Isuzu Trooper

sdc2 · July 2002

I look at the Xterra as similar to my old 88 Pathfinder. Body on frame, 3.0 liter engine (or thereabouts), automatic hubs. Mechanically it is relatively old-school for an SUV, which I actually see as a good thing. Today's Pathfinder is a luxury unibody not for serious off-road use.

I haven't driven an Xterra, or even sat in one, but would consider one if in the market. But it won't beat the Trooper in size and interior volume for the dollar, not even close.

In terms of off-road capability, these are both pretty capable vehicles, I wouldn't sweat it either way.

bsmart1 · July 2002

finding those chassis drawings posted on this board a month or two back. Someone had scanned pictures out of a Trooper Maintenance Manual and set up a link to look at them. The ones I'm particularly interested in were of the chassis, drive train, front end suspension and rear suspension. Anybody know where those are?? About what message # they were posted with??
Happy Trooping!!

wheels13 · July 2002

A listener phoned in to CLICK & CLACK with a problem with her Trooper and they couldn't stop laughing. It sounded like the Trooper could be compared to a YUGO in the reliability department. Said they were expensive to repair and never last 100,000 miles.

paisan · July 2002

Cause for those in the know we can pick up used ones dirt cheap!

-mike

keepontroopin · July 2002

I downloaded the PDFs for the front and rear suspension so send me an e-mail and I will send them to you. chapla.t@mellon.com

ryanendres · July 2002

http://www.jatdesign.net/

I came across this link on another board. I know it has been discussed here before. This company looks like a US based one. It has seats for the Trooper and Rodeo.

-Ryan

tkevinblanc · July 2002

Click & Clack were hard her 1986 (I think) Trooper. They discussed mostly problems with the engine. They said they didn't know about the new Trooper. In fact, I think they told her to go by a new Trooper and that she'd be love it.

As usual, they were funny and disrespectful of anything that wasn't Toyota or Honda.

savvas_e · July 2002

Guys ... I was at a dealer on Sunday, looking at the HSV GTS. I had a wander over to one of the latest Jackaroos and realised that Australia doesn't get the same V6 setup as North America.

On Mike's web site, I noticed a Trooper that had been pulled out of water on a recent trip, that the dressing on the top of the inlet manifolds is different to ours and that there is no throttle cable. With my 2000 Monterey, the top of the inlet manifolds are visible and we have a throttle cable. However, it was only last Sunday that I noticed the new V6 models are the same as mine.

Interesting!

paisan · July 2002

The ones of Sean's? His is a '98? There are also pics of a 4-banger Amigo we pulled out too.

Maybe you guys didn't get the grade-logic and the Drive-by wire?

-mike

paisan · July 2002

To the Aftermarket section in the owner's club I'm gonna post some pics of my side bars, mud flaps, T-bar install and K40 CB antenna.

-mike

bsmart1 · July 2002

thanks for the response to the request for pictures of the chassis and suspension. I have emailed you my email address from home. I appreciate your offer to send those.
Happy Trooping!!!

boxtrooper · July 2002

What holds them on? My 1995.5 does not have them, the 2002s all have them.
Thank You
BoxTrooper

paisan · July 2002

I think they are rivited on or something. They are on pretty good. I tore off my mud flaps which had plastic rivits holding them in.

-mike

boxtrooper · July 2002

After a decade or two, if the plastic fender flairs get to looking bad, I wonder if they could be removed and the metal fenders made to look nice without the plastic. I hope the fenders are just held on with double side sticky tape and when the plastic is dead they just fall off leaving nice clean metal fenders.

savvas_e · July 2002

This is a Diesel Jacakroo without flares. This how we had them until 2001...

I've read quite a few complaints from owners of the newer models about chipping on the flares. Interestingly, mine hasn't got the flares and has suffered no chipping at all.

Also, drive-by-wire and grade logic. I don't think we have got them in any model. Mine definitely doesn't have grade logic and according to the VIN, it's classed as a 2000 model.

beer47 · July 2002

Flares are held on by plastic clips. Cheers!

silverghost · July 2002

for the results of installing polyeurathane sway bar bushings on my '01 Trooper LS 2WD.

Dave

boxtrooper · July 2002

How difficult is it to remove the fender flairs? How difficult is it to reinstall the fender flairs?

