Isuzu Modifications/Aftermarket/Accessories

ppouncey

I installed a Hidden hitch last year. Bought two longer grade eight bolts to replace the too-short hidden hitch-supplied bolts for the tow hook position. Everything bolted up great, and tow hook works well, but I haven't done any snatching. Grade eight hardware has a very high failure point, so all should be OK with whatever you do.
Pat.

radman6

I'm planning a few upgrades to my new Trooper. I'd be interested to hear about others experiences in these areas.

I think my Trooper's ride is overly soft and the body roll a little excessive. I'm planning to replace the shocks first. I've had good luck with the Rancho RS-9000's on other vehicles so I thought I might try a set. Anyone else have any shock recommendations? If new shocks don't fix the whole problem - what should I try next? Bushings, sway bar, new coils?. I don't want to buy / install any more new equipment than necessary to get a reasonably firm / better controlled ride.

I'm also planning to add a hitch. Might try the Hidden hitch after reading favorable posts here. I've installed several Draw-Tites, U Hauls and other similar brands. Is the Hidden hitch as well built?

I'd like to replace the factory hood protector. The one that came with the Trooper is too flimsy - it rattles and taps on the corner of the fenders at speed. Anyone found one that works?

I also want to install some nice fog lights. Anyone have a recommendation here. I've read a couple posts on the Hellas - people seem to like them. What sort of specifications / light pattern should I be looking for and where's the best place to get a good buy on a set?

Thanks in advance for your help.

cmuniz

I installed Hella 530 on my 2000 Trooper S and they work great. Really improve lighting in fog and on curvy country roads at night. Mine were installed in the bumper cut-outs used by Isuzu for the LS fog lights. They don't fit as snug as factory ones using the standard brackets, but they are very secure, well protected and look good. If you modify the brackets (Isuzu or Hella) you might get an even better fit, but I was satisfied with the way they are installed. Irecommend them highly.

To echo other comments, replacing the front and rear speakers in the Trooper makes a huge difference in sound quality. New 6 1/2" front and 4" rear fit perfectly without any problems. Even I could do it. I would recommend getting wiring harnesses to attach the Trooper wires to the new speakers. I couldn't find any at Circuit City nor Best Buys, but I understand that Crutchfields has them. Finally, the 6 CD changer in my 2000 Trooper has never skipped under any driving conditions. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to install a CD player since it also fits nicely into the slot below the radio.

paisan

suspension: I'm planning on doing the Rancho 9000s, Old Man Emu rear coil springs, and calmini front and rear sway bars to increase the handling of my 2000 Trooper LS. I've heard great things about them and anticipate it being a vast improvement.

Lights: I swear by Hellas. They seem to have the best reflector and lens quality. I have Hella 4000 130w European Beam Driving lights mounted on my Nudge Bar. They are excellent especially upstate NY on the mountain roads.

Hitch: The hidden hitch I installed is great. I tow a 3500lb boat trailer with ease and haven't had any problems. The hidden hitch is nice because the only part you see is the reciever, everything else is tucked up under the bumper.

Check out my web-page for various vendors of lights, hitches, etc. Ken Beard over at susquehana motorsports was a great help with sorting out lighting.

-mike

http://www.iace.com/isuzu/trooper

ocelot1

hey,I found the indash six disc from isuzu for $495.00 is that a fare price? dose anyone have any suggestions on other models that would fit clean. thanks!

paisan

That's a good price, it's a very good player, less a few people complaining that it skips. The nice part is that you don't have to use an FM transfer it will actually connect to the stock head unit w/o a problem.

-mike

troopin

If it were MY money I would buy one of the new head units that plays MP3 audio. Then you could have approx 10 hours worth of music on one disc. With the money LEFT OVER I would upgrade the stock speakers and enjoy the ride. My stock unit on my 99s model was in the trash can the same day I bought the truck. I installed a middle of the road Kenwood reciever/cd player and have been happy as hell with it. I used the cubby under the stereo to install my CB. For extra discs I have a $5 holder for my visor. It is up to you but for good quality sound, ditch the stock head unit.
Troopin.

paisan

I'm not an audiophile, so if you here comments by others on audio stuff that differs from what I say, take their advice it's probably better than mine!

