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Bradzuzu's 99 Trooper Build All the Goodies !!

51K views 225 replies 30 participants last post by  bradzuzu 
#1 ·
These where the pictures I received from Dutchbro aka (Dustin) when he drove down to check out this rig for me







Not bad I thought , but at that point I didn't think much of it , yet... About a week later the seller informed Dustin that the price was cut in half $50 !! I couldn't pass that up :)

The following weekend I hitched up my trailer and headed out to pick up Dustin and his wife and we drove on down south a bit to Lincoln city Oregon to get this score of a lifetime ..

Info that was relayed to him was that the heater core blew and the head gaskets had been replaced and then the head gaskets popped again .. The engine shows no sign of any recent work , it does turn over , Dustin, Tim and I achieved that back at his place... I'm hoping it has a good crank atleast , lord knows I've got enough spare parts laying around :mrgreen:



I dropped it off at work ... This is where the gears started turning and grinding in my head , what should I do or what could I do ...? I mulled it over for a week and came to the best conclusion ..

Since parts are easier to acquire as in interior upgrades such as leather seats and fancy paneling (good selling points) and the longer wheel base I would be able to install my dual tcase setup without compromising other components , and it comes with a bigger fuel tank , I have decided to disassemble the amigo and put all my drivetrain into the trooper ...

I know kinda sad , realistically trying to get the value out of the amigo just wouldn't happen , that and what if it someone raced it and got hurt , not sure I'd want that ...

The beginning !!!
 
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#53 ·
I got started on the troopers underside today :) surprisingly all the bolts came out of the exhaust pipe .. Made things look a bit more roomy under there too !!



The fronts all unbolted but it won't drop out until the crossmember gets pulled .. Its interesting how much different the wiring harness is ran underneath ..



Then back into the trailer ... It's the easiest way to keep it out of the way and movable by myself...



Possibly tomorrow I'll get it back in and swap the rear axle ... I cranked the torsion bars up today to help gain some working room which helped a bunch ...

I'm headed down town in the morning so I'll swing by the clutch specialty place and see if they could possibly change out the springs in the pressure plate , it's worth a shot anyway ... Surprisingly the disc looks brand new even though it was breaking loose in the higher rpm band ...

 
#54 ·
Wow Brad think you got the clutch hot enough? There's a lot of bluing on the hub. Even with a heavier PP clamping force you may find the clutch still slips. Especially with you not only doubling the hp the engine produces but now adding a lot of weight. May be better off seeing if South Bend or someone can make you something a little more suited to your truck. Or, and I'm going on on a limb here, turn the boost WAY down. :lol:
 
#55 ·
Haha I plan on toning it down just a bit , I think the disc was blue when it was new but don't quote me on that :)

The clutch place had some really nice quality clutch material that they recommended but then the worked up the price ... this is just redoing the disc and surfacing the flywheel quote... Came to $409 !!!! Yeah I said not today but I was excited for a good five minutes lol

I pulled the trooper into the shop again and made some exciting discoveries ...



I did the prep work first on the 44



I didn't realize the 12 bolts didn't have much for a coil pad to hold the coils in place ...

This is the late model extra large Isuzu 12 bolt





And here's the late model 44 , it seems they shared allot of the outboard parts , when I was pulling the E brake cables off the 12 bolt I noticed the axle has had a bearing way out close to the end where the face is , I'll look into that later , kinda curious if it would possibly work with the 44 housing ... More on that later ..



By this point I was getting excited to see how the 44 was going to mount up .. I did a comparison before putting it up in there and the 12 bolt lower link mounts where about center of the housing , the 44 mounts are slightly forward by about 2"s
I wanted to get the tires on so I could visually see what the fender well looked like..

My upper link was longer in the amigos 3 link setup and luckily it's just about right ..

Here's the difference -



Once I had all the links and tires put on I jacked the axle up to see what I was going to need to address ...



Roughly 2"s haha well I had to try ...!!

