[hessmess]

I had missed this, glad it worked out. I have twisted a few off myself, last one was the bolt holding the vibration dampener on. It's still there, the engine isn't. Yes the one in the crank.

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Making progress and of course have some questions.

I have the engine pretty much put together. Just waiting on a couple iTec hoses from Jerry to finish it up. It will never be easier to get at those hoses than it is right now. It is going to get a new EGR. I also replaced the coolant temp sender and sensor. New igniter too.

Just trying to turn back the clock on older parts. The new ground straps came in. I wanted to change them while I had easy access to them.

While I am waiting on parts, I thought I would get the tires going. I was originally going to go with the 31x10.5 like I have seen on many fella's rigs. They look great. But I only have the 15x6 steel wheels (and I have 9 of them :roll: ) Dick Hess had stopped by to check out the project and clued me in to the fact that the thin wheels might be too thin for 10.5's. So I ordered 30 x 9.5 BFGs. I plan on some road trips this summer in Thunderbolt and thought they would have better on-road manners.

When I pulled the wheels off, I noticed the studs are chowdered. Two of them are actually chewed to a taper. On the other side, the rotor is deeply gouged. So it looks like now I am going to have to get into a brake rebuild. It never ends sometimes. I just want to drive this dang thing. But I also want it to stop. There is no way to get those studs out without removing the hub is there? And then does it become a situation where you might as well replace the wheel bearings too? Project creeping...

Before I order all new brake parts, I thought this might be a good time for the big brake upgrade. I have read a couple threads on it. It seems the trick is to just take everything you see from an older Rodeo? Is that right? I think the UPS guy thinks I am keeping RockAuto in business by myself. Would appreciate a little direction here. The junk yards have a couple 92 Rodeos, a 95 Rodeo and a couple 98 Rodeos. What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.

 

[giusedtobe]

Wow I'm glad you are documenting this. I have all my wheels off for brake work too. Mine are standard and seemed to stop just fine before the failure so I'm not sure the upgrade is needed but others can chime in. I do need a few new studs as well and probably should change them all. Will be watching for pics or your tires as I need new ones and have the standard steel wheels as well.

BTW super jealous of the lift! :mrgreen:

 

[itsmehb]

On the brake upgrade, which I have not done, only researched it. If I remember correctly, the Rodeo must be a V6 and not the 4. I went to a junk yard a few years ago and the used rotors were not much cheaper than new ones. If I ever get around to doing mine, I'll probably just get the backing plates and caliper brackets used, and get the rest new from say, Rockauto.

 

[hessmess]

Looking at the pictures, I am concerned about the lugnuts you show. They are not the right kind for your wheels, where is the taper? The only reason this jumps out at me is I took some wheels off a Mitsubishi and it took those kind of lugnuts, stock trooper nuts were not right.
I have never done the big brake either but have looked at it some time ago, I may even of obtained the parts but never installed. I would have to agree with the others. I would go ahead and get the backing plates from the Rodeo and then order calipers and rotors and brakes new.
Wheel bearings, I would just clean and inspect and then repack. If one shows some damage then of course replace. Look at the rubber brake lines too, replace if cracked.
Keep up on the great work and documentation, sure enjoyed visiting with you.
Dick

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Wow I'm glad you are documenting this. I have all my wheels off for brake work too. Mine are standard and seemed to stop just fine before the failure so I'm not sure the upgrade is needed but others can chime in. I do need a few new studs as well and probably should change them all. Will be watching for pics or your tires as I need new ones and have the standard steel wheels as well.

BTW super jealous of the lift! :mrgreen:

Thanks bud. I like the lift. I wish I had it when I was younger. One nice thing about this one is it is designed to moved out of the way when painting or what not. It will come with me to the new shop wherever that may be.

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Looking at the pictures, I am concerned about the lugnuts you show. They are not the right kind for your wheels, where is the taper? The only reason this jumps out at me is I took some wheels off a Mitsubishi and it took those kind of lugnuts, stock trooper nuts were not right.
I have never done the big brake either but have looked at it some time ago, I may even of obtained the parts but never installed. I would have to agree with the others. I would go ahead and get the backing plates from the Rodeo and then order calipers and rotors and brakes new.
Wheel bearings, I would just clean and inspect and then repack. If one shows some damage then of course replace. Look at the rubber brake lines too, replace if cracked.
Keep up on the great work and documentation, sure enjoyed visiting with you.
Dick

Hi Dick,
Great seeing you too. Here is another pic of those ruined studs.

I have a couple new ones from Raybestos, but I didn't plan on replacing all of them. This is what RockAuto had. Guess I will have to order more.

These were the lugnuts on there. They have a taper, but are nothing special. Probably should replace the whole bunch, eh?

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Ha. Do you think cobwebs are nature's way of saying you should rebuild the brakes?

