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Tippy the Family Heirloom [93 Trooper LS]

29K views 89 replies 9 participants last post by  93trooperpooper 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey all,

Thought I'd open a thread on my "build". The past 9 months of owning this Trooper I'd been preoccupied with fixing/servicing a few things per week. Now that I have it running reliably and with few repairs left I figured I can open a thread dedicated to documenting what I've done so far and the future repairs/mods.

The Trooper

"Tippy" (you can thank Consumer Reports for that nicnkame): 1993 Trooper LS, 4x4, limited slip rear, DOHC 3.2L, automatic, 240k kilometers/150k miles on the odometer

This Trooper was owned by my parents since new. My Dad bought it because he could fit a full size sheet of plywood in the back, and "the doors sound solid when you close them" - he had also looked at monteros and 4runners. He now owns a Toyota Tundra (pic below of his tundra towing Tippy on a flatbed the day we picked it up).
My Dad sold Tippy to a family friend for $500 at a discount in 2011 and it was re-obtained by me in Summer 2019 for $0.
Born in 1997, my ride home from the hospital was in this Trooper. Many of my early childhood memories are riding in this trooper. When I first cracked open the doors of this truck after it had been sitting for 3 years, the smell actually gave me some intense nostalgia and brought me back to being a kid. Weird.

Anyway, needless to say the trooper has high sentimental value to me, and as I do have a bit of disposable income, I've since started putting some decent money into it this past half year or so. Additionally, owning this trooper has been some motivation for me to learn mechanics and how to save money working on my own vehicle.

61776960_2636431793042416_6162228001795735552_o.jpg


Done so far:

Brakes
This is why it was parked. The ABS system was wonky so I pulled the fuse.
The calipers were in bad shape - I opted for rebuilt ones all around.

Transmission maintenance
(1)Vehicle was found with smelly, partially burnt fluid. My dad towed a larger size box trailer with this quite a bit, and didn't change the ATF as much as he should have. A cooler was never installed despite this coming with a tow package. What was Isuzu thinking providing a heavy duty radiator but no trans cooler with the tow package?
(2)Initial 2-3 drain and fills with generic parts store brand Dex III. No drain plug, siphoned fluid out of the dipstick overnight a couple times before dropping the pan
(3)Filter change - was able to do this without dropping the exhaust. could not remove the pan fully but still had access to clean it out and remove the filter.
(4)Clean and inspect magnet & transmission pan - relatively little debris. quite clean, for having not been serviced in multiple decades if ever.
(5)install auxiliary cooler - Hayden 2657 run pre-radiator to limit overcooling in cold weather. It's below zero for the majority of the year here.
(6)Flushed 10 quarts of fluid through the cooler lines, replacing with generic parts store brand Dex/Merc.
(7)Trans was still surging between 2nd and 3rd gear. Planetisuzoo user Oro reccomended using Seafoam Trans Tune to clean up buildup. Within 100 miles of driving, the shift surging issue was completely gone. In my case the issues with shifting were caused by dirty fluid and varnish/gunk buildup, and luckily the transmission seems to be mechanically sound.
(8) Fluid still had an odd smell, and ~200 miles later I flushed another 10 quarts through, this time Lubegard synthetic Dexron (also a reccomendation from Oro).
(9) Replaced throttle position sensor - 1-2 hard shift greatly reduced, but still more jolty than 2-3 and 3-4

Timing belt and water pump

Took me about 9 hours total. Followed my OE workshop manual and a writeup for the SOHC. Luckily made no mistakes as I am a novice and could have screwed this up.
Replaced the water pump, tensioner(s), idlers, fan clutch, all v-belts. I didn't really enjoy doing this but getting it done is satisfying.

