The Trooper/Blazer I call Blooper.

[pappawheely]

Another beautiful day out so I did some repairs to the frame. Fixed the rear shock mount and a crack up where the steering box mounts. There's rain in the forecast so I think the parts cleaning station will see some use later this week. Time to start rebuilding the front and rear axles.

 

[pappawheely]

A little Trooper history. The Trooper came out in 1981. The original, first generation, had round headlights. People call them "round eyes." That's the Style I am building. I think they look the coolest because of the old school round headlights. They made round eyes from 81 to 86. One other quirky thing about the design is that the wind shield is entirely flat, no curves or corners. Another interesting fact is the Trooper was badged as an Isuzu in the US, but was a Chevrolet in Indonesia and some parts of South America.



In 1987 the front end was changed to square headlights. Still a good looking grill, but the round eyes are still the most popular. The change was cosmetic only. It's popular to put a round eye grill and headlights on a later square headlight truck. I'm looking for another round eye grill and corner lights if anyone has them. Many people on the Trooper forums talk about 3D printing round eye grills, but I've never heard of anyone actually doing it.



In 1989 they went to a redesigned body style (2nd Gen) that was rounder and much less appealing if you ask me. I like the simple boxy body lines that made the gen 1 look utilitarian instead of the minivan like 2nd generation. Like many early Japanese designs they are small on the outside, but big on the inside. The seating position is upright and the door cards are flat panels.

 

[pappawheely]

Mock up of ride height on 37's. Still working on getting leaf spring bushings so I can get this on the wheels.

 

[pappawheely]

Waiting on parts. I hope they fit when they get here. When I'm stalled I look for inspiration on the internet. The first design principle I'd like to achieve is not too tall, but with big tires. I think this follows along with functionality. If I lived in the swamps, it would be different, but most of the terrain I go in is desert or mountains.

Here are some examples:







I am a big fan of how they build their trucks in Australia. Some have a bit too much farkle, but overall they are "equipped." They are well organized and super capable.





Lastly, I want to have a comfortable camping experience. I might have to go up! These are soft sided, but I've got a hard sided pop up rolling around in my brain. It's a high roof that also pop's up.

 

[chet6.7]

I would like to have a 70 series, the V8 diesel has a great sound.

 

[pappawheely]

Well, I hit a snag. Scumbags broke into my shop and stole parts and tools. I had to spend money on fortifying the garage, better locks, installing cameras and other deterrents; then replace the tools they stole. Pretty heartbreaking to look for something and then realize it's gone. Today I went and bought some bolts. It felt really good to make even this slight bit of progress. I don't want to get too political, but I live in a part of free America where even the little old ladies are packing. The thieves were extremely bold. The problem is judges that let everyone go free. The crooks weren't even concerned about getting caught. The sheriff was very helpful, he even took prints. Hopefully that's behind me now. I've been sleeping with one eye open for a while. Not a good place to be. I really can't wait to get this truck built so I can get out there. Bad roads bring good people, good roads bring bad people.

I found this truck on the interwebs. It's on a blazer chassis. Looks like I need to stretch the front end a bit. The wheelbase doesn't look too bad, but that's a lot of frame sticking out.

 

[NevadaLover]

That sucks beyond belief, I hate thieves and the hand slapping judges that allow them free reign.

 

[pappawheely]

Made some progress. I replaced all the leaf spring bushings; front and rear. Had some trouble finding the correct ones for my 1990's Rancho leaf springs. I was trying to be all gentle, but I discovered the secret was to use the lube and send them home with a good old BFH.



I made a new set of shackle plates that were one inch shorter. I cut 4 pieces of 3/8" strap and hand ground a radius on each corner. Then I tack welded them all together. That way you can drill the holes all at once and they match perfectly. Then just grind the tacs off. I hit them with a nice coat of STEEL-IT and they were done.



Next I pulled the 14 bolt. I hit it with a wire brush to get the dirt and rust off. If you use the braided wire wheels they stay together instead of impaling you. I painted the housing and installed a Ruffstuff diff cover and a bash guard for the pinion that I got from Barnes. Both coated with more STEEL-IT of course. I love the way it looks and it's super durable. I don't want to be doing this again anytime soon. It was over 100 degrees out today. At least your painting goes quick. Everything gets baked in no time. Me included. This is as close to show quality as I get.

 

[pappawheely]

WoW! The paint I used on the rear end housing is a named black stainless metallic. It looked black in shade, but in the sun it's really farkley. I hope it doesn't look too disco. No work will be done today. It's over 100 degrees out. I have to wait until the sun sets behind the mountain.

 

[Kingsize24]

WoW! The paint I used on the rear end housing is a named black stainless metallic. It looked black in shade, but in the sun it's really farkley. I hope it doesn't look too disco. No work will be done today. It's over 100 degrees out. I have to wait until the sun sets behind the mountain.

View attachment 886028

Might need some under body lights to show it off at night.

 

[pappawheely]

Might need some under body lights to show it off at night.

LED disco lights

 

[Kingsize24]

LED disco lights

 

[pappawheely]

OK, rear end housing is back in and I didn't drop it. All new suspension bolts front and rear, new ubolts, all new bushings. Now it's time to move the Trooper out of the garage and the blazer frame inside. I have to put the 14 bolt together and tear apart the front dana 44. The front end will be getting all new ujoints, ball joints, new passenger side knuckle for crossover steering, new fabricated steering linkage with heims, 2wd steering box and whatever else it will take. I have a pitman arm. I might do the same thing I did on my F350, mount the sector shaft in double shear. I already fixed some cracks where the box mounts to the frame. I think I'm going to remove the blazer front crossmember and fabricate something to mount the core support, radiator and brace the steering box. In other words, overkill of course.

 

[pappawheely]

More work on the rear end. The hub seal was leaking on one side. Everything was caked in baked on gear oil mixed with silt and some rust. First I took the brake brackets off, cleaned them up and hit them with STEEL-IT. Then I chased all the holes, cleaned up all the threads on the bolts and installed them with some blue loctite on the threads.



I did the same cleaning job to the brake rotors and had them turned. I got them back with a very strange finish on them. I wasn't too impressed with the guy at O'reilleys. I don't think he knows what he's doing, but the rust is gone and they are flat. What do you think? To me it looks like he forgot to put the insert in the cutter.



Next I have to go through these 4 hubs and get the best parts; hubs, bearings and races, and assemble them with the parts mentioned plus new seals, wheel studs and the rotors. I can't wait to get it back on tires. I'm also running all new brake lines.

 

[pappawheely]

I didn't take any photos in process because I had bearing grease, loctite and sillycone all over my hands, but it's back on rollers. New bearings and seals in the hubs. Everything went fine except, one of the axle bolts pulled the thread right out of the hub when I tightened it. It must have bottomed out. I spent hours cleaning and chasing threads, even trimming bolt lengths when I dry fit everything. Must have been a shallow hole. It shouldn't be too hard to helicoil it on the truck. I don't know how those show car people do it; bunch of scratched paint and boo boos along the way, but close enough for government work.





Now I can move it into the garage to get out of the sun and rain.