I didn't expect to run into this though , I'm going to have to cut everything loose and move the perch and bump stop in too..





 
#56 ·
Here's how big the late model 12 bolts are , big hoss !!



My favorite part of the day





I think it's gonna look good !!

Next will hopefully be the axle supporting the weight of the rig , once the coil mounts are moved in ..
 
#57 ·
In all seriousness, why are you just re-doing the Amigo build on a different platform? Why don't you do something new?

My helpful suggestions are:

1. Go get some 37" tires.
2. Tub the rear wheel wells to fit 37" tires
3. Tub the firewall to fit 37" tires
4. Notch front of frame to allow reasonable uptravel with no lift.
5. Take your awesome PNW Wheeling Machine out on the trails and profit!

Actually, I forgot the very first step. Let's call it step zero:

0. Pull of all the goofy plastic crap and recycle it.
 
#58 ·
I 2nd all of that :D

That trooper needs 37's (at least)!
 
#60 ·
I'm not redoing the amigo setup , and let me mention this , if you where to look at the frame and crossmembers , brackets and supports you would appreciate the bonuses of the new platform ...

I pulled the axle back out and cut all the mounts off to adjust everything ..





So much grinding , ugg !!!

I setup the layout



Then tack welded the perches and lower link tabs , I flipped them around like the 12 bolt was (open front) and moved them back about 1-3/4"s ... This pulled the pinion up which is good and moved the center line of the axle forward a fare amount ..

Sitting compressed the tire is about centered in the fender well , I think that's still pushed back an inch plus or more but the bump stops and coils line up perfectly !!

My upper link mount is roughly an 1-1/4" higher than the 12 bolt , there's still plenty of room for side to side twist ..





I think the 44's a little wider than the 12 bolt , the tire protrusion is just right though..



I had to test fit the coils before I pulled the axle back out , I was trying to get an idea where it's going to ride , these are the stock ones



It was getting late but since I had the axle back out I figured I might as well weld the pieces on



The other important thing I needed to figure is the upper links mounts again , I think I have a fairly good solution





I'll box this in and shorten it to match the plane of the tubes , should have a nice clean look when it's finished ..
 
#61 ·
Here's a before and after of the axle




This might be helpful later on for lift kit ideas



If you buy the jeep coils the small end can be utilized by welding a centering/locating extension in the middle of the perch.. It doesn't interfere with the coil when it's used the other way either..



My last shot since the tire was stuck against the other one lol



Tomorrow I'll get the shock mounts put on and the track arm mount , I have to decide which shock mounts to use , the 44's mounts are smaller diameter and I'm not sure if I can get larger id bushings for the bilsteins .. I'll see what I can figure out..
 
#63 ·
Got the rear axle all finished up today !!







There's enough junk on this thing !!



I've got the removal down quite well , should be the last time it looks like this ... Well on the back end anyway ..

The pinion angle worked out good , the axles pushed back an inch plus ..





The e-brake cables matched right up too .. I'm going to have to lengthen the track arm the axles pulled over ..



Sitting on the lift the factory shocks are maxed out , I compared the bilstiens length and compression , I didn't mount them up yet , that'll be another part of the project for another day ... I did hook up the brake lines before I called it quits ...

I yarded the front axle and brought it into the shop to get cleaned up and ready , once that's done it'll be time for the front !! Mean while the motor needs to get yanked and pressure wash the frame up so I'm not working in an old crusty mess ... I am looking forward to the trany and tcase but first I feel like I need a vacation lol
 
#65 ·
ZuminaZX said:
hey brad how difficult is it to accurately cut off, clock, and reweld all of the axle brackets? I need to have this done on my rodeo to restore the pinion angle to allow for more downtravel.
Are your links not adjustable? Seems like you could adjust uppers out and lowers in a bit and take care of that, no?
 
