Japanese SUV goodness: 2001 Isuzu Trooper

[BIGdaddy]

I'm loving this thread for so many reasons, the lessons your girls are learning from helping you will extend into many aspects of life, so great to see this. And of course that storage and cooking area is very well thought out, all it needs is an awning you could put up over the cooking area in case of rain.

Thanks for the props, dude.

There might be better ways to add storage, but after about a year of mulling it over, drawing on napkins at dinner, and in my notepad on plane flights...lol...that was the setup that seemed to make the most sense for us. I've still got a fair bit of work to do, but like I mentioned in an earlier post, it's already proven to be super useful and sturdy without even being done, so I'm stoked. And yeah, the plan was to throw a Camping lab short awning over the back, but I guess Fernando @ CL has since gotten out of that business.

Regardless, I'm hoping I can still put my hands on a short ARB awning as I think are pretty much the same product (with a few small differences).

As for my girls, I definitely try my best to get them involved, though sometimes I'm on such a tight schedule, they don't get included. This weekend is going to be all about installing my Warn manual hubs, so if brown santa or FedEX drops them off today, I'm thinking about grabbing the oldest and plopping her down next to me to go through the install. They still actually want to spend time with me, which I'm going to take advantage of, while lasts.

 

[BIGdaddy]

I've been thinking about this since I 1st read it. All I can picture is an aero roof bracket like a Thule that was mounted in the groove of the rear window instead of at the rear door like it is supposed to be. I've seen folks do that. The clamp on racks are supposed to go in the door frames.
I ended up through bolting racks through the roof of my 2000 because I wanted racks at the rear as well as the front. After having a 1st gen with full roof racks I missed being able to load bikes standing on the rear bumper step.

haha, yeah, I've kinda been hoping that the poster would give more details, as I've been communicating with Steve over at Frontrunner about a slimline II rack. I have heard nothing but praise for the FR rack, but if my roof can't support the weight, it's kind of a biggish deal.

I've seen pictures and video footage of jackeroo's in Australia, as well as Troopers in the middle east loaded down with some fairly stout loads, so it's just not jiving at this point unless US spec troopers just aren't built to the same standard...

 

[BIGdaddy]

Warn hub install:

I've got a bunch of pics to upload, bear with me.

Just to reiterate, this is to install WARN part #61385.

Tools I used:

Rubber mallet
Snap-ring pliers
Allen wrenches
Large flathead screwdriver
Large phillips screwdriver
1/2 drive breaker bar
1/2 drive torque wrench
Blue locktite

Step one, fire up some tunes and get your truck up in the air!


Remove your wheel and you'll see the drive flange attached with six large allen head bolts:



Grab the appropriate allen wrench, and give it a couple taps with a deadblow/rubber mallet, and they'll come right off.


Pull of the dust cover and you'll see the drive flange held on with the Snap-ring:


Grab your snap-ring pliers and remove the snapring. By the way, my pliers were $16.00 at Pep boys, in case you were wondering where to get some.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Warn hub install:

Removing the snapring:



The drive flange should just pop off, as seen in the background. Here's what we're installing in it's place. Beefy!


At this point, you're gonna want to follow the Warn instructions for assembly of the hubs themselves. They're fairly well written with torque settings and exploded diagrams.






Make sure you use both gaskets provided. I added some blue locktite to the big bolts just for good measure, and I used the included smaller diameter snap-rings over then included spacer before buttoning everything up. No problemo.

Also a note, these are only sold for vehicles up to 1993, but I can confirm that all vehicles at least up till 2001 have the same 17 spline front CV axle ends. These slid on like a glove. Fit and finish are perfect, as I have come to expect from warn.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Warn hub install, cont'd:

To conclude this install, a few other notes..

-Make sure you function test per the instructions. Very easy to tell (and easy to correct) if you did something wrong, but this is a fairly straightforward install
-Put your tire back on, torque to factory specs and lower the vehicle.

Hope this helps anyone considering this mod. PM me with any questions. I'll post up any mpg gains I see, and other feedback as it comes up.