In case there is not a good supply of replacement flairs, is the metal fender below the flairs painted to match the rest of the body?

cracovian · July 2002

Since SLX = Trooper I'm sure any SLX owner would not have a problem if they brought the car into Isuzu dealership. What do you guys think would happen if I took the Trooper to an Acura dealership for some minor maintenance or other non-warranty repair? Has anyone tried to do it successfully? With the shrinking Isuzu dealer network it'd be good to find out. Thanks!

breakor · July 2002

I took off and reinstalled a rear flare over a year ago on a 1999 Trooper. IIRC there were 1 or 2 bolts.
However there was also a series of fasteners that appeared to be riveted (or glued?) in place. In any event, I couldn't figure out how to simply release them. Instead, I drilled the center of them out and the trim piece pulled off.
I guess I could have put pop-rivets back in the drilled fastener locations. However, I choose to go back with bolts. Now, if I want to remove the trim I can easily do it with a wrench as all the fasteners have bolt heads.

sdc2 · July 2002

Sounds reasonable to me, I can't see why an Isuzu dealer wouldn't work on an SLX or Passport for non-warranty work...

bluedevils · July 2002

I'm sure they would do the non-warranty or maintenance work, but Acura dealers probably aren't experts in the SLX since it was sold for such a short time and in such small numbers. Plus it's not a true Acura, so it doesn't share any parts with the other Acuras.

Finding an Acura dealer with a knowledgeable SLX/Trooper mechanic is probably a longshot.

toddontod · July 2002

Purchased a '99 Trooper (red on silver, $13k, 47K mi.) two weeks ago - after reading all your messages. Already took to dealer (tranny electric shift switch and cig lighter 'missile'). I'm looking for good price on RS 9000's and a skid plate for gas tank (hung lower than a bull), any suggestions? Also - extended warranty offered by Auto Advantage (admin by Pro-Guard, underwritten by Newport Mutual - will go 6.5 yr/150K bumper to bumper) - any experiences?

Advance thanks for all the help.

toddontod · July 2002

Forgot one other item - Calmini makes a 2nd gen airfilter. Claims 8-10% improvement over stock. Does anyone have one? What kind of mileage? I'm one of those mileage 'downgraders' - 13.5 city and 17 highway - and its lame!

tidester · July 2002

any suggestions?

Yes. Get rid of the bull. There is a move afoot to tax beef. :-)

Seriously, congrats on the new to you Trooper!

tidester
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SUVs; Aftermarket & Accessories

paisan · July 2002

The tank already has a skid plate. No need for another one. I've dragged mine over boulders etc.

Calmini is IMHO not the best aftermarket place around. Their customer service is a bit lacking. Anyway 8-10% is a bit optimistic. With an exhaust combined maybe 8%. If you plan to offroad I wouldn't get one of their intakes as the stock setup is the best for dust/water resistance. Get a K&N drop-in filter and you'll be good.

Be sure to check out http://isuzu-suvs.com and send us pics for the gallery!

-mike

paisan · July 2002

Will only drop down fuel economy further.

-mike

boxtrooper · July 2002

I test drove a TOD Trooper today. The manual one they said they had a few days ago was sold. I was very impressed by the auto trans shifting to the right gear at the right time without lagging behind the engine or causing excessive torque converter slip between gears. I was watching the tack. The RPMs drop if my foot is completely off the gas pedal more than just maintaining speed with the gas pedal, I think the brake pedal also prevents the freewheeling. Anyway I did not get the feeling of falling when going down slight hills like I do with the minivan automatic when it is in overdrive. I could live with that automatic transmission. I like how it downshifts when floored for passing and uses the full RPM range of the engine right up to 5800 RPM. I still want to wait for the next manual Trooper to come in in a week or two to drive a 2002 5 speed. The engine power 215 Hp and 230 torque at 3000 rpm seemed nearly the same as on my manual 1995.5 Trooper 185 hp. Maybe that's because it is very hard to compare auto to manual transmissions for engine power.

The 2002 Trooper-S is the only model without moonroof and it also does not have the power folding feature on the power adjustable mirrors. That always seemed a silly thing to have, but I want it on my Trooper as a show off item.

The 2002 Trooper-S drivers seat is maunal adjutable for height and tilt of the seat bottom in addition to the regular tilt backrest and it does not go any farther back than my 1995. Oh, the 2002 has armrests.

Other than that I felt like I was driving my own Trooper. The 2002 stock suspension seemed much better than I expected at not being too soft.

If I get a 2002 I need to add the third row seat, roof rack, trailer "Hidden" hitch. I can apply my experience from having done these things on the 1995.5. Maybe after a while I would also get the EMU rear springs and poly bushings and better shocks and and and ... Getting a new Trooper would delay my getting the ECB front bumper quite a while.

boxtrooper · July 2002

I am going to look into having some small custom clamps made. If lots of you Trooper owners want some too please let me know.

Here's how the roof rack would work:
Take to long Thule bars and use the custom clamps to bolt them side by side 3/8 to 1/2 inch apart on the three Overlander brackets. This will creat parallel bars on each side. Next use the same custom clamps another way to hold Thule or Yakima cross bars down to the parallel bars. The clamps would be easy to loosen with two bicycle style lever lock bolts like the ones that quick release the wheels off the bikes.

The advantage: Moveable bars so they can be wherever they need to be front to back of the roof. Easy to use same brackets and swap to longer crossbars. Easy to mount and dismount the expedition type luggage racks.

And it would look better and be quieter than the permanent crossbars.

Down side: Four extra Thule bars adding weight to the roof. They are not all that heavy. I think using Thule is better than an aluminum extrusion because it will not have a galvanic corosion problem being mounted to steel brackets and they will look nice and they are readilly available at REI and lots of stuff can clamp to Thule bars.
Thank You
BoxTrooper

paisan · July 2002

Good writeup. Glad to hear an MT driver is impressed by an AT. The Grade Logic really works well. My guess is that the 3.5 v. 3.2 is due to the MT v. AT as well as the newer one probably weighing more than the old one.

-mike

paisan · July 2002

I'd like to find an OEM style roof rack for my Troopa. The kind like are on the Rodeo etc.

-mike

paisan · July 2002

I think my Trooper has done more miles towing this month than non-towing! Did a 200 mile trip with my cousin's 2700lb boat trailer, 400 miles with my buddy's 2.5RS on a flatbed trailer weighing in at 5500lbs, and yesterday did about 30 miles towing my buddy's SAAB 9000 on a dolly weighing in at about 3700lbs. + 500lbs of gear in my troopa.

Once again the Trooper towed it well no power or handling issues. The big issue was the no-brakes on the trailer. It was not as fun to drive as the un-braked boat trailer or the braked flatbed. While not totally out of control, rush hour in NYC with it was interesting cause I did need extra stopping distance.

I think it's time to get the ATF fluid replaced, it deserves it

-mike

harhir · July 2002

I have a 2001 Trooper and I like the TOD system a lot. Also the auto trans is ok, although I am not a big fan automatic transmissions. They should offer the TOD with 5 speed. Unfortunately they removed the electronic Climate Control in the 2002 S-Version. Mine still has it. And I love it.
I think I was lucky to get a 2001 model, because all 2002 LS and LTD come with the moonroof which which does not leave enough headroom for people like me. Overall the Trooper is a really good car.
The only big problem is the the uncomfortable driver seat for large people like me. I am 6'5". I finally replaced mine with an aftermarket seat. I customzed the seat adaptors and have now almost 1' more head and 3" more leg clearance. Now it is perfect.

paisan · July 2002

Most AWD systems other than the Viscous center diffy ones require the AT. I don't think I know of any electronic AWD systems that don't have an AT requirement.

I love the auto climate on my '00

Luckily I'm short enough that the moonroof is great!

-mike

boxtrooper · July 2002

Do you guys think the automatic climate control will stand the test of time? I have a friend that collects old mercedes and the auto climate controls often are old and broken and he has a lot of work to do just to regain any control at all of the climate control system.

Is there a manual mode on the Trooper automatic climate control?

What do you love about it?

Thank You

cracovian · July 2002

I just noticed that Overlander.com has pretty good discounts on ALL accessories until the end of July. You can see the actual price of each item after you add it into your shopping cart.

Some Examples:
WAAG Rear Bumper Guard - $188.1
WAAG Tubular Side Step set - $215.1
JAOS Stainless Steel Center Protector R - $539.1

paisan · July 2002

But the waag rear bumper guard is a ripoff. It's really cheesy material. For $130 you can get a good one from matt at independent 4x custom made for the trooper. http://independent4x.com

The steps are a good price, but don't plan on offroading with them intact.