#67 ·
paulevans76 said:
ZuminaZX said:
hey brad how difficult is it to accurately cut off, clock, and reweld all of the axle brackets? I need to have this done on my rodeo to restore the pinion angle to allow for more downtravel.
Are your links not adjustable? Seems like you could adjust uppers out and lowers in a bit and take care of that, no?
With a plasma cutter it's not to hard but it would be easier to lengthen the links I think , or build new ones ... keep in mind my axle is pushed back an inch and a half , that was done off the lower mounts , it also brought the pinion up like you're wanting but it would pull the axle closer to the fenderwells ...
 
#68 ·
Front axle is all ready !!





Lots of nitpicking and trimming to get everything off .. I fitted the control arm mounts up and somewhat adjusted them to angle in towards the rear ... I pulled some measurements of the amigo frame and trooper frame widths , migo is 33"s and the trooper is 30"s , that's good and bad , good that it gives more room for the coils to fit in between the tires and frame but that'll offset the steering box a bit shortening the draglink.. I'm debating on putting the track arm infront of the steering this time and possibly building a protective plate/bar that goes across the axle ... I've seen allot of the rock buggys do this , it could help out with the axle mount for the track arm ... I glanced at the trany and then remembered I still had to pull the motor , trany , and tcase :( ... Cant think to far ahead it compiles way to stuff and gets over whelming ...!!
 
#69 ·
I'm on a role !!









I found out why it wouldn't run



The intake smelled strong of gas , now I know why ...



Rtv city !!

All that's left is the trany and tcase



It's pretty much ready to drop , I just have to pull the full lines off..



I'm going to cut the ifs out tomorrow hopefully and maybe get the axle under it if time alloys ... I should wash it before I start cutting but it's kind of a pain to move ...
 
#71 ·
Nice work Brad. Your close up pictures are very clear, which speaks well of the camera you are using. If it's just your cell phone, it takes better pictures than my cannon camera.
 
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#72 ·
I'm just using my phone but I have it set on (hd) mode , I think it helps ...

Saturday morning I finished removing the parts off the engine that I needed for the reinstall , the ac pump and bracket mainly since it bolts on from the front instead of the side mount ... After I got it stored I pulled the trany out and carefully removed the wiring harness (bunus the tod harness unplugged and stayed with the tcase) , I'll still have to figure out what wires I'll need for neutral safety and 4x and then backup lights (yay) ...



Since the major weight was removed I cheated and lifted the front end up with the hoist and then set the jack stands under it :)





I just started unbolting and removing everything , for the most part all the parts came off fairly easy, the lower A arm bolts where some tight mothers !!



I saved all the parts including sensors and plugs for parts for the locals , I had a new adventure removing the side markers , they're different on troopers so I've learned !!



I'm glad I pulled the condenser , I had to lean in to cut and grind lol

This is about as far as I got Saturday , wife had to work and the boys needed me :)





Can't ever remember the picture limit so next post ...
 
#73 ·
After my youngest sons football game I couldn't resist digging back in so after lunch I took off for the shop !!

These suckers are on there !!



It was kinda nice having already done some of the grinding , that part hurts when you can't help but eat sparks ..



Finally I could start on he more exciting part , well after I spot welded up a few nicks in the frame that is ..



I forgot how much welding I still had to do but I finished that and while they cooled down I drilled and cut down the mounts ..

This was the exciting part , first fitting of the bushings , they went right in !!

I was finally ready to wheel the axle under the front !!



Next up I hung the control arms and somewhat placed them ..











All this new room !!



I'm ecstatic !!
 
#74 ·






Great way to finish off the weekend !! Now I can take some time and think of the next steps and setup of the steering and track arm mounting ... Strange the rear bolts for the control arms are an 18mm bolt or an 11/16 but they don't make those , the bolts should show up tomorrow I think is what the guy at fastenall said , then I can build the rear tabs ... the arms are a little tight to the axle so I gotta figure out the best approach there but as far as fitment everything looks great !!
 
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