-mike

sbcooke

Why Rancho 9000's? Just curious. I am looking at putting in OME shocks. I don't want to lift the truck so I won't be putting the OME springs in. Also, I have a bull bar, so the guy from OME recommended N65's for the front and N15's for the rear? Are you putting exactly the same models on front and rear?

ocelot1

i'm not really an audiophile either I just want a good reliable player that dosen't skip when in the woods.

ocelot1

Thats probably to high tech for me. I usually scrouge cd's for $5 or less at the not so perfect market.

paisan

Well see, if you buy a shock that is un-adjustable, you are stuck with whatever the manufacturer feels is best for your vehicle. Not what is best for your driving styles. For instance, I do a lot of highway driving, but also do off-roading. I want the Rancho 9000s because they are adjustable. When I'm gonna be on the highway, I'll firm em up for better handling, off-road, i'll loosen em up for more wheel travel. That's the reason I want the adjustables. Also the OME springs don't raise the rear significantly if you put anything in the back (I usually have tools, full tank of gas, and sometimes a boat trailer as well as the hitch in the rear) From what I've been told the OME springs only raise it about .75-1" after taking into account extra weight added to the rear of the truck.

-mike

ppouncey

I installed OME shocks and springs in December - I'm very happy with the mild lift and ecstatic over the shocks! My understanding is this: for standard bumpers, use N26F for the front shocks and N15 for the rear. If you have a heavy steel bumper, esp. with a winch, use N65 for the front. An alternate rear shock # is N62G, requires a bushing set and is reported to be firmer; an email to ARB confirms N15 is the one to use. Since I have a stock bumper and didn't want to end up with too harsh a ride, I went with the N26F/N15 front/rear combination mounted with spring part #OME912. I have been totally satisfied with my choices.
Pat.

paisan

http://www.truckbits.co.nz/

Not sure if they'll ship to US, but most likely will.

-mike

cwmoser

paisan, I note that most all of those Troopers
have the nudge bar.

ilit

For those who are looking for a 3rd seat:

http://www.sportsrack.com/storesense/scripts/store.exe/

then go to "vehicle gear" then "steel horse" then "misc auto accessories".

ilit

Check this out. Look like you can get a genuine Trooper rails/rack that mount onto the existing holes.

http://www.4wdcars.co.uk/pages/isushow.htm

Good luck!

kfriceman

Use KYB shocks their excellant and cheap. Calmini sway bars will help greatly with the body roll. Have a technician tighten up the front torsion bars, that will reduce the nose dive under braking (The torsion bars are set soft from the factory for a cushy ride. If you look at your trooper in stock form it is raked forward from a soft torsion bar setting). Paison, give me the number for the old man emu springs.

paisan

Check on the Tennesse Off-road page on my website. They have a good cross reference for the OME springs.

http://www.iace.com/ia/trooper

-mike

serrano

Just a comment regarding torsion bars. Keep in mind that "cranking up" the torsion bars will do nothing except alter the ride height. The soft, mushy spring rate remains, so the thing will still wallow. The only fix to firm up the ride is to install torsion bars with a higher spring rate. Of course, stiffer sway bars also help, because they offer some roll resistance by transferring some of the spring load to the other side.

paisan

That's what I thought cranking up the T-bars did. I wasn't sure so I didn't post on it. But from my reading cranking them only raises or lowers the vehicle ride height.

-mike

sdc2

Well, I think cranking up the ride height does place a little more static tension on the springs (torsion bars), but the spring RATE is still the same...

troopin

I have cranked the torsion bars on my 99. I did it to achive a slight lift. I have 3in spacers on the rear coils and cranked the torsion bars on the front to achieve a quick and cheap lift. I think it was about 9 turns to lift 2.5-3in.