 

[BoiseTrooper]

While I am waiting on all the new brake parts to make it through shipping, I decided to take a walk through the junkyard and saw an '89 Amigo had been added to the yard. I think I was the first vulture on the carcass and snagged some parts. A set of four 15x7 snowflakes, the air duct piece the goes across the rocker cover (with no cracks unlike my current one), the 2.6 thermal valve, the seats (dirty but they are in better shape the ones in Thunderbolt now; anyone running Amigo seats in a Trooper? Good? Bad?) and some AISIN manual hubs. It was a good day. I had been planning on trying to make those other black Dodge Caravan seats work but they are not bolted to the slide rails like most seats (they are stamped rivets) and would have required more grinding and messing around with. Unfortunately have recently had some big life changes occur and will be moving out of this shop in the near future, so I am trying to finish things up instead of embarking on new projects. I am sure many can relate to that feeling.

update: The Amigo seats don't fit. That didn't take long. Tried to move the brackets over and saw the Amigo has uneven welded mounting points. Win some, lose some. At least they were cheap.

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Time for an update.

I have been hammering on this thing trying to get it back together. I am going to have to sell my shop and want to get things done before I lose access to the lift. I feel like I am on one of those car shows where they scramble to get ready for SEMA or something.

I rebuilt much of the suspension and the brakes. New wheel bearings, all new wheel studs, rotors, calipers, brake lines, shoes, shocks, ball joints, swapped out the autolock hubs for AISIN manuals, new poly sway bar bushings and end links, geoff in bc's HD tie-rod mod and new tires. I painted the stock wheels white. They were pretty roughed up. The old ball joints had all the resistance of an Atari joystick. I can't help but think it will drive nicer after all this. And I even thought it drove pretty ok before.

I reinstalled the rear sway bar and installed new oil seals into the axles. Then all new rear brakes as well.

Next up is the clutch, putting the engine back in and getting it rolling on its own power.

Hope everyone out there is doing well.
-Curtis

 

[dankly1]

Hey Curtis, great build!

I'm in Meridian and could definitely come over and give you a hand if you need help wrapping things up. Just PM me if you'd like.

Cheers
Alex

 

[hessmess]

Good to see the update, nice work! I haven't started on my front locker, dang weather never stays warm enough to get me out there!

 

[giusedtobe]

Wow, you've done a lot of work! A lot of it stuff I need to do Lol. Nice score on the thermal valve, and manual lockers too.

I was wondering what the steel wheels would look like in white. Thanks for blazing the trail, on the seats too. Looks to me like the later gen one trooper seats from the LS are nicer if you can find them.

Sorry to hear you gotta lose the lift.

Regards,
Alan

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Got the brush guard and custom front emblem installed. New front bumper and replaced the rusty driver headlight.

Getting close to putting the engine back in but ran into another snag.

The manual says to replace the flywheel bolts when changing the clutch. The ones I pulled out seem to be Class 12.9, M10x1.25 pitch, 45mm long flange head bolts.

I cannot find them anywhere or online! Anyone have any suggestions? I tried Fastenal and Tacoma Screw etc. There were plenty of Class 10.9 bolts or some Class 12.9 M10's with the courser pitch of 1.5. Or some with the correct size and pitch but with the socket type head instead of 17mm flange. But none matching what I took out.

Would the Class 10.9 be suitable?

Much appreciated.

 

[aidan7777]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The combined strength of around 6 or so high tensile bolts + the alignment pins should be far, far in excess of the loads they're going to face on the end of your engine. Torque em' to spec and you'll probably be okay. :wink:

 

[hessmess]

I would have to agree, I have reused those bolts numerous times, never an issue. I actually didn't know the FSM called for a replacement of the bolts.

 

[giusedtobe]

I would have to agree, I have reused those bolts numerous times, never an issue. I actually didn't know the FSM called for a replacement of the bolts.

Same. I reused mine but granted its only gone about 2000 miles since rebuild.

BTW with that emblem I thought at first glance you'd got a hold of one of the old round eye grills.

 

[Enemigo]

I just replaced the clutch and flywheel on my '99 and ran into the same issue with the manual calling to replace the bolts. I had to call an Acura dealer and the bolts were a week out. The manual says that the torque for those bolts is something like 30 ft/lbs, so I just reused them.

 

[takemehome4LOroads]

Hi, nice thread and nice Trooper!

Looks like belmetric.com has some. They have 12 pt. heads though.

I will need to do that sound deadening if it helps with the cabin temperature. I felt like I was roasting when it was around 95F going down the freeway.

Looking forward to see your progress.

 

[BoiseTrooper]

Alas, yet another lesson in not overthinking things...

I was so worried about the flywheel bolts being worn and needing to replace them. Then I re-read the chapter in the factory service manual. I noticed one of the illustrations showed how much loctite to apply, and lo and behold, the bolt is actually drawn as it appeared! What I thought was excessive wearing appears to be an actual design. And like Squatch (rip) used to say, the original steel is hard to beat. So, the problem fixed itself.

On to the clutch!

Thanks to everyone for the kind words. My life is in chaos right now but this Trooper and the community are a nice distraction. I really appreciate it.