Cooling system
As mentioned above, replaced water pump.
Replaced rad hoses and lines to the oil cooler - original rubber
Replaced fan clutch
Replaced the radiator - out with the original Tokyo Radiator, in with the shiny new Spectra Premium

Rear Suspension
New coils - the old ones were really fatigued from lots of hours towing. Replaced with Moog cc784, pigtail ends cut off, provides 1.5-2" lift
New shocks - KYB gas-a-just
Fresh LSD gear oil
New poly rear sway bar bushings from Siberian Bushing

Front end
The previous owner, a family friend, had the wheel come off on the highway and I discovered the ball joint castle nut had been completely ground off down to the knuckle and basically welded in place - see pic below. Had to get a junkyard knuckle/hub/bearing assembly
sketchy.jpg

81886121_3071402462878678_3586427047985020928_o.jpg

New front u-joints
Torsion bar crank to match the rear lift
New shocks - KYB gas-a-just
Auto hubs BS - the snap ring was popped out when I got it and this has happened to me on the trail since then
Ball joints on passenger side
Front wheel bearing preload adjust and alignment

Exhaust repairs
Leaking flex pipe replaced
Restricted catalytic converter replaced with a resonator
EGR passage in throttle body was clogged with carbon deposits

New Tires
Decided to stick with stock size. Kumho Road ventures - all season, all terrain, winter rated. I've had them for 4 months, so far they're great.

miscellaneous
All 3 igntion coils were split wide open at the bottom - new ones have fixed my misfire at idle
New spark plugs
New PVC valve
Fuel filter
Front diff and tcase fluid
All new vacuum lines
Throttle body clean
Fuel injector cleaner and seafoam
...and many other things that I'm forgetting about!

STILL LEFT TO DO
recent multi-item service performed! Tippy is running better than she has in a long time (06/11/2020)
-remove freeze plug under the DOHC plaque, allowing access to clean out the EGR port fully
-Valve cover gaskets & the "while you're in there" items:
  • spark plug tube seals[/*]
  • inspect wear on cam chain tensioners[/*]
  • replace heater hoses and coolant bypass hoses [/*]
  • clean + strip and paint the heavily oxidized upper intake[/*]
  • replace coolant crossover pipe o-rings[/*]
  • replace coolant temp sensors[/*]
  • replace fuel pressure regulator[/*]
  • fuel injector o-rings[/*]
  • test and or clean fuel injectors[/*]
-Replace bump stops
-Repack wheel bearing
s
-Cv boots, just starting to crack. I think these are the originals
-Bushings: Sway bars
Cosmetics: Quarter panel wheelwell rust repair & replace missing fog light. Paint skid plates.

I'll leave you with a photo of Tippy stuck on the trail because the snap rings in my auto hubs came out:
82261477_3108063752545882_2819796765996220416_o.jpg
 

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#52 ·
Thoroughly degreased the front of the block


Pulled the front mains a couple days ago and the Lisle seal puller made it easy without any risk of leaving gouges. Got the front cam plugs out easily, new ones pressed in with some addl copper rtv as sealer. Saw what I was up against trying to pull the rear cam plugs, and instead cleaned them up very thoroughly and laid a nice fat bead of ultra copper RTV on the cam plug retainer plates (the recall part), then reinstalled the plates in order to have a seal formed between the plates and the cam plugs

Got my power steering pump back from Hydra Steer with all new seals and bearings installed. Although the bearings weren't noisy or loose, with the new bearings installed the pulley turns much more "firmly", like a new PS pump would.

Since my cam/crank seal driver kit is delayed shipping, I've started disassembly on all the front end work.
Today's progress:
-Hubs removed and used an impact screwdriver to get the stubborn philips screws in the bearing nut retainer plate out
-broke loose all upper and lower ball joint tapers
-broke loose all steering joints and fully removed center link / tie rods
-removed 1 side abs sensor
-removed 1 side brake caliper

I've stopped for the day because the brake caliper bolts on one side aren't coming off with my breaker bar. Remiving the ABS sensor is fiddly so ill continue tomorrow. May require a torch and or powerful impact gun for the stubborn caliper, neither of which I have. Been making daily tool runs and it looks like I'm about to do another one tomorrow morning!
 
#53 ·
Got the stubborn caliper bolts loose. Had to jump on my breaker bar
Got the abs sensors disconnected, knuckles removed and im going to repack the bearings tomorrow
RH upper control arm removed to be replaced with a new one from mevotech, just need to discinnect the brake line to get it fully out
Now just need some vise grips and a 10mm crowsfoot wrench in order to get the brake hardlines disconnected, because my regular open ended 10mm wrench will strip it for sure

On another note, the mount bolts needed for the dual piston caliper upgrade are M14x2.0 thread pitch, 30mm long under the head, grade 10 steel

Tomorrow will be dropping the suspension crossmember and oil pan, cleaning the oil pickup screen, new gasket for the oil pan then prettymuch ready to install the diff drop. I still need to get the crossmember modified to clear room for the 3rd member once dropped which may prove to be the most annoying part of all this since I can't weld and need to find someone to do it right

Still no sign of my cam/crank seal driver kit that was supposed to be here a week ago, and UPS says it hasn't even shipped yet... Talked to my neighbor who is a retired mechanic and he says he always just tapped in shaft seals with a socket, so if the seal driver hasn't arrived by the time I have all the front end work done ill probably just borrow some large sockets from him. I'm just worried I won't get them in straight but I suppose if I'm real careful it should be fine.
 
#55 ·
sno said:
On another note, the mount bolts needed for the dual piston caliper upgrade are M14x2.0 thread pitch, 30mm long under the head, grade 10 steel
Good to know! McMaster-Carr has zinc-chromate-plated Class 10.9 high-strength M14x2.0, 30mm hex-headed bolts, package of 10 for $13.10 plus shipping. A better deal than the GM bolts.

https://www.mcmaster.com/90854A256/
 
#56 ·
i made a dedicated crank seal tool installer for my isuzu....a chunk of pipe with the diameter that is just smaller than the seal, deeper than the crank snout stick-out, and then welded a piece of flat stock on the one end for hammering. might have a hard time finding a socket that deep, that diameter to fit...i know i did....
always made my own seal installers....and as for seal removers, i use a small screw driven into the face of the seal, then a trim removal tool for the leverage / prybar. or even pliers. easy peasy. i do have an actual seal remover tool, but its only good for open bores...

i installed new rear cam plugs when i had the cams out...put the rtv in place, install cam plug seals, then hold them in place and tighten down the cam caps
then install the recall plates.

i am a ''jack of all trades, master of two'' kind of guy. :roll: to the point where now if people ask if i know how, i play dumb...pick and choose my battles...oh wait i own an isuzu :?
 
#57 ·
93trooperpooper said:
i made a dedicated crank seal tool installer for my isuzu...
Thanks for the info on that, may need to end up doing something similar



Here's a comparison between trimmed vs untrimmed right side dust shields in order to fit the Colorado calipers. I cant see any way other than pulling the hub/bearing assy in order to do the proper trimming. Used a dremel

Making progress, slowly but surely. Got a seal puller, race/bearing driver and brass punch set from princess auto for the bearing replacement/ repack. The races and seals seem pretty stuck in there but I am confident ill be able to get them out eventually
 
#58 ·
Last bump for the next few days since I'm going back to my regular work hours for a bit. Took me a while longer than I intended, but got the diff fully removed! Tomorrow after work I am gonna start degreasing and scrubbing EVERYTHING under the front end, so that I can paint it all with por15.
Got the bearing seals out but the races are being real stubborn. My old bearings (factory OEM) look totally fine so ill probably just repack them and reuse the old races, then just stick to the bearing maintenance interval of a repack every 30,000 km
 
#59 ·
Got the heavy duty tie rods assembled just gotta shorten them a little bit since I ran out of adjustment room and they might just be slightly too long for my medium track width. Powder coated adjusting sleeves as well as the front bash plate in the same color. The dust boost are Energy Suspension polyurethane boots.



Got the oil pan out and the pickup screen was totally 100% clean. Time for a new gasket

Shaft seal driver kit will be here by the 25th, so I should have the engine reassembled relatively soon now
 
#60 ·
Got the cam and crank seals driven in nicely with the tool



Got the oil pan gasket replaced. The oil pickup screen was totally clean and no sludge in the pan.



Discovered the source of the squeal in 4wd above 40 kmh. It's the outer pinion bearing on the front differential. When I turn the pinion flange manually it makes a nasty, gritty grinding noise from the flange which is almost certainly a bad outer bearing.
Absolutely no shiny bits, and the oil looked brand new and was right up to the fill plug the first time I drained it. My dad had the dealership do the break-in fluid on the entire driveline. But there's some rusting on the main gear that suggests maybe there was some water contamination in the diff at one time. The breather hose and port was fully intact and it was owned my parents who only used the 4wd for snowy roads in the winter, so although it seems unlikely, the noise seems to be a damaged rear pinion bearing. My guess is perhaps the couple kilometers I drove with a bad front u joint were enough to damage the rear pinion seal enough to allow snow (which tends to get packed above that front skidplate) to melt into the rear pinion bearing past the seal.

Sprayed it with some wd40 to prevent any further surface rusting of the gears while it's sitting on my bench, then on Monday I'm dropping the 3rd member off at a diff shop so they can do a proper inspection and perform the repairs needed. I don't want to mess up the preload and dont even have an impact gun to get the pinon nut off
OEM pinion seal and bearing will be here in under a week

 
#61 ·
Starting to get close to having Tippy back on the road,

-As I was putting the engine back together I noticed the bearing in the timing belt idler pulley was starting to go bad after only 20,000 km. Ordered a gates brand one on rockauto which will arrive tomorrow.

-Got all the wheel bearings repacked and the hub seals driven in. Was having trouble with three different aftermarket brands of the rear hub/bearing seals not wanting to drive in to the hub. Then I decided to order OEM ones, becaudr I noticed my damaged OE seals would go back in easily due to a slightly different design. My new OEM seals arrived in under a week and drove in very nicely with no fitment issue at all

-front diff pinion bearings + seal are being replaced at an automatic transmission shop. 3 hours of labor plus parts, should be done tomorrow. I could've gotten a partout third member for quite a bit cheaper, but I like to repair rather than replace

-The new groove for the manual hub snap ring was cut at a machine shop, due to being stripped off by the auto hubs after the snap ring came out on a snowy trail. Using a slightly undersized snap ring (24mm) in the new groove will allow me to run my new Aisin manual hubs while still keeping the OEM cv's

-Painted the Colorado calipers in a bright orange (the can had a red cap that matched my powdercoat color, but orange works too I guess lol). Not like I can even see the calipers through the dinnerplate wheels anyway, more for rust prevention than looks

-Todays tasks will be to repack+reboot the outer CVs as well as put the ABS tone rings back on the hubs, then torque the hubs to the new rotors
 
#62 ·
Got the engine all back together and running great. The new alternator puts out higher voltage, no leaks from the new front main seals, oil pan or water pump, and the resealed power steering system should last the rest of the life of the vehicle
After I got it all back together and running i realized I should have put thread locker on the cam sprocket bolts, so I took the timing covers off again to do that. Better safe than sorry since rotating bolts tend to work loose and having those sprockets back off would strip the keys from the cams
Still waiting to get my diff back, hopefully this week I can start putting the front end back together
 
#63 ·
Quite a lot has happened since my last post

-got the 3rd member back and sealed to the axle housing, now it's ready to be mounted any time
-decided to drop the exhaust in order to cut out the restrictors, replaced the seeping overdrive pan gasket, installed a new filter, and adjusted the 1st-2nd gear brake band back to the factory tightness (steps: loosen the jamb nut, tighten the hex bit to 40 inch pounds, loosen it back 4 full turns, and retighten the jamb nut)
-needed to order a new gasket for the brake band solenoid housing, which I got from cobra transmission parts
-got the new outer boot kits installed on the CV'S, thoroughly cleaned out the old grease and repacked:



OEM kit with NSK boots and grease (even comes with extra band clamps, retaining ring & snap rings), plus Lisle 30950 CV Joint Banding Tool



Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content




OEM kit, outer (84-94 Trooper, Rodeo, Pickup): https://www.amayama.com/en/part/isuzu/8971097650

Inner (84-94 Trooper, Rodeo, Pickup): https://www.amayama.com/en/part/isuzu/8971097650

Tool: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... pt=1000797

-needed to get some more CV axle grease for the inners, so got some NTN moly grease from the Subaru dealership
 
#64 ·
Got the exhaust restrictors removed, very easy with a 41mm hole saw
 
#65 ·
great work so far...
yup, i removed those restrictors on one of the troopers or both ? cant remember which one, but i KNOW i did remove them :drunken:
and there is nothing better for fit and finish than oem parts....
i had to trim about 1/2 inch off the inner and outer tie rods to get enough room inside the adjuster, when i did the hd tie rod mod on the one trooper...and hardened washers under the castle nuts, the taper on the tie rod stuck thru a bit , not letting the castle nut tighten down properly. drilled out the hardened washers a bit , for perfect fit.....
 
#66 ·
93trooperpooper said:
great work so far...
yup, i removed those restrictors on one of the troopers or both ? cant remember which one, but i KNOW i did remove them :drunken:
and there is nothing better for fit and finish than oem parts....
i had to trim about 1/2 inch off the inner and outer tie rods to get enough room inside the adjuster, when i did the hd tie rod mod on the one trooper...and hardened washers under the castle nuts, the taper on the tie rod stuck thru a bit , not letting the castle nut tighten down properly. drilled out the hardened washers a bit , for perfect fit.....
Thanks, and glad to say that I'm done most everything that I set out to do
I ended up having to shorten my tie rods just a little bit as well. Using the washer sizes mentioned in this post worked great https://www.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?t=86764

Here are some more photos:



Brake band solenoid housing gasket, overpaid for shipping on the replacement for this one to get it fast


Put the exhaust back in, the gaskets I got had the bolt holes in a slightly wrong spot and had to be modified last minute with a dremel


Reused my original bearings, they were still in good shape. Repacked with Lucas Heavy Duty polyurea grease, and set the preload as per the workshop manual specs for a used bearing/new seal




Steel braided brake lines from Roberto on Isuzu Trader


Finally, the manual hubs are installed. The new snap ring groove ground at the machine shop, and then a downsized 25mm snap ring worked perfectly to save my OE axle


Missing a crossmember and skidplates




Improved CV angles after the differential drop with a near 3 inch front lift, also did a ball joint flip


Tippy leaves her home for for the past month


Already back to work


Still to do:
-Get crossmember welded (I am keeping things slow and on-road, not hitting any bumps while the front crossmember is off
-Reattach skidplates
-Camber alignment (toe is probably slightly out too, I eyeballed the length of the tie rods I took off and it seems to steer straight)
 
#67 · (Edited)
All things completed final list:

-New water pump gasket, much better seal this time with the bolts properly torqued to spec (and new Gates pump)
-New Timing belt (it was only 2 years/20,000km old, but I got a Gates brand one off rockauto wholesale for less than $10, so it felt better to replace the belt and reset my maintenance interval
-New front main seals and cam end plugs
-New Denso alternator
-Power steering flush
-Power steering pump service (Gates seal kit and NSK bearings),
-New power steering pressure line from Gates, new suction line from Isuzu, and new return line
-Seized and difficult to remove power steering pressure sensor was cut out by a machine shop, then I installed it back in my new pressure line so that I could prevent to buying a new one from rockauto at ~150
-Cleaned 28 years of grease off many surfaces
-New oil pan gasket (the pan and oil pickup were clean)
-Drilled out the exhaust restrictors in the y-pipe
-Transmission brake band adjust and new housing gasket
-Replaced transmission filter and overdrive+main pan gaskets
-Performed the heavy duty tie rod upgrade with powder coated adjusting sleeves, por-15 painted rod ends, energy suspension polyurethane dust boots
-New ball joints all around, a mix of genuine Isuzu, Mevotech and Moog brand joints
-Full synthetic 75W90 gear oil
-Por15 painted diff and control arms
-New passenger side control arm/bushings from Mevotech
-Repaired the damaged CV axle groove due to auto hubs, for accuracy I had the groove re-ground at a machine shop letting them use my impulse-buy chinese tripod axle as a reference point for where exactly to place the groove (probably the only use it will ever have
-New CV boots, drivers side has genuine Isuzu boots and passenger side has generic brand made in US boots. All joints thoroughly cleaned and repacked with high-moly grease
-Ball joint flip
-F250 tie rod upgrade
-Front differential 1.5" drop
-Steel braided brake lines
-Dual piston front caliper upgrade

Overall I'm very pleased with the results! Having 2wd low-range from the manual hubs will come in handy. I don't think I'll mind too much having to get out in the snow to switch 4wd on and off. I am confident that these new CV boots should last a very long time with this diff drop and quality rubber, almost felt bad taking the original ones off that were still holding strong after 28 years but now was the time for an axle service.
 
#68 ·
I got the crossmember to fit back on by cutting a notch with an angle grinder. Bit of a hack job, but its only temporary until I can get some welding help. Should be plenty strong enough. Now time to hit some trails!
On another note, the brakes are noticeably improved. The dual piston calipers with the steel braided lines make a difference for sure! Writeup for the caliper upgrade will be posted within then next couple weeks

 
#70 ·
#71 ·
Went offroading with a nearly identical 93 trooper!




Week later got rear ended by an F150


Guy pushed me put into oncoming traffic and then proceeded to continue gassing it into this Chevy, completely totaling it


Got a rear door and bumper from my parts trooper


Got the door painted in the right colour and coated the bumper in flexible bumper paint




And all fixed!


In other news I am now the proud owner of a totally leak free trooper, since I got the shift shaft seal leak fixed by a transmission shop for pretty cheap

My uncle got me a JDM license plate


Discovered that my rear calipers had seized after doing river crossings on our offroading trip

Seems like another benefit to the Colorado calipers is a much better sealing dust boot design for the slide pins

New slide pin from Isuzu to repair the passenger side rear caliper which wasn't seized quite as bad, and got reman caliper for the drivers side


Also replaced the rear rotors and parking brake shoes at the same time
 
#73 ·
Enemigo said:
What's the rig to the left of yours in the group photo?

Nice repair work, but the way.
Thank you!
In the group photo to the left of me is @trooper.yyc on instagram and to the left of him is a 1986 Volkswagen Iltis, Canadian army surplus 4x4s that were replaced by Mercedes G wagons in 2003
 
#74 ·
Tippys been running great (dare I say perfect) lately! Yesterday was maintenance/winterization day

Tasks completed:
-changed oil, replaced the 15w40 Rotella T5 semi-synthetic with 0w40 Nemco MS-X semi-synthetic for better cold weather performance
-retorqued the oil pan fasteners, stopped a slow leak that developed near the back of the pan
-flushed the limited slip differential clutch pack with ATF and replaced gear oil with synthetic 75w140 with new drain/fill plug crush washers from Isuzu
-Greased driveshafts and tie rod ends with moly lithium grease
-Installed a better quality oil pressure line for my gauge (twice the length to do a cleaner routing and a strong braided line rather than the flimsy vinyl one I had prior)
-Regreased the rear caliper slide pins after 3 months (wow the grease in those rear calipers does not last long at all, no wonder they are prone to seizing
-Tire rotation
-Tightened the parking brakes (left them slightly too loose after replacing the shoes a few months ago)
 
#75 ·
Did an oil change with 0w40 semi-synthetic and replaced a transmission cooler oil line that seemed to be seeping from somewhere

Been getting a Code 32 again lately, the EGR Valve has been getting stuck closed sometimes on cold days. After 29 years and 257,000 kilometers, it's time to replace it.

Got a new OEM (Denso) EGR valve from amayama.com for much less than what the aftermarket ones are going for on Rockauto:



Very easy install on the DOHC:

 
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