Trooper Gurus! '96 Trooper Questions

[arb098]

Hey guys,

My girlfriend and I have decided to drive from Tennessee to Argentina next year, so I've started looking for a new rig for the trip. I initially jumped on the LC bandwagon, but I just can't justify paying $8k for a 20+ year old vehicle with 300k+ miles. Everyone here has been great about offering budget alternatives (Troopers, Monteros, etc.). During a casual conversation, her dad mentioned that he has a '96 Trooper sitting in their Warehouse that used to be her sisters, and he offered to let us have it for the trip. He said the only issue is that the engine is locked up on it. I'm going look at it this weekend just to see what kind of condition it's in, so what should I be on the look out for? Would it be worth using this as a base and just swapping a new engine into it? Is there a better alternative to the factory v6 or are the factory engines pretty sound? Or should I just avoid it all together and keep looking around? Do these trucks do well on super long trips like the one we have planned? I figure it's hard to pass up a free vehicle, especially for a project, but I wanted your opinions first.

Thanks, y'all!

 

[kperras]

Generally speaking the 95-97 years were the best Troopers offered. Pre-OBDII, wider track, pre-TOD/SOFT 4x4 system, 3.2 engine that was optimized. One thing you failed to mention is the transmission: is it an auto? The 4L30E is notorious for failing giving it is underspec'd for the weight and use of the Trooper. I've had several 2nd generation Troopers, including personally rebuilding an auto transmission at one point. Even the rebuild didn't last longer than 100,000kms.

The 5spd MUA5 is known to be reliable. The rest of the drivetrain is known to be reliable. You can fit 33s without modifying the vehicle. 3 Skid plates were factory installed. Their boxy interior lends itself well to interior modification. Another weak point is a lack of aftermarket bolt on options to properly equip a Trooper. The best source of information for these is planetisuzoo forum.

 

[arb098]

Generally speaking the 95-97 years were the best Troopers offered. Pre-OBDII, wider track, pre-TOD/SOFT 4x4 system, 3.2 engine that was optimized. One thing you failed to mention is the transmission: is it an auto? The 4L30E is notorious for failing giving it is underspec'd for the weight and use of the Trooper. I've had several 2nd generation Troopers, including personally rebuilding an auto transmission at one point. Even the rebuild didn't last longer than 100,000kms.

The 5spd MUA5 is known to be reliable. The rest of the drivetrain is known to be reliable. You can fit 33s without modifying the vehicle. 3 Skid plates were factory installed. Their boxy interior lends itself well to interior modification. Another weak point is a lack of aftermarket bolt on options to properly equip a Trooper. The best source of information for these is planetisuzoo forum.

I'm not 100% sure whether it's an auto or manual. Since we're doing like 85% highway miles, I figured an auto would be better comfort wise. I'm checking with her now to see what it has, but if it's an auto, are they really that terrible? Is there a viable alternative, like a swap? I believe I read somewhere that people will often swap the stock autos for the ones that came in the early 90's Camaro?

 

[arb098]

Generally speaking the 95-97 years were the best Troopers offered. Pre-OBDII, wider track, pre-TOD/SOFT 4x4 system, 3.2 engine that was optimized. One thing you failed to mention is the transmission: is it an auto? The 4L30E is notorious for failing giving it is underspec'd for the weight and use of the Trooper. I've had several 2nd generation Troopers, including personally rebuilding an auto transmission at one point. Even the rebuild didn't last longer than 100,000kms.

The 5spd MUA5 is known to be reliable. The rest of the drivetrain is known to be reliable. You can fit 33s without modifying the vehicle. 3 Skid plates were factory installed. Their boxy interior lends itself well to interior modification. Another weak point is a lack of aftermarket bolt on options to properly equip a Trooper. The best source of information for these is planetisuzoo forum.

Finally got an answer. It is an automatic. It's also go 167k miles on it. Again, though, it's free. Not sure if it's really worth building, but a free vehicle frees up the money we had for the build quite a bit. Lol

 

[Zillon]

Finally got an answer. It is an automatic. It's also go 167k miles on it. Again, though, it's free. Not sure if it's really worth building, but a free vehicle frees up the money we had for the build quite a bit. Lol

If it's a southern truck, it should be rust free - just need to source an engine and probably smart to do a rebuilt trans.

