hole in the frame of an otherwise rust free low mileage truck. So I bit the bullet and went all the way. I did a total mechanical refurbish of the truck on a new fresh painted rust free frame from down south. All bushings, lines, seal, wear parts were upgraded or replaced and suspension upgraded. A thousand detail improvements learned over the years. It was a long haul but I haven't regretted it. It's been a flawless truck. In last winters blizzard I delivered 2 coworkers home from work who left their 4x4s at work. I had drifts hitting the windshield. This one will be around for a long time. Just like all my Troopers it does everything I ask of it. Carries anything I can get inside or on the racks. Will pull just about anything I can hitch up and do it where there are no roads. Nothing wrong with Cherokee's but they are not Troopers. You'll be back just like I am.

This is the current Trooper "Red Beans"! I hope these give you or someone else a little inspiration.

 

[Frank]

Im with ya man! I forgot, mine has been loaded with several loads of wood too! I will never forget when I pulled up to the guy who was selling the wood...he scratched his head and was like...you coming back with a trailer? I said nope...I reached back and flipped the seats forward and we started loading her up!

I have my jeep for sale in the for sale section. I found a local 99 Trooper that is a killer deal. Plans are to do exactly what expeditions west did with theirs.
http://www.expeditionswest.com/vehicles/ewvehicles/Isuzu_Trooper/index.html

 

[double moo]

My hunting buddy has an XJ that is slightly modded that does quite well out on the trails. On the occasions he joins me in my Trooper it's a new fact finding experience each time.

"I can't believe how quiet these things are... My Jeep is all rattles and squeaks!"

"These Troopers sure have a lot of room!"

"This thing is really smooth on the freeway... quiet too!"

"For as big and heavy as this thing is - it'll go anywhere my Jeep can!"

"Unbelievable turning radius for a full size rig!"

It's rather fun to take him out just to see what he'll notice next! Of course, if we are looking at aftermarket support it's me who can't believe how easy it is to get outfitted in a Jeep...

We'll both keep our rigs for our own respective reasons.

 

[BIGdaddy]

The trooper and the cherokee were direct competitors for a while there in the eighties/nineties. I like watching the old "joe isuzu" advert's, too funny.

Even though i drive a cherokee, i've got much love for the trooper. There's no denying that trucks like the xj and trooper are hard to improve on:

-simple
-robust
-comfy
-Capable

I think you have very good reason to miss your first gen!

-Brian

P.S. Mine was a 1986 trooper II complete with its "4x4 of the year" badge on the dash.

 

[Gpzguy]

I owned both a '91 Amigo (T-bar / shackle lift and ARB rear locker) and a 95.5 Rodeo (T-bar / shackle lift and Terra low gears with LS rear differential). I really loved both of those rigs. The Amigo was an absolute blast to fourwheel in, and I grew up driving jeeps. We ended up selling it because it was no good for towing my boat. The Rodeo I drove for 178K miles before I traded it in on my 2008 Xterra.

Yep, Isuzu made a fantastic rig, highly underrated, and definately many were thrashed and undermaintained by their owners. Too bad GM killed Isuzu.

I love my Xterra, but sometimes do miss that Rodeo. I think that the Rodeo may have been better in the snow, especially with its LS differential.

My Rodeo on the day I traded it in:

My Xterra today:

 

[dippitydoo]

I just picked up an 89 trooper during the summer. We've been driving small commuter cars (it's all we've needed.) so this is really my first SUV. With pokey (the 89 trooper) we've been able to go all over the place and have yet to use 4x4. Some of the backroads in montana I was sweating beads but the trooper went over it like it was pavement. I was looking at Jeeps for awhile, but I had some jeep buddies that DONT offroad and they are always whining about something breaking and how much money they have dumped into it on top of the cost. I know little about cars, but the price was right, and it gets me where I want to go (i'm not rock crawling.)

 

[Frank]

No doubt if you want a dedicated trail rig, go jeep. They are robust and have a long history of being amazing.

Pratical everyday driving/camping/etc...you know how I feel. Trooper.

My buddy and I got into a discussion today. We agreed on one thing. When it comes to anything except pavement, the jeep needs 4wd to be stable and get you to where you need to go. To me, this is sad. He says "it has 4wd for a reason" ...I say "why isnt jeep awd?"

I like my jeep, but I really miss my trooper. The Jeep, in my opinion is probably one of the most over rated vehicles and the trooper is probably one of the most under rated vehicles.

 

[Gpzguy]

To me, this is sad. He says "it has 4wd for a reason" ...I say "why isnt jeep awd?"

I used to have a AWD Jeep. It was a '74 Wagoneer with Quadratrac.

 

[MarlinVX]

I know its not a traditional Trooper, but I spend a lot of time with the Isuzu group up in Uwharrie. I have a 93 Trooper RS for the wife, and a my 01 Isuzu Vehicross for myself. We love our little Zus, and they will go anywhere, just point and shoot. They both have 2" diff drops, aussie front lockers, rancho9000 shocks, OME 919 rear springs, and the VX is equipped with a prototype torsion bar linking system. We will be trailering them both(or maybe just the VX pending a delivery for a friend) out to Moab this coming May if anyone wants to meet up for the Isuzu get together.

 

[Squatchout]

Anyone that thinks Zoo's are for expedition driving and not hard core rock crawling needs to wheel with Marlin. His dogs can and do hunt!

 

[MarlinVX]

Anyone that thinks Zoo's are for expedition driving and not hard core rock crawling needs to wheel with Marlin. His dogs can and do hunt!

LOL, your damn right they can. With 28" of rear wheel travel, just about any trooper can go anywhere. Throw in a front locker, they are unstoppable:ar15:

Now all I need is a roof mounted turret, and I will be ready for the zombie revolution.

 

[4Rescue]

No doubt if you want a dedicated trail rig, go jeep. They are robust and have a long history of being amazing.

...

I think you're thinking of Toyotas... Jeeps are in no way anywhere near as robust as a Toyota Mini-truck or ANY land Cruiser

I feel ya, like I said in the other thread, aside from the god awfull 2.8L GM V6, the 1st Gen trooper(91) is one of the best rigs I've ever had the pleasure of driving. my 4Runner is alot beefier, but I still liked the very upright and reach down to the pedals feeling of driving the trooper. I loved that truck. Get yourself another Trooper, it's pretty clear that's what you want eh.

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

I know its not a traditional Trooper, but I spend a lot of time with the Isuzu group up in Uwharrie. I have a 93 Trooper RS for the wife, and a my 01 Isuzu Vehicross for myself. We love our little Zus, and they will go anywhere, just point and shoot. They both have 2" diff drops, aussie front lockers, rancho9000 shocks, OME 919 rear springs, and the VX is equipped with a prototype torsion bar linking system. We will be trailering them both(or maybe just the VX pending a delivery for a friend) out to Moab this coming May if anyone wants to meet up for the Isuzu get together.

Those are AWESOME!!!!!! I never knew untill a few years ago that there even WAS a 2DR Trooper in that gen. My uncle had or maybe still has a 1st Gen 2dr Diesel trooper and that thing was so much fun to take out into the mountains around his farm/property.

Cheers

Dave