O. K. I have an 88 Trooper and have been lurking for a few months. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but would like to use my Trooper both on and off road. What are the top ten modifications that you would recommend? Keep in mind price, and ease of installation.

Welcome to the board:flipoff2:
First I would reccommend Switching to manual hubs if you dont' already have them. Depending on what motor you have you should get some bigger wider tires(I had the 2.3L and it was doggy with 32's). If you have a little money Matt (TrooperRS here on the board) at independent4x.com sells a budget 2" lift just add-a-leaves and Ball joint spacers. Which would be great for clearing larger tires dont' be afraid to trim fenders too. Try to stay as low as possible with the lift as it will help with stability offroad. If you see rocks alot offroad rocker protection might be a good idea to keep your doors useable. If want to double the places you can go offroad get a rear locker but ARB and welder are your only choices and ARB=$$$ and the welded rear can wear out tires and make you turn like a school bus on the road. One other thing might be to get some spares like tie rods and cv shafts stuff that breaks so that if you break something on the trail during the weekend you will be good to go if its you DD for the rest of the week. Those are just my thoughts you can find out alot by just taking it out are climbing around with it then you will know what it needs for your level of wheeling.

Originally posted by TROOPERJ
I don't want to spend a lot of money


not sure what that means? guess it depends on whether you think $5000 is a lot or $500 is a lot.


here are my top 10 in order of best 1st.... based on your living in UT.

1. rear ARB air locker
2. Tera Low 3.07 t-case gears
3. warn winch - at least 8k lb.
4. front ARB air locker
5.a set of spare tie rods for the glove box
6. mild lift w/ new shocks - 2-3"
7. set of 32 -33" mud terrains on wider than factory backspacing wheels (5 - you NEED a full size spare)
8. rocker protection (steel bars of some description (that is if you care)
9. header/cam/intake/exhaust combo (open up 2.6L motor a bit)
10. on board air system - for emergancy repair and airing up at trail head.



this all assumes that you have the BASICS covered:

good set of tools
Haynes manual
good quality CB
tow strap
Hi-Lift
cooler
etc.


i could probably switch up the order a little on some of them.........but that would be my reccomended list :flipoff2:

shit......yep Manual hubs are way up there.................the factory autos are garbage and WILL self destruct.

i reccomend the warns if they fit your rig (85-95)

I'll give you my top ten list if you think 500 is a lot

1-junkyard aisin manual hubs
2-welded rear
3-homemade rocker protection
4-homemade shackles/balljoint flip
5-trimming (its free!)
6-used 33's
7-used 15x8 steel wheels (15x8's seem to be the best bang for the buck cause you can use them on anything from 10.50-14.50" wide w/o real problems)
8-spare tierods
9-spare cv's
10-one piece rear driveshaft

if you want to make it as cheap as possible, make friends w/ someone who knows how to weld, or get yourself a welder and practice practice practice. you will eventually want to do an SAS and the more you can do yourself, the cheaper that will be for sure.

edit: you can get a hi-lift and some straps and maybe a heavy duty come along on the cheap until you can afford a winch ;)

Ignore these people. :flipoff2: I recommend leaving it stock and staying away from this hellhole:rolleyes:

I guess the biggest thing is that you need to be more specific with what type of offroading you do. Being in Utah also I would recommend some larger tires first(with wider offset rims) these can fit with or without a lift.(lift is good to keep the belly of the truck off the rocks). After the tires, a locker is a great investment, however I think it is better to learn with a near stock truck to get comfortable with it. Locker, Tera-lows and rocker protection are the next in line.

Just be realistic with what you want your truck to be able to do and places it will go. Also, search on 4x4wire.com. I hate to say it but it is full of quite a bit more info then here since this is so new and all the people are grouchy webwheelers:flipoff2:

If you want to tag along on some trail runs checkout the locals in UT....we even have our own website zutah.com

Steve
aka. Jonesy

biggest thing i can say is go do some light 4wheeling in the rig in stock form and gage what YOU need from there. For me since i just wheel forest service trails and such, stock works fine for me. I just cary tools a high-lift, a 4,000lbs comealong w/snatch-block and a towstrap whith a schacle. I did however get rid of the factory auto hubs, i dont like getting stuck whith 2wd. and i am running my 80 LUVs winter tires on it right now becouse they are on 15x7 rims whith a 4.5" back spacing. These tires help alot, i can almost go side hilling:flipoff2:

it's hard to come up with a "cheap" top ten, but here's a few...

