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I have a soft spot in my heart for ITOG. It was the first Trooper site I ever came across and the first one that I contributed to as a discussion board participant. Also, the people there are some of the most helpful and knowledgeable I have ever seen in an automotive discussion forum.
boxtrooper, are you changing your synthetic oil every 3,000 miles? If so, that's a pretty expensive schedule. I also wonder whether that helps your lifter noise problem any more than changing the filter at 3,000 and oil/filter both at 6,000 or so.
Bottom line: If you scratch up your hard-shell cover, just leave it alone.
I'd be comfortable buying any used Trooper, but I would look for something with some factory warranty left (less than 3 years in service and less than 50,000 miles), just to give myself a chance to get anything fixed that might crop up or that the previous owner neglected/overlooked.
It doesn't cover the wheel wells however.
I think the website is zuzoo.org, not sure. Registration for trail rides should begin soon.
For more info on the unbelievably gorgeous off-road Mecca that is Moab, try moab-utah.com.
These web pages are from memory, so I could be wrong.
So I will be driving to Denver on Sunday, and on to Moab Monday. Unless your schedule somehow coincides with this, caravan won't happen for me.
And you might decide to go through St. Louis instead of Chicago, in which case our paths won't coincide until Denver anyway. I head west on I-80 from Des Moines.
-mike
On a lighter note, I originally typed this as "I know you're not to blame, but our baby is due May 20th." I thought I better change that so that nobody thought of you as a gigolo. Paisano, male gigolo.
Jim
-Ryan
-mike
Can anyone offer an explanation as to why the handling would be improved?
A stiffer or thicker bar causes this action/reaction to transfer to the right side more and thus prop up the left more, and therefore less body roll.
Where the bar attaches to the frame, there are bushings. Normally they are rubber and quite soft. During a turn they compress therefore allowing more movement of the anti-sway bar, the poly bushings are stiffer, and give less, leading to less compression-> less movement of the bar->less body roll.
-mike
I tried the poly bushings. They make the steering wheel very sensitive to front wheel balance. Check out the http://www.gsp9700.com balancing machine. I tried going back to new rubber bushings and they are a lot better than the rubber ones I took out that had 115K on them. I might try puting just the rear poly bushings back on since the rear bushings have a lot more rubber thickness to flex than the front ones. OME springs help a lot too.
BoxTrooper
-mike
Going out and smile at my Trooper right now.
All along I knew they screwed firestone! At least now it's not just me rambling about it!
-mike
Who is a good source for factory filters? I want to order over the net if possible.
David
-mike
Who is a good source for factory filters? I want to order over the net if possible.
David
Steve
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Our Target in Fredericksburg Va also has the Mobil 1 much cheaper than Walmat, it was $2.94 a quart last time I purchased and $3.64 the time before.
As far s Mobil 1 oil and changing it so often, there's a resolution to that. I recently did the engine lifter tapping treatment with Mobil 1 0W-30. It's been in there for about 3500 miles now. I checked the dipstick last night and wiped it across a white towel. The color surprised me. It was mildly amber yellow, instead of the dark brown I expected. I compared it to the oil in my 01' which is Mobil 1 5W-30 at about 4000 miles which was considerably darker in color.
I believe you could run Mobil 1 5000 miles between changes and do the 0W-30 treatment every 15000 miles and keep the engine clean as a whistle!! I was really amazed that the 97' engine is running that clean with 61000 plus miles on it.
One caveat on this... be aware that when the lifter tapping started, I used a 1 quart Rislone engine cleaning treatment (10 minutes) before draining and installing Mobil 1 5W-30. Then a week or so later, I took it to the Dealer shop where they proceeded to drain my fresh 5W-30 and install the 0-30. Each time a new filter was installed so this engine might not be exactly indicative of a typical situation.
