trooper trail shots

[Sebas]

Great thread, in fact i want change my Samurai LWB for a Trooper, but have a question, why isn't the trooper a popular expedition vehicle? as is a Patrol, Landcruiser or a Defender??

 

[snakedoctor]

I love your rig man! This gen and the monty style have been a fav for a while! Reminds me of the old African safari trips!

 

[cronk]

I love your rig man! This gen and the monty style have been a fav for a while! Reminds me of the old African safari trips!

Thanks! I had a lot of fun building that Trooper.

 

[jeffryscott]

Great thread, in fact i want change my Samurai LWB for a Trooper, but have a question, why isn't the trooper a popular expedition vehicle? as is a Patrol, Landcruiser or a Defender??

I too have wondered that as they are exceptional vehicles. I think now many people are afraid because Isuzu has essentially vacated the market. Resale values are terrible because of this, but to buy one it makes for some attractive prices.

 

[cronk]

Here are a few from a run we did last weekend.


1st Gen with lockers and lift

Stock 2nd gen on street tires

 

[Jeff@QuadShop]

Here are a few from a run we did last weekend.


1st Gen with lockers and lift

Stock 2nd gen on street tires

Where are these pics taken? I'm just across the river from you.

 

[reran]

The first three photos of the 1st gen Trooper were taken on the trail at Beasley Knob in N Georgia and the others were taken on forest service roads outside Young Harris, also, in N GA.

 

[BigSwede]

La Sal Pass trail near Moab, UT

 

[jfj]

Great pictures of the Troopers on this topic! I did not realize that Troopers can be good expeditionary rigs until I saw the photos here. I think the common misconception here in my country is that 4x4s with IFS are not suited for offroading due to the limited articulation of the front suspension.

 

[Frank]

Great thread, in fact i want change my Samurai LWB for a Trooper, but have a question, why isn't the trooper a popular expedition vehicle? as is a Patrol, Landcruiser or a Defender??

I think Scott Bradys article on the Isuzu Trooper pretty much sums it up. http://www.expeditionswest.com/vehicles/ewvehicles/Isuzu_Trooper/index.html

This vehicle can be "paper built" for under $5000- including a vehicle. Isuzu troopers pop up on CL all of the time for very cheap.

It isn't popular because it isn't popular. It has no "status".

I miss my Isuzu Trooper very badly, a year after owning a Jeep. Read my thread, here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ooper-shot-thread?highlight=I+miss+my+trooper

I have looked at several troopers over the past few months. I am getting tired of my Jeep. Its been fun but not what my trooper was.

 

[BigSwede]

Great pictures of the Troopers on this topic! I did not realize that Troopers can be good expeditionary rigs until I saw the photos here. I think the common misconception here in my country is that 4x4s with IFS are not suited for offroading due to the limited articulation of the front suspension.

Solid axles are an advantage only for hard core rock crawling IMO. I have wheeled the above 93 RS Trooper pretty hard, including trails such as Golden Spike in Moab, with basically stock drivetrain except for gears and lockers. The only breakage I have had is a CV axle a few times, usually doing stupid stuff...but it is only a $40 or less junkyard part. Not bad for 35" tires.

It is worth noting that the Isuzu IFS is more durable than most: I have been told by very experienced wheelers that it is much stronger than a Toyota IFS system.

 

[Viggen]

Solid axles are an advantage only for hard core rock crawling IMO. I have wheeled the above 93 RS Trooper pretty hard, including trails such as Golden Spike in Moab, with basically stock drivetrain except for gears and lockers. The only breakage I have had is a CV axle a few times, usually doing stupid stuff...but it is only a $40 or less junkyard part. Not bad for 35" tires.

It is worth noting that the Isuzu IFS is more durable than most: I have been told by very experienced wheelers that it is much stronger than a Toyota IFS system.

I dont know about that one. The trail doesnt have to be "hard core" to find an advantage in a solid axle. The ability to traverse trails with camber changes without the truck bucking and jerking from corner to corner is one. The body will remain pretty level while the axle drops and comes out of holes or up and over things. On an IFS rig, drops and dips result in a nose dive.

This is my favorite Isuzu. Independent 4x's RS. 35s and built very low. I would love to have a system like this on a 4 door.

 

[BigSwede]

Yeah that thing is sweet. Wish I could afford it.

I dont know about that one. The trail doesnt have to be "hard core" to find an advantage in a solid axle. The ability to traverse trails with camber changes without the truck bucking and jerking from corner to corner is one. The body will remain pretty level while the axle drops and comes out of holes or up and over things. On an IFS rig, drops and dips result in a nose dive.

You definitely need to try some sway bar disconnects... cuts way down on the body rocking back and forth. Sway bars are nice on road but are distinctly counterproductive off road.

There's a reason high speed off-road racing trucks are IFS.

 

[stomis]

Yeah that thing is sweet. Wish I could afford it.



You definitely need to try some sway bar disconnects... cuts way down on the body rocking back and forth. Sway bars are nice on road but are distinctly counterproductive off road.

There's a reason high speed off-road racing trucks are IFS.

Yeah and the reason is that the CUSTOM long arm IFS systems used in desert trucks soak up the terrain better at high speeds when the dips may not be even left to right. That being said there are ALOT of solid axle desert trucks.

The truth of the matter is that a solid front axle rules the roost everywhere but the dessert. A coil sprung solid axle will ride just as nice on the road as IFS and offroad whether its trains, rocks mud, or what have you its more reliable, easier to upgrade, has less moving BS to break and is in general designed WAY stronger straight from the factory.

The ultimate solution is to just chop the IFS out. Anyone who plans to do ANY serious wheeling on their expedition cant trust that front end w/o carrying some serious spare parts.

 

[stomis]

The truth of the matter is there is no truth of the matter. Different strokes for different folks. In my world expo wheeling is about getting there not about climbing the biggest rock on the trail. Most expo driving world wide is on some kind of a path or road. IFS works fine and rides nice. There is a huge difference in IFS systems. The Zoo system is well designed reliable and easy to repair if needed. I do some serious wheeling in my Trooper and trust my front end completely. I do carry some spares and I can take apart and reassemble an entire ZOO front end in a couple of hours on the side of the road sitting in the dirt. But YOU should be able to do that with any front end if you wheel.

I don't jump my truck and I wheel to enjoy and survive the trip not to play king of the hill. That's for dedicated trail rigs not expo rigs.

As far as your ultimate solution I disagree. SAS has it's uses. But most IFS trucks don't SAS easily. On Zoos it puts the ride height way too high for a daily driver expo rig. You lose the ride, the COG. Custom anything is rarely as reliable as stock and parts availability "out there" can be a problem when you stray to far from stock.

Bottom line is most of the world is a gravel road. Most of the people in the world 4 wheel in old Toyota Camry's, and VWs. What we call wheeling the third world calls going to the store. Even our mildly built rigs are overkill in 95% of the situations we will ever be in.

No one solution works for everything every time. I own both an IFS truck and a solid axle truck. They both work for what I use them for and both are reliable.

And since this is a Trooper trail shot thread here are a couple more.


Zoo folks are used to being told that we can't do something in our trucks and then having to come back and pull out the person who said it after we already did!

I plan on sas'ing my trooper with 2in of suspension lift and mostly stock replacement parts except for the johnny joints on the frame end of the radius arms. Radius arms make it pretty simple to keep it low.

Big lift SAS's happen when people make leaf spring mounts with 2in pieces of tube for the front crossmember mount and then put the shackle mounts under the frame instead of in the frame on top of a spring over.