A couple of points to consider.

#1 lifting truck with t-bars only adjusts ride height. The suspension will only go down so far. So if you lift with the bars you start to limit travel.

#2 Adjusting t-bars will REQUIRE a new alignment.When the suspension moves the camber moves.

#3 On MY 99 I did not notice any real change in ride quality.

Good luck and happy tweaking.
Troopin.

raydahs

Those pics are awsome, your rig looks great
with the 3" lift, what size rims and tires are on it?

troopin

I went with 32x11.50 on 15 inch rims . I chose this for two reasons. The non metric tires are 20-30 $ cheaper per tire. The 15x8 alloy rims are an inch wider than stock and only cost $60 a piece. For a total of $120 more than just a set of offroad tires I now have 2 sets of tires and rims. Use the stock for loooong highway trips and the BFG's for general use and offroad. If you think your Trooper is tough now, put on a set of BFG all terrain's and have fun pulling out all the stuck Explorers! We have little 4x4 club here in Iceland and by far the BFG AT is the tire of choice. It handles sand and snow better than anything else. If you have to deal with a lot of mud I would recomend the mud terrain. Everywhere else this tire rules!
Another bonus of this package is the wider rim allows serious airing down. For the uninformed you can air down to 10-15 psi in snow and sand to improve traction. It allows the tire to sqat and float over the soft stuff. When we went on the glacier I was running 8psi! If you try this just drive slower and make sure to air up before you hit the road. I'll stop rambling now

Later Tom.

sbcooke

I was able to drop the pressure in my stock tires to 12 lbs for deep sand driving without a problem. I was even able to drive over pavement to the gas station to get air. It was a little wobbly on the pavement and I went slow, but not a problem. Wider tires would definitely help in the sand, but I think taller is probably best for most snow driving (over pavement).

gpm5

Mike, where did you get your new bulbs--these are hella bulbs?--I think you said they were $25? Is that for the pair? Are these both the high + low beam in one bulb? Are these guaranteed not to 'burn-up' the wiring? What do you think about the Xenon bulbs?

paisan

I have Hella Optilux 80/100w 9004s They aren't guaranteed to not burn up the wires, but so far 6 months no problems. I got em from susquehana motorsports, talked to Ken Beard over there. These have Xenon gas in em. They are much better than stock, but the Hella 4000s make a big difference. http://www.iace.com/isuzu/trooper/hella4000.html Link to susquehana motorsports page at http://www.iace.com/isuzu

-mike

gpm5

Those are a combination bulb right?--i.e. you plug one straight in on the headlight for both beams.

paisan

Yes 9004s have a highbeam and low beam in one unit.

-mike

raydahs

I found this on Susquehana's site.

In October/November, the quality of the Optilux bulbs fell below the high standards that HELLA demands. The manufacturer shut down their production lines to rebuild and recalibrate the line to introduce a new, higher level of manufacturing quality and quality assurance testing. We are no longer selling this line of bulbs until the New Optilux bulbs are available and have undergone a much more rigorous quality testing process.

I am now told by Hella that the Optilux Bulbs will not ship until after the first of the year. That means I won't have them to ship to you until the second week in January. There is a small chance they could ship earlier, but I wouldn't count on it. I would just as soon Hella and the manufacturer take their time to make sure the bulbs are right this time!! Bookmark this page because when I start shipping, I will change this message.

Regards, Ken

Might be worth waiting for?

paisan

I've tried all kinds of bulbs:

PIAAs, Cheapo Blues, Hellas, Phillips, etc. etc.

I've found the Hellas to be the highest quality, longest lasting of the bunch. Especially for Auxiliary Driving lights, i've found them to be far better than any stuff you can get at pep boys or JC Whitney.

IMHO wait for the new Hellas.