-larger more aggressive off-road tires (33x12.50's is the max that will fit on your rig stock with no lift and on stock rims with very minor rubbing up front)
-manual hubs
-ROCKER PROTECTION!!!

as for lockers and such, dont worry about that, there's ALWAYS time for that, plus you might not have the budget to do so first. should be very plentiful "immediate" mods to get some nice wheelin', trust me. it all depends on what's in your best interests.

let us know what u mod!

pce

I'd throw in as a basic, a Factory shop manual.......
A high lift Jack, I have never used a winch. It depends where and what you wheel in. It all adds up. :D

the best mods are experience, knowledge about your truck, how it works, what usually vreaks, how to fix it, some tools, and a general direction in where you're takin this rig, then you'll know what's best for YOU
different drivin skills and techniques equal different adavantages from different mods

learn to know what your REALLY want outta your rig, and then start heading in that direction

Originally posted by douchebagkangaroo
...and a general direction in where you're takin this rig...

learn to know what your REALLY want outta your rig, and then start heading in that direction

i agree, there's only a handful of people out there including us on the board who want to actually wheel and build up a trooper in almost the same way that others seriously build up a jeep or another rig. meaning that they want to USE a trooper as their trail rig. that's want i am doing to mine.
for others, its "you wouldnt understand, it's a jeep thing", what about "you wouldnt understand, its an isuzu thing."
if you want to eventually buy a more common wheeler such as a toyota p/u or a HEEP, oh, i mean a Jeep :flipoff2: , then do mild mods to it. the question here, really, is do you WANT to eventually build and wheel your 88... or not??? if no, then keep it mild, tires, hubs, recovery equip, tools, etc.

pce

the balljoint relocation can be done without any sort of kit.. i know independent sells the kit, but bacicly you are just buying the idea..

yes, the flip itseld can be done without needing anything extra, but if you need a spacer, you need the kit.

Originally posted by paulevans76
.......if you need a spacer, you need the kit.

NOT! You can just add an extra hex nut on each bolt between the ball joint and the a-arm. :D You gotta get it aligned anyhow, so it ain't gotta be perfect. :flipoff2: :D :D

NOT! You can just add an extra hex nut on each bolt between the ball joint and the a-arm.

:eek: :eek: :eek: Holy fawk! are you for real???

Originally posted by Grampa
NOT! You can just add an extra hex nut on each bolt between the ball joint and the a-arm.

:eek: :eek: :eek: Holy fawk! are you for real???

I know several people doing it with no problem whatsoever. If I needed a spacer, I damn sure wouldn't pay for it! I could make some steel ones in just a few minutes. Some people will pay good money for just about anything. :D :flipoff2: :D

Most people don't really NEED the spacers anyway. A bj flip is normally all that's needed to correct alignment after cranking t-bars. All a spacer will do is give you another 1/4" of droop. Big friggin' deal...EH! :p :)

FWIW-
I have the three bolt ball joints, and for spacers I just used washers stacked as spacers. Worked great for me...

Originally posted by Toddzu
FWIW-
I have the three bolt ball joints, and for spacers I just used washers stacked as spacers. Worked great for me...


gah! I really wouldn't trust this...

if you're gonna make your own spacer, that's cool - but I think it is important that the spacer is a single, solid unit and that the tolerances for the bolt-holes be tight. You want zero movement, zero flex under stress.

Movement and flexibility here can easily lead to fatigue, stretched bolts, and subsequent loose suspension parts. Not something I want to worry about ever.

but then, despite being a financial loser I still ponied up to buy the calmini upper control arms so what do I know? :flipoff2: