Build The "Red Rocket" Troopy

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prwillard2 said:
Please save up and buy quality tires.
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This. ^^

Look on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for some new take-offs. You’d be amazed how motivated some guys are to get them out of their garage. You may have to settle for a slightly different size/brand than in your dreams, but the price can sometimes be very attractive.
 
gilmorneau said:
This. ^^

Look on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for some new take-offs. You’d be amazed how motivated some guys are to get them out of their garage. You may have to settle for a slightly different size/brand than in your dreams, but the price can sometimes be very attractive.
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255/75r17 is an OE size for a lot of the J**ps, and tons of people take them off to put their idiotic bro wheels on. Firestone Destination M/Ts and KM2s can be found on Marketplace in this size for a pretty decent price with low miles.
 
cruiserinsanity said:
255/75r17 is an OE size for a lot of the J**ps, and tons of people take them off to put their idiotic bro wheels on. Firestone Destination M/Ts and KM2s can be found on Marketplace in this size for a pretty decent price with low miles.
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This is true. So many people take off good 31-33" tires to put on a set of bigger tires and rims. Used tires are cheaper than tirecappers.
The retreads Are a 30 to 40k mile tire. I've cut 2 side walls on rocks, and of course they are loud in my tread pattern. Today's remolded retreads are better than the recaps of the 1970s, but your still starting with a tire that has a used core.
I have some dextero dat1 all terrains in 265 70r 17 on my tundra that were $136 each just last year at Walmart. You won't do the hard part of Daniel, or the red clay hill in uwharrie after torrential rain without help, but they'd be allot better on a road trip.
You can put on the chains to make AT tires grip like mudders, but you'll be the only guy doing it since GIs in ww2.
Honestly it's fun to air down with with lockers and small tires and do the unexpected.

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Thank you everyone for the tire safety talk, per usual whenever I mention something stupid in the thread it quickly gets corrected with everyone's wisdom and prior experiences. Seriously appreciate the concern and advice.

Good news!!! It made it to Boone. Sorry for the lack of an update we have been busy moving me into my house and my sister into her dorm room, catching up with friends and helping them repair their cars. They were all waiting until I was back in town to be able to fix them lol.

Barely have any photos of the troopy. I got 2 videos of its performance on the massive climb up the mountains, it preformed beautifully. It's so refreshing to be ab;e to DRIVE it and not hold up traffic or be clenching my butt waiting for a semi to rear end me.

Got myself half of a Datsun 620 to haul my and all of my freinds trash to the dump.

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Videos of the hillclimb, done while it was fully loaded to the brim with tools and furniture, aswell as pulling the trailer

 
do we all need to pitch in a few bucks to get you a pair of shoes?
 
congrats 👍
 
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So the leak still persists inconsistently. Sometime I can drive for 100 miles and it'll be bone dry and other times ill drive 20 miles and it'll be slightly wet. The troopy is an absolute joy to drive now, but I cant stop thinking about how much longer I have until that clutch starts to slip. This leads me to a possibly stupid idea but I would like others thoughts.

It's leaking a very negligible amount, still any amount on the clutch is horrible. Therefore what if I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the bearing retainer's shaft? To let it leak way before it could have a chance of even getting on the clutch. Obviously I would sand the hole flat with fine grit paper so the throwout bearing could still easily slide along it

Also just a question for whoever may know, why is the bearing retainer even a thing? Just seems like an extra failure point as proven with my current struggles along with @FJBen, the Isuzu box truck transmission didn't have one, our old FJ40's 3spd didn't have one. Whats the advantage to it?




cruisermatt said:
do we all need to pitch in a few bucks to get you a pair of shoes?
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lol I'm either in boots or barefoot, more often than not, barefoot. did recently get a VERY nice pair of boots that I plan to wear for the next 5-10 years, resole 2-3 times if needed, then rebuild the entire lower portion. Just like my cars, I like my boots rebuildable not replaceable.
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sark said:
I'm seeing a trend of lack of you-to-ground equipment here. No shoes, no tires...
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both are totally optional,
 
on the subject of recaps,,, i was a fleet mechanic in a previous life,,, we ran lots of recaps and put lots of miles on them,, mostly they were just fine, but when they do fail its spectacular, and thats why i would steer you away from them, its not that they are dangerous or life threatening, but they tend to throw the cap, and that tends to take sheet metal with it, you dont want that. if you develop a good tire maint plan and look after them, they will last a good long while, and though the upfront cost will hurt, in the long run they will be cheaper.

on the subject of bearing retainers,,, basically a retainer lines up the input shaft with the trans better, its also able to take higher cyclic axial loads and runs smoother, all those things came out of more HP, more torqe, more road speed, ect. its a good thing. why the Isuzu didnt have one i dont know, seems like it would've, but maybe Isuzus trans was just beefier and they deemed it not needed?

and boots, if your going to get a pair like you pictured plan on much more than 5-10 yrs,,,, i have a pair of Whites that are near 30 years old, been resoles 3 times i think and are just now getting broken in
 
theglobb said:
So the leak still persists inconsistently. Sometime I can drive for 100 miles and it'll be bone dry and other times ill drive 20 miles and it'll be slightly wet. The troopy is an absolute joy to drive now, but I cant stop thinking about how much longer I have until that clutch starts to slip. This leads me to a possibly stupid idea but I would like others thoughts.

It's leaking a very negligible amount, still any amount on the clutch is horrible. Therefore what if I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the bearing retainer's shaft? To let it leak way before it could have a chance of even getting on the clutch. Obviously I would sand the hole flat with fine grit paper so the throwout bearing could still easily slide along it

Also just a question for whoever may know, why is the bearing retainer even a thing? Just seems like an extra failure point as proven with my current struggles along with @FJBen, the Isuzu box truck transmission didn't have one, our old FJ40's 3spd didn't have one. Whats the advantage to it?

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Before doing anything real crazy, make sure the drip is originating from inside the bell housing.

I had an oil pan gasket leak that kinda misted the whole underside of my 3b pig.
It would drip a few drops from the oil drain plug, the bell housing, the x-fer case drain plug, and the rear diff; but only the pan was actually leaking.
 
Maybe slap some speed tape on it and see if the oil accumulates on the inside or outside of the tape.
 
So glad it is back on the road and that you're getting to enjoy it! Your mileage so far is spectacular. Will be curious to see how the oil leak turns out.
 
Well I've put over 1000 miles on the swap so far... this weekend I have put it through its paces. Instantly got back in the game of ubering drunk college kids around Friday and Saturday night went from 9pm-2am. Made roughly $400 each night, totaling around $900 in 2 nights of work. Has me questioning my job for $13/hr at a mechanic shop up here, I can work 24 hours a week doing hard labor killing my body and only get like $330... or work for 10 hours in 2 nights driving kids around singing pop songs and make 3x that amount...

Regardless the troopy has been an absolute beast, the people who remember it in town are so excited to see it back and the new freshman are just as excited to ride in it. Most importantly... THE LEAK HAS STOPPED, as of right now. It might have stopped a while ago, I had the crank case breather just venting down the side of the engine. Before all of my ride services this weekend I put 2 ft of heater hose over the breather leading it down near my leaf spring, instead of it dripping down the head and block. Maybe this was the leak cause it is BONE DRY. Pretty stoked about that.

The troopy rides better in the front as I think the 4BD1T is 250-300lbs heavier than the 3B, and with 15 kids in the back of the troopy it almost rides as nice as my Mercedes. The pulling power is unmatched, even fully loaded with 2000lbs of people in it it just climbs up these hills, couldn't be happier with the performance of it.

Went tubing with my friends, perfect vehicle for driving all of us around
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RHINO said:
on the subject of bearing retainers,,, basically a retainer lines up the input shaft with the trans better, its also able to take higher cyclic axial loads and runs smoother, all those things came out of more HP, more torqe, more road speed, ect. its a good thing. why the Isuzu didnt have one i dont know, seems like it would've, but maybe Isuzus trans was just beefier and they deemed it not needed?

and boots, if your going to get a pair like you pictured plan on much more than 5-10 yrs,,,, i have a pair of Whites that are near 30 years old, been resoles 3 times i think and are just now getting broken in
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Thanks for the exploitation on the bearing retainer, i figured it was somewhere along those lines. Just wondered why isuzu didn't do it while mated to a much more powerful engine than the 3B haha. As for boots, I went with JK Boots. They had a shorter wait time along with more customization you could do for a bit cheaper of a price. I absolutely love them, I'm either barefoot or in them. I doubt they will last me 30 years in a shop environment combined with everyday use hoping for 10 years, well worth the money though.
nuclearbeef said:
Before doing anything real crazy, make sure the drip is originating from inside the bell housing.

I had an oil pan gasket leak that kinda misted the whole underside of my 3b pig.
It would drip a few drops from the oil drain plug, the bell housing, the x-fer case drain plug, and the rear diff; but only the pan was actually leaking.
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Yes very smart. Just figured if it did ruin my clutch then I would go ahead and drill it when I had everything apart, but with the recent update I don't know if it will even be needed.
AirheadNut said:
So glad it is back on the road and that you're getting to enjoy it! Your mileage so far is spectacular. Will be curious to see how the oil leak turns out.
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I am too thank you!!! I am curious to see if the oil leak returns at all. I am also pumped about my mileage its pretty absurd out of a troopcarrier and a 40 year old engine... I'm downright impressed.
 
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Take that $900 you made this weekend and get a good set of tires!

These are $940 for a set of 4 before tax. I'm running them and they are great.

Buy Falken Wildpeak M/T01 Tires Online | Tirebuyer

Buy Falken Wildpeak M/T01 tires online. Wide range of Falken tires available. Fast, free delivery to a local expert installer near you.
www.tirebuyer.com www.tirebuyer.com
 
prwillard2 said:
Take that $900 you made this weekend and get a good set of tires!

These are $940 for a set of 4 before tax. I'm running them and they are great.

Buy Falken Wildpeak M/T01 Tires Online | Tirebuyer

Buy Falken Wildpeak M/T01 tires online. Wide range of Falken tires available. Fast, free delivery to a local expert installer near you.
www.tirebuyer.com www.tirebuyer.com
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I’ll have to factor in a set of 16 inch wheels aswell for these. I’ll save up a bit more and see if I can get a set of steelies for cheap. This is the size I want to go with. A shame the only people who make this size in 17’s are Mickey Thompson

I’ve never really messed with wheel sizing and onset/offset so I don’t understand the measurements, gonna have to read up on it now. And what fits a 70 series since I’ve heard they are picky.
 
theglobb said:
I’ll have to factor in a set of 16 inch wheels aswell for these. I’ll save up a bit more and see if I can get a set of steelies for cheap. This is the size I want to go with. A shame the only people who make this size in 17’s are Mickey Thompson

I’ve never really messed with wheel sizing and onset/offset so I don’t understand the measurements, gonna have to read up on it now. And what fits a 70 series since I’ve heard they are picky.
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Sorry if I missed it, are you currently running 16s or 17s?
 
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