-mike

raydahs

Don't know if this has been discussed previously.
I needed to change wiper blades recently, the dealer wants $15.00/ea. (wiper assy not just the
rubber). Go to NAPA and get p/n 60-020-1 EXACT FIT
blades, 8.00/ea. both were installed in 5 min. they work really good.

paisan

I think I need to get replacements for mine, especially the rear. I think I'm gonna get some winter ones, since I actually noticed that they got frozen up on a few occasions.

-mike

lovingpc

I was MUCHO disappointed with the stock blades that came on my 2K Trooper. They chattered a lot, especially when it was raining lightly. Even using intermittent it was bad. I swapped out the whole assembly with some mid-range blades from Kmart (of all places) that have done better. The back blade also chatters, but I haven't figured out the size, etc for replacement. It's smaller, I think, so it may be more difficult. I think it's the rubber or silicone material that determines if the blade glides or skips on the glass.

Also a gripe, the washer fluid refill opening in the back door is impossible to hit without a funnel. I had to go to Target and buy a funnel set. Minor observation of mine.

Still enjoying the troop approaching 15K miles.

Andy

sdc2

I tried to put a snow blade on the rear, but I could not raise the arm enough to get it off, due to the spare tire! Apparently I will have to take the spare off to change the rear wiper. :-(

gpm5

I want to change mine too. Taking off the spare sounds like alot. Is it possible to turn on the wiper with the ignition in the electrical system on position and then cut the key off to get it to stop at the top of its travel?

troopin

troopin

I had the snow blades on the front and did NOT like them. Whenever I would meet oncoming traffic th blades would jump off the glass. (right when my window was full of mud). I went back to some cheap Anco blades and have been pretty happy.

Troopin.

bluedevils

Actually it's not that tough, and that's coming from a guy who is TERRIBLE with a wrench (or a screwdriver, or pliers, etc.)! After 20 minutes of frustration trying to remove and reinstall the spare tire cover once, I am now "good" at it-- I can get the cover off or on in 1-2 minutes. Once the cover is off, unbolting the wheel from the rear mount requires no great skill. But there might be enough clearance to change the rear wiper blade/assembly with the cover removed and the tire still mounted.

The reason I got familiar with the spare tire cover and tire was so I wouldn't have to struggle with it as much if I ever got a flat.

gpm5

I was able to take the hard shell off in 2-3 minutes to check the air in the tire. The salesman this past summer acted like it was a big deal so I was prepared for that but it was very easy. If the blade can go on with the cover off that would be relatively easy.

atltrooper1

OK, maybe not perfect but close! I've been reading this board for a while but have not posted. Thanks to all for the great info I have recieved so far...

I have a 99 Trooper, stock height and P255/70/16s. My goals were to get the on-road stability improved without sacrificing off-road performance. For my needs I also decided that I wanted a stock ride height. I put on Edlebrock IAS and poly swaybar bushings, which made a substantial improvement; still wanted more. I found a pair of Calmini bars that a guy just didn't like. I installed the front only. Based on his claim of excessive stiffness in the rear I left the stock rear bar with poly bushings. I then installed a set of the Airlift 1000 airbags inside the rear coils. On the installation I chose the dual airline feed so as to add a bit of roll control to the body rather than forcing the air out of the low side; bag and into the high side bag.

Results WOW! The Trooper is just as normal a driving vehicle as there ever was, the ride is terrific, suspension movements well controlled and body roll is minimal. I use approx. 10lbs of air in the bags (range is 5-35) and carry 50lbs of gear. With medium loads (4 adults + the 50lbs of gear) 20 lbs is awesome. I would suggest that the IAS's run out of steam with a couple of hundred lbs and 4 big folks. Ranchos, KYBs etc. might be a better choice if you load down heavy. When pushed in the turns the Trooper has a bias towards understeer (although not excessive), which is good. A wagging tail suddenly regaining traction could be catastrophic considering the CG. I suspect the addition of the Calmini bar in the back may bias it towards oversteer and it would certainly hurt the ride. The other really nice thing is there is no appreciable loss of articulation in the rear and only a small loss in the front (i.e. still cool as anything off-road).