Happy Trooping !! ;->
Tornado used to advertise that the Boise cops use their device. I'm in Boise, so I tracked down the city shop that maintains the police cars. The guy I talked to said that Tornado sent them some units, unrequested, which they promptly threw away. Didn't seem to stop Tornado from claiming that the Boise PD used them.
Steve
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What matters now is, make SURE you have enough air in your tires, no matter what you're driving!
The DirectHits system works very well. I would definately do it again.
Here's the reason that there is some controversy about Direct Hits performance gain: There is little to gain from just adding the DirectHits units by themselves, low resistance spark plug wires and resistorless spark plugs are needed for best results, and the engine computer needs to be reset so it will learn to advance the timing to take full advantage of the DirectHits. Unsatisfied users may have simply added the DirectHits and assumed that their existing plugs and/or wires would maximize performance. These users saw only slight improvements if any at all.
If you want to try DirectHits buy the complete kit and make use of the online support on their web site. Read some testimonials there also.
http://www.directhits.com
How DirectHits work:
The DirectHits are a capacitive device designed to properly terminate the ignition wire at the plug. The performance improvement is accomplished by delivering much more of the spark energy from the coil to the spark plug. Traditional 5 KOhm resistor plugs and 5 KOhm per foot resistor wires dissipate most of the spark energy before it gets to the spark plug. The DirectHits units allow you to use 0 KOhm resistorless plugs and 0.7 KOhm per foot spark plug wires without radio interference RF noise. The resistorless plugs and low resistance wires without the DirectHits units would improve performance also, but your radio would not be working very well either would your engine computer from all the RF noise.
With DirectHits quietly delivering a lot more spark to the spark plug the fuel lights up quicker and burns more completely. At low engine RPMs there is plenty of time to burn the fuel. As the RPMs go up this quicker burning of fuel is much more important. The result is a wider torque band extending farther into the top RPMs. There is more torque at all RPMs, but it is much more noticeable at higher RPMs. I can drive it like a race car without a trailer ie shift at 5000 RPM+ pedal always to the metal between shifts much easier because the are no more bumps in the torque curve.
Where the DirectHits provide the most benefit to me is towing. My 1995 3.2L Trooper with DirectHits towing a 4000# trailer accelerates about as fast as my previous 1984 1.9L Trooper accelerated without a trailer. The reason I looked into DirectHits and synthetic oils was for towing. Before DirectHits I had to shift down from 5th to 4th on even the slightest incline such as an overpass on otherwise flat land. After DirectHits Trooper can pull every incline between here and the coast in 5th, I could actually leave it in cruise all the way for a much more relaxing trip. I also went from 9.9 MPG to 11.2 mpg towing at 70+ mph, these numbers I have checked three times before and three times after DirectHits on a route that I take often.
In addition to more power the engine sounds much smoother when loaded heavily at higher RPMs. Before DirectHits my poor little 3.2L engine was screaming at me with the gas pedal to the floor getting up to 70 mph in 4th and would lug in 5th. After the DirectHits the little 3.2L that could was sounding much more confident, and the gas pedal less often needs to go all the way down. The reason for this smoothness is that the spark energy vs time with DirectHits is much faster allowing better timing accuracy, the sparks happen quicker and with more power causing the fuel to ignite closer to the exact perfect instant saving energy and improving power while also being easier on the engine. The engine computer will advance your timing automatically to take advantage of the DirectHits, that's why the battery needs to be disconnected long enough to reset the computer when you upgrade to DirectHits.
Around town, without the trailer, the DirectHits are still an improvement. I think I am getting 1 mpg better. The quicker throttle response and better availability of power in the top RPM range make the Trooper more fun to drive.
I have been recommending DirectHits ever since I installed them in my Trooper. People have tried DirectHits and have been so happy about it that they email me to say so. I am not connected with DirectHits in any way. I do think that they are very worth while if your ignition has spark plug wires.
I am sorry about the double spaced paragraphs in the previous post. I only spaced them by one in the editor.
Thank You BoxTrooper
-mike
-mike
Happy Trooping!!
-mike