Jaos stuff is always a rip cause it's stainless so they rape you on the prices.

-mike

paisan · July 2002

It does have a manual mode, but it's still electronically controlled rather than manual controlled. I think it will stand the test of time hopefully.

-mike

bawbcat · July 2002

Paisan,
I've also been looking for an OEM-style roof rack for the Twoopa. It's strange that one isn't included as standard equipment, like on pretty much every other SUV or station wagon on the planet. Haven't found anything yet though. If you find a source, please let us know.

paisan · July 2002

Cerami Isuzu up on rte 17 in Ramsey, NJ one of these days. I've ran across a few troopers that rolled out of their shop with OEM-style racks on 98->00 Troopers.

They stopped the racks so that people wouldn't load up the rack with 500lbs of stuff, roll over their trooper and then sue Isuzu.
Thank you lawyers.

-mike

cracovian · July 2002

paisan - I wouldn't mind getting a good rear bumper guard for $130 but http://independent4x.com don't seem to have it... They do have the DRAWTITE RECEIVER HITCH for $139.99 but I don't think that's the part you were talking about.

Do you have any URLs? Also, where did you get your front bumper guard? Any direct links would be great. Thanks!

tkevinblanc · July 2002

For those who might be interested, the Sportrack Frontier bike rack will go right into the 2" hidden hitch, is solid, clears the spare tire, and is inexpensive.

Clearing the spare tire is no small feat I haven't found any other rack that will do it without an expensive extender. I really didn't want to spend $250 for a rack that I would use only occasionally.

I bought it at Performance Bikes for $99. I believe Nashbar sells the same rack with their name on it. Anwyay, it was cheap, easy and is very solid.

paisan · July 2002

No problemo. I had my rear bumper guard made by matt @ indy. It was my idea and I went to him and asking him to fab it up. Here are pics of the 2 versions.

Version 1:

http://isuzu-suvs.com/images/rearbar.html

That one was about $130, made out of 2"x2" 1/4" steel tubing painted with griptape on top and level with the rear step in the bumper, he'd probably make it wider or further out if you wanted also.

Version 2:

I think these are about $200ish and use 2"x4" 1/4" steel and has an integrated tow-hook that is removable.

It's not listed on his page but if you e-mail him he'll get you a price.

-mike

keepontroopin · July 2002

How did you modify your seat? Can you please give us a little more detail?

keepontroopin · July 2002

Funny you mention Cerami in NJ. I was skiing out at Vail this year and I ran into a girl who had the same TROOPER as I and it had a rack. I asked her where she got it and she said that her dealer (Cerami) put it on because she wouldn't buy it unless they did. I took a fairly close look at it and overall it seemed like they did a good job. I would guess that it probably had maybe a 100lb weight limit. I would guess that it would be fine for bikes and skiis and other doo-dads, but I would be skeptical putting my Yakima rocket box on it fully loaded.

paisan · July 2002

I'd only be using it for carrying wood stuff that doesn't fit in the truck. It's probably rated at 150lbs like ever other rack that is OEM.

-mike

cwmoser · July 2002

Paisan, I am interested in reading posts about towing with the Trooper as I am looking to purchase a Travel Trailer. You guys think that, with proper hitch, I should be OK pulling say a 4,000 lb trailer?

paisan · July 2002

What type of roads will you be towing on?

From my experience, a properly loaded, braked and weight distributing hitch would yield a 4K travel trailer pretty good. Is that 4K dry? or 4K total? I towed a car-trailer at 5500lbs several 100 miles w/o issue without a weight distributing hitch. This was doing 70-75 mph sustained. Had it been a weight distributing, it would have been even better!

-mike

boxtrooper · July 2002

Thule and Yakima have rail or track roof rack mounts. They mount to the roof sheet metal just like OEM roof racks. I would use the highest quality blind side bolts so it stays up there and measure to make sure the two tracks are parallel since the roof of the Trooper is wider in the front than in the rear. Then you just use the standard parts that mount to the track.

cwmoser · July 2002

Be nice to have a data base of Trooper hauling experiences. I have not seen any Troopers towing a travel trailer but I would think our 5,000 lb capacity would accomodate some of the smaller trailers. I would be interested in something that the Trooper V6 can handle going up moderate mountain roads and interstate highways without damaging the engine and drivetrain.

Isuzu Trooper

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