For those of you searching for a great set-up I would say at the very least do the shocks, bushings and Airlift. The Airlift is awesome even if you don;t load down heavy! Hope this is of interest.

Chris L.

randers3

Had my 2000 Trooper one month when I realized the factory wiper blades had to go. Went to Checkers and bought the Bosch Excel Premium blades. Best one that I have seen. Well worth the $ 11.00 per blade.

sdc2

I like snow blades on the rear, they don't ice up as easy and seem to last longer. On the rear there is no problem with wind lift as described by troopin.

I also have winter blades on front too, but I stick with Trico brand...Anco is OK to, but there are a lot of crappy blades out there too.

I tried to engage the wiper and stop it partway, but there still wasn't room to lift the arm. I also took the spare cover off, but that didn't help because there is a plastic back plate behind the tire that is really the problem.

After a couple of tries I can get the spare cover off in a matter of seconds. Just get your fingertips behind the lip and yank it towards you, pulling from both sides near the bottom - it's not as fragile as you might think!

I don't worry about it anyway, because soon I won't be able to use the cover when I get bigger tires...

ilikeike

Hello all,

Just got a new Trooper and would like to install racks to the hardware under the plastic roof inserts.

Before I start prying the plastic strips off of my roof, does anybody have advice on how to remove them without damage?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Koert

gpm5

From comments here (Isuzu trooper 98-2000 parts III and IV) previously there is not any hardware under the strips and there may not be any pre-drilled holes. There may be some sort of indentation on the metal indicating spots for drilling holes but many have been reluctant to start drilling into their roof.

troopin

I put a safari style on my 99. I just poppped the rubber strip off. It comes off pretty easily. The holes are fairly easy to find. Get a picture of a troop with a rack and look very carefully. once you have found the taped over holes you just pop throught the tape with a knife an bingo, beautifull factory anchor nuts. It sounds much harder than it is. Just remember to seal the bolts you use. you will need to trim the rubber/aluminun strip to put it back on. a razor blade and tin spips do just fine. This worked on the 99. Your milage may vary.

You can see a troop and where the brackets go. I used this setup.

click the following:
www.overlander.com
products
Trooper 1992 and up (also Acura SLX)
Aluminum Expedition Racks

Good luck: Troopin.

pat_pending

Paisa-

On your advice, I am putting in Hell 100w fog light bulbs.

First, wow, is the plastic case around the rear of the lamp brittle! I think I had broken the latch in about 30 seconds, which may be a record for me!

Second, the electrical connection was too loose with the new bulb, and I had to use pliers to squeeze the female half of the connection to make a secure fit.

Finally, how on earth are you supposed to get the rubber cover back onto the rear of the bulb assembly? Maybe it would be easier at 70 degrees than at 35 degrees, but that sucker simply will not go back on. (It might have helped if I hadn't started the job at sundown, and if I had more time.)

Any suggestions? Helpful tools?

Thanks.

-PA

pat_pending

In my above message, I had written:

"Paisan", not "Paisa"

"Hella," "not Hell"

and

"PP," not "PA". The spell checker said that the words would be replaced unless I pulled down the "From Text Box" button from the menu. Which I DID.

Whatever.

paisan

I had similar difficulties, although they weren't quite as bad since I did it on a nice sunny warm June early afternoon saturday

I pushed on the connector by hand as far as I could get it to go, and the same with the boots. I was a little worried about the boots not being as snug as stock, but I've had em on since June and the bulbs/reflectors are all fine, and I've used em all winter here in the Northeast with much wet salt on the roads w/o a problem. Also driven through 1-2' of snow with it and not had a leakage problem into the reflector area.

-mike