The Trooper is a great truck, I had one as one of my first vehicles and aside from fuel economy, I loved it.

 

[BigSwede]

Generally speaking the 95-97 years were the best Troopers offered. Pre-OBDII, wider track, pre-TOD/SOFT 4x4 system, 3.2 engine that was optimized.

FWIW OBD II arrived in 1996.

Troopers are sturdily built, fully boxed frames, and more rear axle articulation than any other SUV I can think of. Axles and bearings are strong. And there is an Isuzu presence in South America (though I believe they are called Chevy Troopers down there), though I'm not sure how much.

Of course any vehicle with 167k miles would need a good refresh before a trip like that, including all fluids, belts, hoses, tires, etc.

There is no easy auto tranny swap, unfortunately. You could swap in a 5-speed - honestly a manual on the highway is no big deal, it's city driving that you would want an auto for. My Trooper has a 5-speed and I drive it 3000 miles to Moab and back every year (it has 172K miles). BTW there are low range crawler gears available for the 96 transfer cases, from Independent4x.

For a motor swap you will have to stick with 96-97 motors to be plug-n-play.

 

[Heading Out]

I had a 93 Trooper, it belongs to my son now. Troopers are great, underrated trucks, you said the motor is locked up, so, you'll be pulling the motor, look into swapping the Engine and Trans, put a 5-sp. in it. as was already said, the autos are a known weak spot. new engine, trans and belts, hoses etc. and it will serve you well.

starting with a free vehicle, you'll still be $$ ahead, and know you have a good drivetrain.

 

[borison]

Sounds great, does a 4.3 GM vortec fit?

 

[BigSwede]

Physically? yes. But it is not a bolt-in swap by any means.

[edit] found this from a similar discussion on fb:

It can be done. I am doing it now. It is alot of little stuff, that add up to alot of time. It requires an adapter, custom flywheel, motor mounts, sourcing the correct manifolds, carb or fuel injection stuff, oil filter relocation, radiator enhancement /replacement, drive shaft modifications, fuel pump upgrade/replacement, power steering mods, parking brake cable relocation, and probably a half dozen other little things.

 

[arb098]

Physically? yes. But it is not a bolt-in swap by any means.

I'm curious, what would be the best engine swap I could do for this thing to make it the most reliable/bet mileage for a trip like this?

 

[BigSwede]

Don't know what happened to the motor in your Trooper, but the 3.2L that came with it is a very reliable motor on average (and is 190 horsepower, same as the 4.3L), I would just source a 96-97 Isuzu 3.2L and drop a used motor in there, or rebuild the one you have. You can't use 95 or older because they are OBD I and all the sensors and electronics are different. 98+ are different too. If you can't find one locally, search on car-part.com.

Any other swap is going to involve 100x more work, including the stuff I quoted above. Unless you are looking for a challenge like that, in which case go for it.

 

[thepotz]

I would have to agree with bigswede on this. There are way more fun ways to spend thousands of dollars other than an off swap engine. If you are worried just buy a different trooper. I see them with manual transmissions and running engines for $1200 all the time!

 

[88sport]

I've got a 1994 Model S Trooper right now. I can tell you that doing some simple things like the spark plugs and the brakes are going to be a little more challenging than you find on other vehicles. For example, in order to get the brake rotors off the front end, you have to remove the whole hub assembly. The one I've got has the 3.2 SOHC (only S models had them still in 1994) and the 5 speed, and other than little picky crap, it is a good vehicle. If you go and buy one make sure that the heads are good on it because from what I've dealt with with this one, you'd be better off replacing the whole engine with a verified good used one than redoing the heads. Also, from what I've read on Isuzooplanet and other internet locals, the automatic isn't terrible as long as you are very diligent with servicing every 30k. As you can imagine from just doing a basic search on Craigslist for Troopers that have autos, that wasn't done on a majority of them. Go 5 speed, no regrets.

 

[BigSwede]

I've got a 1994 Model S Trooper right now. I can tell you that doing some simple things like the spark plugs and the brakes are going to be a little more challenging than you find on other vehicles. For example, in order to get the brake rotors off the front end, you have to remove the whole hub assembly.

Removing the hub only takes like 5 minutes.

 

[Heading Out]

I guess I should make it clear,

I was suggesting replacing the original bad engine, not swapping in a different engine, then swapping in a 5 speed manual trans from a like trooper for the automatic.