Ghoulgang
New member
Hello All,
First off THANK YOU to the whole community, prior to purchase this forum has been an invaluable resource for determining what vehicle I finally ended up with.
Got myself a 97 Trooper Yesterday with 240,000km. I don't think its ever been washed, the interior is basically a 15 year old ashtray (however everything inside works, no rips, etc. just another victim of cigarettes) it has a VERY heavy steel front bumper with bull bars and 9000lb winch which is currently not mounted (the previous owner says the brackets he fab'd up failed when he was rescuing a jeep liberty that rolled itself over- but that is capable, according to him, of 'taking out trees and small boulders'... I'm just going to take his word for it. Roof Rack. 32" A/T's, he gave me 2 full sets (including spares) of tires and rims in ADDITION to the 32's already on the vehicle... what else... oh- it has a very capable sound system with new deck and 1970s household box speakers wired in place of the trunk speakers just flying around back there.
However, All jokes aside, the body (aside from the obvious bumper/grille issue) is free of any rust, dents, minimal pin striping, everything works all switches dials gauges lights signals doors windows etc. The guy was a heavy equipment mechanic and a tow truck driver and although some of the fixes are bushleague... they work. It was his daily and he said he wheeled the logging roads out his back door (picked it up in Sunshine Valley, BC for those who are familiar) almost every day as well. Its not pretty but its got insane potential and its all mine for 2k CAD. Talked him down from 3k eventually having to negotiate with his missus who apparently was the boss, guilt tripping them about smoking proved to be the most valuable negotiation tactic :idea: ) Not bad, not bad.
Blasted around some logging roads on the test drive, ran strong, was surprised by the articulation in the suspension (has had work done to the front end to support that bumper, but otherwise is just on a 2" body lift) 4lo-4hi all worked well. On highway some noise from the tires and a bit wobbly in the rotor department but strong pull, smooth shifting, overdrive kicks in when it should etc. Made it the 2hrs back to Vancouver with no issue... well almost no issue...
There are some Gremlins, but I will start another thread for that conversation.
TL
R; Happy to be here, I'm going to lean a lot on you guys over the coming months as up until now all of my mechanical experience has been limited to 2-wheeled machines.
First off THANK YOU to the whole community, prior to purchase this forum has been an invaluable resource for determining what vehicle I finally ended up with.
Got myself a 97 Trooper Yesterday with 240,000km. I don't think its ever been washed, the interior is basically a 15 year old ashtray (however everything inside works, no rips, etc. just another victim of cigarettes) it has a VERY heavy steel front bumper with bull bars and 9000lb winch which is currently not mounted (the previous owner says the brackets he fab'd up failed when he was rescuing a jeep liberty that rolled itself over- but that is capable, according to him, of 'taking out trees and small boulders'... I'm just going to take his word for it. Roof Rack. 32" A/T's, he gave me 2 full sets (including spares) of tires and rims in ADDITION to the 32's already on the vehicle... what else... oh- it has a very capable sound system with new deck and 1970s household box speakers wired in place of the trunk speakers just flying around back there.
However, All jokes aside, the body (aside from the obvious bumper/grille issue) is free of any rust, dents, minimal pin striping, everything works all switches dials gauges lights signals doors windows etc. The guy was a heavy equipment mechanic and a tow truck driver and although some of the fixes are bushleague... they work. It was his daily and he said he wheeled the logging roads out his back door (picked it up in Sunshine Valley, BC for those who are familiar) almost every day as well. Its not pretty but its got insane potential and its all mine for 2k CAD. Talked him down from 3k eventually having to negotiate with his missus who apparently was the boss, guilt tripping them about smoking proved to be the most valuable negotiation tactic :idea: ) Not bad, not bad.
Blasted around some logging roads on the test drive, ran strong, was surprised by the articulation in the suspension (has had work done to the front end to support that bumper, but otherwise is just on a 2" body lift) 4lo-4hi all worked well. On highway some noise from the tires and a bit wobbly in the rotor department but strong pull, smooth shifting, overdrive kicks in when it should etc. Made it the 2hrs back to Vancouver with no issue... well almost no issue...
There are some Gremlins, but I will start another thread for that conversation.
TL
R; Happy to be here, I'm going to lean a lot on you guys over the coming months as up until now all of my mechanical experience has been limited to 2-wheeled machines.