Oh, and yes, my oldest did get involved in the install. She was stoked to be workin' alongside Dad.

 

[Morticon]

Loving this build! Would like to see more posts of using it out on the trail. That's great that your girls love doing all the outdoors stuff with you.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Loving this build! Would like to see more posts of using it out on the trail. That's great that your girls love doing all the outdoors stuff with you.

Thanks! Yeah, i'm definitely taking advantage of the fact that they still want to hang out with me...

 

[BIGdaddy]

While you were in there you should have repacked the bearings at the same time! You were 1/2 way there.

I try to plan it so that I repack front hubs, get rotors turned, replace front pads and hardware, do hub work all at the same time.

I'm skeered of bearings and setting preload. I honestly have never done it, so I bury my head in the sand when it comes to that job...hahaha.

You are definitely correct, tho. It'd be good to have all that on the same schedule. I checked my pads while I was in there, and they'll need changing in probably 5k-7k miles so maybe I'll move that up a bit and do the bearings, too.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Saw you on the Planet. The repack is a piece of cake. Find me over there and check the build links in my sig. It's written up there in 2 different builds with pics. The process is the same for all Zu models. Same for most any maintenance you might do except the engine. I have the 4 cylinders. But most all my build stuff is written as a tutorial for anyone to follow.

Sweet, thanks!

 

[CA-RJ]

New hubs and a nice front bumper...What else is in the plans?

 

[ExploringNH]

I like what you have done with it so far and am following along. I have a 2001 Trooper that I am having a hard time fighting the urge of tossing on a set of 33's.

 

[p nut]

Finally got rid of the XJ, eh? Nice Trooper. Have fun with it.

 

[BIGdaddy]

New hubs and a nice front bumper...What else is in the plans?

What's up, dude! Well, other than just driving it, I've actually got a few repairs to make. The busted CV boot on the driver's side axle is going to need to be replaced. Independent4x.com has a Mecatech boot kit that I'm going to be picking up in the next month or so. The hubs were simply a quick easy way from effectively stopping an rotational wear on the CV due to lack of grease.

I also have constantly had an intermittant check engine light on since I bought the truck that has to do with the EGR valve being gummed up with carbon from oil getting into the combustion chamber. That along with a slight miss upon acceleration makes me think that I'll probably need to do check out the spark plugs and or coil packs to see if they're in good shape...

None of these has sidelined the rig one bit. I've still got great power, and am getting around 17-18mpgs...possibly a bit more with the new hubs.

So, once I have those repairs taken care of, I'm going to refresh fluids in the tcase, tranny and diff's (rear is a GM G80 limited slip) and hopefully call it good for a while.

As long as I take it easy on the whoops, the suspension mods can wait. I'm pretty commited to getting my storage area squared away for an upcoming Anza-Borrego trip that my family, my in-laws and possibly my dad/step-mom are going to go with us on.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Finally got rid of the XJ, eh? Nice Trooper. Have fun with it.

Hey man! Yeah that cherokee was a great rig. My family and I were kinda sad to see it go, but it served us for 4 solid years with any major issues at all, and we simply outgrew it. The new owner is on NAXJA pretty regularly and is a good, hard working dude with a sweet wife who seemed super stoked on it. It was in pretty good shape when he got it, so hopefully it'll last him a good, long while.

This rig seems to be a great blend of tough and comfy. Other than some high traffic area's (steering wheel leather, left side of drivers seat, etc,) most interior parts are in 90-95% shape. Very satisfying to have co-workers/friends sit in it and be surprised that it's almost 15 years old. Very tough materials used and the previous owners clearly took care of it.

Can't deny that I'm a car guy with ADD, and on any day you can find me drooling over other rigs, but so far this has been a very good car.

 

[BIGdaddy]

I like what you have done with it so far and am following along. I have a 2001 Trooper that I am having a hard time fighting the urge of tossing on a set of 33's.

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Hey, nice truck! As for 33's - I'd say let the terrain dictate what you do. The smallish tires I'm running are cheaper, and seem to do just fine in the desert washes, especially the fact that they allow for a bit of wheelspin.